Dr Ruben Ruiz-Rufino, from the Department of Political Economy at King’s, has received a Mid-Career Fellowship grant for £160,000 from the British Academy, which will support a new project examining the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on democracies in the Eurozone.

The project, building on research started by Dr Ruiz-Rufino in 2017, will run for 12-months and will form the basis of a monograph.

Dr Ruiz-Rufino, a reader in comparative politics, said: “This research will focus on how financial bailouts affect citizens´ political attitudes and the electoral fortunes of establishment parties in the context of deep economic integration. By focusing on this question, the project intends to make several important contributions to understand some current democratic deficits.

“Firstly, the research will shed light, at the theoretical and empirical levels, about the tension between citizens and the supra-national institutions that emerge in the process of adapting to globalisation.

“Secondly, this framework will serve to develop an explanation to better understand the deep and significant political changes observed in Western democracies since 2010.”