2014–2015InstructorDixonSING.PDFVIP

1 SOSC 3630 Democracy Democratization in the World 2014 – 2015 Instructor: Dixon SING Rm.: Academic Building Rm. 2352 (office hrs: Tuesday 3:00-4:00 pm; meeting: to be fixed or by appointment via email: somsing@ust.hk); Tel.: Demonstrator: Xu Duoduo dxu@ust.hk Course Description Drawing from single-country and cross-national research, this course covers some crucial areas in the field of democracy and democratization for students in social science: i) basic features of democracy: its definitions, causes of emergence, strengths and problems; ii) global expansion of democracies since the late twentieth century; iii) research on whether democracy can promote human rights, whether there is a basic conflict between Asian values and democracy, and whether democracy is favorable or unfavorable to economic development; and iv) causes of global democratization and democratic stability from various perspectives; v) Discussion of persistence and changes of authoritarian regimes Learning Outcomes i) To think critically of research in comparative democratization and comparative politics. ii) To analyse data and arguments in research of comparative democratization. iii) To apply knowledge in comparative democratization through a case study or comparative study. Teaching Approach Through interactive seminars, lectures, films, case studies, and comparative analyses, this course will encourage students to learn through intensive class discussion/debates the key features of democracy and democratization around the world in the last few decades. The course will be theoretical, empirical and comparative, and stude