EU4A6      Half Unit
Reconciliation and Crisis: Politics in Southern Europe

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

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When compared with their Northern counterparts, countries that lie on the Southern flank of Europe share different historical, political and socioeconomic trajectories. The interwar period that witnessed civil wars, authoritarianism and coups d’état transitioned into a more stable period through democratisation and EU membership in the 1970s-1990s. During this period, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey (to varying extents) reconciled their long-lasting clashes between left and right politics, resettled debates over unitary versus federal structures and accommodated religious identities within politics. This phase of political resolution occurred decades later than other European countries that were also a part of the Western alliance during the Cold War.

Yet, the domestic arrangements that brought about relative stability to domestic politics in Southern Europe faced a series of new crises in the past two decades.  The financial crisis of 2008 separated Southern European members from other EU countries, once again. As party systems changed and populist parties asserted new demands, local differences and calls for regional independence heightened. The arrival of refugees through the Mediterranean and land borders, as well as growing Euroscepticism, compounded these problems while the pandemic has added extra pressure to these crisis-ridden systems. With these dramatic social and political changes came a questioning of the memories of authoritarianism, resulting in an increasingly polarised landscape over how to remember the past.

Considering the dialogue between the past and present, this course investigates whether and to what extent Southern European countries are moving toward a new settlement. What lessons can be drawn from the period of reconciliation in the 1970s-90s? In what ways are the continuing problems the legacies of past conflicts? This course will seek answers to these questions by examining five Southern European countries through a comparative lens. While considering the unique dynamics of each country, common elements in their historical trajectories will be brought out by specifically examining the following issues: 1. the collapse of military regimes, and the process of democratisation and Europeanisation 2. economic crises and their political impact 3. rise of populist parties and party system change 4. regional governance, separatism and independence movements.

20 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Presentation weekly

This component of assessment includes an element of group work.

Essay (1500 words) in Winter Term Week 6

Students will lead the class discussion by presenting a topic and discussing the presentations of their classmates. In this way, students will take an active part in two weeks during the term and will work in pairs and groups. Additionally, students will write a short essay of 1500 words, answering one of the discussion questions listed in the course syllabus on one Southern European country. Both types of formative assessment will give the students an opportunity to explore at length topics that were discussed in class, citing the relevant literature and engaging in discussions in oral and written form.

Students will receive guidance and feedback on their formative coursework in preparation for their summative submission.

• Yaprak Gürsoy, Between Military Rule and Democracy: Regime Consolidation in Greece, Turkey and Beyond, 2017
• Leonardo Morlino and Francesco Raniolo, The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Southern European Democracies, 2017
• Donatella della Porta, Massimiliano Andretta, Tiago Fernandes, Eduardo Romanos, and Markos Vogiatzoglou, Legacies and Memories in Movements: Justice and Democracy in Southern Europe, 2018
• Robert M. Fishman, Democratic Practice: Origins of the Iberian Divide in Political Inclusion, 2019
• Susannah Verney, Anna Bosco and Marina Costa Lobo, eds., Southern Europe and the Financial Earthquake: Coping with the First Phase of the International Crisis (South European Society and Politics Special Issue, 14.1 2009; also published by Routledge).
• Maria Elena Cavallaro, and Kostis Kornetis, eds., Rethinking Democratisation in Spain, Greece and Portugal. Palgrave Macmillan. 
• Daniele Albertazzi and Davide Vampa, Populism in Europe: Lessons from Umberto Bossi’s Northern League, 2021
• Caroline Gray, Territorial Politics and the Party System in Spain: Continuity and Change Since the Financial Crisis, 2021

Essay (100%, 4000 words)

Students will conduct independent research through a comparative analysis of two countries in Southern Europe and write an essay on a topic relevant to the politics of these countries. Students will choose their topics in consultation with the instructor.