Ziaul Haque and Anashua Ananga – Surging illiberalism: how do international students assess the challenges of populism?

Abstract

The phenomenal rise of populism has appeared as a major watershed event across Europe and America, which casts a deep shadow over the potential overhaul of the exiting liberal political system. Within the growing volume of existing scholarship, however, there is barely any study that looks into how the new spectrum of political change impacts international students. Employing a qualitative research design and a purposive sampling approach, this study draws a sample of international students at Kennesaw State University (KSU) to explore how subjects assess the challenges of populism. Eight in-depth individual and one group interviews were held at KSU campus. Employing a content analysis approach along with the use of Nvivo, the study suggest that international students are socio-political actors who assess populist polices from a socio-relational perspective. They interpret populism in terms of policy courses. Future efforts can be directed to explore in-depth understanding of these interpretations.