The Rise of Populism in International Politics summer course

Populism is one of the main political buzzwords of the early 21st century. The rise of populist forces in recent years has generated new challenges in many long-established democracies, such as the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Greece, and France, as well as destabilizing states worldwide, such as in Venezuela, Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, the Philippines, Thailand, and India. What explains the rise of these forces? What are the consequences? And what can be done to mitigate the risks? The course aims at bringing together the conceptual analysis of populism with comparative case studies in different regions of the world. Given the highly contested nature of populism, we will look in depth to different theories of populism, including institutional, ideological, discursive and socio-cultural understandings of populism. The course will also explore the conditions of emergence of populism and the relations between populism and key political concepts, such as democracy, security, gender....