Central European University, Department of Political Science
Spring Term 2016
Comparative populism
Professor Dr. Takis S. Pappas
Email: [email protected]
URL: https://uom-gr.academia.edu/TakisPappas
Time period: 4-15 April 2016
Course level: Graduate (Master’s)
Credits: 2.0
Introduction to the course and objectives
This graduate course focuses on the political nature, mechanics, attributes, and
concrete outcomes of populism in pluralist political systems with a particular emphasis
on modern and contemporary European politics. Its objective is to rigorously review the
most recent developments and state-of-art literature in the booming fields of
comparative populism and illiberal politics. It seeks to familiarize students with the
intricacies of empirically complex – and, for this reason, theoretically challenging –
phenomena, as well as assess their impact on current real politics, be that at specific
national, EU, or world level. The course is both analytical and comparative in scope.
Accordingly, the lectures will be thematic and supported by a large number of concrete
cases of populism taken from several country- and time-contexts. Through our
explorations of a large number of empirical cases, we will draw from several disciplines
besides political science (including history, sociology and cognitive psychology),
methodological approaches, continents, and individual countries. We are moreover
going to examine a broad cross-section of topics; engage in re-conceptualizations; try
to understand the micro-mechanisms of populist emergence; the rationales of the
populist voter; the attributes of populism when in power; and its normative
implications for contemporary liberal democracy.
Course requirements
Besides their active participation in class, students are expected to write either one
research essay of about 3,500-4,000 words or, more preferably, two smaller such essays
of about 1,500-2,000 words each. Please, note that consultation with the lecturer prior
to deciding about your essay topic is required. Course grading will depend on class
participation (40%) and essay quality (60%) in terms of conceptual clarity, analytical
power, theoretical value, and, of course, good language. All papers are due by May 1,
2016 (please send by email to my personal address). No extensions will be granted.
Course outline
1. The field, so far. How have we studied populism?
(NoteBene: This will be a 3-hour class and will include essay assignments to students)
How have scholars from different parts of the world studied populism since this
phenomenon entered the political and social science agenda in the late 1960s? And
how have we tried to conceptualize its main features to this very date? Is it an
ideology? A strategy? A style? A certain discourse? Something else? And, crucially, who
are “the people” in populism?
Readings:
Canovan, Margaret. 2004. "Populism for Political Theorists?" Journal of Political
Ideologies 9(3):241-52.
Gidron, Noam and Bart Bonikowski. 2013. “Varieties of Populism: Literature Review and
Research Agenda.” Working Paper Series. Weatherhead Center for International
Affairs, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Unpublished working paper.
Mudde, Cas. 2004. "The Populist Zeitgeist." Government and Opposition 39(4):542-63.
2 2. Wars of definition, and methodological bugs
Could we, possibly, re-conceptualize populism in a way that is at the same time
minimal and with sufficient discriminatory power, politically relevant, analytically
compelling, operationally feasible, and clearly pointing to an opposite pole? By
understanding populism as “democratic illiberalism,” we pit it against contemporary
liberal democracy and see how the two concepts contrast. We also make populism fully
operational for comparative research.
Readings:
Canovan, Margaret. 1999. "Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of
Democracy." Political Studies 47(1):1-16.
Rooduijn, Matthijs. 2014. "The Nucleus of Populism: In Search of the Lowest Common
Denominator." Government and Opposition 49(4):572-98.
Pappas, Takis S. “Modern Populism: Research Advances, Methodological Pitfalls, and the
Minimal Definition.” In W. Thompson (ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of
Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2015, forthcoming).
Weyland, Kurt. 2001. "Clarifying a Contested Concept: Populism in the Study of Latin
American Politics." Comparative Politics 34(1):1-22.
3. What is populism, and who are the populists?
Populism is an omnipresent, multifaceted, and ideologically boundless phenomenon.
What, then, distinguishes its various manifestations in Europe, Latin America, the
United States, and elsewhere across time (old vs. new populisms), region (western vs.
eastern; but also Nordic, Alpine, Baltic, and Southern European), regime type in which
they develop (democracy vs. non-democracy), and ideological hue (right vs. left
populisms)?
