Riccardo Marchi

Riccardo Marchi is an Italian-born historian and political scientist (b. 1974, Padua) serving as an integrated researcher at the Center for International Studies (CEI-IUL) of ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) and as an invited professor at Lusófona University in Lisbon.

Education

• PhD in Modern and Contemporary History, ISCTE-IUL, Portugal (2008)
• Laurea (BA) in Political Science with specialization in Political-History, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy (2001)

Research Interests

Marchi’s scholarship focuses on right-wing radicalism in contemporary Europe, analysing political thought, parties and movements, as well as the intricate relations between States and radical organizations. He examines democratic transitions, populist radical-right parties, nationalism, conspiracy theories, and the memory politics surrounding authoritarian legacies.

Across more than two decades, his work has systematically mapped the Portuguese and Iberian far-right, from the final years of the Estado Novo through the revolutionary period (1974-1975) to the consolidation of democracy and the recent rise of the Chega party. Comparative perspectives on Spain, Italy and transatlantic right-wing networks further enrich his analyses.

Publication Profile

Marchi’s research output reveals three dominant strands: (1) historical studies of far-right movements during authoritarianism and transition; (2) contemporary analyses of populist radical-right parties, especially Chega; and (3) transnational and comparative work on right-wing extremism across Europe and the Americas. His methodological repertoire combines archival research, elite interviews, survey data and discourse analysis.

Grants & Projects

• Principal Investigator, NEAR project – New Euro-American Radical Rights (FCT grant PTDC/CPO-CPO/28748/2017, 2018-2022)
• Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Scholarship (2015) – Portuguese radical right during the transition to democracy
• Participant in EU and bilateral projects such as Iberian Democratic Transitions and IDREA

Teaching & Academic Roles

He has taught research methods, social movements, nationalism and populism at European University (2010-2014), ISCTE-IUL (2016-2020) and Lusófona University (2021-ongoing) at both undergraduate and master’s levels.

International Network & Visiting Positions

Member of the executive committee of the Right-wings, History and Memory international research network since 2014. Former visiting researcher at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville, 2007) and University of California, Berkeley (2008).