For the conference Constitutionalism in the Age of Populism , Professor Jeremy Webber from the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria has prepared a discussion paper for a pre-conference session. During the session with faculty members and graduate students from multiple disciplinary backgrounds, the essentially contested nature of populism...
By Oliver Schmidtke , Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria Germany just experienced a widely unexpected and shocking political earthquake. For the first time in the history of the country, a Premier of a state ( Land ) was elected into office with the votes of a far right party. After the October election in the east-German state of...
Populism is on the rise in the western democracies and it seems as if the topic of migration is used prominently by the right-wing populism for political mobilization. "Anti-immigrant sentiments are at the very core of this actor’s rallying cry and popular campaigns" writes the political scientist and historian Oliver Schmidtke in his latest blog...
By Oliver Schmidtke , Director at the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria Under normal circumstances regional elections in Italy remain widely unnoticed by international observers. Yet, these are not normal times in Italian politics. The country is currently governed by a fragile coalition between the centre left (Democratic...
By Benjamin Perrier, Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria France is in the midst of yet another massive political unrest. The Yellow Vest movement, which began in November 2018 - and continues today – is also a driving force behind the current general strike against the planned reform of France’s pension system. The Yellow...
By Uluhan Sahin, MA Student, Universities of Applied Sciences Kehl/Ludwigsburg, Germany The events of the Arab Spring have fundamentally changed the global perception of the Islamic countries in the Middle East. A region often associated with tyranny, religious fanaticism and the lack of civil liberties has witnessed the struggle of its...
In the 2019 federal election, for the first time in Canada, millennials made up the largest single bloc of eligible voters. The government of Canada has made youth engagement a priority, just appointing to Cabinet a new Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth. Meanwhile, policymakers continue to grapple with the privacy, security, and...
Young Scholar Essay Contest: POPULISM - a corrective or a threat to democracy? Young scholars at Canadian universities are encouraged to participate in a discussion on democracy and populism T he rise of populism from the right and the left has fundamentally challenged traditional party politics in Europe and North America. Established centrist...
By Tom Junes, Marie Curie Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence Poland was long seen as the poster child of the post-1989 transition in Central and Eastern Europe. Consequentially, for commentators, policy-makers, and scholars alike, it served as a model for European integration and the EU enlargement to the East. At present,...
By Oliver Schmidtke, director of the Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria See also the CTV interview on the success of the right-wing Alternative for Germany in regional elections The vote in the German state of Thuringia (a region formerly part of the Communist German Democratic Republic) was foremost a blow to the Germany’s...
Draft Paper - Constitutionalism in the Age of Populism