teaching

2023-2024

1. ● Political Conflict in Western and Eastern Europe, Politikwissenschaft – Master, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Institute of Political Science, Heidelberg, Germany
   Abs syllabus

   The social and institutional bases of political conflict in Europe are in a state of flux. The declining electoral support of mainstream parties, such as the Social Democrats, and the rise of new parties, such as the Greens and the radical right, point to a fundamental shift in the composition of post-war electoral coalitions. Class-based mobilization and conflicts over welfare state policies are less influential in driving political behavior. Preferences over immigration, Europe, or climate change are forming new group-based alliances that cut across economic considerations and realign the social basis of politics. Scholars disagree about the driving forces behind these developments, with explanations ranging from re-alignment rooted in a backlash against globalization to de-alignment resulting from increasing individualization. This seminar will examine these explanations through the lens of cleavage politics. We will first conceptualize and discuss the measurement of political cleavages. We differentiate between quantitative and qualitative approaches. Second, we zoom in on the sociological, identity, and organizational elements of the new cleavage. We devote separate sessions to all three aspects. Third, we focus on mobilizing actors. We discuss the transformation of social democracy and the increasing popularity of green and radical right parties. Fourth, we map the geographical variations within Europe and expand the analysis to the Central and Eastern European region. Fifth, in the final sessions of the seminar, we discuss the role of crises in driving cleavage formation, using the examples of the Great Recession, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the War in Ukraine as case studies.

2. ● Introduction to Political Participation Research, Politikwissenschaft – Bachelor, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Institute of Political Science, Heidelberg, Germany
   Abs syllabus

   Democracy depends on the active participation of engaged citizens in electing their representatives and shaping the political landscape by holding policymakers accountable. However, forms of political engagement are constantly expanding as citizens and organizations seek to innovate their repertoire of participation. The first part of the seminar will discuss the conceptual and empirical challenge of defining and measuring political participation. We will distinguish and review quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of political participation. Since citizen participation empowers and sets the agenda of governing institutions and elected officials, those who participate directly affect inequalities in whose interests are represented. The second part of the seminar is devoted to this question and examines the predictors of political participation. We examine the role of socio-demographic, attitudinal, and value-based differences in driving political engagement. We also organize an in-class debate on the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory voting. Despite their importance, differences between individual citizens only partly explain patterns of political participation. The final three sessions of the seminar discuss the role of the issue, organizational, and national contexts in influencing the extent and form of political participation.

2022-2023

1. ● Cleavage Politics and Group Appeals Europe, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
   Abs syllabus

   Under pressure from increasing political instability and societal challenges, there is a renewed interest in the social basis of contemporary politics. The declining electoral support of mainstream political parties, like the Social -, and Christian Democrats, and the rise of new parties, such as the greens and the radical right, indicate a fundamental shift in the makeup of the post-war electoral coalitions. Class-based mobilization and conflict over welfare state policies are less influential in driving political behavior. Preferences over immigration, Europe, or climate change form new, group-based alliances that crosscut economic considerations and realign the social basis of politics. Others disagree and consider the contemporary dynamics a result of individualization that, although it leads to the crumbling and de-alignment of traditional political identities, does not give rise to a new, cohesive social force to re-structure political behavior.
   The seminar focuses on cleavage politics: conflict stemming from deep and lasting divides between social groups. Among others, we examine cleavage formation, the social forces driving electoral support, historical legacies, the role of crisis and critical junctures, the dimensional alignment of political issues, the sociological basis of traditional and new cleavages, mobilization in party and protest politics, the role of agency in cleavage formation, and the use of group appeals by political entrepreneurs. Next to theories on cleavage politics and group appeals, the seminar emphasizes the methodological approaches applied in empirical studies, highlighting their potential to be used by students during their research for their MA thesis. We rely on literature primarily focused on Western Europe, but we also review studies on the political dynamics in Eastern Europe, North America, and South America.

2. ● Electoral and Protest Dynamics in Western and Eastern Europe, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
   Abs syllabus

   The seminar focuses on electoral and protest politics from a comparative European perspective. Although the study of elections and protests covers mobilization by the main collective actors of political parties and social movements in the two arenas of direct citizen involvement, research in this field has been characterized by disciplinary silos. Political science focuses on political parties and representation, while the political sociology tradition examines social movements, protest politics, and political participation. Few studies examine the manifold interaction between electoral and protest politics, leaving a research gap highlighted by recent developments in party competition in Western and Eastern Europe. Parties such as La République En Marche! in France, Fidesz in Hungary, and Die Linke in Germany invest considerable effort into developing an organic link with protest movements and civil society organizations. The seminar bridges political science and sociological approaches to provide a holistic assessment of electoral and protest mobilization.
   The seminar is divided into four parts. The first three parts are distinguished based on the level of analysis, with separate sessions devoted to micro-, macro-, and meso-level approaches. In the first part, we ask, who participates and in what form? In the second part, we ask, what are the main cross-national differences in cleavage structures across Europe, and how can we explain them? In the third part, we ask, which are the actors that mobilize in elections or protests, how, and on what issues? In the fourth part of the seminar, we focus on the role of crises in altering long-term trends by comparing electoral and protest mobilization and participation in the aftermath of the Great Recession, the so-called Migration, and Corona crises. Next to reviewing theoretical approaches, the seminar introduces students to a set of diverse, mainly quantitative empirical strategies in the study of elections and protests. A background in statistical modeling provides an advantage, but it is not required for attending the seminar.

