pols 3750: the modern democratic state fall 2018 3750.pdfpols-3750 the modern democratic state fall...

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POLS 3750: The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018

Class Time: Monday & Wednesday, 14:30-15:45 (Term limits: 4 September-13 December 2018)

Classroom: PRH 15 Instructor: Dr. Simona Rentea

Instructor’s Email: [email protected] Office: SIH 310

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 12:30 -14:30 (For any concerns, or to book a slot, please contact me by email in the first instance.)

Overview: This course examines the origins and evolution of two key political concepts for us today: democracy and the state. Both are closely intertwined and constitute the basis for our modern political systems. The first part of the course deals with the main political theories and thinkers on democracy, from the classical Athenian model to today’s notions of representative, liberal and participatory democracy. In the following sections, the intellectual trajectories and classical models will serve as basis for examining democratic practices today, discussed in relations to contemporary examples and case studies, such as the wave of democratization associated with the so-called Arab Spring, the new anti-austerity movements and global occupy movements.

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POLS-3750 The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018

Course Aims:

The course is set out to 1. Offer a broad overview of competing democratic theories and thinkers and present key intellectual trajectories in the evolution of ideas of democracy, liberty and participation; 2. Contribute to a critical reflection on the concepts of democracy, nation-state,

citizenship and participation; 3. Compare and contrast different models of democracy; 4. Analyze the future of democracy and the nation-state in the context of key recent political trends and developments.

Learning Outcomes: After completing the course, students will be able to

1. Critically evaluate different theories of democracy and the state; 2. Analyze today’s democratic models and forms of democratic practice i n dialogue

with the historical background from which they have emerged; 3. Differentiate among and assess the merits and limitations of each of the different

models of democracy; 4. Examine the functioning of democratic politics and the nation-state today.

Arts & Sciences Grading Scale can be accessed at: http://www.slu.edu/x6352.xml Grade Points: Grade Components: Course Credits: 3

A 4.0 93%-100% 25% Midterm Exam

A- 3.7 90%-92% 15% Class Participation B+ 3.3 87%-89% 10% Paper Proposal B 3.0 83%-86% 10% Individual Presentation B- 2.7 80%-82% 40% Final Paper C+ 2.3 73%-79% C 2.0 67%-72% C- 1.7 60%-66% D 1.0 50%-59% F 0.0 0-49% Grading Policy: Students will be graded on the basis of their class performance and participation in debates (15%), an individual presentation (10%), a written mid-term examination (25%), a paper proposal (10%) and a final course paper (40%).

Last Day to Drop a Class without a Grade of “W” and/or to Add a Class: 16th September Last Day to Choose Audit (AU) or Pass/No Pass (P/NP) Options: 16th September

Last Day to Drop a Class and Receive a Grade of “W”: 11th November

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Required Texts and Materials:

E-mail: Campus and course announcements will often be handled by e-mail. Students should check their “@slu.edu” e-mail regularly. Attendance Policy:

• Regular attendance in this class is expected. You are allowed two unexcused absences. • Lateness and unexcused absences will be reflected in the final participation mark,

dropping 10% after every three absences. • If you have reasons for your absence, an email should be sent to the tutor in advance of

the class. Classroom Philosophy:

• You are required to attend sessions regularly as well as come prepared to participate and think critically during lectures and discussion sessions. You are expected to read up on issues covered during class in the textbook.

• I trust that you will be able to sustain a mutually respectful classroom atmosphere by treating all classmates as equals.

• Laptops will not be allowed in class except for taking notes and in a manner that would not disrupt your engagement with the class and your colleagues’ efforts to concentrate.

• Phones are not allowed in the classroom under any circumstances. • All required assignments are to be submitted on time. Essays or assignments that are

handed in late will be marked down by 5% a day for every day that they are late.

Course Requirements and Detailed Grading System: In this class, students will be expected to cover the required reading before class and be prepared to discuss in detail the ideas emerging from the text and their own reflection on both the text and topic of the day.

1. Your classroom and debates participation mark (15%) will reflect:

• The frequency of attendance and commitment to the course. Lateness and unexcused absences will be reflected in the final participation mark, dropping 10% after every three absences.

• Your ability to contribute questions in class and show an interest in taking an active role in classroom discussions.

• Your consistency in covering the required and further reading material and ability to extract the most relevant information for classroom discussions.

• Your diligence with completing class assignments. 2. Mid-term Exam (25%) held on Wednesday 17 October 2018:

• The midterm examinations will be written on the respective date. No alternative examination dates will be scheduled except in cases of excused medical absences.

