Kostas PAPAIOANNOU

Bio

Kostas is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre d’Etude de la Vie Politique (CEVIPOL) of the Université libre de Bruxelles, working on an FNRS-funded research project on 'Post-Truth Politics and Political Parties’, assessing the extent to which and why political parties use conspiracy discourse on social media.

His research is broadly organised around three main themes: (1) the first one focuses on how belief in conspiracy theories shape (un-)democratic attitudes among citizens, (2) the second focuses on the concept of populism and its democratic consequences, and (3) the third one focuses on the growing dissatisfaction and distrust of citizens towards democratic institutions and political parties.

Kostas holds a PhD in Political Science from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). Under the aegis of the Populismus project, he completed his PhD thesis titled ‘An Arena of Angry Minds? Uncovering hidden relationships: Conspiracy Theories, Populism and Democratic Support”.

Over the past four years (2020-2024), before joining Cevipol, Kostas worked as a Senior Researcher at the National Centre for Social Research (London, UK). In this role, he led the design and implementation of several research projects on public attitudes and politics (e.g., post-Brexit Britain), commissioned by the UK government. His work also contributed to the assessment of various policy programmes and interventions using experimental (RCTs) and quasi-experimental designs, aiding the UK government in making evidence-based policy decisions. 

Publications (selected)

• Pantazi, M., Papaioannou, K., & van Prooijen, J. W. (2022). Power to the people: The hidden link between support for direct democracy and belief in conspiracy theories. Political Psychology, 43(3), 529-548.
• Papaioannou, K., Pantazi, M., & van Prooijen, J. W. (2024). Rejection of the Status Quo: Conspiracy theories and preference for alternative political systems. British Journal of Social Psychology.
• Papaioannou, K., Pantazi, M., & van Prooijen, J. W. (2023), Is Democracy under Threat? Why belief in conspiracy theories predicts autocratic attitudes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(5), 846-856.
• Papaioannou, K., Pantazi, M., & van Prooijen, J. W. (2023). Unravelling the relationship between populism and belief in conspiracy theories: The role of cynicism, powerlessness and zero‐sum thinking. British Journal of Psychology, 114(1), 159-175

Fields of research

• Conspiracy theories and political parties
• Populism and the crisis of representation
• Political psychology
• Experimental methods
• Public opinion
• Political efficacy and (un-)democratic support