Sotirovic DEMOCRACY Description of Course Unit 2013 2014 Anglu

7/30/2019 Sotirovic DEMOCRACY Description of Course Unit 2013 2014 Anglu

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Page | 1 Vladislav B. Sotirovic

DESCRIPTION OF COURSE UNIT1.

Course unit title Code

Democracy: Past, Present, Future LLL14B000221

2.Name of lecturer(s) Department(s)

Coordinator: Assoc. Prof. Vladislav Sotirovi

Institute of Political Sciences

Faculty of Politics and Management

Mykolas Romeris University

3.

Cycle of course unit Level of course unit Type of course unit

First Bachelor Free optional

4.

Mode of delivery Year of study and semester when

the course unit is delivered

Language of instruction

Class room Autumn/Spring English

5.

Study requirements

Prerequisites:

Basic knowledge on political systems

Co-requisites:

No co-requisites

6.

Recommended optional programme components

No recommended optional programme components7.

Number of ECTS

credits allocated

Students workload Contact work hours Independent work

hours

6 ECTS 162 hrs 128 hrs 34 hrs8.

Purpose of the course unit: programme competences to be developed

Course content and main topics:

The basic aim of the course is to provide students with an overview of the

theories and the models of democracy. The course combines theory and

practice by an examination of the past, present and possible futuredevelopments of democracy. It considers as well and extent to which

democracy is feasible and desirable outside the nation state. The main topics

of the course are: 1) Theories of democracy; 2) Models of democracy; 3) The

active citizens and republican government; 4) Liberty and democracy; 5)

Citizenship and democracy; 6) Key models of the international order and

democracy; 7) Cosmopolitian democracy and the new international order.

The students will be able to:

1) Analyze the interpretation of the concept of democracy from theGreek city-states and the early republican tradition to Liberalism and

Marxism.

2) Examine the development of different models of democracy and toexplore the conditions of applications of these models.

3) Discuss a cosmopolitan international democracy model which can beimplemented in the practice.

Learning outcomes of the

programme

Learning outcomes of the

course unit

Teaching and

learning methods

Assessment

methods

Students will be able to To be able tounderstand Problem learning Control work


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receive knowledge

within a common

education framework ofhumanitarian and social

sciences

Students will be able toanalyze and try to solve

problems in

contemporary challengesto democracy

Students will be able todisseminate their

received knowledge and

trained skills

characteristics of

different concepts of

democracy from thetime of Antique up

today

To be able to presentand discuss scientificresearch results upon

development ofdifferent models of

democracy and to

critically evaluate their

practical

implementation

By analyzing theconcepts and models

of democracy to be

able to explain what

are the results oddemocratization on

both European and

global levels with the

future perspectives

Case studies Written exam

To be able to analyze acase study by

individual or groupwork

To be able to choosean adequate research

strategy and methods

Learning and

organization of the

work by electronic

means (moodle)

Group or individual

presentation

To be able to do casestudy and scientific

problem analyze

To be able to criticizean opponents view

within a framework of

tolerance and

competence

Co-operative

learning method

Group or individual

presentation


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9.

Course contents

Topics

Contact work hours and planned

learning activities

Independent work

hours and tasks

Lectures

Consultations

Seminars

Trainingexerc

ises

Laboratorywo

rk

Internship

Allcontactwork

hours

Independentwork

hours

Tasks

1. Introduction to political philosophy,

theories of state and political systems

Theory of city-state, theory ofres publica,

theory of national state, theory of totalitarian

state, pluralism, theory of elites, liberalism,

Marxism, neopluralism.

10 8 18 5 Reading scientificliterature

2. Importance of democracy

The most important political, economic,

cultural and social reasons for establishing

and functioning of democratic political

system and protection of democratic values.


3.Concepts and models of democracy

The basic concepts and models of

democracy and their characteristics in

historical perspective. Direct democracy,

Liberal representative democracy, Marxistone-party democracy


4. Democracy and the concept ofmulticultural society

Models of multiculturalism. Differences

between multicultural and unicultural

concepts of society. Democracy and

preservation of cultural, linguistic and other

group differences and identities within the

same plural society.


Watching video

material

5. Democracy, civic society and the

question of citizenship

Concepts of civic society and citizenship in

political philosophy, jurisprudence andsociology. Political democracy and

citizenship rights in history and present.

Civic concept of society and

democratization of political life.

