Democratisation and autocratisation

The course democratization and autocratization deals with the processes of change within political regimes and between political regimes in the contemporary age. In recent times, there has been much talk of the crisis of democracy, the rise of authoritarian regimes, the end of the wave of democratization, and the beginning of a possible opposite wave of autocratization. This course aims to give students the analytical and theoretical tools to understand and explain the causes, modalities, and consequences of democratization and autocratization: why do some states democratize and others don't? What are the causes of the decline of democracy? How is democratic or authoritarian influence exercised over other countries? Who are the key players in regime changes? Are there pre-conditions favorable to democracy or autocracy? Key notions and theories will be presented and discussed, aiming to link real-world developments with rigorous academic analysis

This course will enable students to understand and critically assess the current process of transformation of political regimes around the world. Students will be familiar with concepts, theories, and approaches to the study of political regimes, democratization, and autocratization and be able to apply them to the analysis of current political issues, trends, and debates.

The course lasts 24 hours (5 ECTS), organized for 12 weeks. The different sessions are structured as follows:

1 First part: In the first four classes, the teacher will introduce the topic of the course using frontal lesson and Q&A sessions
2 Second part: In the following four classes, the students will establish the groundwork for their collective poster projects. They will present and discuss case studies in class, applying relevant theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios.

3 Third part: Guest speakers will be invited to two sessions on specific topics, and students will be invited to prepare the class with mandatory readings. A debate will follow each guest speaker's presentation.

4 Fourth part: In the last two sessions, students will present their collective posters to the class.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

The course will mainly use the following book:
Skaaning, Svend-Erik, and Møller, Jørgen"Democratization and Autocratization in Comparative Perspective", Routledge, 2024

Course notes

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

luca.tomini@ulb.be

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Oral examination
• Oral presentation
• Group work

Oral examination

• Open question with long development

Oral presentation

Group work

Your final grade will be based on three components.

50% : collective poster
30% : individual oral exam

20% :  case study group presentation and discussion

Language(s) of evaluation

• english