DEMOCRACY (AND ITS UNCERTAIN FUTURE)

POLISCI 844

Democracies frequently depart from their ideal type. We focus on select problems with democracy, and examine their causes and effects, and remedies for them. Topics vary from year-to-year, and include inequalities in political representation and participation, a lack of accountability and ethnic voting.

POLISCI 182

Introduction to Comparative Politics, one of the four sub-fields in Political Science, which involves the comparative analysis of political institutions, processes, and outcomes at the national level. Examines how to usefully compare politics in a variety of countries and makes comparisons explicit and systematic in order to determine how governments work, how power is organized and contested at the national level, and how people can participate and pursue their interests in different political settings. Includes key concepts, theories, methods, and country case studies.

POLISCI 978

Introduction to scholarship on authoritarian regimes and institutions, the most prevalent type of government throughout history. Deals with the conceptual and operational differences between authoritarian and democratic regimes. Discusses autocrats' 'menu of manipulation' to maintain power and minimize both external and internal threats. Focuses on tools such as establishing legislatures, holding elections, controlling the dissemination of information, and power-sharing with political opponents as well as the regime allies. Discusses dictators' strategies to alienate the opposition and to hold power while minimizing external threats from the public, the military, and/or disgruntled political elites. Discusses how and under what conditions autocrats instrumentalize women's rights and on democratic backsliding and the future of global governance.

CLASSICS/HISTORY/POLISCI 362

Explores key issues in the ideology and practice of Athenian democracy. Examines democratic values, institutions, rhetoric, and sociology in order to provide the basic tools to understand democracy in its ancient context. Engages with a variety of source material (literary, archaeological, epigraphic) in order to develop multiple skills of interpretation. Some questions examined include: What are the key features of Athenian democracy, how did it change over time, and how did it differ from modern democracy? How did the Athenians justify and critique this political system? How did they reconcile citizen egalitarianism with social inequalities of wealth, gender, and status? To what extent were women, foreigners, slaves, or the poor included or excluded from politics? Was Athenian democracy a robust political system or a system in crisis?

POLISCI 339

Studies the varieties and characteristics of non-democratic regimes from around the world: how they form, why they endure, and when they collapse, engaging along the way with theories of electoral behavior, political psychology, political violence, popular mobilization, and democratization.