Western European Politics

Catalog description

This course provides an overview of contemporary Western European politics by focusing on challenges posed to European political systems by the Great Recession and Sovereign Debt Crisis. In the first half of the course, we place a special emphasis on the challenges faced by the Southern European countries that were hardest hit by the economic crisis. We focus specifically on the rise of non-mainstream political parties on both the right and the left. During the second module, we'll pivot from this ongoing challenge to studying Western European political institutions in general, with a focus on the ongoing disruption of long-stable party systems by populist challengers. Throughout the course, we'll take advantage of our location in Turin, Italy to learn more about Italian politics from local scholars, meetings with politicians, and excursions. (GOVT-CP)