| Bemerkung |
Aims and learning objectives of the seminar
Democracy, autocracy and regime change are not only crucial phenomena in any political system but also core concepts of political science. Building knowledge about the main concepts, theories and empirics of political regimes is the main aim of this seminar. As a result, this seminar comprises five thematic blocks, which address different facets of the analysis of political regimes. These blocks build on readings on theory and concepts, while empirical evidence and illustrative cases help to contextualize and apply these. First, we address the question how to define political regimes. Students learn how to distinguish democratic and non-democratic political regimes (democracy versus autocracy) and in-between forms. Second, we discuss the universality of democracy and whether certain religions are more or less suited for democratic governance. Third, political regimes change over time. Students learn how to observe and assess regime change, and which direction this change takes (democratization versus autocratization). In order to do so, students learn how to interpret current indices that aim at measuring the quality of political regimes. The forth block focuses on explaining regime change with particular attention to international democracy promotion as well as social protests. Five, the last block addresses the question of social and economic consequences of different regimes and regime change. We discuss the relationship between regime type (and democratic transitions) and violent conflict, as well as conditioning factors. Moreover, students learn about findings on the relationship between political regime types and their socio-economic outcomes.
Learning objectives: Students get to know core concepts of democracy, autocracy and regime change and related debates and learn how to apply the concepts in empirical research. With regard to soft skills, students are invited to improve their skills in sound argumentation, presentation and scientific writing.
Methods
This seminar offers a mix of methods to make it interactive and engaging. Input by the lecturer, guest speaker, presentation of students, debates, simulation games, working groups and social media provide a variety of methods that allow students to participate and interact according to their individual needs. To make the seminar as interesting (and fun) as possible, it is important that students prepare readings as well as other homework in advance.
E-Mail: Karina.Mross@die-gdi.de
The seminar is planned to take place in person (if the conditions allow it). It will roughly take place every second Friday (see specific dates!) in blocks of normally two sessions. For one of the meetings (19. November), I plan to invite the group to the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik in Bonn – if Corona conditions allow. In case the seminar has to switch to a digital format, the schedule will be slightly adapted.
Time: 10:45 – 14:45 s.t. (including 1h lunch break), for the meeting in Bonn 10:30 – 16:15 (s.t.). |
