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HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
2nd degree (Master)
Responsible Department:
European Studies
Semester:
1st Semester
Teaching Languages:
English
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Dr. Karin Bischof
Coordinator Office Hours:
By prior arrangement
Teaching Staff:
Dr. Karin Bischof
Course/Module description:
The course focuses on contemporary phenomena of democratic crisis and change, which are perceived as transforming and crucial for European democracies in current academic and also public debates. These are, for example, phenomena of authoritarian democratic backsliding such as the rise of right wing populism and extremism and the establishment of ‘illiberal democracies’ in various European countries (reinforcing nativism, nationalism and antifeminism) as well as the rise of climate protection movements and parties in many European countries (usually promoting transnational and global problem solving) and tendencies of ‘digital divide’ and dominance of statelike digital platform economy. In the course, we view those phenomena of transformation and crisis against the backdrop of selected approaches in Democracy Studies.
Course/Module aims:
The aim of the course is to analyse current phenomena of democratic change in Europe.The course will provide insights into selected contemporary approaches to transformation of democracy, and it will deal with transnational as well as country specific manifestations.
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
… the students should be able to identify and contextualize major aspects of democratic crisis and transformation in Europe, they should know about selected country-specific and transnational patterns and selected theoretical approaches.
Attendance requirements(%):
80%
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
The teaching is organized as an overview of major aspect of aspects of contemporary democratic crisis and change, country-specific and transnational patterns as well as selected approaches and explanations. An introductory session will provide the students with background knowledge. Each session will deal with selected relevant thematic aspects. Some of the thematic aspects will be dealt with in (small group) presentations of students.
Course/Module Content:
Session 1 Introduction
Session 2: Part I Aspects of democratic crisis and change: right wing populism
Session 3 Part I Aspects of democratic crisis and change - Climate action counter movement
Session 4: Part I Aspects of democratic change: antigender movements
Session 5: Part I Aspects of democratic change: conspiracism, ‘post truth’
Session 6: Part I Aspects of democratic change: new democratic claims and climate movement
Session 7: film
Session 8: Part II theories of democratic decline
Session 9 Part II theories of democratic decline
Session 10 Part II theories of democratic decline digital media
Session 11 Part III examples: transnational patterns and country-specific manifestations
Session 12: Part III examples: transnational patterns and country-specific manifestations
Session 13: Part III examples: transnational patterns and country-specific manifestations
Session 14: Final reflections
Required Reading:
- Ajanovic, Edma/ Stefanie Mayer/ Birgit Sauer (2018). Constructing ‚the people‘. An intersectional analysis of right-wing concepts of democracy and citizenship in Austria, in: Journal of Language and Politics, 17(5).
- Crouch, Colin (2005). Post-democracy, Cambridge: Polity.
- Darian-Smith, Eve (2022). Global Burning. Rising Antidemocracy and Climate Crisis, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Davis, Mark (2021). The online anti-public sphere, in: European Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 24(1) 143–159.
- Levitsky, Steven and Daniel Ziblatt. 2018. How Democracies Die. New York: Crown. Chapter 1.
- Mudde, Cas (2004). The populist zeitgeist. Gov. Opposition 39(3):541–63
- Mueller, Jan Werner (2016). What is Populism? What is Populism? Philadelphia: UPenn Press.
- Paternotte, David/ Roman Kuhar (2017). Antigender Movement in comparative perspective, in: (Dies.): Antigender-Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing Against Equality, London-New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 253-276.
- Peter, Lukas (2021). Democracy, markets and the commons. Towards a reconciliation of freedom and ecology, Bielefeld: Transcript.-
- Rosenblum, Nancy L./Muirhead, Russell (2019). A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy. Princeton University Press.
- Urbinati Nadia (2017). Populism and the principle of majority. In The Oxford Handbook of Populism, ed.
- Wodak, Ruth/ Michal Krzyzanowski (2017). Introduction. Right-wing populism in Europe & USA, in: Journal of Language and Politics 16(4), 471-484.
Additional Reading Material:
To be announced
Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 40 %
Presentation 30 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 30 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %
Additional information:
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