Call for Papers for a Workshop for young scholars “Contemporary Populism in Germany and India: Issues and Perspectives”- Closed

Populism is not at all a new phenomenon, neither in politics nor for research. Still, when Jan-Werner Müller asked Was ist Populismus? in 2016, it was even before the AfD rose to become the second-biggest party in the Federal Parliament. In India, the term ‘populism’ has been used in discussions about democracy for the last five decades even. It has been stated that there were variants of populism-with a socialist leftist hue in the 1970s and 1980s and the one with a rightist hue in contemporary times, with a denial of climate change and attempts to collect religious devotees or protesters against restrictions due to Covid-19. Thus, populism seems to be constantly changing, adapting to the societal and political circumstances. We want to organize a workshop that discusses contemporary populism and tries to draw some broad lessons on populisms´ causes, forms, and consequences. We invite young scholars from India to share their perspectives and to discuss how populism has changed politics, media and society.

Research questions could be (but are not limited to)
• How has populism changed election campaigns (polarization)?
• How hatred is normalised as a tool to ensure justice for “good” people?
• How can populism mobilise and incite people in xenophobic violence?
• What are the (new?) forms of protest employed by populists as well as against populism?
• How has populism influenced the work of journalists (fake news, ‘enemy of the people’)?
• How are digital technologies complicating the terrain of populist politics?
• What is populisms´ influence on societies (divisions)?

We are looking for papers from political science, sociology and related social sciences that address these questions in a rigorous scientific manner. In the workshop, we would then like to follow an interdisciplinary, international approach We want to discuss each paper on its own terms, but also to bring the papers into a dialogue with each other.

The best abstracts will be selected and announced on the 20th of October 2021 and the full paper is to be submitted by 1st of November. The abstract should clearly state your research question, your theoretical approach and your research design. The paper will be circulated and read in advance. At the workshop, the papers will be peer-reviewed and discussed. Each student will be assigned one senior Faculty member for comments.

Application deadline:15th of October 2021
Send your abstracts (~300 words) to the following e-mail address:
E-Mail: simon.fink@sowi.uni-goettingen.de
E-Mail: shruti.tambe@gmail.com, stambe@unipune.ac.in