6 ECTS credits
156 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4022131ENR for all students in the 1st semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Political Science
Educational team
Didier Caluwaerts (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
24 contact hours Lecture
132 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

Democratic decision-making has never been more celebrated and under threat at the same time. That is why it is crucial for future decision-makers and engaged citizens alike to critically think about the challenges that lay ahead. A tentative list of challenges that will be discussed thoroughly in this class could include among others:

  • Democratic myopia: democracies are increasingly faced with long-term challenges (such as climate change and an ageing society) but they are notoriously ill-equipped to deal with long-term decision-making. Central questions are: To what extent are democracies short-termist? And how do they cope with long-term policy challenges?
  • Democratic regression: the early 1990s witnessed a third wave of democratization, and raised hopes about the rise of liberal democracies. The late 2010s witnesses the rise of democratic disenchantment and backsliding. Central questions are: to what extent are democracies regressing? And what are the conditions for democratic regression?
  • Democratic innovations: as an answer to perceived legitimacy crises many democracies have recently started to innovate. New types of decision-making mechanisms are popping up, and the expectations about their effectiveness are high. Central questions are: what is democratic innovation? What types of innovations are there? And can they be considered a valid answer to the alleged decline of citizen engagement?
  • Democracy and technology: new technologies have been both heralded as a cure for the democratic malaise, and shot down as tool for democratic oppression. They create both possibilities for civic crowd-funding and filter bubbles that foster polarization. Central questions are: to what extent are technologies drivers of democratization? And to what extent are new technologies tools in the hands of the few at the expense of the many?
  • Democracy and inequality: recent accounts paint a grim picture of the impact of increasing economic, social and political inequalities on the functioning and legitimacy of democracy. Central questions are: How are democracies affected by inequality? And how can democracies stem the rise of inequalities?

Even though this is an advanced master class, the course is open to anyone interested in and concerned about the state of democracy, and willing to discuss the challenges to democracy.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : A reference list for articles and book chapters
Additional info

The classes will be interactive and the students are required to show up, having read all the required reading materials, and ready to discuss their points of view.

The reading list varies every year, but a reference list with all reading materials (articles, book chapters and reports) will be made available through Canvas.

Learning Outcomes

General Competences

At the end of this class, the students should have attained the following goals:

  1. Students have a thorough knowledge of the concepts and the most important theories from political science and can situate these in international political science literature;
  2. Students can independently monitor developments within one or more sub-domains of political science;
  3. Students can analyze concrete cases on the basis of their insight into the functioning of institutions and policy and decision-making processes;
  4. Students can position themselves in a critical manner with regard to international political science literature;
  5. Students can reflect analytically, independently and critically about current problems and policy developments;
  6. Students can independently report in writing about their research and explain this to researchers in a scientifically sound way and answer questions about it;
  7. Students can independently and on the basis of their own research develop a balanced argumentation and formulate and defend a reasoned standpoint.
 

 

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 50% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 50% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Oral Exam with a relative weight of 50 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Paper with a relative weight of 50 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Students will be evaluated in two ways.

  • Students will have to individually write one substantive paper (6000 words in English), in which they empirically or theoretically analyze one of the challenges to democracy. Students are encouraged to identify challenges to democracy they find particularly worrying themselves. Papers will be evaluated in terms of structure, substance and clarity. All evaluation criteria will be outlined in the course syllabus. 50% of the final grade will be awarded for this paper.
  • There will also be an oral, closed-book exam counting for 50% of the final grade.

Attention: Students cannot get a passing grade if they do not submit their paper, if they do not complete the written exam.

Partial grades for the paper or exam can be transferred to the second session as long as the student obtained a result of 10/20 or higher. Students should inform the instructor of whether they want to transfer their grade.

All papers will be checked for plagiarism using plagiarism software.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Political Science: Democracy and Leadership (only offered in Dutch)