Spring 2027

Democracy (and Its Uncertain Future)

Examines the state and future of democracy, including its evolution, relationships with development and culture, core institutions, and current global challenges.

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Summary

What you’ll be able to do

  • Learn about leading definitions, classifications, and measurements of democracy

  • Understand the determinants of democracy

  • Examine democratic political systems and institutions, how they function, and how they relate to each other

  • Become familiar with rising threats to democracy and the prospect of autocratization

  • Compare different democratic systems systematically

  • Understand and choose proper evidence/sources to support an argument

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
POLISCI 336

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  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

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Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

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Student experience

the class

Democracy has come under stress, both at home and across the world. The global decline of democracy has accelerated over the past decade, and levels of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen today are down to levels last found around 1990. The promise of democracy's inevitable ascent and dominance after the end of the Cold War has proven shortlived. Examines the state and future of a political system we tend to take for granted but should not. Starts with a brief overview of the evolution of the concept of democracy over time. Examines the relationship between democracy and economic development, culture, identity, and religion. Considers and compares core democratic institutions. Investigates current challenges to democracy and democratization and offers an overview of the state of democracy across different world regions.

difficulty & workload

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Topics

  • Evolution of the concept of democracy
  • Relationship between democracy and economic development, culture, identity, and religion
  • Core democratic institutions
  • Current challenges to democracy and regional variations

Skills

  • Definitions, classifications, and measurements of democracy
  • Determinants of democracy
  • Function and interrelation of democratic political systems and institutions
  • Rising threats to democracy and autocratization
  • Systematic comparison of different democratic systems
  • Selecting evidence and sources to support arguments

Grades

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Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

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Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "17c9681ee8e76edde89ce4dcb1a6f4291e2cc892acdfbe1146715e2bdc660e77",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}