Module POL3256 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL3256: Trumping the Mainstream: The Populist Radical Right and Democratic politics
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics.
- The first few classes provides the conceptual basis for the rest of the course. Drawing on contemporary political theory and the history of political ideas, they place the evolving meaning of key concepts such as "The People", populism, the PRR, and differences between democracy and authoritarianism in historical perspective. This first part of the class also provides a comparative overview of key trends and patterns of success in the rise of the PRR claims and parties over the past few decades in the West.
- The second part of the module focuses on major demand and supply-side factors that help explain the trends outlined in Part 1. These classes will examine a variety of factors such as the role of social change and modernization theory, the agency of radical political forces, the impact of a changing media landscape and the responsibility of mainstream political actors.
- The last part of the module turns to present and future trends, focusing on both the consequences of radical right populism for democratic politics and the ways in which these consequences might be answered, for instance through institutional engineering, the emergence of national political alternatives or transnational forms of politics.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
44 | 256 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 44 | 22 x 2 hour per week seminars including small group work, presentations, and class discussion |
Guided independent study | 126 | Reading |
Guided independent study | 64 | Case study writing |
Guided independent study | 20 | Presentation preparation |
Guided independent study | 50 | Essay writing |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Class Presentation | 15 minutes | 1-6 | Oral |
General seminar participation and engagement in group work | Throughout course | 1-6 | Oral |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay | 50 | 3000 words | 1-6 | Written and verbal |
Case study exercises | 50 | 6 x 500 words assignments | 1-6 | Written and verbal |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Essay | Essay (4,000 words) | 1-6 | August/September reassessment period |
Case study exercises | Case-study mini essays (3 x 1000 words) | 1-6 | August/September reassessment period |
Re-assessment notes
For the case study exercises, the re-assessment will consist in 3x1000 word mini essays on three out of the six case study questions.
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Akkerman, Tjitske, Sarah L. de Lange, and Matthijs Rooduijn, eds (2016) Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe, Into the Mainstream? Abingdon, New York: Routledge.
Canovan, Margaret. 2005. The people , Key concepts (Polity Press) . Cambridge: Polity.
Hay, Colin (2007), Why We Hate Politics , Cambridge: Polity.
Horwitz, Robert Britt (2013) America's right: anti-establishment conservatism from Goldwater to the Tea Party : Cambridge: Polity.
Linz, Juan J. 2000. Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes . Boulder, CO: Boulder, CO : Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Mudde, Cas (2007) Populist radical right parties in Europe . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Norris, Pippa (2005) Radical right: voters and parties in the electoral market . New York: Cambridge University Press.
Panizza, Francisco (ed.) (2005), Populism and the Mirror of Democracy, London: Verso.
Pirro, Andrea L. P (2015) The populist radical right in Central and Eastern Europe: ideology, impact, and electoral performance: London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Rosenthal, L., & Trost, C. (Eds.) (2012) Steep: the precipitous rise of the Tea Party . Berkeley, London: University of California Press.
Schäfer, Armin, and Wolfgang Streeck, eds. 2013. Politics in the age of austerity . Edited by Polity. Cambridge.
Skocpol, T., & Williamson, V. (2012). The Tea Party and the remaking of Republican conservatism . New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press