Registry

Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2012 - 2013
Please note that this information is subject to change.

Module Title	Democratisation
Module Code	LG338
School	School of Law & Government
Online Module Resources
Module Teacher	Iain McMenamin
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5
Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

Description

The course has two main goals. The first is to introduce students to the major issues, theories, concepts, and arguments in the literature on recent democratization. The second goal of the course is to give students a comparative perspective on some of the major cases of transitions from dictatorship to democracy. In practice, this will mean focusing primarily but far from entirely on the post communist Eurasian states (both Eastern Europe and former Soviet states) and Sub-Saharan Africa. These two regions feature a very large number of cases; each region exhibits unusual diversity in both causes and effects, thereby making for instructive comparisons (in direct contrast to Latin America, for example, where variations in regime outcomes are limited); and these two areas share, nonetheless, some important characteristics, such as weak states, long experiences with colonial rule, and far from ideal correlations between national and state boundaries.

Learning Outcomes

1. Explain how some forms of non-democracy can make transition to democracy
2. Apply theories of democratic breakdown and democratisation to various transition countries around the world
3. Examine how democracy is defined and understood
4. Discuss coherently challenges of democratisation particularly in relation to state-building, economic development and effective governance

Workload	Full-time hours per semester
*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Lecture	24	No Description
Tutorial	6	No Description
Independent learning	95	No Description
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

1. Getting started and course preview.
Introductory lecture.

2. Definitions and measurements: methodological issues.
3. The breakdown of authoritarian rule.

4. International influences and democratisation.
5. Social requisites versus intra-elite bargaining (theories of democratisation).

6. Civil society and social capital.
7. Political culture and democratic attitudes.

8. Institutions and political engineering.
9. Democratisation, economic reform and economic performance.

10. Democratic failure and prospects.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	100%	Examination Weight	0%

Course Work Breakdown
Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assignment	Research paper	70%	Sem 1 End
Oral presentations	Short case study	30%	Sem 1 End

Reassessment Requirement
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; 1 = A resit is available for all components of the module 2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module 3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
This module is category 1

Indicative Reading List

Dahl, R., Shapiro, I. and J.A. Cheibub (eds.): 2003, The Democracy Sourcebook, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.; London,
Grugel, Jean: 2002, Democratization: a critical introduction, Palgrave, Basingstoke,

Other Resources

None

Array

Programme or List of Programmes

EPL

BA in Economics, Politics and Law

EPLYA

BA in Economics, Politics and Law

BA in International Relations

IRYA

BA in International Relations

Timetable this semester: Timetable for LG338