Populism in Europe after 1945

Catalog description

Populism is a current political buzzword. It is central to debates about politics, from radical right parties in Europe to left-wing presidents in Latin America to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the United States. At the same time, debates about populism often suffer from a lack of terminological precision and of historical grounding. This class will provide both. We will first discuss a number of approaches to populism before turning to a variety of examples in both Eastern and Western Europe. These include the National Front in France and its emergence in the wake of the Algerian War; the Freedom Party in Austria and its links to National Socialism; the Italian Social Movement as a post-fascist party; and examples of authoritarian populism in Eastern Europe after the collapse of Communism.