| Title: | Democracy & Dictatorship |
|---|---|
| Course Section Number: | PSC-220G-01 |
| Department: | Political Science |
| Description: | Seventy-four percent of the world's population, roughly six billion people, now live under autocratic rule (V-Dem 2026). Meanwhile, democratic backsliding is eroding political rights, checks on executive power, and the rule of law in countries long regarded as established democracies. These trends make understanding democracy all the more urgent. Democracy promises citizens a voice in how they are governed, but elections alone do not make a political system democratic. It also requires political equality, protected rights, meaningful competition, and institutions that can hold leaders accountable. This course examines why democracy is worth having, how democracies work and weaken, and how dictatorships gain and maintain power. We will discuss what makes a political system genuinely democratic, why political voice remains unequal, and which institutions and civic practices help democracy endure. We will also investigate how dictators use elections and legislatures, along with repression, patronage, propaganda, and information control, to remain in power, and how elected leaders can dismantle democracy from within. You will explore these issues by comparing democratic and authoritarian regimes, analyzing historical and contemporary cases, and interpreting cross-national evidence. The course also moves beyond the classroom. Working in teams, you will collaborate with local educators to design, test, revise, and teach age-appropriate lessons about democratic ideas such as fairness, shared rules, participation, representation, rights, and responsible disagreement. The challenge is to identify what matters most and make difficult ideas accessible without making them inaccurate. You will learn from educators and young people, adapt your lesson in response to their questions, and reconsider your assumptions in light of experience. By the end of the semester, you should be able to explain how democracies and dictatorships work, evaluate why they endure or break down, and articulate what democratic citizenship requires in practice. Register with the PSC number if you want it to count towards PSC. Register with the PPE number if you want it to count towards PPE. |
| Credits: | 1.00 |
| Start Date: | January 18, 2027 |
| End Date: | May 8, 2027 |
| Meeting Information: |
01/18/2027-05/08/2027 Lecture Tuesday, Thursday 09:45AM - 11:00AM, Room to be Announced
|
| Faculty: | Liou, Ryan |
Course Status & Cross-Listings
| Cross-list Group Capacity: | 18 |
|---|---|
| Cross-list Group Student Count: | 0 |
| Calculated Course Status: | OPEN |
| Section Name/Title | Status | Dept. | Capacity |
Enrolled/ Available/ Waitlist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
PSC-220G-01
(primary)
Democracy & Dictatorship |
OPEN | Political Science | 18 | 0 / 18 / 0 |
|
PPE-238G-01
(cross-listing)
Democracy & Dictatorship |
OPEN | Philosophy, Politics, Economic | 18 | 0 / 18 / 0 |