Democracy in Crisis-E2 :Government of, by, and for whom?
| Numbering Code | U-LAS06 20040 LE42 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ First semester |
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| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | Lecture |
| Target Year | Mainly 1st & 2nd year students | Target Student | For all majors |
| Language | English | Day/Period | Wed.3 |
| Instructor name | HIJINO KEN (Graduate School of Law Professor) | ||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course |
Course goal: To learn to read critically and learn about democracy from quality articles/book reviews/journalism (Foreign Affairs, Economist, London Review of Books, New York Review of Books, etc.) We consider the following questions about democracy 1. What is democracy? How is it under threat? 2. How does free-market capitalism/ globalization/ class, race, and territorial divisions affect the health and viability of democratic processes? Is there an alternative to democracy? 3. How might democracy end? Can it stop/survive climate change and other planetary catastrophes? |
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| Course Goals |
1. Critical reading: understanding what is said, how it is said, but also judging if arguments are logical and/or supported by adequate evidence, and comparing author's claims with others 2. Identifying arguments and evidence 3. Summarizing and presenting what you have learned to others 4. Connecting and comparing ideas (from other readings) 5. Improving English reading, writing and speaking abilities |
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| Schedule and Contents |
Week 1: Is Democracy Dying? Our House is on Fire (Thunberg) Democracy is the Answer to Climate Change (Looney) Week 2: Defining Democracy Democratic Political Regimes (textbook) Week 3: Measuring Democracy Democracy Index 2017 (Economist) What’s Gone Wrong with Democracy (Economist) Week 4: Global attitudes to Democracy Globally, Broad Support for Representative and Direct Democracy Week 5: Modernization and Democracy How Development Leads to Democracy (Inglehart and Wetzel) Inequality and Modernization (Inglehart) Week 6: Globalization, Capitalism, and Democracy Capitalism and Inequality (Muller) Why Nations Fail: Democracy and Inequality (Acemoglu and Robinson) Week 7: Populists Europe’s Populist Surge (Mudde) Trump and American Populism (Kazin) Populists in Japan? (Hijino) Week 8: Economic Divides Why we are living in a New Gilded Age (Krugman) Inside the Sacrifice Zone (Rich) Week 9: Ethnic/Racial Divides The New Language of European Populism (Brubaker) Against Identity Politics (Fukuyama) Week 10: Territorial Divides Low Visibilty (McAuley) Among the Gillet Jaunes (Harding) Week 11: Generational Divides Europe’s Generational Gap (Mudde) Japan’s Silver Democracy (Harney) Various articles from Guardian on Generational Inequality Week 12: Climate change Exceptional Circumstances (Stehr) It’s absolutely time to panic about Climate Change (Vox) Week 13: Autocracies as alternatives Are the Authoritarians Winning? (Ignatief) Democracy is Not Dying (Carothers and Youngs) Autocracy with Chinese Characteristics Week 14: How Democracy Ends The Future of Tomorrow (Fukuyama) Runciman speech Total:14 classes and 1 feedback |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy | - Students will be evaluated on their participation in class discussion (20 per cent), reading summaries and class presentations (40 per cent), and a final term paper (40 per cent) = minimum 2,500 words in English | ||
| Course Requirements | None | ||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) |
1. Read various articles on democracy and its challenges: 20-30 pages per week 2. Each student prepares a one-page synopsis (5 main arguments and 3 questions from the reading); submit in class in printed form; use for class discussion 3. Rotating group of students prepares a reading report and present to class 4. Reading report must include summary of the main arguments and supporting evidence; how this section connects to earlier sections of the book; evaluation of the author’s evidence, logic, and language; questions or challenges to the author 5. Reading time = 2-3 hours, preparing summary 30 minutes; expect total of 3 hours of extra-class preparation every week; 2 reading report assignments and 2000 word essay for the whole term should result in another ten hours of work for the whole term |
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