Populism and Democracy

Catalog description

Both democracy and populism are contested and highly loaded concepts. Still, all parties seem to agree that democracy is desirable and populism is on the rise. In this course, we study the relationship of these two concepts in order to understand a very significant facet of contemporary political life in the Americas, Europe and beyond. We first concentrate on exploring the literature on political regimes, and then turn our attention to populism and its relationship to democracy and authoritarianism. Also, we inquire into case studies of populist leaders, and parties in the Americas, Europe, and beyond.