B8120 - DEMOCRACY AND POPULISMS

Learning outcomes

The course offers an introduction to the concepts and analytical instruments of political sociology which enable us to study democracy. Key concepts in the analysis include legitimacy, political culture, the public sphere, and the interaction between politics and society. Particular attention will be paid to the phenomenon of populism e its various forms of manifestation, discussed in a context of transformation of modern democracy. The students will be engaged in the development of the following skills: - knowledge of a sociological approach to democracy (classical theory/contemporary theory); - the understanding of the role of conflict in democratic society; - the understanding of the role of civil society in democracy; - analytical capacities to comprehend the transformation of modern democracy; - the in-depth understanding of diverse manifestations of populism; - the understanding of challenges and opportunities that derive from the populist phenomenon.

Course contents

Core skills and knowledge

The course introduces students to the concepts and analytical tools of political sociology for the analysis and understanding of democracy. The political-sociological ‘toolbox’ includes concepts such as legitimacy and authority, charisma, political culture, the public sphere, and civil society. These tools will form the basis of a discussion of modern democracy, the crisis and erosion of modern democracy, and the emergence of populism and authoritarian tendencies. The phenomenon of populism is analysed in different shapes and forms, and in different societies.

Students will develop the following skills: - knowledge of political-sociological approaches to democracy (classical theory/contemporary theory); - an understanding of the role of conflict in democratic society; - an understanding of the role of civil society in democracy; - analytical skills to understand the crisis and transformation of modern democracy; - in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of populism; - comparative knowledge of different manifestations of populism; - understanding of the threats and opportunities that derive from the phenomenon of populism.

 

 

Contents

Modern democracy faces a number of major challenges, and is often seen as in a deep crisis. Sociological analysis is fundamental to understand the current challenges, because it highlights the complex link between politics and society, and underlines the historical, conflictual, fragile, and maybe even cyclical character of modern democracy.

Modern democracy faces a number of major challenges, and is often seen as in a deep crisis. Sociological analysis is fundamental to understand the current challenges, because sociology highlights the complex link between politics and society, and underlines the historical and conflictual character of modern democracy. The course discusses the various theories and concepts related to a sociological understanding of democracy, followed by a discussion of the most important challenges of our time, including populism, authoritarianism, political apathy, post-national integration, processes of depoliticization and juridification, and the challenges of globalized capitalism.

 

Educational objectives

The objective of the course is to enhance critical knowledge and an in-depth understanding of:

• democracy as an idea and as an institutional constellation;
• the role of political culture in democracy;
• the link between formal politics and society; the fundamental role of civil society in democracy;
• the historical change and transformation of democracy;
• the intrinsic contestability of democracy;

• the causes of stability and instability of democracy;
• populism as the eternal possibility of democratic regimes;
• theoretical and conceptual tools for the analysis of democracy and democratic politics;
• theoretical and conceptual tools for the analysis of populism;
• the analysis of populism as a historical and variable phenomenon;

 

Readings/Bibliography

Course texts

Adamidis, V. (2024). Democracy, populism, and the rule of law: A reconsideration of their interconnectedness. Politics, 44(3), 386-399.

Alexander, J. C. (1997). The paradoxes of civil society. International Sociology, 12(2), 115-133.

Arato, A., & Cohen, J. L. (2021). Populism and civil society: The challenge to constitutional democracy. Oxford University Press.

Blokker, P. (2022). Human rights, legal democracy, and populism. In Marcel Gauchet and the Crisis of Democratic Politics (pp. 157-175). Routledge.

Blokker, Paul (2023), ‘Public sociology and populism’, in L. Bifulco and V. Borghi (eds), Research Handbook on Public Sociology, Edward Elgar.

Chiantera-Stutte, P. (2018). Mob, people, crowds, and masses: Mass psychology and populism. The Tocqueville Review, 39(1), 157-176.

Crouch, C. (2016). The march towards post‐democracy, ten years on. The political quarterly, 87(1), 71-75.

Eisenstadt, S. N. (1998). The paradox of democratic regimes: fragility and transformability. Sociological Theory, 16(3), 211-238.

Finchelstein, F. (2018). Fascism and populism. In Routledge Handbook of Global Populism (pp. 307-318). Routledge.

Gerbaudo, P. (2024). Digital populism. In Research handbook on populism (pp. 506-515). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Gorski, P. (2021). Religious Nationalism and Right Wing Populism: Trumpism and Beyond. Contending Modernities. Access, 29.

Greene, A. R. (2017). Legitimacy without liberalism: A defense of Max Weber’s standard of political legitimacy. Analyse & Kritik, 39(2), 295-324.

Innes, J., & Philp, M. (2018). ‘Democracy’from Book to Life. Democracy in Modern Europe, 16.

Magaudda, P. (2020). ‘Populism, music and the media. The Sanremo festival and the circulation of populist discourses’. Partecipazione e conflitto, 13(1), 132-153.

Mény, Y., & Surel, Y. (2002). The constitutive ambiguity of populism. In Democracies and the populist challenge (pp. 1-21). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Pelinka, A. (2013). Right-wing populism: Concept and typology. Right-wing populism in Europe: Politics and discourse, 3-22.

Rosanvallon, P., & Goldhammer, A. (2008). Counter-democracy: Politics in an age of distrust (Vol. 7). Cambridge University Press.

Rosanvallon, P. (2009). Democratic universalism as a historical problem. Constellations, 16(4), 539.

Urbinati, N. (2013). The populist phenomenon. Raisons politiques, 51(3), 137-154.

Office hours

See the website of Paulus Albertus Blokker