The course aims to introduce students to central concepts within comparative politics and to increase their ability to apply these concepts to empirical cases
Compulsory Handbook:
S. Vassallo, Sistemi politici comparati, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2016.
1 volume within the following list:
• Gianfranco Pasquino (2018), Deficit Democratici. Cosa manca ai sistemi politici, alle istituzioni e ai leader, Università Bocconi Editore.
• Gianluca Passarelli, Dario Tuorto, La Lega di Salvini. Estrema destra di governo (Il Mulino 2018).
• Piero Ignazi, Paola Bordandini (2018), I muscoli del partito. Il ruolo dei quadri intermedi nella politica atrofizzata
• Jan-Werner Muller (2017), Cos'è il populismo, Milano: Università Bocconi Editore.
• Enrico Calossi (2016), Anti-Austerity Left Parties in the European Union. Competition, Coordination, Integration, Pisa: Pisa University Press.
• Andrea Pirro (2015), The Populist Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe: Ideology, Impact, and Electoral Performance, London: Routledge.
• Luca Germano, Pietro Grilli di Cortona, Orazio Lanza (eds.) (2014), Come cadono i regimi non democratici, Napoli: Editoriale Scientifica.
• Arend Lijphart (2001), Le democrazie contemporanee, Il Mulino.
• Sergio Fabbrini (2011), Addomesticare il principe. Perché i leader contano e come controllarli, Marsilio.
Bibliography (6 credits): Handbook + 1 volume within the above mentioned list
Bibliography (3CFU): Handbook only
Active participants (criteria detailed at "Teaching programme"):
1) Introduction to comparative politics
Compulsory readings:
• Giovanni Sartori, “Comparing and Miscomparing”, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 3(3): 243 – 257.
• Arend Lijphart, “Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method”, The American Political Science Review, 65(3): 682-693.
• R. Yin, Case-study.Research. Design and methods, Sage 2009 (1-21).
Optional reading:
• L. Morlino, Introduzione alla ricerca comparata, Il Mulino, 2005.
2) Populism and populists
2.1 Historical overview
Compulsory reading:
• MARCO TARCHI (2015), Italia populista. Dal qualunquismo a Beppe Grillo, Il Mulino (Capitolo II: L'ospite scomodo della democrazia. Dal prototipo poujadista all'ondata euroscettica).
2.2 The concept
Compulsory readings:
• Marco Tarchi (2015), Italia populista. Dal qualunquismo a Beppe Grillo, Il Mulino (Capitolo: I. Un concetto inafferrabile? Il populismo e il «complesso di Cenerentola»)
• Cas Mudde (2004). The Populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition 39(3): 541-563.
• Cas Mudde, Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser (2013). Exclusionary vs. Inclusionary Populism: Comparing the Contemporary Europe and Latin America. Government and Opposition, 48(2): 147-174.
• Mattia Zulianello, (2017). I populismi del XXI secolo, in ‘Atlante Geopolitico Treccani 2017’, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, Roma, pp. 290-307.
Optional texts:
• Noam Gidron and Bart Bonikowski (2013), Varieties of Populism: Literature Review and Research Agenda, Working Paper Series, No. 13-0004.
• Damir Skenderovic (2017), “Populism: a history of the concept”, in Reinhard Heinisch, Christina Holtz-Bacha, and Oscar Mazzoleni (eds.), Political Populism. A Handbook, Nomos, pp. 41-58.
2.3. The context
Compulsory readings:
• Reinhard Heinisch and Oscar Mazzoleni (2017), “Analysing and explaining populism: bringing frame,actor and context back in”, in Reinhard Heinisch, Christina Holtz-Bacha, and Oscar Mazzoleni (eds.), Political Populism. A Handbook, Nomos, pp. 105-122.
• Vlastimil Havlík and Miroslav Mareš (2017), “Sociocultural legacies in post-transition societies in Central and Eastern Europe and the relationship to the resurgence of right-wing extremism and populism in the region”, in Reinhard Heinisch, Christina Holtz-Bacha, and Oscar Mazzoleni (eds.), Political Populism. A Handbook, Nomos, pp. 181-193.
• Trevor J Allen (2017). All in the party family? Comparing far right voters in Western and Post-Communist Europe. Party Politics, 23(3):274-285.