• A review sheet with the topics and questions covered, bibliography and the format of the exam will be provided prior to the examination.

Held, D. (2006), Models of Democracy, 3rd edition, Polity Press

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3. Paper proposal (10%) due on Wednesday 14 November 2018: three pages plus a bibliography to include a research question and hypothesis, a literature review, and a tentative research design.

• A document outlining the requirements and expectations for the project proposal will be uploaded on Blackboard. This also contains information on how the proposal will be marked.

4. Presentation (10%):

In the final part of the course, students will be expected to make an individual presentation on the topics suggested in Part III, which could also be linked to the topic for the final paper, although this is not a requirement. Regardless of whether they are presenting in the session, all students will be expected to conduct their own individual research of the topics up for discussion in Part III, engage with their colleagues’ presentations and contribute to the ensuing class discussion. The presenting student is at liberty to identify the relevant printed or web-based materials for their own presentation. These will be individual presentations of 20 minutes, followed by questions and discussions.

Presentation instructions: • Do not go over your time. Going over the limit allocated will result in a mark drop. • Do not read your presentation: by practicing and reading you will feel confident enough to

present without fully reading a script. • You are presenting your topic, its relevance, your research question, methodology and

initial findings: o Why is this topic important? o What are the different perspectives in the study of this topic? o What is your question and specific take on it? o What are you attempting to research and how?

• Make the presentation dynamic, try to engage the audience, make frequent eye contact.

• I am evaluating your knowledge of the topic, your ability to make your points clearly, develop a unique angle and present an argument.

• Failure to present on the day you have committed to will result in a mark of 0. 5. Final paper (40%): a 3,000 words course paper plus a bibliography due on Tuesday 18 December 2018, 16:30 – 17:30, SIH 310.

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University Statement on Academic Integrity: Academic integrity is honest, truthful and responsible conduct in all academic endeavors. The mission of Saint Louis University is "the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of God and for the service of humanity." Accordingly, all acts of falsehood demean and compromise the corporate endeavors of teaching, research, health care and community service via which SLU embodies its mission. The University strives to prepare students for lives of personal and professional integrity, and therefore regards all breaches of academic integrity as matters of serious concern. The governing University-level Academic Integrity Policy can be accessed on the Provost's Office website here. Additionally, SLU-Madrid has posted its academic integrity policy online. As a member of the University community, you are expected to know and abide by these policies, which detail definitions of violations, processes for reporting violations, sanctions and appeals. The professor will review these matters during the first weeks of the term. Please direct questions about any facet of academic integrity to your faculty, the chair of the department of your academic program or the Academic Dean of the Madrid Campus. University Title IX Statement: Saint Louis University and its faculty are committed to supporting our students and seeking an environment that is free of bias, discrimination, and harassment. If you have encountered any form of sexual misconduct (e.g. sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, domestic or dating violence), we encourage you to report this to the University. If you speak with a faculty member about an incident of misconduct, that faculty member must notify SLU's Title IX deputy coordinator, Marta Maruri, whose office is located on the ground floor of Padre Rubio Hall, Avenida del Valle, 28 ([email protected]; 915-54-5858, ext. 213) and share the basic fact of your experience with her. The Title IX deputy coordinator will then be available to assist you in understanding all of your options and in connecting you with all possible resources on and off campus. If you wish to speak with a confidential source, you may contact the counselors at the SLU-Madrid's Counseling Services on the third floor of San Ignacio Hall ([email protected]; 915-54-5858, ext. 230) or Sinews Multipletherapy Institute, the off-campus provider of counseling services for SLU-Madrid (www.sinews.es; 917-00-1979). To view SLU-Madrid's sexual misconduct policy and for resources, please our policy posted online. Additional information is available at the University’s website “SLU is here for you.” Academic Accommodations and Learning Resources: In recognition that people learn in a variety of ways and that learning is influenced by multiple factors (e.g., prior experience, study skills, learning disability), resources to support student success are available on campus. Students who think they might benefit from these resources can find out more about:

• Course-level support (e.g., faculty member, departmental resources, etc.) by asking your course instructor.

• University-level support (e.g., tutoring/writing services, Disability Services) by visiting the Academic Dean's Office (San Ignacio Hall) or by reviewing the Academic Resources website online.

