POLb1111 Populism and political parties

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Vlastimil Havlík, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Věra Stojarová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Vlastimil Havlík, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Lucie Pospíšilová
Supplier department: Division of Politology – Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! POL333 Populism and parties && ! NOW ( POL333 Populism and parties )
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 29 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The main aim of the course is to explain the concept of populism and selected approaches to it, to present the debates about the relatioship between populism and democracy, to offer an overview of explanations of electoral success of populist parties and to discuss major cases of populism in Europe and beyond.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course students should be able to explain basic approaches to studying of populism, to define main features of populism and to describe the development and characteristics of the main populist parties in modern democracies.
Syllabus
  • I.Theoretical framework
  • 1.Introduction to the topic, course organization, course requirements (17.9.)
  • 2.Theory of populism (27.9.)
  • 3. Theory of populist parties (4.10.)
  • 4.Research on populism: methodology, measurement (11.10.)
  • II.Case studies
  • 5. North America (18.10.)
  • 6.Latin America (25.10.)
  • 7.Western Europe (1.11.)
  • 8.Northern Europe (8.11.)
  • 9.France (15.11.)
  • 10.Czech Republic (22.11.)
  • 11.Slovakia (29.11.)
  • 12.No lecture / seminar (6.12.)
  • 13. Written test – fist examination date (13.12.)
Literature
    required literature
  • Canovan, M. 1981. Populism. New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp. 17-58.
  • Pauwels, T. 2014. Populism in Western Europe. London: Routledge, pp. 12-31.
  • Barr, R. 2009. “Populists, Outsiders and Anti-Establishment Politics.” Party Politics 15 (1), 29-48.
  • Levitsky, S.-Loxton,J. Populism and competitive authoritarianism: the case of Fujimori´s Peru. In: Mudde, A. and Kaltwassr, R. Populism in Europe and the Americas. Threat or Corrective for Democracy? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2012, pp. 160-1
  • Rooduijn, M., Pauwels, T. 2011. „Measuring Populism: Comparing Two MEthods of Content Analysis.“ West European Politics 34 (6), 1272-1283.
  • : Deiwiks, C. 2009. Populism. Living Reviews in Democracy, 2009/1, pp. 1 – 9, online http://democracy.livingreviews.org/index.php/lrd/article/viewFile/lrd-2009-3/11.
  • Muller, J. W. 2016. What is Populism? University of Pensylvania Press, pp. 7-40.
  • Mudde, C. 2004. „The Populist Zeitgeist.“ Governemnt and Opposition 39 (4), 542-563.
  • Canovan, M. 1999. Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy. Political studies 47/1, pp. 2 – 16, online http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9248.00184/pdf.
  • Jagers, J., Walgrave, S. 2007. “Populism as political communication style: An empirical study of political parties` discourse in Belgium“. European Journal of Political Research 46 (3), 319-345.
  • Rooduijn, M. 2018. “What unites the voter bases of populist parties? Comparing the electorates of 15 populist parties.” European Political Science Review, 10 (3), 351-368.
    recommended literature
  • Hawkins, K., Riding, S., Mudde, C. 2012. Measuring Populist Attitudes.
  • PANIZZA, Francisco E. Populism and the mirror of democracy. New York, NY: Verso, 2005, 358 p. ISBN 1859844898. URL info
Teaching methods
Lectures, class discussion, presentations by students, reading.
Assessment methods
1) Oral presentation, groups of max. 3 students – max. 10 points. Students will prepare a 15 minute presentation (using a PPT presentation acknowledging sources) on one of the assigned topics. Each presentation will be prepared by a group of maximum 3 students. Oral language skills (English proficiency level) will not be part of the evaluation. 2) Written test – max. 40 points. 6 questions, 5 points each. Final classification will be made following these grades on the scale: A. 50 - 45 points B. 44 - 41points C. 40 - 38 points D. 37 - 35 points E. 34 - 32 points F. 31 and less points
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
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