Optional reading:
• Kathleen A. and Ryan Winter Montgomery, (2015). Explaining the Religion Gap in Support for Radical Right Parties in Europe. Politics and Religion, 8(2): 379-403.
• Hilde and Marieke Voorpostel Coffé, (2010). Young People, Parents and Radical Right Voting. The Case of the Swiss People’s Party. Electoral Studies, 29(3): 435-443.
• Geoffrey and Jonathan Mellon Evans, (2015). Working Class Votes and Conservative Losses: Solving the UKIP Puzzle. Parliamentary Affairs, 69(2): 464-479.
• Eelco Harteveld, Wouter Van Der Brug, Stefan Dahlberg and Andrej Kokkonen (2015), The gender gap in populist radical-right voting: examining the demand side in Western and Eastern Europe. Patterns of Prejudice, 49 (1-2): 103-134.
• Maria Oskarson, and Marie Demker (2015). Room for Realignment: The Working-class Sympathy for Sweden Democrats. Government and Opposition, 50(4): 629-651.
• Luis Ramiro, (2016). Support for radical left parties in Western Europe: Social background, ideology and political orientations. European Political Science Review, 8(1): 1-23.
2.4. The many faces of populism
Mandatory readings:
• Reinhard Heinisch and Oscar Mazzoleni (2017) “Comparing Populist Organizations”, in Reinhard Heinisch and Oscar Mazzoleni (eds.), Understanding Populist Party Organization, Routledge, pp. 221- 246.
• Gilles Ivaldi, Maria Elisabetta Lanzone, Dwayne Woods (2017), “Varieties of Populism across a Left-Right Spectrum: The Case of the Front National, the Northern League, Podemos and Five Star Movement. Swiss Political Science Review, 2017, 23 (4), pp.354-376.
• Agnes Akkerman, Andrej Zaslove and Bram Spruyt (2017). ‘We the People’ or ‘We the Peoples’? A Comparison of Support for the Populist Radical Right and Populist Radical Left in the Netherlands. Swiss Political Science Review, 23(4): 377–403.
• Gianluca Passarelli, Dario Tuorto (2016). The Five Star Movement: Purely a matter of protest? The rise of a new party between political discontent and reasoned voting. Party Politics, https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068816642809.
• Sandra Vergari (2017), “Contemporary Populism in the United States”, in Reinhard Heinisch, Christina Holtz-Bacha, and Oscar Mazzoleni (eds.), Political Populism. A Handbook, Nomos, pp. 241-255.
• María Esperanza Casullo and Flavia Freidenberg (2017), “Populist and programmatic parties in Latin American Party Systems”, in Reinhard Heinisch, Christina Holtz-Bacha, and Oscar Mazzoleni (eds.), Political Populism. A Handbook, Nomos, pp. 275-290.
3) Conclusions: Quo vadis populism?
Mandatory readings:
• Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2018). Studying Populism in Comparative Perspective: Reflections on the Contemporary and Future Research Agenda. Comparative Political Studies, 0010414018789490
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, the student is expected to:
- have acquired a good knowledge and understanding of the main theories and concepts of comparative politics
- have acquired skills to apply comparative toolkits empirically.
-have acquired a up-date knowledge of Western and esatern European political systems.
- have acquired a good ability to identify the research design: the formulation of problems, the variables under scrutiny, the literature review.
- be able to critically assess the literature.
Prerequisites
Course to be included in the student's programme after the completion of the course of Political Science (1st year BA).
Medium level English (reading and spoken).
Teaching Methods
The course consists of lectures and seminars provided by students and visiting professors on specific topics.
The language of instruction is Italian. Students are encouraged to make their powerpoint presentation and papers in English.
Further information
Reading of international press.
Students with special needs or students that cannot attend classes are kindly required to contact S. Soare for a specially designed meeting in loco o via skype.
Type of Assessment
Non active students/non-attendant students: i) written exam (open questions)
ii) review of an academic text (one of the volumes included in the bibliography). Please check for details the Italian version.
Course program
Corso sperimentale tematico: I volti del populismo. Una visione comparata
Il programma:
1. Presentazione del corso – 2H
2. Seminario: Come strutturare una ricerca – 2H
3. Introduzione alla politica comparata – 8H
4. Approfondimento populismo e populismi -20H
5. Attività seminariale studenti – 14H
6. Q&A: approfondimenti, chiarimenti, suggerimenti – 2H