This seminar will examine the themes, actors and topics of the contemporary far-right in Europe, the USA, and Central and Latin America. The seminar aims to provide a comparative perspective to a major sub-field in social and political sciences and aspires to familiarize the students with the major issues that are prevalent in far-right research. Topics of discussion will include genealogical and theoretical foundations of the far-right, the main contemporary cases of the far-right in Europe and the Americas, in party, leader or movement form, the far-right’s connection to democracy, its perception of gender, religious and national identities, the alternative far-right and its presence in online media, how other actors mainstream far-right ideas as well as its relationship with the environmental issue.

By the end of the seminar, the students are expected to be able to define the constitutive ideological elements of the far-right and its main characteristics, to understand and recognize major themes and actors of the far-right sub-field, and critically assess cases, either separately or comparatively, using methodological tools that are related to far-right research.


Literatur zur Vorbereitung:

Mondon, A., & Winter, A. (2020). Reactionary democracy: How racism and the populist far right became mainstream. Verso Books.
Mudde, C. (2019). The far right today. John Wiley & Sons.
Wodak, Ruth. 2020. The Politics of Fear: the shameless normalization of far right discourse. London: Sage.

Art der Prüfungsleistung (CP):

The assignments in ‘Far-Right in Europe and the Americas’ consist of a seminar presentation, a position paper or text expert role, and a final paper due to be submitted at the end of the semester. Combined the student will acquire 6 credit points at the end of the semester

After two decades of democratization, some states in Europe have seen a decline in the democratic quality of their political systems. This seminar deals with these processes of democratic backsliding. The research papers to be read will empirically map processes of democratic backsliding and account for these with theories emphasizing different explanatory factors. In addition to research focusing on domestic factors, we will also discuss research that investigates the EU (in-)ability to stop processes of democratic backsliding in EU member states. After having actively attended the seminar, you will be familiar with empirical trends and specific cases of democratic backsliding and with theories that political scientists use to explain these. With the knowledge acquired in the seminar, you should be able to conduct your own research on the topic, for example in your term paper.

Polarization has become a highly salient phenomen in the European Union and beyond. The seminar builds a conceptual and methodological foundation for class discussions and subsequent research projects on the diverse facets and manifestations of contemporary polarization. Against this backdrop, we will zoom in on how polarization relates to liberal democracy, to political contestation and social relations in Europe, and to the political system of the EU in particular. We will thereby reflect upon and discuss these issue with a focus on different institutions, actors, and policy fields.