States, Power, Politics

The list of countries where democracy is supposedly under threat grows every year. Consternation over “democratic backsliding” is omnipresent. This course takes stock of this trend and engages the following questions. What is democracy and how does it differ from other forms of government? What does a “well-functioning” democracy look like and what are its inherent limitations? What is democratic backsliding and how do we know that a country is backsliding? What kinds of social, political, and economic conditions enable democratization, and in turn, what conditions enable backsliding? We will read classic theories of democracy coming out of the social sciences and engage with current debates on democratic crises.