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This is the fourth course of Specialisation 2: Political Conflict in Modern Europe
(English track International Relations/History).
Back in 1989, democracy seemed to have won the twentieth century by beating its key ideological combatants: fascism, Nazism and communism However, the optimism following the Fall of the Berlin Wall has presently given way to a Europe-wide feeling of uncertainty about the fate and future of democracy. We are stuck in a ‘democratic crisis’, marked by the rise of populist movements, fractured parliaments, a ‘rift between politics and the people’ and the demise of political parties.
However, this democratic crisis is nothing new.. Ever since the establishment of mass democracy by means of the introduction of universal suffrage, democracy has appeared to be in constant crisis.
This course examines three periods that have been experienced as democratic crisis by contemporaries: the rise of fascism, Nazism and communism in the Interwar period; the challenge of the social movements in the 1960s and 1970s; and the surge of populist parties in recent years.
Students conclude the course with an independent research, based on primary source material, of a key historical or current development, event, ideology, party or individual in the history of democracy since 1918. The study must be comparative in nature. Examples of potential source materials include political pamphlets, propaganda materials from election campaigns and parliamentary debates or even newspaper articles and other contributions to public debate.
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