Overview
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Learning activities
Learning outcomes
Demonstrate coherent knowledge of a variety of theoretical approaches to explain political and economic change.
Apply theories of political change to country case studies and extend and develop the analyses to explain contemporary problems in politics
Construct evidence-based arguments, clearly and persuasively communicated, using a variety of sources, that explain political and economic change in a given context in a way that acknowledges complexity.
Demonstrate the capacity to think across cultures and contexts in discussing and debating theories of political and economic change.
Show an emerging capacity to develop innovative and imaginative approaches to enduring problems in the study of political and economic change through a range of practical exercises and written work.
Assessments
Additional information
1. Introduction to course: What is Authoritarianism?
2. What is Democracy?
3. Theories of Democratic Transition: Modernization theory
4. Theories of Democratic Transition: Transitions Theory
5. Theories of Democratic Transition: State Developmentalism
6. Theories of Democratic Transition: Critical Political Economy
7. Theories of Democratic Transition: Social Movement Theory
8. Coalition building: In class/online simulation
9. New Authoritarianism (Singapore)
10. Authoritarian Reversal in Thailand
11. Illiberal Democracy in Indonesia
12. Class and Democracy in the West
The first seven weeks of this unit addresses core concepts and theoretical frameworks, including democracy, authoritarianism and capitalism. Theories of political change are explored including modernization theory, neo-institutionalism, social movements and social conflict approaches. The unit then turns to country or regional specific case studies as a way of unpacking core issues in understanding the political economy of contemporary Southeast Asian regimes. Finally the course turns to the relationship between advanced capitalism and liberal democracy in established Western democracies.