KAFP 4395 - Democracy and its challenges in Europe

The lecture course introduces students to core debates related to

contemporary democracy, its developments and its challenges in

Europe. The lecture takes a resolutely comparative perspective,

covering both the national and the European levels. The lecture

deals with the democratic theory and institutions, as well as the

current challenges to democracy: democratic backsliding,

illiberalism, populism, and mis- dis-information. The lecture also

examines the responses that democratic actors can provide to

these developments.

The lecture provides students with a solid understanding of the

key concepts from democracy research and recent (empirical)

developments in this field. It also introduces various quantitative

measures of democracy and its institutions. This course uses

advanced academic literature, and is therefore targeted towards

students comfortable with reading scientific texts in English.

This course relies on international academic literature, students should be

comfortable with reading scientific texts in English. Students should also have some

understanding of comparative politics and of European integration.

The course will be composed of a lecture as well as discussion moments on the

assigned texts and on empiical cases.

Weekly reading (about 2h) + final group paper