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WiSe 20/21: Populism in Europe

Christian von Scheve

Kommentar

The recent success of populist political parties and movements across Europe and in other parts of the world is striking, from the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom to the presidential election in the United States and the success of parties such as the AfD in Germany, Fidesz in Hungary, or the League in Italy. This rise has prompted a range of questions and spurred research in sociology and the social sciences, aiming at understanding this success and its social and political repercussions. The seminar will examine the nature and origins of populism and discuss how it is fueled on the supply and demand sides. In particular, the class seeks to develop an understanding of what populism is and how it can be distinguished from related concepts such as reactionism, authoritarianism, and extremism. It will discuss the cultural, emotional, economic, and demographic facets of populism and will come to terms with its specific political styles of mobilization, its language and rhetorics, as well as with the characteristics of supporters and voters of populist movements and parties. The first part of the seminar will deal with theoretical, conceptual, and historical approaches to populism, and the second part will introduce students to empirical case studies of the varieties of populism across Europe. The seminar will include occasional meetings in small groups at the University as well as online class meetings using Webex. Schließen

Literaturhinweise

Preparatory Reading

Brubaker, R. (2017). Why populism? Theory and Society, 46(5), 357-385.
Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2017). Populism: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Müller, J.W. (2016). What Is Populism? Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

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