Democracy: From Theory to Practice

Knowledge

After the successful completion of the course students will:

• ave an in-depth knowledge about a variety of democratic theories;
• be able to understand why and how states adopted different democratic forms;
• understand how different democratic crises have emerged in practice;
• explain and defend how democratic theory might be used to respond to problems facing nation-states.

Skills

The students will be able to:

• use democratic theories to examine historical reasons for states adopting different systems;
• explain how different democratic theory relate to why nation-states adopt different institutional designs;
• assess how theory could inform contemporary democratic debates, including (but not limited to) how current challenges to democracy should be understood and addressed;
• communicate academic knowledge in writing and orally.

Competences

The students will:

• acquire an in-depth understanding of democratic theory;
• explain how democratic theory has informed the institutional design of states (and vice-versa);
• apply theory to understand and remedy current problems with democracy;

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme. Apply for guest student statusif you are admitted to another Master's programme (deadline 1 August / 5 January).

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Lectures and disussion seminar

Compulsory activities:

• attend discussion seminar;
• oral presentation of the term paper.

In the event of illness or other valid reasons, you can apply for a valid absence or postponement of compulsory activity.

Apply for valid absence from or need for postponement of compulsory activity

The course is taught in English, and the papers handed in must be written in English.

Term paper

The term paper:

• must be between 3500-5000 words;
• see more information on home exams in Inspera.

• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Resitting an examination