| Kommentar |
Politics in the United States seem to be shaped more and more by populist messages that try to divide the American public into different groups, all guided by incommensurate ideas. The current president has successfully used polarization and populism as tools to energize his base during his presidential campaign and since taking the oath of office. However, polarization, the trend towards more coherent political blocks on the left and right, already started in the 1980's. It is fueled by a number of social, economic and political trends that characterize the modern United States. Trump's ascension to the top of the Republican Party and the American presidency seems to be the pinnacle of this trend. But, will it last? In this course we will examine the roots of modern American populism, tribalism and polarization, as well as look at the effects of these phenomenon on various policies and the American polity at large. |
| Literatur |
Schier/Eberly: Polarized. The Rise of Ideology in American Politics, Lanham u.a. 2016.
Theriault: Party Polarization in Congress, Cambridge 2008.
Kaltwasser/Mudde: Populism. A Very Short Introduction, New York 2017.
Hofstadter: The Paranoid Style in American Politics, New York 1967. |
| Bemerkung |
Hinweis:
Wer die erste Sitzung der Lehrveranstaltung versäumt, ohne sich vorher schriftlich oder persönlich zu entschuldigen, kann den Anspruch auf einen Platz in der LV verlieren, wenn es mehr Interessenten als Plätze gibt. Dies gilt ungeachtet der Platzzuweisung durch Friedolin und ist im Einklang mit der grundsätzlichen Aufhebung der Anwesenheitspflicht. |
