Professor Christian F. Rostbøll defends his doctoral dissertation at the Department of Political Science

Christian F. Rostbøll. Photo: Michael Damm

The Academic Council at the Faculty of Social Sciences has accepted Professor Christian F. Rostbøll’s doctoral dissertation for oral defence.

The title of the dissertation is Democratic Respect: Populism, Resentment, and the Struggle for Recognition.

The dissertation is published by Cambridge University Press and is available for reading in an electronic version (e-book) at The Royal Danish Library at https://www.kb.dk/ og via the following link. In addition, the dissertation can be acquired through Cambridge University Press as well as Academic Books, Saxo and William Dam Boghandel.

The defence will take place on Monday 9 December 2024 at 13:00 at the University of Copenhagen, The Faculty of Social Sciences, Øster Farimagsgade 5, building 1, room 1.1.18.

The defence is open to the public. After the defence the Department of Political Science will host a reception for Christian F. Rostbøll in the lounge area close to the room where the defence takes place.

Official opponents:

  • John L. Nau III Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy Paulina Ochoa Espejo, University of Virginia
  • Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy Rainer Forst, Goethe University Frankfurt

Opponent ex auditorio:

  • Professor of International Relations Ole Wæver, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen

Anyone else who wishes to act as opponent ex auditorio is asked to contact Dean Vibeke Koushede, The Faculty of Social Sciences, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 Copenhagen K. prior to the defence, preferably by email to dekan@samf.ku.dk.

Abstract

Democratic Respect: Populism, Resentment, and the Struggle for Recognition examines the rise of populism in the first decades of the 21st century from a political theoretical perspective. The fundamental question of the dissertation is whether the demand for and supply of recognition that can be detected in contemporary populism is compatible with the basic principles of democracy. How democracy should recognize the people relates to debates over the meaning and value of democratic procedures, rights, majority rule, compromise, and public deliberation. The book disputes the widespread assumption that populism is essentially democratic and only against liberal constraints on majority rule.