The Pandemic Crisis and its Effects on Southern European Political Science

The paper develops a cross-country analysis intended to assess the reactions of the Southern European political science community to the COVID-19 outbreak. Southern European political scientists (SEPSs) can be penalized by post–COVID recovery policies in case their community is not able (or willing) to adapt to the changes and challenges driven by the pandemic. Thus, this article uses the data from an origi- nal survey conducted among 1400 European political scientists at the end of 2020 to address SEPSs’ resilience, awareness of change and professional adaptation compared to other political science communities based in Northern, Western and Central-Eastern countries. On the one hand, the evidence confirms the most similar comparative proposition, namely the peculiarity of SEPSs compared to the other European scholars (especially those based in countries wherein the discipline is more institutionalized). On the other hand, the findings show a high level of cross-country variation, highlighting the specificities in perceptions and reactions to the pandemic crisis of each national community in Southern Europe.