Prof Chetan Bhatt

This course is available on the MSc in Human Rights, MSc in Human Rights and Politics, MSc in Political Sociology and MSc in Sociology. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access). Places are allocated based on a written statement. Priority will be given to students on the MSc in Human Rights, MSc in Human Rights and Politics, MSc in Political Sociology and MSc in Sociology. This may mean that not all students who apply will be able to get a place on this course.

In this course, we examine the global rise over the last decade of authoritarian populist, neo-fascist, neo-Nazi and ethno-supremacist movements, leaders and states, and we consider the threats they pose for international human rights.  The course is international in scope and subject matter. Its approach is interdisciplinary, and we will be drawing on political, sociological and philosophical disciplines during the course.  We will cover key developments in Eastern and Western Europe, North and South America, India, the Philippines and other regions.  We will look at older and contemporary academic debates about the nature of populism and fascism.  The course aims to move beyond the conceptual limitations of many recent academic debates, and you will have an opportunity to apply new and developing conceptual frameworks to understand particular far-right phenomenon. In addition to country and regional case studies, we will cover a range of themes, including: the nature of authoritarian populism in the West and the Global South; the international organization of neo-Nazism and neo-Fascism (including the ‘alt right’, the ‘alt lite’, QAnon, the European New Right and the counterjihad movement); authoritarian populist governance in Brazil, India, Argentina and the Philippines; new media and the transformation of political communication; knowledge and truth in authoritarian populist discourse; the assaults on minorities; and the consequences for political liberalism, democracy and international human rights.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops and online materials, totalling a minimum of 20 hours in the AT.

Reading Weeks: Students on this course will have a reading week in AT Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

One 1,000 word essay outline chosen from a set list of questions, and which is to be handed in during the middle of the term in which the course is taught.  Feedback on formative work will be provided in individual face to face meetings in written and verbal form; general formative feedback will also be provided during seminars.

• Werner-Muller, J. (2017), What is Populism?, Penguin.
• Mudde, C. ed. (2016), The Populist Radical Right, Routledge.
• Heydarian, Richard (2017), The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt against Elite Democracy, Palgrave.
• Kendzior, Sarah (2020), Hiding in Plain Sight: the invention of Donald Trump and the erosion of America, Flatiron.
• Gudavarthy, Ajay (2018), India After Modi: Populism and the Right, Bloomsbury.
• Smith, Terry (2020), Whitelash: unmasking white grievance at the ballot box, Cambridge University Press.
• Foley, Conor (2019), In Spite of You: Bolsonaro and the New Brazilian Resistance, OR Books.
• Snyder, Timothy (2017), On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Bodley Head.
• Berezin, Mabel (2009), Illiberal Politics in Neoliberal Times: culture, security and populism in the new Europe, Cambridge University Press.
• Chatterjee, Partha (2019), I Am the People: Reflections on Popular Sovereignty Today, Columbia University Press.

Project (100%, 4000 words) in the WT.

A 4,000 word project that you will undertake independently. The project can be a conceptual or theoretical essay or it can be an application of ideas, concepts and content from across the course to an analysis of a specific contemporary or historical case, event, theme or visual material. The project will be based on a question or title that you will agree with the course convenor. The project must be based directly on themes and topics covered in this course. Detailed guidance on what makes for a strong project and the main criteria for its assessment will be provided to you during the course.

Attendance at all seminars and submission of all set coursework is required.