Readings:
Greskovits, Bela. 1995. "Demagogic Populism in Eastern Europe." Telos 102:91-106.
Mansilla, H. C. F. 2011. "Theoretical Approaches to Understanding Contemporary
Populism in Latin America." Revista De Estudios Politicos (152):11-47.
Mudde, Cas and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. 2012b. "Exclusionary Vs. Inclusionary
Populism: Comparing Contemporary Europe and Latin America." Government and
Opposition 48(02):147-74.
Williamson, Vanessa, Theda Skocpol and John Coggin. 2011. "The Tea Party and the
Remaking of Republican Conservatism." Perspectives on Politics 9(01):25-43.
4. Populist emergence: The mechanics
When, and under which conditions, do populist leaders, movements or parties, and
3 even entire illiberal polities emerge? This class provides an integrated analytical
framework for understanding the rise of populism in the seemingly different contexts of
Europe and Latin America. It also points to the importance of social resentment
politicization, new cleavage formation, and intense polarization.
Readings:
Barr, R. R. 2009. "Populists, Outsiders and Anti-Establishment Politics." Party Politics
15(1):29-48.
Enyedi, Zsolt. 2005. "The Role of Agency in Cleavage Formation." European Journal of
Political Research 44(5):697-720.
Palonen, E. 2009. "Political Polarisation and Populism in Contemporary Hungary."
Parliamentary Affairs 62(2):318-34.
Pappas, T. S. 2012. “Populism Emergent: A Framework for Analyzing Its Contexts,
Mechanics, and Outcomes.” European University Institute, Florence, Italy.
Unpublished Working Paper.
5. Where populism fails to emerge?
After their almost simultaneous transition to pluralist politics, Greece and Spain
countries followed a seemingly similar course of democratic consolidation based on
modernization and Europeanization. However, one of them, Greece, became imbued
with populism, while the other, Spain, remained until recently populism-free. We use
these cases as country-laboratories for understanding the specific causal (and, most
often, agency-related) mechanisms that may trigger populism or, when such
mechanisms fail to get activated, end up with a non-populist effect.
Readings:
Elephantis, Angelos. 1981. "Pasok and the Elections of 1977: The Rise of the Populist
Movement." Pp. 105-29 in Greece at the Polls: The National Elections of 1974 and
1977, edited by H. R. Penniman. Washington, DC: American Entrerprise Institute
for Public Policy.
Errejón, Iñigo. 2014. "Spain's Podemos: Inside View of a Radical Left Sensation."
Retrieved 2014 (http://links.org.au/node/3969).
Molinas, César. 2012. "Theory of Spain's Political Class." in El País. Madrid.
Royo, S. 2014. "Institutional Degeneration and the Economic Crisis in Spain." American
Behavioral Scientist 58(12):1568-91.
6. Are populist leaders charismatic?
How does charismatic leadership relate to, and work on, populism? And how much does it
account for the latter’s continuing success? While several authors have considered
4 charismatic leadership an essential feature of populism, empirical evidence suggests
otherwise. This class includes a theoretical reconceptualization of political charisma and
its empirical application to a large number of cases from both Europe and Latin America.
Readings:
Kalyvas, Andreas. 2002. "Charismatic Politics and the Symbolic Foundations of Power in
Max Weber." New German Critique 85:67-103.
Merolla, J. L. and E. J. Zechmeister. 2011. "The Nature, Determinants, and
Consequences of Chavez's Charisma: Evidence from a Study of Venezuelan Public
Opinion." Comparative Political Studies 44(1):28-54.
Pappas, Takis S. 2008. "Political Leadership and the Emergence of Radical Mass
Movements in Democracy." Comparative Political Studies 41(8):1117-40.
van der Brug, Wouter and Anthony Mughan. 2007. "Charisma, Leader Effects and
Support for Right-Wing Populist Parties." Party Politics 13(1):29-51.
