DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Why Democracies Develop and Decline ? “What conditions make democracy possible and what conditions make it thrive?” The study of democracy and democratization has a long history in Comparative Politics. Interest in this topic has expanded dramatically with “The Third Wave of Democratization” that has swept much of Latin America, Southern Europe, East Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union during the past three decades. However, the “third wave” of democratization has stalled in the recent years and half of democratic governments around the world are in decline.

We are currently witnessing an unprecedented rise of authoritarian leaders, backed by popular support, who defy Western liberal democracy. We see societies backsliding into authoritarianism in countries as diverse as Turkey, Hungary, India, Brazil and the USA.

At the same time, challenging existing paradigms, some countries are moving toward China’s “benevolent authoritarianism” and developmental state as an alternative to liberal democracy.

The rise of illiberal populism and nostalgia for authoritarianism have sparked theoretical and empirical debates in the field of comparative and global politics. This course examines the process, causes, and consequences of democratization.

COURSE AIMS –  What you’ll learn

The module has four main goals:

The first is to introduce students to the major issues, theories, concepts, and arguments in the literature on recent democratisation and reasons for, and processes by which, countries move from authoritarian conditions to the status of a democracy.

The second goal of the course is to give students a comparative perspective on some of the major cases of transitions from dictatorship to democracy.

The third goal is to considers how far the trend towards democracy might recently have come to an end, manifested in the growing number of countries that have not moved beyond partial democracy or even reverted back to authoritarianism.

Finally, we considers the problem or major challenges of democratic transition and consolidation in plural societies marked by social and ethnic cleavages.

By the end of the course you should be able to:

• Discuss a range of definitions and models of democracy
• Demonstrate knowledge of recent trends in the spread of democracy throughout the world;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the different theoretical approaches to democratization and analyze and assess the factors that contribute to countries’ shift from authoritarian to democratic status, in particular the relative role of social, cultural, political and economic forces;
• Identify the key international actors involved in democracy promotion and analyze and assess their aims and practices;
• Apply conceptual tools to analyze democratization processes in particular case; or regional specificities are more apparent;
• Developed the ability to assess the merits of competing characterizations of and explanations for the relationship between democracy and violence in plural societies, along with the role played by political institutions in overcoming such cleavages.

Targeted Audience

Who’s it for? The primary target group of this course are highly motivated undergraduates and graduates, mid-career professionals in the fields of government, politics, international relations, democratisation etc.

People who want the benefits of being in structured class, and like live tutor support. Other interested in this topics are also welcome to register.