As the world tries to grapple with the strong showing of right-wing populist parties in a growing number of countries and the mainstreaming of far right discourses by the political center, issues of culture, identity, immigration and gender are once again at the forefront of public discussion. The aim of this highly topical course is to provide an introduction to key debates on nationalism, populism, identity politics and gender within the broader framework of the crisis of liberal democracy and culture wars. Some of the questions that will be addressed in this context are: is nationalism resurgent, or are we witnessing the emergence of a new type of nationalism? Should we treat White nationalism, National Conservatism, Christian nationalism as forms of identity politics? How do populism and identity politics feed off and into each other? Is the Left captured by a new form of illiberal progressivism, or what some call the “woke”? What lies behind the appeal of anti-immigrant, anti-globalist movements? Do the electoral successes of far right parties and anti-systemic actors like Geert Wilders and Javier Milei signal the end of liberal democracy as we know it?

Avaluació

To obtain full credit, students should attend all classes, complete the weekly reading material before each class and take active part in class discussions. The final grade will be based on three components: oral presentation (25%), one book review (25%) and one final paper (50%). 

Presentation (25%)

A 15-20 minutes presentation to introduce a topic of your choice (see below for the full list of topics that will be covered during the course). 

Response paper (25%)

To be submitted electronically to the instructor. 1000 words long (double space, Times New Roman, Word document). 

Final Paper (50%)

To be submitted electronically to the instructor. 3000 words long (double space, Times New Roman, Word document). The final paper should be a theoretically informed case study of your choice, subject to prior consent by the instructor.

LATE SUBMISSIONS

When an assignment is submitted after the due date, it may be accepted, but a penalty of 0.5 points must be applied for each day of accumulated delay (that is, deducting 0.5 from the grade for day from the submission deadline indicated by the professor). The reason is to promote the fulfillment of the commitments by the students as well as the equitable treatment for the rest of the students who submit their work on time.