210083 SE BAK13: State Activity, Policy and Governance Analyses (2019S)

Is Europe witnessing a populist crisis? While populist left parties gained power during the Euro-crisis in Southern Europe, the migration crisis reinforced the populist far-right spectre in North-Western Europe. Meanwhile, Eastern European mainstream parties seem to turn their back towards Europe, blending populist right discourses on ethnic homogeneity with authoritarian frames. This course addresses the European populist crisis from a multi-disciplinary perspective, shedding light on the trajectories of populism during the Great Recession and the European refugee crisis through the lenses of political behaviour, communication science and political economy. It links key events in recent political developments to theoretical accounts on populism in Europe and beyond. Relying on the latest data and empirical evidence in social sciences, the course addresses both the reasons for populist success on the one side, and the consequences for European societies and the European project on the other side.