POLS 357 - Comparative Democracy

This course discusses theories of democracy and democratization. For this purpose, democracy is being discussed within a larger framework of political regimes. This framework allows for a comparison of democratic norms and institutions with other types of regimes. Students evaluate different case studies within this theoretical framework. The course presents studies which utilize both quantitative and qualitative methods.

The course focuses on features that differentiate democracies from non-democracies. These features are discussed via comparative case studies. For this purpose, different case studies that utlize different methods are utilized.

Schmitter, Philippe & Karl, Terry Lynn. “What democracy is...and is not?” Journal of Democracy, Summer (1991): 3-16.Huntington, Samuel. “Democracy’s Third Wave” Journal of Democracy 2, no.2 (1991): 12-34.Lipset, Seymour Martin. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy.” The American Political Science Review 53, no.1 (1959): 69-105.Przeworski, Adam & Limongi,Fernando. “Modernization: Theories and Facts.” World Politics 49, no.2 (1997):155-183.Levistky, Steven & Way, Lucan. “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 13, no.2 (2002): 51-65.Carothers, Christopher. “The Surprising Instability of Competitive Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 29, no. 4 (2018): 129-135Levistky, Steven & Way, Lucan. “The New Competitive Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 31, no.1 (2020): 51-65.William A. Galston. “The populist challenge to Liberal Democracy” Journal of Democracy, 29, no.2 (2018): 5-19.Cas Mudde - Populism in the Twenty-First Century: An Illiberal Democratic Response to Undemocratic Liberalism https://www.sas.upenn.edu/andrea-mitchell-center/cas-mudde-populism-twenty-first-centuryAdam Przeworski. “Who decides what is democratic?” Journal of Democracy, 35, no.3 (2024): 5-16.Charles G. Davidson and Ben Judah. “How financial secrecy undermines democracy”, Journal of Democracy, 34, no.4 (2023): 94-108.Deibert, R. 2019. “The Road to Digital Unfreedom: Three Painful Truths about Social Media.” Journal of Democracy, 30, no.1, 25-39.Natalie Marechal. 2021. “The Future of Platform Power: Fixing the Business Model.” Journal of Democracy, 32, no.3, 157-62.Fukuyama, Francis. 2021. “Making The Internet Safe for Democracy.” Journal of Democracy, 32, no.2, 37-44Tom Davidson. 2023. “The Dangers of Runaway AI”Journal of Democracy, 34, no.4, 132-140.Yoshua Bengio. 2023. “AI and Cathastropic Risk” Journal of Democracy, 34, no.4, 111-121.

Violations of scholastic honesty include, but are not limited to cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, facilitating acts of dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. Any form of scholastic dishonesty is a serious academic violation and will result in a disciplinary action.