Professor Francisco Panizza

This course is available on the BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in History and Politics, BSc in International Relations, BSc in International Social and Public Policy with Politics, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, BSc in Politics, BSc in Politics and Data Science, BSc in Politics and Economics, BSc in Politics and History, BSc in Politics and International Relations, BSc in Politics and Philosophy and BSc in Social Anthropology. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This course is not controlled access. If you request a place and meet the criteria, you are likely to be given a place.

Students must have completed Introduction to Political Science (GV101).

The course is concerned with theories of democratisation and case studies of democratic transformations during the so-called “third wave” of democratisation from the 1970s to the present. It analyses processes of transition and consolidation of democracy and of democratic reversal in the context of globalisation. The first five weeks study the concept of democracy, theories of transition to democracy, democratic consolidation and hybrid regimes and the crisis of liberal democracy. The remainder of the course uses the conceptual tools of the first five weeks to study the condition of democracy in different regions of the world, including Southern Europe, Africa, South East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 50 hours across the Autumn and Winter Terms. There will be a revision lecture in the Spring Term. There will also be a reading week in Week 6 of both the AT and WT.

Students will be expected to produce 2 essays in the AT and WT.

The most useful introductory readings are: J. Grugel and M. L. Bishop (2016) Democratization: A Critical Introduction; and S. Noakes and C. Wilson (2023) Democratization. A Thematic Approach.

Other useful texts are: L. Whitehead (2002) Democratization. S. Levitsky and D. Ziblatt (2018) How Democracies Die; Donatella Della Porta (2013) Can Democracy be Saved?

Exam (60%, duration: 3 hours) in the spring exam period.
Essay (40%, 2500 words) in the WT.

GENERAL COURSE STUDENTS ONLY:

The Class Summary Grade for General Course students will be calculated as follows: 70% formative coursework, 20% class presentation, 10% class participation (including attendance and contribution).