2021/2022
Democracy in a Global World
Code: 104476 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2503778 International Relations | OB | 3 | 2 |
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.
Contact
- Name:
- Oriol Bartomeus Bayes
- Email:
- Oriol.Bartomeus@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- english (eng)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Teachers
- Oriol Bartomeus Bayes
Prerequisites
None
Objectives and Contextualisation
The course aims to provide students with the tools that allow them to analyze democratic systems and their different aspects, their evolution over time and the factors that may condition them in recent years and in the future.
Competences
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Analyse the behaviour of international actors, both state and non-state.
- Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
- Identify and analyse the main challenges for democracy in a global world.
- Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
- Learn and analyse the impacts of the globalisation process on domestic political systems and on the behaviour of the political actors and the public.
- Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
- Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse how the EU and other actors manage the problems posed by the promotion of democracy and the rule-of-law state in the world.
- Analyse the impact of the globalisation process in the public policies of the main states of the European Union, and their interrelationship with democracy and the rule-of-law state in the world.
- Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
- Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
- Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
- Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
- Consider how gender stereotypes and roles impinge on the exercise of the profession.
- Critically analyse the principles, values and procedures that govern the exercise of the profession.
- Explain the explicit or implicit code of practice of one's own area of knowledge.
- Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
- Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
- Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within the area of your own knowledge.
- In accordance with the theoretical and analytical information acquired, analyse the big challenges for democracy in a global world and the different solutions proposed to manage them.
- Make a comparative analysis of the state of democracy and the rule-of-law state in different countries and political regimes.
- Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
- Propose new experience-based methods or alternative solutions.
- Propose new ways to measure success or failure when implementing ground-breaking proposals or ideas.
- Propose projects and actions in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights, diversity and democratic values.
- Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
- Propose viable projects and actions that promote social, economic and environmental benefits.
- Propose ways to evaluate projects and actions for improving sustainability.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.
- Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
- Weigh up the risks and opportunities of one's own ideas for improvement and proposals made by others.
Content
In recent decades, democracy as a political system has gone from its moment of maximum expansion (as a result of the rise of the Soviet bloc from 1989) to a time of crisis and questioning.
We will analyze the fundamental elements of democratic systems, both at the institutional level and in terms of the underlying values and the relationship between institutions and citizenship, and we will assess their evolution over time.
We will also analyze the risk factors for the maintenance of democracies, both the globalization of the turn of the century and the emergence of nationalist and authoritarian movements in the wake of the 2008 global crisis.
The subject will deal with the following topics:
1. The foundations of democracy
2. The expansion of democratic systems in the late twentieth century
3. The challenges of democracy: globalization
4. The challenges of democracy: the crisis of 2008
5. The evolution of democratic systems: the indices of democracy
6. Political culture and democratic health
7. Political competence and democracy
8. System response and democracy
9. Is the new nationalism a danger to democracy?
10. What a democracy in what world
The calendar will be available on the first day of class. Students will find all information on the Virtual Campus: the description of the activities, teaching materials, and any necessary information for the proper follow-up of the subject. In case of a change of teaching modality for health reasons, teachers will make readjustments in the schedule and methodologies.
During one of the classes, the teacher will provide students with 15 minutes to answer the surveys on the teaching performance and the subject or module.
Methodology
The sessions of the subject are divided into three types: theoretical classes on the contents of the subject, text comments on selected parts of the bibliography and debates in the classroom on these readings or on interesting aspects of current events. to do with aspects of the subject.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Theorical lessons | 60 | 2.4 | 1, 13, 14 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Debate | 26 | 1.04 | 2, 13, 27, 26, 24, 22, 23 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Writting on bibliography | 20 | 0.8 | 1, 13, 27, 15, 10, 25, 24, 22, 14 |
Assessment
The evaluation of the subject will consist of writing three short (one page) text comments on the topic, which will be discussed in the classroom.
The texts on which the comments will be made are part of the bibliography of the subject (book chapters or articles).
In addition, students will be asked to write an original work on some aspect of the subject, which must be delivered at the end of the semester.
To pass the subject it is necessary to pass both the text comments and the final work.
The student who performs any irregularity (copy, plagiarism, identity theft...) will be qualified with 0 in this assignment or exam. In case there are several irregularities, the final grade of the subject will be 0.
In accordance with article 117.2 of the UAB Academic Regulations, the assessment of repeat students may consist of a single synthesis test. Repeating students who wish to take advantage of this possibility will need to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course.
Students will be entitled to the revaluation of the subject. They should present a minimum of activities that equals two-thirds of the total grading.
The proposed teaching methodology and evaluation activities may undergo some modifications depending on the health authorities' attendance restrictions.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual writing essay | 30 | 20 | 0.8 | 1, 2, 13, 5, 27, 15, 10, 26, 25, 22, 23, 14 |
| Participation in debates | 10 | 6 | 0.24 | 8, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 11, 29, 21, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 23, 7, 28 |
| Writing essay 1 | 20% | 6 | 0.24 | 1, 2, 13, 27, 15, 10, 26, 25, 24, 22, 23, 14 |
| Writing essay 2 | 20% | 6 | 0.24 | 1, 2, 13, 27, 15, 10, 26, 25, 24, 22, 23, 14 |
| Writing essay 3 | 20% | 6 | 0.24 | 1, 2, 13, 27, 15, 10, 26, 25, 24, 22, 23, 14 |
Bibliography
INNERARITY, D. (2019) Una teoría de la democracia compleja. Galaxia Guttenberg
LEVISKY, S. i ZIBLATT, D. How democracies die. Crown (digital version at UAB library)
LIJPHART, A. (1999) Patterns of democracy. Yale (digital version at UAB library)
MACPHERSON, C. B. (1977) The life and times of liberal democracy. Oxford
SNYDER, T. (2018) The road to unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America. Tim Duggan
TOCQUEVILLE, A. (1835) La democràcia a Amèrica (diverses edicions)
The Economist Democracy Index https://www.eiu.com/topic/democracy-index
V DEM Democracy report https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/f0/5d/f05d46d8-626f-4b20-8e4e-53d4b134bfcb/democracy_report_2020_low.pdf
FREEDOM HOUSE Freedom in the world https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2020/leaderless-struggle-democracy
Software
Microsoft Excel could be required when analyzing the data of democratic indexes