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BA Politikwissenschaft § 5 (1) 12.b Vergleich politischer Systeme - Verteifung

Die Studierenden können die Struktur- und Funktionsprofile unterschiedlicher demokratischer Regierungssysteme darstellen und erklären. Sie sind ferner in der Lage, auf der Basis einschlägiger theoretisch-konzeptueller Ansätze mäßig komplexe Phänomene aus dem Gegenstandsbereich der Vergleichenden Regierungslehre überwiegend eigenständig problemorientiert zu analysieren und zu bewerten.

Upon being asked what he considered the most important event of the twentieth century to be, Amartya Sen responded: the emergence of democracy. Unfortunately, in our era of neoliberal globalization, democracy is rapidly changing from a revolutionary aspiration into a hollow slogan. Depoliticized versions of formal democracy are increasingly becoming the norm. 

The seminar will engage with a wide range of perspectives from classical theories of democracy to post-democracy to explore the enchantment and crisis of democracy in a postcolonial world. We will engage with questions like: Is democracy simply a form of government or can it facilitate social, political and economic equality?  How does democracy negotiate difference? How is democracy being exported through aid conditionalities and brute force? How is neoliberalism eroding democracy and how can the subversive power of the democratic ideal be recovered?

Close reading of texts, class presentations, class discussions

Class presentation, Term paper

Robert Dahl (2000): On Democracy, Yale University Press.

David Held (2006): Models of Democracy, Stanford University Press.

positive completion of the module according to § 5 Para 1 No 1 and of the modules according to § 5 Para 1 No 2, 3, 7.