Students with a documented disability who wish to request academic accommodations must contact Disability Services to discuss accommodation requests and eligibility requirements. Once successfully registered, the student also must notify the course instructor that they wish to access accommodations in the course. Please contact Disability Services at [email protected] or +915 54 58 58, ext. 230 for an appointment. Confidentiality will be observed in all inquiries. Once approved, information about the student's eligibility for academic accommodations will be shared with course instructors via email from Disability Services. For

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more information about academic accommodations, more information is available on the SLU-Madrid webpage. Note: Students who do not have a documented disability but who think they may have one are encouraged to contact Disability Services. (IF APPLICABLE): Students enrolled in this class must participate and make payment for all mandatory trips/activities. The prices posted on the web are approximate; and the final price will be based on the number of students enrolled on the last day of the Add/Drop period. All students, including those who withdraw from the class after this date, are required to pay these fees, which are non-refundable, unless the trip is cancelled due to low enrollment. Please review SLU-Madrid's trip policies, available online.

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POLS-3750 The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018

POLS 3750: The Modern Democratic State

Fall 2018: Monday & Wednesday, 14:30 - 15:45 Instructor: Dr. Simona Rentea, [email protected] Office hours: Monday & Wednesday, 12:30 - 14:30

Course Schedule: 1. Wednesday 5 September

• Introduction to the course: presentation of syllabus, objectives, readings materials, assignments and schedule.

Part I: Classical Models of Democracy and Intellectual Trajectories

2. Monday 10 September What is democracy?

• Reading: Held, D. Preface and Introduction • Also, please listen to BBC Radio 4 Program In Our Time on democracy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547jm 3. Wednesday 12 September Athens: Dawn of Democracy, documentary session.

4. Monday 17 September Athenian Democracy • Reading: Held, D. Chapter One: pp. 11- 18; BBC Radio 4 Program In Our

Time Program on Socrates: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007zp21 • Athens: Dawn of Democracy (your documentary notes)

5. Wednesday 19 September Debate Session I: Is the Athenian form of democracy unique or could elements of it be adopted today? • Reading: Held, D. Chapter One: pp. 19- 28; Aristotle’s Politics, Book One:

http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.1.one.html • BBC Radio 4 Program In Our Time Program on Aristotle’s Politics:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f8530; • In Our Time Program on Socrates,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007zp21

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POLS-3750 The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018 6. Monday 24 September The Renaissance Republican Dream • Reading: Held, D. from Chapter Two: pp. 36 -43; From Niccolo

Machiavelli, The Prince, http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince00.htm • Also, listen to In Our Time radio program on Niccolo Machiavelli,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y26p

7. Wednesday 26 September Protective Democracy I: The Social Contract in Hobbes and Locke • Reading: Held, D. from Chapter Three, pp. 60- 65; • Thomas Hobbes, “Leviathan” (Excerpts),

http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hob.html • Locke, “Two Treatises of Government”,

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1690locke-sel.asp • In Our Time program on Hobbes, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9l1

8. Monday 1 October Protective Democracy II: The Separation of Powers • Reading: Held, D. from Chapter Three, pp. 65 -74, p. 78. • De Montestquieu, http://www.constitution.org/cm/sol_03.htm

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POLS-3750 The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018 9. Wednesday 3 October

• Developmental Democracy: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty • Reading: Held, D. from Chapter Two, pp. 43- 55; • J.J. Rousseau, “The Social Contract: Book Two”,

http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon_02.htm • In Our Time radio program on the social contract and J. J. Rousseau,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008w3xm

10. Monday 8 October Liberal Democracy

• Reading: Held, D. from Chapter Three: pp. 78-95; • Mill, J.S., On Liberty, Chapter II: Of the Liberty of Thought and

Discussion, • http://www.bartleby.com/130/2.html• In Our Time radio program on J. S. Mill,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003c1cx

11. Wednesday 10 October Marxist Direct Democracy • Reading: Held, D., from Chapter Four: pp. 96- 108; • Marx, K., The Communist Manifesto, Chapter I,

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/

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POLS 3750 The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018 12. Monday 15 October Debate Session II: Are Ideas of Direct Democracy Making a Return to Public Debates and Political Practice Today?

• Reading: http://realtruth.org/articles/111114-002.html • https://www.democracy-international.org/ • http://occupywallstreet.net/story/what-would-real-democracy-look

13. Wednesday 17 October Mid-term Exam

Part II: Democratic Models and Practices in the 20th and 21st Centuries

14. Monday 22 October Corporate Capitalism and Challenges to Modern Democracy

• Reading: Held, D., Chapter Five: pp. 144- 157; and Six: pp. 158 - 179. 15. Wednesday 24 October Legal forms of Democracy

• Reading: Held, D. Chapter Seven: pp. 185- 209.

