DWA 370 Junior Seminar: Democracy in Global Politics

This course investigates the contours of historical and contemporary debates about democracy in global politics. The central aim of the course is to make such terms as "pluralism" "representation" "freedom" and "democracy" which simultaneously serve as hollow tropes in contemporary political discourse and as the basis for a secular religious faith for many on the left and the right more difficult. Rather than cleansing these terms of their complications students are encouraged to see them from all sides interrogating their maddening paradoxes and ugly undertones while never losing sight of their awesome possibilities. Accordingly this course is divided into three sections. The first section offers a historical/philosophical overview of the rise of and a variety of challenges to the idea of democracy as both a political ideal and an institutional form from the advent of the American and French revolutions to today. The second section is devoted to various schools of thought on democratic governance with a special focus on post-World War II developments in democratic theory. The last section of the course focuses on contemporary politics of surrounding the discourse about and promotion of democratic values in a global context.