Module POC3131 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC3131: The Revival of Global Authoritarianism
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
While the precise content will vary from year to year, it is expected that the module will include lectures on the following themes:
- Global Democracy in Decline?
- Studying authoritarianism – methodological and empirical challenges
- Authoritarianism as Regime Type
- Authoritarian Institutions (legislatures, courts, constitutions)
- The Political Economy of Authoritarianism (e.g. rentier states, patronalism, corruption)
- Civic Life under Authoritarianism (civil society, protests and repression, welfare)
- From 20th– 21st Century Authoritarianism (innovations in authoritarian governance, technology and authoritarianism)
- The International politics of authoritarianism (norm diffusion, democracy prevention, authoritarian international institutions, rising powers, decline of the West)
- Authoritarianism in democratic countries (populism, Trump etc., authoritarianism as a set of practices)
- A Global Authoritarian Future?
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour seminars |
Guided independent study | 65 | Private study, reading and preparing for seminars (approx. 6 hours of private study per seminar) |
Guided independent study | 28 | Researching and writing policy briefing |
Guided independent study | 30 | Researching and writing essay |
Guided independent study | 5 | Preparing formative presentation |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
A good summary of how to write a policy brief - https://writingcenter.unc.edu/policy-briefs/
Blog on authoritarianism managed at Sheffield and Birkbeck - https://thelanguageofauthoritarianregimes.wordpress.com/
Research project ‘Authoritarianism in a Global Age’, University of Amsterdam, http://www.authoritarianism-global.uva.nl/
NED podcast on authoritarian resurgence - https://www.ned.org/ideas/podcast/
Freedom House 2017 Report on Modern Authoritarianism - https://freedomhouse.org/report/special-reports/breaking-down-democracy-goals-strategies-and-methods-modern-authoritarians