We the People: On Populism and Democracy

Lecture I: What is Populism?

“Populism” has become one of the most wide-spread terms of political analysis, especially in Europe. At the same time, historians, political theorists, and social scientists deeply disagree about the meaning of the concept, with some claiming that there is no such a thing at all, and some dismissing the label “populism” as an attempt to silence all criticisms of really existing liberal democracies. The first lecture will sketch a theory what populism is, as well as an account of how and why populist movements rise and fall.

Jan-Werner Mueller is Professor of Politics at Princeton University, where he is the Founding Director of the Project in the History of Political Thought. From 1996 until 2003 he was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford; from 2003 until 2005 he was a Fellow at the European Studies Centre, St. Antony’s College. Mueller is also co-founder of the European College of Liberal Arts (ECLA), Berlin, for which he served as founding research director. His recent publications include Wo Europa endet: Ungarn, Brüssel und das Schicksal der liberalen Demokratie (2013) and Contesting Democracy: Political Ideas in Twentieth-Century Europe (2011).

Lecture Series
We the People: On Populism and Democracy

26.11.2013, 6:00pm
Lecture II: Intrusions of the People: Ideals of Popular Sovereignty in History

27.11.2013, 6:00pm
Lecture III: Real Problems – and How to Respond to Them

Further Reading/Listening:
“Der Populismus sieht nur demokratisch aus”, Standard, Forschung Spezial, 26.11.2013
Gegen das “böse” Europa, 3sat, Kulturzeit, 26.11.2013
Rechtes Bündnis zur EU-Wahl, Ö1, Mittagsjournal, 26.11.2013

IWM Lectures in Human Sciences

The IWM launched this series of public lectures in 2000 on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Hans Georg Gadamer, supporter of the Institute since its inception. Selected lectures are published in English (Harvard University Press, Cambridge), German (Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin) and Polish (Znak Publishers, Cracow, and Kurhaus Publishers, Warsaw) (see Publications).

Previous speakers included Peter Brown, Vincent Descombes, Claus Offe, Ryszard Kapuscinski, Abraham B. Yehoshua, Cornelia Klinger, Paul Ricoeur and Charles Taylor.

Agenda

“Populism” has become one of the most wide-spread terms of political analysis, especially in Europe. At the same time, historians, political theorists, and social scientists deeply disagree about the meaning of the concept, with some claiming that there is no such a thing at all, and some dismissing the label “populism” as an attempt to silence all criticisms of really existing liberal democracies. The first lecture will sketch a theory what populism is, as well as an account of how and why populist movements rise and fall.

Jan-Werner Mueller is Professor of Politics at Princeton University, where he is the Founding Director of the Project in the History of Political Thought. From 1996 until 2003 he was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford; from 2003 until 2005 he was a Fellow at the European Studies Centre, St. Antony’s College. Mueller is also co-founder of the European College of Liberal Arts (ECLA), Berlin, for which he served as founding research director. His recent publications include Wo Europa endet: Ungarn, Brüssel und das Schicksal der liberalen Demokratie (2013) and Contesting Democracy: Political Ideas in Twentieth-Century Europe (2011).