2021-2022

1. ● The Politicization of Civil Society, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
   Abs

   Contemporary societies in Europe and beyond have seen the emergence of new cleavages, often driven by populist radical right challengers and cross-cutting traditional political divides. Importantly, these new cleavages have not only put traditional political parties under pressure but have also resulted in a profound politicization of civil society. The politicization of civil society refers to at least four dynamics: First, we have seen an increasing number of civil society organizations with socio-political objectives compared to leisure activities. Second, traditional civil society organizations (from unions, church-related associations, to sports clubs) have been forced to take sides in controversial political debates. Simultaneously, they have been challenged also within their own ranks by the rise of new political parties and movements. Third, new social movements from the right have successfully mobilized citizens on the streets by articulating nativist and anti-immigration positions. Finally, we have also seen increasing counter-mobilization against the rise of radical right populist forces. In the research placement, we will analyze these dynamics in civil society in Europe and beyond. The students will engage with theoretical accounts form civil society and social movement studies. They will conduct their empirical research, either based on existing data (such as individual or organizational survey data) or their own original data collections. Note that participants should have a good intermediary background in statistical modeling, using as software either Stata or R.

2020-2021

1. ● Master Colloquium, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
2. ● Corona and Civil Society, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
   Abs

   Disasters and crises are always challenging for civil society. They lead to unforeseen emergencies and creates or reinforces inequalities in society. In such situations, not only the state is asked to help, but solidarity practiced by citizens is also needed. Such solidarity cannot be mandated. By contrast, it is based on the social capital of a society, i.e., the networks in which people are integrated and the trust they place in their fellow citizens and in public institutions. As in previous crises, civil society plays an important role in the current Corona crisis: It strengthens behavior based on solidarity, supports those in need, connects citizens, but also articulates criticism and draws attention to unheard grievances. However, disasters and crises can also weaken civil society. This ambivalence seems particularly evident in the Corona crisis. The current crisis has not only activated citizens, it has also come with considerable restrictions of the opportunities for political and civic engagement. In the research seminar, we will analyze this dilemma of civil society in Europe based on original survey data.

2019-2020

1. ● Master Colloquium, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
2. ● Conflicts in the public sphere: Approaches to quantitative content analysis of media texts, graduate course, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
   Abs

   The research placement focuses on different approaches to quantitative content analysis and their use in understanding the transformation of protest and electoral politics in Europe. The research placement makes both a methodological and a substantive contribution. From a methodological per-spective, the students will learn to read, understand and interpret the results of scientific research utilizing protest event, core sentence, and contentious episode analysis. The students will also learn to apply at least one of these approaches in their own research. From a substantive perspective, the course focuses on the transformation of political conflict in contemporary European societies. The students can choose their topics of interest related to these major transformations, but need to apply one of the three types of quantitative content analysis listed above. The participants need to have good knowledge of at least one statistical program.
   The syllabus is available on request.

2018-2019

1. ● Master Colloquium, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
2. ● Dynamics of Protest and Electoral Politics in Europe, graduate course, Sociology – European Societies MA, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany
   Abs

   The research practicum focuses on the dynamic and manifold relations between protest and electoral politics in Europe. Although social movements and political parties provide the two most important channels of democratic representation, research in political sociology still tends to neglect these rela-tions. Most importantly, this is due to a strong division of labor between those scholars who study social movement and protest, on the one side, and those who study political parties and elections, on the other. In the first part of the seminar, students will get familiar with some key approaches in both electoral and protest research before reading recently published studies that aim to bridge the two strands of the literature. In the second part, they will conduct their own empirical research on the top-ic. Given that we systematically distinguish between the levels of analysis (micro vs. meso/macro) and the type of political arena (electoral vs. protest) students should bridge at least one of the two boundaries to further advance our understanding of the dynamics of politics in contemporary Euro-pean societies. More specifically, the students can choose whether they will empirically approach the topic by means of a large protest event dataset based on the coding of international news wires or whether they approach it based on the analysis of individual-level surveys featuring questions about involvement in protest, elections, and/or party activities (in particular, the European Social Survey ESS).
   In general, the research practicum serves to get students acquainted with conducting original research projects by coming up with their own research design and analyzing secondary material, either on their own or in small groups. Prior knowledge of the topic is not required but an advantage. Knowledge of quantitative data analysis is required given the type of data at hand.
   The syllabus is available on request.

2017-2018

1. ● The Dynamics of Social and Political Conflict in Eastern Europe: A New Era of Mobilization?, undergraduate course, Media, Politics, Society BA, Heinrich Heine University, Department of Social Sciences, Düsseldorf, Germany
   Abs syllabus

   The politics of the "Refugee Crisis" drew attention to Euroskeptic, right-wing mobilization in Eastern Europe. Particularly in the Visegrád countries, scholars and observers document the rise of "illiberal democracy" and populism. However, it is unclear to what extent these developments follow a long-term trend and represent societal lines of conflict in Eastern European societies. The seminar critically examines the social and political structure of mobilization in Eastern Europe. The first two sessions present a theoretical overview on cleavage formation, the development of programmatic party competition, and the extent to which one observes recurring patterns of conflict amidst high electoral volatility. The third and fourth sessions consider recent developments and examine electoral and protest mobilization since the EU accession and the Great Recession. In these two sessions, we analyze the causes as well as the consequences of populist mobilization and counter-mobilization in the electoral and protest arena.

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