Book Launch: The Power of Populism and People

Is civil resistance dead? The recent advance in authoritarian rule in countries around the globe has been met by a rise in popular mobilization. In nation states, strongmen have mobilized masses to form their base of power, while on the streets civil courage has led to the rise of protests against tyranny. Four authors of a new book, Power of Populism and People, examined the power relationship between peoples and their rulers –how regimes co-opt people power and the success and failures of popular, collective opposition.

NOTE: The panel discussion is based on a new book The Power of Populism and People: Resistance and Protest in the Modern World (Bloomsbury, 2021). Learn more about the book and purchase your copy here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/power-of-populism-and-people-9781350201996/

Speaker bio:

Gregorz Ekiert is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Government at Harvard University, Director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and Senior Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. His research and teaching interests focus on comparative politics, regime change and democratization, civil society and social movements and East European politics and societies.

Federico Finchelstein is Professor of History at the New School for Social Research. Professor Finchelstein is the author of seven books on fascism, populism, Dirty Wars, the Holocaust and Jewish history in Latin America and Europe.

Diana Fu is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the East Asian Seminar Series at the Asian Institute, Munk School. She is author of the award-winning book Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China (Cambridge, 2018). She studies contentious politics, authoritarian citizenship, and civil society with a focus on contemporary China.

Adam Roberts is Senior Research Fellow in International Relations at Oxford University and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College. He was President of the British Academy (the UK national academy for the humanities and social sciences), 2009–13. His books include the jointly edited work Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present, Oxford University Press, 2009.

Nathan Stoltzfus (moderator) is a historian of modern Germany and the Rintels Professor of Holocaust Studies at Florida State University. He has published numerous articles and books with a focus on political violence and mass mobilization.

Sponsored by Asian Institute, East Asian Seminar Series and the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, Florida State University.