This seminar introduces students to two fundamental
concepts of political science: democracy and authoritarianism. The seminar
discusses these two concepts through the historical-institutional perspective
developed by Douglass North and other scholars. Therefore, the seminar will
tackle the historical roots of authoritarianism as the “natural state” or the natural
political order and how what we understand as the western democratic state
slowly (and painfully) developed over the last centuries. Students will learn
to think critically about transitions to democracy by reviewing the historicity
of the West’s transition to democratic states and by discussing the concepts of
democratic backsliding and competitive authoritarianism.
- Dozent/in: Steffi Krohn
- Dozent/in: Daniel Leon