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
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group Presentation (in class or online) | 15 minutes | 1-6, 8-9 | Oral |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policy Briefing | 40 | 1,500 words | 1-9 | Written |
| Research Essay | 60 | 3,000 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Policy Briefing | Policy Briefing (1,500 words) | 1-9 | August/September reassessment period |
| Research Essay | Research Essay (3,000 words) | 1-6, 8-9 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Ahram, Ariel and J Paul Goode (2016) ‘Researching Authoritarianism in the Discipline of Democracy’, Social Science Quarterly, 97 (4): 834-849.
Art, David (2016) ‘Archivists and Adventurers: Research Strategies for Authoritarian Regimes of the Past and Present’, Social Science Quarterly, 97 (4): 974-990.
Bruff, Ian (2014) ‘The Rise of Authoritarian Neoliberalism’, Rethinking Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture and Society 26 (1): 113-129.
Diamond, Larry (2015) ‘Facing up to the Democratic Recession’, Journal of Democracy 26 (1): 141-155
Glasius, Marlies (2018) ‘What Authoritarianism is… And is Not: A Practice Perspective’, International Affairs 94 (3): 515-533.
Glasius, Marlies, Meta de Lange, Jos Bartman, Emanuela Dalmasso, Aofei Lv, Adele del Sordi, Marcus Michaelsen and Kris Ruijgrok (2018) Research, Ethics and Risk in the Authoritarian Field (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan).
Heydemann, Steven and Reinoud Leenders (2011) ‘Authoritarian Learning and Authoritarian Resilience: Regime Responses to the “Arab Awakening”’, Globalizations, 8 (5):
Inglehart, Ronald and Pippa Norris (2017) ‘Trump and the Populist Authoritarian Parties’, Perspectives on Politics 15 (2): 443-454.
Levitsky, Steven and Lucan Way (2010) Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Schedler, Andreas (2013) The Politics of Uncertainty: Sustaining and Subverting Electoral Authoritarianism (Oxford University Press)
Svolik, Milan W. (2012) The Politics of Authoritarian Rule (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Tansey, Oisin (2016) The International Politics of Authoritarian Rule (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
