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WiSe 19/20: Participating in Politics – Parties and Social Movements in Europe

Jochen Roose

Kommentar

Europe sees a field of political participation in turmoil. On the one hand, accusations of politicians having lost touch to the people are ubiquitous. On the other hand, voter turnout in the last European election has risen remarkably. In parallel, people turn to the streets to make their voices heard. Political frustration seems to be high and political participation as well. In short – there is a lot to discuss and even more, there is a lot to analyze academically. The aim of the seminar is not, to offer space for general political discussions on these topics. Instead, we will ground a profound analysis in literature and theories.
The seminar is centered on two intermediary actors between people and the political system: parties and social movements. We will introduce the concepts of party and social movement respectively, discuss main theories of the two fields, and work on the links between the two.
The course will conclude with case studies on either parties or social movements, in which the theories are applied. The case studies are presented in a one-day-meeting (two-day-meeting), at the end of the seminar. Schließen

Literaturhinweise

Introductory Reading:

Snow, D. et al., 2007: Mapping the Terrain. In: David Snow, Sarah Soule & Hanspeter Kriesi (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements. Malden, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 3-16.
White, John Kenneth, 2006: What is a political party? In: R.S. Katz and W.J. Crotty (eds.), Handbook of Political Parties, London: Sage, pp. 5-15.

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