The Politics of Antisemitism

Catalog description

The course examines the phenomenon of antisemitism in contemporary international politics. Antisemitism is an old form of prejudice, but concerns about its growth and consequences are very present in the news today. Meanwhile, the term has also become something of a political football domestically and abroad and has been instrumentalized by different political factions who accuse one another of engaging in it. What is antisemitism and how should we define it? What are the main dynamics and trends in antisemitic attitudes and behaviors in the U.S. and around the world? What fuels these attitudes and behaviors, and what are their chief political consequences? This course aims to engage with these questions in a thoughtful and empirical way by grounding itself in the growing political and social science literature on antisemitism, and bringing a careful social scientific lens to these challenging issues.