SS-415 Contemporary Political Populism

3 Credits

What is populism? Who are the “people”? What are the “elites” who are allegedly keeping the “people” down? How can the language of populism be used by individuals and institutions from all across the political spectrum advocating for, and fighting against, all sorts of different, and sometimes contradictory, things? And why have invocations of this sort of language proven to be so useful politically, especially in recent years? This course will take a hard look at these questions about populism, and will compare and contrast various forms of populism around the globe.