DESCRIPTION OF COURSE UNIT

1. Course unit title Code LLL14B000221

Democracy: Past, Present, Future

2. Name of lecturer(s) Coordinator: Assoc. Prof. Vladislav Sotirovi

Department(s) Institute of Political Sciences Faculty of Politics and Management Mykolas Romeris University

3. Cycle of course unit First 4. Mode of delivery Class room 5. Prerequisites: Study requirements Co-requisites: No co-requisites Year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered Autumn/Spring Language of instruction English Level of course unit Bachelor Type of course unit Free optional

Basic knowledge on political systems 6.

Recommended optional programme components No recommended optional programme components 7. Number of ECTS credits allocated 6 ECTS 8. 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 future developments 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 the Greek city-states and the early republican tradition to Liberalism and Marxism. 2) Examine the development of different models of democracy and to explore the conditions of applications of these models. 3) Discuss a cosmopolitan international democracy model which can be implemented in the practice. Learning outcomes of the programme Students will be able to Learning outcomes of the course unit To be able to understand Teaching and learning methods Problem learning Assessment methods Control work Students workload 162 hrs Contact work hours 128 hrs Independent work hours 34 hrs

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Vladislav B. Sotirovic

receive knowledge within a common education framework of humanitarian and social sciences Students will be able to analyze and try to solve problems in contemporary challenges to democracy Students will be able to disseminate their received knowledge and trained skills

characteristics of different concepts of democracy from the time of Antique up today To be able to present and discuss scientific research results upon development of different models of democracy and to critically evaluate their practical implementation By analyzing the concepts and models of democracy to be able to explain what are the results od democratization on both European and global levels with the future perspectives To be able to analyze a case study by individual or group work To be able to choose an adequate research strategy and methods

Case studies

Written exam

Learning and organization of the work by electronic means (moodle)

Group or individual presentation

To be able to do case study and scientific problem analyze To be able to criticize an opponents view within a framework of tolerance and competence Co-operative learning method Group or individual presentation

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Vladislav B. Sotirovic

9. Course contents Contact work hours and planned learning activities Training exercises Laboratory work Independent work hours and tasks

Consultations

Topics Lectures

All contact work hours Independent work hours

1. Introduction to political philosophy, theories of state and political systems Theory of city-state, theory of res publica, theory of national state, theory of totalitarian state, pluralism, theory of elites, liberalism, Marxism, neopluralism. 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, Marxist one-party democracy 4. Democracy and the concept of multicultural 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. 5. Democracy, civic society and the question of citizenship Concepts of civic society and citizenship in political philosophy, jurisprudence and sociology. Political democracy and citizenship rights in history and present. Civic concept of society and democratization of political life. 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 InterAmerican system in protection of human and minority rights. Democracy and freedom of expression.

10

Internship

Seminars

Tasks

18

Reading scientific literature

12

18

Reading scientific literature

12

18

Reading scientific literature

10

18

Reading scientific literature Watching material video

10

18

Reading scientific literature

10

10

20

Reading scientific literature Watching video material

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Vladislav B. Sotirovic

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 world cultures, 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 cosmopolitan model of democracy. Overall 10. Assessment strategy

10

18

Reading scientific literature

74

54

128

34

Weighting percentage 40%

Written exam (integral test to check theoretical and practical knowledge)

Period or date of assessment Session period

Assessment criteria

Class room work during the seminars

40%

Semester period

Individual self-work during the semester period

20%

Semester 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 correct answers. 0: Does not meet minimum requirements. 0-4% of correct answers. 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. 20% - to actively and constructively participate in discussions, to answer questions, to formulate problems 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 discussion or 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 , New Jersey: 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 University Press, 1994. Rosanvallon P., Counter-Democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust, CambridgeNew York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 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 Perennial Modern 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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