The Rise of Authoritarian-Populism
DPI-418
Pippa Norris
Fall 2025
When/where: TBA, HKS
First class:
Last class:
See the Fall 2023 DPI418 syllabus (The Fall 2025 revised syllabus will be available 1 Aug 2025)
Aims and Objectives
The rise of Authoritarian-Populism in recent years has generated new challenges in the United States, in many other similar societies and long-established democracies, such as the US, UK, Germany, Israel, Italy, Greece, Italy, Sweden and France, as well as in states worldwide, such as Venezuela, Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, and India.
What explains the rise of these forces?
What are the consequences?
And what can be done to mitigate the risks?
This course analyzes these issues from a comparative perspective, to understand American politics in a global context. The course covers:
(i) The core concepts and meanings of populism and authoritarianism, and the classification of populist parties and leaders;
(ii) Explanations focused on the 'demand-side' role of cultural value change, economic grievances, and patterns of immigration, and the 'supply-side' role of electoral rules and party competition;
(iii) The impact on the civic culture, the policy agenda and liberal democracy; and
(iv) Alternative strategic policy responses.
The course is assessed through two papers. There are no prerequisites for taking the class. Materials will be added as the semester progresses via the Canvass course website.
Pedagogy
The course will use four main methods of instruction and learning: see the syllabus for details.
Weekly class discussion sessions,
Weekly asynchronous pre-class lecture video and readings
Weekly live online peer-learning workgroups
Office hours: individual by signup appointment via zoom