POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Bachelor TR-NQF-HE: Level 6 QF-EHEA: First Cycle EQF-LLL: Level 6

Course Introduction and Application Information

Course Code Course Name Semester Theoretical Practical Credit ECTS
POL3058 Populism, Far Right and Democray Fall 3 0 3 6
This catalog is for information purposes. Course status is determined by the relevant department at the beginning of semester.

Basic information

Language of instruction: English
Type of course: Departmental Elective
Course Level: Bachelor’s Degree (First Cycle)
Mode of Delivery: Face to face
Course Coordinator : Assoc. Prof. SELCEN ÖNER
Course Lecturer(s): Assoc. Prof. SELCEN ÖNER
Recommended Optional Program Components: Norris, Pippa and Ronald Inglehart. Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit and Authoritarian Populism. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Course Objectives: The aim of this course is to analyze the historical background of the concepts of populism and far-right and to evaluate the reasons for their rise especially in the 21st century and their reflections on today's world politics. In addition to far-right movements, the reasons for the rise of far-right parties will be analysed and their effects on democracy will be discussed. Comparative evaluation will be made by focusing on the examples from the countries of Europe, Latin America, the USA and India. The strategies followed by far-right parties, the discourse of their political leaders, and the role of social media in the rise of far-right will be evaluated and their reflections on contemporary politics will be evaluated.

Learning Outcomes

The students who have succeeded in this course;
1. To be able to discuss the concept of populism and to compare different examples in the world.
2. To be able to evaluate the reasons for the rise of the far right.
3. To be able to make comparative analyses by examining different examples of far-right parties in the world.
4. To be able to discuss the implications of the rise of far-right in Europe for the future of the EU.
5. To be able to analyse the strategies followed by far-right parties, their cooperation and limits, and the discourses of their leaders.
6.To be able to critically evaluate the discourses and policies of far-right parties on issues such as migration,gender and climate policy.

Course Content

In this course, the concept of populism, far-right, radical right, nativism, welfare chauvinism will be analysed. The historical background of populism and the reasons behind its global rise will be examined. Examples from the USA, Latin America, India, Israel will be analysed comparatively. By analysing the reasons behind the rise of populism and far right in Europe, especially in the 21st century, examples such as France, Italy, Germany, Austria will be examined and the strategies and discourses of far-right parties in these countries will be compared and discussed. The role of social media in the rise of populism and the far-right will also be evaluated and discussed. Examples from different countries of the world will be explored in more detail with student presentations.
Teaching methods of the course: Lecture, individual work, group work, invitation of guests/experts, reading, case study, discussion, technology assisted learning, project preparation and presentation.


