LPINT5249 Societies in Transition Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This course is an in-depth examination of studies of democratisation and of the conditions and dynamics of political regime change. The course guides students to analyse how states and societies transition from autocracies to democracies – and vice versa – and to identify the methods by which this transition occurs. Through the discussion of a plurality of theoretical approaches and empirical examples, the course enables students to critically assess how cultural dynamics across different political systems and societies can facilitate, sustain, or hinder the formation and survival of democratic regimes. As such, an ability to develop a sophisticated and unbiased understanding of how culture in its different and diverse contextual and historical manifestations affects the feasibility of democracy is a cornerstone to discussions on the course, and is essential for students to approach the study of political regimes in an open and non-prejudicial way. With an emphasis on conceptualisations of democracy and waves of democratisation, the course enables students to analyse and critically compare models and cases of democratisation, classifications and typologies of political regimes, and the methodological underpinnings to studies of regime change. Overall, the course reflects critically on the elements necessary to promote a culture of democratic governance and the main theoretical and empirical challenges that different political systems face in this process.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students in their studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures and/or seminars

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150 hours

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessments are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

The assessment will require students to critically appraise and apply theories, methods, and models of democratisation and regime change to the analyses of case studies in a comparative perspective, and with an attention to how cultural dynamics affect regime change and transition societies:

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) and/or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Dahl, R. A. (2008), On Democracy, London: Yale University Press.
• Diamond, L. (1999), Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
• Brooker, P. (2013). Non-Democratic Regimes. Macmillan International Higher Education.
• Linz, J. J., Linz, J. J., & Stepan, A. (1996), Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
• Stoner, K. & McFaul, M. (Eds.). (2013), Transitions to Democracy: a Comparative Perspective, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
• Marquez, X. (2016).. Non-democratic Politics: Authoritarianism, Dictatorship and Democratization, London: Palgrave.

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Definitions and conceptualisations of democracy
• Theories of democratisation
• Non-democratic regimes: types and structures