Authoritarian Politics and Institutions
Introduction to AUTHORITARIAN POLITICS AND INSTITUTIONS covering scholarship on authoritarian regimes, their differences from democracies, and strategies for maintaining power.
Summary
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).
What you’ll be able to do
Differentiate between democratic and authoritarian regimes and become familiar with the different types of authoritarian rule.
Recognize how authoritarian governments exercise and maintain power.
Review sophisticated analytical frameworks and methodologies. Critique cutting-edge research in comparative politics and identify gaps in existing research.
Identify the intersection of authoritarianism and gender and the role of women in shaping political outcomes from a comparative perspective.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapGraduate/professional standing
- Graduate/professional standing
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Graduate/professional standing
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Topics
- Conceptual and operational differences between authoritarian and democratic regimes.
- Tools used by autocrats including legislatures, elections, information control, and power-sharing.
- Strategies to manage threats from the public, military, and political elites.
- Instrumentalization of women's rights, democratic backsliding, and global governance.
Skills
- Differentiating between democratic and authoritarian regimes and identifying types of authoritarian rule.
- Recognizing how authoritarian governments exercise and maintain power.
- Reviewing analytical frameworks, critiquing research in comparative politics, and identifying research gaps.
- Identifying the intersection of authoritarianism and gender and the role of women in political outcomes.
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
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Selected offering source records
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Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
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Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"output_id": "8b605150f12e91e7840e20e165833cb5c75d6293136252504ebbf7ffd704cb46",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
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