Concepts of Populism and Radicalism

About

The slogan ‘Populism is on the Rise’ can be heard everywhere. From editorials in European and American Newspapers to the Academy; on both sides of the Atlantic the term populism is ubiquitous. But what is populism? Many authors add an adjective like nationalist populism, authoritarian populism, right-wing or left-wing populism. In this course we focus on how different authors have conceptualized populism either as an ideology, or as a political style. We study where the term populism historically originated from and whether its historical roots still play a role today. Then we compare the populism concept to competing concepts such as right-wing radicalism and right-wing extremism. We also pay attention to the role and function of concepts in social science research. In the last part of the seminar we study the relationship between populism and democracy and ask whether populism is a good or a bad thing for affluent liberal democracies.

Course leader

M. Zobel

Target group

This course is part of the summer program "The Liberal Order in Crisis: Authoritarian, Radical, and Populist Challenges to Democracy in Europe"

Fee info