10 8 18 5 Reading scientific

literature

6. Democracy, human rights and minority

protection

International law and legislations on

definition and protection of human and

minority rights. Comparison between the

Council of Europe system and the Inter-

American system in protection of human

and minority rights. Democracy and freedomof expression.


literature

Watching video

material


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7.Cosmopolitian model of democracy and

the new international order

Trying to find a global model of democracy

to be compatible, acceptable and functional

for all or majority of different worldcultures, traditions and states and to see

which kind of a new more human and more

justifiable international order and relations

can be framed based on such cosmopolitanmodel of democracy.


literature

Overall 74 54 128 34

10.

Assessment strategy Weighting

percentage

Period or

date of

assessment

Assessment criteria

Written exam (integraltest to check theoretical

and practical

knowledge)

40% Session period The test consists of open and closed questions(varying difficulties, from understanding to

evaluation), each question is worth one point.

Assessment:

5: Excellent knowledge and skills. 45-50% of

correct answers.4: Good knowledge and skills; may be minor

errors. 35-44% of correct answers.

3: Average knowledge and skills; there are errors.

25-34% of correct answers.

2: Knowledge and skills are below average; there

are (basic) errors. 15-24% of correct answers.1: Knowledge and skills to satisfy the minimum

requirements; lots of errors. 5-14% of correctanswers.

0: Does not meet minimum requirements. 0-4% of

correct answers.

Class room work during

the seminars

40% Semester

period

Assessment:

The structure of presentation (evaluation criteria:clear and consistent layout (introduction, body and

conclusion)) up to 1 point;

Conceptualism of presentation (evaluation criteria:

complete and reasonable disclosure of the chosen

topic) up to 2 points;

Failure to deliver presentation - 0 points.

Individual self-work

during the semesterperiod

20% Semester

period

20% - to actively and constructively participate in

discussions, to answer questions, to formulateproblems and issues, to provide critical comments;

10% - to participate in the debate, to answer to

frequently asked questions;

0% - almost does not participate in the discussionor spent more than 1/3 of the seminars.

11.

Required reading

1. Landemore H., Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many, NewJersey: Princeton University Press, 2013.

2. Runciman D., The Confidence Trap:A History of Democracy in Crisis from World War I to the Present,New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2013.

3. Tilly Ch.,Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.4. Urbinati N., Democracy Disfigured: Opinion, Truth, and the People, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard


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University Press, 2014.

Recommended reading

Alonso S., Keane J., Merkel W. (eds.), The Future of Representative Democracy, CambridgeNew

York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Diamond L., The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World,

New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2009.

Dunleavy P., OLeary B., Theories of the State: The Politics of Liberal Democracy , New York: New

Amsterdam Books, 1987.

Dunn J.,Democracy: A History, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005.

Estlund D. (ed.),Democracy, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002.

Estlund M. D., Democratic Authority: A Philosophical Frame Work, New Jersey: Princeton University

Press, 2008.

Held D.,Models of Democracy, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006.

Kalberg S., Searching for the Spirit of American Democracy: Max Webers Analysis of a Unique

Political Culture, Past, Present, and Future, Paradigm Publishers, 2013.

Karsten F., Beckman K.,Beyond Democracy, 2012.

Keane J., The Life and Death of Democracy, New YorkLondon: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.

Lijphart A.,Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, New

Haven, Conn., Yale University Press, 2012.

Markovich G. S., Weaver B. E., Pavlovic V. (eds.), Challenges to New Democracies in the Balkans,

Belgrade: Cigoja Press, 2004.

Mises von L.,Liberalism in the Classical Tradition, San FranciscoNew York, 1985.

Palmer J. P.,Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human

Spirit, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011.

Pettit Ph., On The Peoples Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy, CambridgeNew

York, Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Putnam D. R., Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, New Jersey: Princeton


Rosanvallon P., Counter-Democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust, CambridgeNew York: Cambridge


Rosanvallon P.,Democracy: Past, Present and Future, New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.

Roussopoulos D., Benello C. G., The Participatory Democracy: Prospects of Democratizing

Democracy, 2003.

Schumpeter A. J., Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, LondonNew York: First Harper PerennialModern Thought Edition Published, 2008.


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Urbinati N.,Representative Democracy: Principles & Genealogy, Chicago: The University of Chicago

Press, 2008.

Wolin S. Sh., Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted

Totalitarianism, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2010.

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