At the same time as populist movements gained momentum in Germany and Europe, historical research went through a controversy revolving around the extent to which the focus on globalization and global connections, which has characterized international contemporary history and global history since the 2000s, overlooked or downplayed the importance of nationalism and an insistence on regionality. This field of research intervenes in this discussion. Our projects deal with the transnational history of political movements and ideological confrontations in Europe. Leaving normative definitions aside, we examine which notions of democracy, liberalism and constitutionalism have guided political and social action, what role the authoritarian legacy of the German and Eastern European states has played in this context, and to what extent populism and (il-)liberal movements are also the result of transnational solidarity.