Contemporary Challenges to Democracy

As a whole, the world is more democratic than at nearly any point in history. Yet the news is full of countries, including democracies, experiencing crises: migration, disinformation, insecurity, inequality, corruption. To what extent do current events pose a threat to democracy? In this class, students will learn what constitutes a democracy. After briefly reviewing how we came to this current period in world history, we will then spend the majority of the semester identifying and assessing various potential threats to contemporary democracy. Students will then apply these same analytical tools in their final papers, combining in-class readings with additional sources.