Annotation
Teaching method
All reading material and assignments will be available via Moodle. Link for the teams is included below, Moodle is available for sign-up but will also be emailed to registered students.
Course Times: Monday (15:30 - 16:50) & (17:00 - 18:20)
Office Hours: Tuesday (14:00 - 15:30), or by request via email/in person. Office hours will be held in online sessions, with the link shared in Moodle. Other accommodations can be made by individual request.
Appointments are made on https://konzultace.fsv.cuni.cz/reservation/default.
Lecturer: Jonathan Collins - Jonathan.Collins@fsv.cuni.cz
Course description
The rise of the far-right is reshaping the political and social lives of the world in which we live. From the Trump era of hate politics, Europe’s embrace of populist rhetoric, and the subsequent worldwide inspirations ranging from Modi’s India to Bolsonaro’s Brazil, and Bennett’s Israel, there is an unquestionable growth in the popularity of far-right politics. On the social and violent side, cases of right-wing extremism, terrorism, and online hate activism have been at all-time highs. These figures include perpetrators emulating past atrocities, street violence and protests against COVID measures, growing beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation, and increasing hate crimes against minority communities (Muslims, Jewish, LGBTQ, Romani, and more). Fuelling the phenomena is the far-right’s avid use of the internet to promote pseudo-societal messages.
This course offers students an exploratory lens into the different mechanisms of the far-right in the political, social, and violent realm. We will start with a broad overview of the term far-right, the ideologies guiding the movement, and the causes, then branch off, covering many topics. These subjects include the adamant use of populism and its inspirations across the globe, the mainstreaming of far-right politicians and discourse, the manipulation of social media to spread harmful messages and commit virtual hate crimes, the growth of right-wing extremism and the use of the online world to promote terrorism, and the practical challenges and opportunities to stop this growing phenomenon. Most importantly, by the end of the class, students will have a multi-dimensional understanding of the many faces of the far-right.
This is a course which is geared towards students in Security Studies. Thus, the different lenses covered will be through this disciplines paradigm.