16. Monday 29 October Deliberative and Participatory forms of Democracy

• Reading: Held, D. Chapter Nine: pp. 231- 255.

17. Wednesday 31 October Democracy in the Arab Spring

• Reading: https://newrepublic.com/article/85143/middle-east-revolt-democratization

• https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2011-05-22/fourth-wave-or-false-start

• https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/starting-in-egypt-the-fourth-wave-of-democratization;

• Abul-Magd, Z.: “Occupy Tahrir”, on Blackboard.

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POLS 3750 The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018

18. Monday 5 November Debate Session III: Do the events associated with the 2011/12 uprisings in the Arab world (known as the “Arab Spring”) signal the beginning of a “fourth wave” of democratization?

• Reading: https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/david-held-kristian-coates-ulrichsen/arab-spring-and-changing-balance-of-global-power

• https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/fawaz-gerges/arab-spring-popular-uprisings-–-myth-and-reality

• https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/paul-aarts-samir-makdisi/spring-is-yet-to-come

• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dome.12080/full • https://www.opendemocracy.net/david-hayes/arab-spring-protest-power-

prospect • https://www.opendemocracy.net/sami-zubaida/arab-spring-in-historical-

perspective • https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/women-and-arab-spring • https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/kat-eghdamian/what-was-

role-of-religion-in-arab-spring • Plus the documentaries listed in the debate sheet.

19. Wednesday 7 November Trip to the Valley of the Fallen, Fr. Franco’s triumphal monument (bus leaving at 9am).

20. Monday 12 November Horizontal organization in participatory movements in Southern Europe

• Reading: Sanchez-Cedillo, R., “15 M: Something Constituent This Way Comes”, on Blackboard.

*** Paper Proposal due 14 November (at the start of the class)*** 21. Wednesday 14 November “Take the Square”: Spatial Practices in Global Occupy Movements

• Reading: Stavrides, S. (2012), “Squares in Movement”; E. Dowling et al. (2012), “Occupy London”, on Blackboard.

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POLS 3750 The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018 22. Monday 19 November Other Social Movements (of choice, depending on interest): BLM, feminist movements 23. Wednesday 21 November Democracy and the Challenge of Populism

Part III: Democratic Practice Today: Challenges and Opportunities

These sessions will include individual student presentations of case studies related to the themes listed below. Other themes are possible; please speak to the professor about it. 24. Monday 26 November The future of liberal democracy in Europe: crisis of representative democracy, rise of populism, new social movements, right-wing extremism.

25. Wednesday 28 November Democratic Practice in the USA: the functioning of democracy in the USA, peculiarities of the system, issues of democratic deficit, rights and discrimination, populism, social justice.

26. Monday 3 December Non-Western Democracies and their specific challenges

27. Wednesday 5 December Hybrid regimes and their challenges 28. Monday 10 December Democracy promotion: modalities and institutions of democracy promotion; is this still an aim for the ‘West’?

29. Wednesday 12 December Is Democracy Undergoing a Crisis of Legitimacy? Reading: Brown, W. (2011), “We are all democrats now”, in G. Agamben et al. (eds.), Democracy in What State? on Blackboard.

*** Final Course Paper Submission: Tuesday 18 December 16:30 – 17:30, SIH 310 ***

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POLS 3750 The Modern Democratic State Fall 2018 Further reading:

• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 1848. • John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1869. • Alexis de Tocqville, Democracy in America.

• Giorgio Agamben et al. (eds.), Democracy in What State?, 2011. • Donatela de la Porta et al., Transnational Protest and Global Activism, 2004. • Slavoj Zizek, The year of dreaming dangerously, 2012. • Slavoj Zizek, Living in the End Times, 2011. • Costas Douzinas, Philosophy and Resistance in the Crisis, 2013. • Alain Badiou, The Rebirth of History, 2012. • S. Cook, The Struggle for Egypt, 2011. • Khalil, Liberation Square, 201

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Fall 2018 Final Exam Schedule:

Monday December 17

Tuesday December 18

Wednesday December 19

Thursday December 20

Friday December 21

8:30-11:30

Tu classes that meet at 8:00

Mn classes that meet

at 8:30, 9:00 & 9:30


at 10:00


at 11:00 & 11:30

Tu classes that meet at 9:30 & 10:00

12:00-15:00




at 13:00



at 12:00

15:30-18:30


at 17:30


at 14:30



at 16:00


19:00-22:00 --- --- Tu classes that meet

at 19:00


at 19:00 ---

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