Teaching About Democracy
Undergraduate Courses
Authoritarianism and Democracy
Kenneth Roberts shared the syllabus for the course “Authoritarianism and Democracy” (taught with Rachel Beatty Riedl)
From the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, over 60 countries embraced new democratic regimes in a “third wave” that peaked in the early 21st century. However, democracy has been retreating for nearly two decades, as shown by Freedom House and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). Freedom House’s 2022 report documented 16 consecutive years of declining global freedom, warning that the “global order is nearing a tipping point.” V-Dem similarly found democracy had fallen to 1989 levels, erasing three decades of progress. This course examines why democracy is faltering and potential responses. What explains this reversal of fortunes, and what, if anything, can be done about it? This course examines democracy in theory and in practice, exploring the origins and institutional forms of democratic rule, transitions to and from democracy, and the fragilities and discontents that leave democratic regimes vulnerable to polarized conflicts, autocratic challenges, and “backsliding” dynamics.
Democracy and Representation in the USA
David Bateman provided his most recent syllabus for his first year writing seminar (“Democracy and Representation in the USA”)
For most of its history, the United States has had a mixture of democratic and authoritarian regimes. For example, the authoritarian regimes of the Jim Crow era existing alongside the democratic regimes at the national level and in most northern states. This course introduces students to the political science study of democracy and authoritarianism, focusing on the United States. Questions we ask include: why did each emerge in the US, how did they interact, how and why did they change over time, and what is the threat of authoritarianism in the US today? These are topics that have persistently contemporary issues for the United States, and the study of their history connects very closely but in sometimes unclear ways with their present. This makes it an ideal set of topics to try and teach writing as a continuous, cumulative, and collaborative process closely connected to reading and to thinking.
Democracy: Development & Backsliding
Suzanne Mettler provided the syllabus for “Democracy: Development & Backsliding”
This course investigates under what conditions is democratic backsliding more likely to occur generally, when it occurred in the American past, and whether we are in danger of it today. In the process, we will ask what democracy means, how we can measure its attributes, and how we can assess whether they are resilient or deteriorating. We focus on four key threats to democracy: political polarization; conflict over membership and status, particularly around race and gender; economic inequality; and the growth of executive power. We evaluate their impact at earlier periods in US history when democracy was in peril, and assess the impact on free and fair elections, the rule of law, the legitimacy of the opposition, and the integrity of rights, including voting rights, civil rights, and civil liberties. We evaluate the contemporary political context by applying the same analytical tools, and consider what can be done to safeguard democracy.
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Tom Pepinsky Provided his syllabus for “Introduction to Comparative Politics”
This course is an introduction to comparative politics: the study of political institutions, practices, and organized interests worldwide. Our approach is analytical, using history and data from all regions to understand political systems’ structures and the logics that govern them. We will learn how to use the comparative method to make meaningful comparisons. Topics include the origins of modern states, democratic and authoritarian regimes, elections, violence and political order, identity and representation, and economic development. Comparative politics is the field for people who want to reform elections, start social movements, combat exclusionary populism, stop civil violence around the world, engineer equal representation, criticize the modern state system, and any number of other things (including defending the political status quo).
Graduate Courses
The American State
Suzanne Mettler provided the syllabus for “The American State”
Many consider the American state today to be in crisis, yet as the nation’s with the world’s oldest constitution, the United States has endured numerous earlier periods of crisis. Throughout its history, some have charged that the American state is too weak, lacking sufficient capacity, while others have pointed to its formidable strength; the American state has been characterized by invisibility, yet for many Americans throughout history, its power has been all too visible. This seminar draws on the approaches of American political development to raise fundamental questions about the origins, development, character and scope of the American state. In the process, it grapples with analytical questions about processes of political change and considers a variety of theoretical approaches drawn from variants of “new institutionalism.” We focus on democratization and developments that spur democratic backsliding, including polarization, racism, economic inequality, and executive aggrandizement.
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY COLLABORATIVE 