6/10 Introduction + Cleavages in Europe: religious, ethnic, economic, social
Discussion about main cleavages in European society and their changes in recent years
Kriesi, H., Restructuration of Partisan Politics and the Emergence of a New Cleavage Based on Values, West European Politics, 33:3, 2010, pp. 673-685.
Minkenberg, M., Religion and Euroscepticism: Cleavages, Religious Parties and Churches in EU Member States, West European Politics, 32:6, 2009, pp. 1190-1211. 13/10 Current Populism in Europe
Discussion about main populist topics and actors in contemporary Europe
Kriesi, Hanspeter. 2014. "The Populist Challenge". West European Politics 37, 2, 361-378.
Mudde, Cas. 2004. „The Populist Zeitgeist“. Government and Opposition 39, 4: 542-563. 20/10 Post-communist countries: a successful transformation?
Discussion about how the post-communist countries performed during the process of transformation towards democracy and how they are doing now.
Kitschelt, H., Mansfeldová, Z., Post-Communist Party Systems, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 19-42.
Ágh, A., Increasing europopulism as a megatrend in East Central Europe: from facade democracies to velvet dictatorship, Baltic Journal of Political Science, Vol. 5, 2016, pp. 21-39. 3/11 Democratic Consolidation and Backsliding