Challenges to Liberal Democracy (Political Science & Economics)

Course goals

After completion of this course, students will:

• have knowledge about the diverse contemporary challenges facing contemporary liberal democracies;
• be able to analyse the functioning of contemporary liberal democracies from an economic and political science perspective;
• be able to discover common ground between economics and political science when analysing a challenge facing contemporary liberal democracies and be able to then propose a solution to said challenge based on interdisciplinary integration;
• be able to communicate their own research in written and verbal form according to the standards of the disciplinary and interdisciplinary training offered in the program

Content

Are liberal democracies doomed? The authoritarian tendencies of Donald Trump, democratic backsliding in Hungary, and the rise of social media are just some of the recent threats to liberal democracies across the world. In this course, we will explore these challenges and their causes, critically assess their impact on liberal democratic regimes and think about possible solutions.
This interdisciplinary course introduces insights from political science and economics. As empirical disciplines, they seek to understand and explain real-world phenomena, including the challenges to contemporary liberal democracies. Students will be introduced to different readings of some of the major challenges facing liberal democracy. They learn to integrate insights from the two disciplines. Based on this more comprehensive understanding, students can start formulating proposals to address the challenges to liberal democracy.
Doing so demands a willingness from students to seriously engage with the material, to challenge their own biases and to experiment in perhaps new learning activities. We aim to foster an inclusive classroom environment with room for bold ideas, accountability for our words, and attention for each other’s well-being.

This course has priority rules and a waiting list.

Additional information

This course is only open to students from the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Law, Economics, and Governance.

This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you are: 

• a student in the BA PPE enrolled in the thematic package Democracy and its Discontents.

In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.