Aims
This course provides an analytical foundation to the critical study of democracy through the application of comparative analytical techniques. It seeks to bridge the gap between the empirical and the normative elements by focusing upon the principles, properties, policies and challenges of democracy in the varied context of the post cold war world.

Objectives
The module is designed to give students an understanding of:

• contrasting definitions and interpretations of democracy and the difficulties associated with analysing democracy, both as an ideological package and as a working political system

• the properties and relationships associated with democratic rule, the impact of the changing role of the state upon democracy; the presence of democratic features in authoritarian regimes; the limitations and shortcomings of formally democratic regimes

• the different approaches to understanding the process of democratisation and the obstacles to democratic consolidation and/or to democratic deepening

• the application of the comparative technique to actual political experience of democracy and democratisation, drawn from a wide range of countries with differing historical and cultural backgrounds and in differing locations within the global power framework

10 ECTS Credits