7. The populist discourse: Symbolic frames
Populist emergence requires a ‘master narrative’, that is, the utilization of symbolic
frames for constructing a new political reality in which the (virtuous) ‘people’ is set
against some (evil) ‘elite’. What it takes for such a novel construction to emerge out of
old politics in which objective cleavages seemed to be long solidified? And how are
populist majorities produced?
Readings:
Brysk, Allison. 1995. "Hearts and Minds: Bringing Symbolic Politics Back In." Polity
27(4):559-86.
Jagers, Jan and Stefaan Walgrave. 2007. "Populism as Political Communication Style:
An Empirical Study of Political Parties' Discourse in Belgium." European Journal
of Political Research 46(3):319-45.
Rajacic, Agnes. 2007. "Populist Construction of the Past and Future: Emotional
Campaigning in Hungary between 2002 and 2006." East European Politics and
Societies 21(4):639-60.
Zuquete, J. P. 2008. "The Missionary Politics of Hugo Chavez." Latin American Politics
and Society 50(1):91-121.
8. The populist voter: A mind-frame analysis
What are the determinants of voting motivation for populist parties? And how do they
differ from voting mainstream parties? We examine theories of ideological voting;
socioeconomic voting; policy voting; party leader voting; protest voting; strategic
5 voting, and examine their predictive values. We then turn the tables and focus on
societies’ “systematically biased beliefs” where populism is strong.
Readings:
Akkerman, A., C. Mudde and A. Zaslove. 2013. "How Populist Are the People? Measuring
Populist Attitudes in Voters." Comparative Political Studies.
Kahneman, Daniel and Amos Tversky. 1979. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision
Under Risk." Econometrica 47(2):263-92.
Lupu, N. 2010. "Who Votes for Chavismo? Class Voting in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela."
Latin American Research Review 45(1):7-32.
Mayer, Nonna and Pascal Perrineau. 1992. "Why Do They Vote for Le Pen?". European
Journal of Political Economy 22(1):123-41.
9. Populism in office: Populist democracies
What happens once the populists come into office, as has happened several times in
both Europe and Latin America? This class introduces populist democracy as a novel
democratic subtype indicating a situation in which both the party in office and the
major opposition are populist. It analyzes the particular stages and causal mechanisms
of it, and asks whether it is an endemic or more permanent phenomenon.
Readings:
Corrales, Javier and Michael Penfold-Becerra. 2007. "Venezuela: Crowding out the
Opposition." Journal of Democracy 18(2):99-113.
Corrales, Javier. 2011. "Why Polarize? Advantages and Disadvantages of Rational-Choice
Analysis of Government-Opposition Relations in Venezuela." Pp. 67-97 in The
Revolution in Venezuela: Social and Political Change under Chávez, edited by T.
Ponniah and J. Eastwood.
Kalyvas, Stathis N. 1997. "Polarization in Greek Politics: Pasok's First Four Years, 19811985." Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 23(1):83-104.
Pappas, Takis S. 2014. "Populist Democracies: Post-Authoritarian Greece and PostCommunist Hungary." Government and Opposition 49(1):1-23.
10. Normative implications: The good, the bad, and the Hungarian
Turning to contemporary political developments (such as the concurrent elections for
the European Parliament], this class asks: Is populism a pathological phenomenon or a
most authentic form of political representation? Dow does it matter? Does it all tell us
something about the different qualities of democracy in (various pasts of) Europe and
Latin America? And how does this discussion relate to ‘electoral authoritarianism’?
Readings:
6 Abts, Koen and Stefan Rummens. 2007. "Populism Versus Democracy." Political Studies
55(2):405-24.
Canovan, Margaret. 2002. "Taking Politics to the People: Populism as the Ideology of
Democracy." Pp. 25-44 in Democracies and the Populist Challenge, edited by Y.
Mény and Y. Surel. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Krastev, Ivan. 2007. "The Strange Death of the Liberal Consensus." Journal of
Democracy 18(4):56-63.
Mounk, Yascha. 2014. "Pitchfork Politics: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy."
Foreign Affairs (5 (September/October)):27-36.
Slater, Dan. 2013. "Democratic Careening." World Politics 65(04):729-63.
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