Course Description This course seeks to analyze and examine the role that political polarization has played in EU member states and US politics in the 21st century. The first part of the course will define political polarization, the difference between partisanship, populism, and polarization, as well as differences between mass and elite polarization. The second part of the course will explore the relationship between media systems and outlets and politics. Discussions will focus on what role the media has played in the rise of populism and the polarization of party politics in EU member states and in the USA. The final part of the course will examine the proliferation of social and digital media, so-called “Fake News,” and the legitimacy challenges facing the media in the 21st century. In the summation of the course, the consequences of political polarization will be discussed, including how political polarization creates fertile ground for misinformation campaigns (both within EU member states and the USA) that purposefully intend to introduce extreme viewpoints and inflammatory narratives that exacerbate divisions among the public. Course Objectives The main objectives of this course are: to enhance students’ critical thinking skills and assist in the synthesis and assimilation of theories, discourses and analyses of political polarization and the role of the media to enable students to understand what role the media plays in polarization in EU member states and in US politics by analyzing specific media outlets and the language they use to reveal the connection between politics and communication to lay bare the consequences of elite political polarization on public opinion to provide guidance to students to produce an original paper on a subject of their choice relating to the polarization of European or US politics and the role of the media Learning Outcomes By the end of the successful completion of the course, students will be able to: comprehended key theories and concepts related to political polarization and the media in Europe and the US apply the language of political polarization, through analysis of the concept as is demonstrated in Europe and US politics examine the social, economic, and geographical determinants of polarization in the US have comprehended how political polarization has occurred in Europe and the US, the role that the media has played in this, and the consequences emanating from this have completed a class presentation and a comprehensive writing assignment related to polarization and the role of the media Class/Learning activities The course will consist of a series of lectures, class discussions based on the readings and other audiovisual materials provided by the instructor, and student presentations. Students will be required to write a comprehensive research paper on a topic related to political polarization and politics and the role of the media and present that to the class. Students will be guided in writing a literature review of the resources used to write their paper. Workload Type of work Description Hours Lectures Thirteen 3-hour lectures 39 Independent study Study of compulsory and optional literature 61 Research Online research 30 Active Learning Exercises in the classroom 50 Written assignments-Presentations Written assignments a. two short assignments (500 words) b. essay (1.500-2000 words) c. in-class presentations 110 Total workload 290 Assessment Type of assessment Learning outcome Impact on final grade Date of assessment Participation in group work and discussion 1-3 20% Regularly Presentation of group work 1-3, 5 20% 13th week Written assignments (short) 1-2 30% 3rd -7th week Written assignment (essay) 5 30% 13th week Required Reading Aalberg, Toril, Frank Esser, Carsten Reinemann, Jesper Strömback, and Claes H. de Vreese eds. (2017) Populist Political Communication in Europe, Routledge Press. Abramowitz, Alan (2019) The Great Alignment: Race, Party Transformation and the Rise of Donald Trump, Yale University Press. Ashley, Seth, Jessica Roberts and Adam Maksl (2019) American Journalism and “Fake News:” Examining the Facts, ABC-Clio. Beaufort, Maren ed. (2019) Digital Media, Political Polarization and Challenges to Democracy, Routledge Press. Campbell, James E. (2016) Making Sense of a Divided America, Princeton University Press. Carothers, Thomas and Andrew O’Donohoe eds. (2019) Democracies Divided: The Global Challenge of Political Polarization, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. Fletcher, R., & Jenkins, J. (2019). Polarisation and the news media in Europe (Vol. 2019, pp 1–49). European Parliament. (pdf) Hallin, Daniel C., and Paolo Mancini. (2017) “Ten Years After Comparing Media Systems: What Have We Learned?” Political Communication 34 (2): 155–71. Hawks, Banu Baybars and Sarphan Uzunoğlu eds. (2019) Polarization, Populism and the New Politics: Media Communication in a Changing World, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Hopkins, Daniel and John Sides (2015) Political Polarization in American Politics, Bloomsbury Academic. Lang, Thilo, Sebastian Henn, Wladimir Sgibnev, and Kornelia Ehrlich eds. (2015) Understanding Geographies of Polarization & Peripheralization, Palgrave MacMillan. McCarthy, Nolan (2019) Polarization: What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford University Press. Mudde, C. and Kaltwasser, C. R. eds. (2012) Populism in Europe and the Americas: Threat or Corrective for Democracy? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Patterson, Thomas E. (2019) How America Lost Its Mind: The Assault on Reason That’s Crippling Our Democracy, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press Prior, Markus (2007) Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections, Princeton University Press. Ridout, Travis N. ed. (2018) New Directions in Media and Politics, 2nd edition, Routledge Publishers. Stepinska, Agnieszka ed. (2014) Media and Communication in Europe, Berlin: Logos Verlag. Sunstein, Cass R. (2017) #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media, Princeton University Press. Periodical Literature and Other Electronic Resources Bagginni, J. (2016) “How Rising Trump and Sanders Parallel Rising Populism in Europe,” New Perspectives Quarterly, 33(2). Bennett, W. Lance and Barbara Pfetsch, (2018) “Rethinking Political Communication in a Time of Disrupted Public Spheres,” Journal of Communication, 68, pp. 243-253. Benson, Rodney, Mark Blach-Ørsten, Matthew Powers, Ida Willig, Sandra Vera Zambrano, (2012) “Media Systems Online and Off: Comparing the Form of News in the United States, Denmark, and France,” Journal of Communication, 62: 1, February 2012, pp.21–38 Gounari, P. (2018) “Authoritarianism, Discourse and Social Media: Trump as the ‘American Agitator’ ” In: […]