Weekly Detailed Course Contents

Week Subject Related Preparation
1) Introduction of the course and meeting with each other
2) Conceptual Analysis: Populism, Far Right and Radical Right Pirro, Andrea, “Far-right: The Significance of an Umbrella Concept”, Nations and Nationalism, 2022.
3) Historical background of populism, left and right populism Cas Mudde, "The Populist Zeitgeist" , Government and Opposition, 2004.
4) Historical Development process of far-right, Fascism, Nazism Ortiz Cabrero, Lorena & Sierp, Aline, “Memory, Post Fascism and the Far Right”, Italian Political Science Review, 2024.
5) Popülizmin küresel yükselişi Norris, Pippa and Ronald Inglehart. Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit and Authoritarian Populism. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
6) The global rise of populism: The cases from Latin America Presentations of the students Kestler, Thomas, “Radical, Nativist, Authoritarian- or all of these?: Assessing Recent Cases of Right-Wing Populism in Latin America”, Journal of Politics İn Latin America, Vol.14, No.3, 2022.
7) Popülizmin küresel yükselişi: Hindistan, Israil örnekleri Oliver Schmidtke, "The Will of the People: The Populist Challenge to Democracy in the Name of Popular Sovereignty", Social and Legal Studies,Vol.32 (6), 2023. .
8) Mid-term The students will be responsible from the content of previous 7 weeks.
9) The rise of populism and the far right in Europe. Presentations of the students Öner, S., “Europe of Populist Radical Right and the Case of Lega of Salvini: Pioneer of a Parochial Europe?”, Buhari, Didem, vd. (Der.), Transforming Europe through Crises: Thin, Thick, Parochial and Global Dynamics, Routledge Pub., 2022.
10) Examples of the rise of the far right in Europe: France, Italy, Germany, Austria Netherlands Presentations of the students Mudde, Cas, and C. R. Kaltwasser, “Studying Populism in Comparative Perspective: Reflections on the Contemporary and Future Research Agenda”, Comparative Political Studies, Vol.51, No. 13, 2018.
11) Migration, Climate and Gender Policies of the Far right parties Presentations of the students Anna Lavizzari and Andrea Pirro, "The Gender Politics of Populist Parties in Southern Europe", West European Politics, Vol.47 (7), 2024; Anna Gryzmala-Busse, et al., Global Populisms and Their Challenges, Stanfard University, 2020. Öner, S. and M.G. Özerim, “What Makes Turkey and Turkish Immigrants a Cultural Polarization Issue in Europe?: Evidences from the European Populist Politics”, im C. Norocel, et al. (Eds.), Hope and Nostalgia at the Intersection between Culture and Welfare, New York: Springer Pub., 2020. Öner, S. and Ö. Ünal-Eriş, “Securitization of Migration and The Rising Influence of Populist Radical Right Parties at 2019 European Parliament Elections” , Ankara Review of European Studies, Vol. 20, No.1, 2021.           
12) Populism, the far right and social media Presentations of the students Anna Gryzmala-Busse, et al., Global Populisms and Their Challenges, Stanfard University, 2020. Hohner, Julian, et al., “Analyzing Radical Visuals at Scale: How Far-Right Groups Mobilize on TikTok”, Journal of Digital Social Research, 2024.     
13) Strategies against the rise of the far right and examples of success stories Presentations of the students Gorokhovskaia, Yana & Grothe, Cathyrn, “Democracy Survived the Year of Elections, But the Struggle for Freedom Continues”, 2024 https://freedomhouse.org/article/democracy-survived-year-elections-struggle-freedom-continues Pirro, Andrea, “The Contemporary Far Right from Contra to Control”, Political Communication, 2024.     
14) Evaluation of all the semester and and discussion.

Sources

Course Notes / Textbooks: Her hafta için ders programında makaleler ve kitap bölümleri önerilecektir.
References: For each week , several articles are recommended, they will be updated every semester.

Evaluation System

Semester Requirements Number of Activities Level of Contribution
Attendance 1 % 10
Presentation 1 % 30
Midterms 1 % 20
Final 1 % 40
Total % 100
PERCENTAGE OF SEMESTER WORK % 60
PERCENTAGE OF FINAL WORK % 40
Total % 100

ECTS / Workload Table

Activities Number of Activities Duration (Hours) Workload
Course Hours 13 3 39
Study Hours Out of Class 6 14 84
Presentations / Seminar 1 8 8
Midterms 1 10 10
Final 1 14 14
Total Workload 155

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

No Effect 1 Lowest 2 Low 3 Average 4 High 5 Highest
           
Program Outcomes Level of Contribution
1) Grasp basic theoretical and conceptual knowledge about the field and relations between them at the level of practice. 2
2) Possess basic knowledge about the causes and effects of political transformations in societies. 3
3) Possess knowledge about quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods in social and behavioral sciences. 1
4) Recognize historical patterns while evaluating contemporary political and social developments. 4
5) Demonstrate interdisciplinary and critical approach while analyzing, synthesizing and forecasting domestic and foreign policy. 2
6) Conduct studies in the field professionally, both independently or as a team member. 2
7) Possess consciousness about lifelong learning based on Research & Development. 2
8) Communicate with peers both orally and in writing, by using a foreign language at least at a level of European Language Portfolio B1 General Level and the necessary informatics and communication technologies. 3
9) Apply field-related knowledge and competences into career advancement, projects for sustainable development goals, and social responsibility initiatives. 2
10) Possess the habit to monitor domestic and foreign policy agenda as well as international developments. 3
11) Possess competence to interpret the new political actors, theories and concepts in a global era. 4
12) Evaluate the legal and ethical implications of advanced technologies on politics. 3