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Semester 2

Populism: Pathology or Panacea? (PLIT10114)

Subject

Politics

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 4 Politics courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses, and we cannot consider interdisciplinary courses or courses without sufficient Politics/Government/International Relations focus. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

This course aims to introduce students to one of the most complex and challenging phenomena in contemporary politics: populism. We will analyse existing theorizations of populism; the major justifications and criticisms of it, some comparative case studies, and will conclude with examining the causes of populist politics.

Course Description

This course aims to introduce students to one of the most complex and challenging phenomena in contemporary politics: populism. We shall approach populism from four different directions which will match the four key sections of the course: (1) conceptually, we will survey and assess various theorizations of populism including the notions of populism as a discourse, ideology and political style; (2) analytically, we will explore both justifications and condemnations of populism; (3) comparatively, we will examine various regional contexts in which populism has gained traction, paying attention to both left-wing and right-wing movements and parties; and (4) critically, we will probe the causes of populist politics and the means by which it proceeds.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 85%, Practical Exam 15%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a Politics exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in one Politics course each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. Enrolment in a second Politics course will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the January Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course