Advanced Topics in Contentious Politics: Democracies, Autocracies and Repertoires of Contention
Programma
This course is an intensive, advanced seminar designed to complement, extend, and offer new perspectives on the themes typical of graduate-level courses in social and political movements. Its organization traces the various dimensions of the political and social institutions of the modern high-capacity states—in both democracies and autocracies—and their relation to the dynamics of mobilization and social-movement repertoires. Students will be asked to situate their knowledge of social movement mobilization within changing contexts of social and political institutions: political parties, extremist groups, SMOs, civil society groups, quotidian social relations, and ponder how, in the twenty-first century, the social media milieus are evolving with AI.
Obiettivi formativi
The course would expose students to major theoretical debates, methodological approaches, and empirical research traditions that are central to contemporary social movement studies but are not currently fully represented in the curriculum. In particular, it would strengthen students’ understanding of comparative and transnational approaches to contentious politics, while providing valuable insights into European research traditions and their dialogue with North American scholarship.