DSPO 25A16 - The Euro, migration and climate change: European challenges and opportunities

From the streets to the ballots and more recently on the web, far right politics encompasses a very heterogeneous set of political actors and activities. These include better-known political parties and less visible street-based and/or online-based social movements and grassroot organizations. The recent elections in Austria, the Netherlands, France, Germany and the US were characterized by increasing support for these actors criticizing globalization and European integration. After 9/11, the new wave of Islamist attacks in Europe and the US fuels street-mobilization of non-established groups like PEGIDA, CasaPound Italia and the Identitarian movement. Far right activism on the web has been targeted by governments' policies and tech companies to counter ‘hate content' online. The complexity of these phenomena invites us to further analyze the reasons for their emergency, support and the content of their political supply. The aim of this course is to introduce students the study of far-right mobilization in a comparative perspective with a primary (but not exclusive) focus on Europe and the US, where the far right seems to have moved into the mainstream, notably by entering in government. The course is organized in three thematic sections: (1) Ideology and discourses, (2) Mobilization and elections, (3) Impact on representative democracies. More precisely, the course shall introduce students to theories explaining individual and contextual conditions facilitating (and inhibiting) far right mobilization and political success. On the other, the course initiates students to different research methods and data -encompassing ethnography, archival research, interviews and surveys both online and offline - to study the far right empirically. With regard to academic skills, the focus will be on comparing and synthesizing different theories and contexts, critically assessing the merits of theoretical and empirical studies, posing new research questions and deducing testable hypotheses. The course will make extensive reference to political science and political sociology literatures, to ongoing and past academic debates, as well as to journalistic reports, relevant online material, documentaries and political debates in the observed countries. To pass the class students have to show that they: - Have understood the conceptual and theoretical foundations of right-wing extremist, radical and populist politics - Have acquired an in-depth expertise in one specific case of far-right mobilization and be able to explain the differences between diverse political experiences

Christophe DE SAHB

Séminaire

English

No previous knowledge is needed, but familiarity with core concepts of political science is a plus (notably theories of democracy, political parties and social movements)

Spring 2024-2025

The course evaluation consists of 5 grades: a mid-term exam (30%) an oral presentation accompanied by a short essay (20% + 20%), and a final exam (20%); a grade rewarding participation in class and compliance with homework counts for the remaining 10%. -Midterm (30%) after week 6 (Sessions from 1 to 6, the latter included) -Student presentation based on the compulsory readings (20%), 12 min -Written essay accompanying the presentation (20%), 1000 words max (bibliography and footnotes excluded) -Class participation (10%) -Final exam (20%)