B2996 - Populist Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing students with a thorough understanding of the changing nature of politics, institutional dynamics, and democratic participation in East Central Europe — focusing on the phenomenon of populism. Particular attention will be given to the cases of Hungary and Poland.

Course contents

The course content:

1. Introduction to populism and illiberalism in Central and Eastern Europe.

2. Methodology and theory of populism: how to define and measure populism in CEE?

3. Populist actors in CEE

4. Different shades of populism: Populism & Identity/Memory Politics

5. Different shades of populism: Populism & Religion in CEE

6. Different shades of populism: Populism & Foreign Policy

7. Case study: Populist Euroscepticism in Poland

8. Populism in CEE – case studies from the region (Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria)

9. Concluding session: populism in Europe – do we face a East–West divide?

Readings/Bibliography

Mudde, C. and Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2017) Populism: A Very Short Introduction

Máthé-Tóth, A.; Nagy, G; Szilárdy, R. (2020): Populism and religion in Central and Eastern Europe. Belvedere Meridionale vol. 32. no. 3. 19–30.

Styczyńska, N. & Meijer, J.D. (2023) The ‘pure Polish people’ vs the ‘European elite’ – how do populism and Euroscepticism interact in Polish politics?, Journal of Contemporary European Studies

Havlík V. and Hloušek V. (2021) Differential Illiberalism: Classifying Illiberal Trends in Central European Party Politics, in: Astrid Lorenz and Lisa H. Anders (eds) Illiberal Trends and Anti-EU Politics in East Central Europe, Plagrave

Kopper, A., Szalai, A., Góra, M. (2023). Populist Foreign Policy in Central and Eastern Europe: Poland, Hungary and the Shock of the Ukraine Crisis. In: Giurlando, P., Wajner, D.F. (eds) Populist Foreign Policy. Global Foreign Policy Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22773-8_4

Hooghe, L., Marks, G., Bakker, R., Jolly, S., Polk, J., Rovny, J., Steenbergen, M., & Vachudova, M. A. (2024). The Russian threat and the consolidation of the West: How populism and EU-skepticism shape party support for Ukraine. European Union Politics, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14651165241237136

Teaching methods

Lecture with visual presentation (ppt, video) and seminar (including student projects, presentation, analyses of speeaches). The final session will include an in-class mini-quiz.

Assessment methods

The final grade of the course consists of 3 elements: (1) in-class presentation 20%, (2) in-class text analyses 20%, (3) mini quiz 20%, (4) final essay 40%.

Guidelines and deadlines for a final essay will be given separately.

Office hours

See the website of Natasza Maja Styczynska