USESEP005 Question of Democracy I

Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Winter 2018
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Petr Hušek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Petr Hušek, Ph.D.
Institute of Central European Studies – Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
The course is concentrated on theory of democratic regimes. The attention is paid mainly to individual basic theories of democracy, principal classification types of democracy and fundamentals of function of democratic state mechanicals. The aim of the subject is to introduce the theory and practice of democratic regimes and management of the method of application of this theory in political science to students. This course is followed by a course Question of democracy II.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction to course
    2. Democracy phenomenon
    3. Ancient and liberal theories of democracy
    4. Republican and deliberative theory of democracy
    5. Social-political conditions of democracy
    6. Elites and democracy, elitist theories, J. Schumpetere
    7. Parliamentary democracy
    8. Presidential democracy
    9. Consensual democracy
    10. Competitive democracy
    11. Theory of democracy at the beginning of the 21st century
    12. Conclusion of the course
Literature
    required literature
  • Hloušek, V., Kopeček, L. (eds.). Demokracie. Teorie, modely, osobnosti, podmínky, nepřátelé a perspektivy demokracie. Brno: Mezinárodní politologický ústav, 2003. info
  • TERCHEK, R. - CONTE, T.C. Theories of Democracy: a reader. Lanham: Rowman & Littleheld Publishers, 2001. info
    recommended literature
  • CUNNINGHAM, F. Theories of Democracy: a critical introduction. London: Routledge, 2002. info
  • DAHL, R. O demokracii. Praha, Portál, 2001. info
  • DAHL, R. Demokracie a její kritici. Praha, VP, 1995. info
  • SARTORI, G. Teória demokracie. Bratislava: Archa, 1993. info
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Teacher's information
During the semester, the student will write a seminar paper, 8-9 standard pages long (1 standard page = 1800 characters, including spaces) on the topic selected by the student. The topic of the seminar paper should be sent by the student to the teacher to the email address below no later than 5 October, 2012. It will be subsequently approved or, if necessary, adjusted. Failure to meet the deadline will result in multiplying the size of the paper for each started week, up to 3 weeks (four times) maximum. The seminar paper should be submitted to the teacher in electronic form to petrhlavacek@centrum.cz no later than 20 December, 2012. Papers submitted later will not be accepted. In the examination period, the student will take a written credit test.
Formal requirements for the appearance of the seminar paper:
Apart from the text itself (including introduction and conclusion), the paper should contain the front-page, reference and list of literature. The text should be written in Word or Open Office format (not pdf), in standard font type and size, 1.5 line spacing and justified. The reference and list of literature should observe the standard for bibliographical references and citations (CSN ISO 690 and 690-2 - see, e.g., www.citace.com). The list of literature in alphabetical order is appended at the end of the paper. Only relevant specialised sources and/or authentic sources are accepted, excluding basic literature. Links to Internet encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia, will be accepted only in justified cases.
Assessment methods:
The submitted and accepted seminar paper is a prerequisite for taking the credit test. The paper will be evaluated on the scale 0-10 points (to be accepted, you must obtain at least 6 points) as follows: 1. Content of the text - observing and developing the topic, amount of factual mistakes, etc. (5 points), 2. Used literature (2 points), 3. Observing the formal requirement (2 points), and 4. Quality of language (1 point). In the event of insufficient score, the student can submit one corrected paper within the deadline. Apparent failure to comply with formal requirements (see above) or significantly low quality of the language is the reason for not accepting the paper until these deficiencies are remedied. If plagiarism is identified, the student will not be classified and further sanctions may be adopted, as appropriate.
The credit test consists of 10 open questions divided into three groups (3 questions for 4 points, 4 questions for 6 points and 3 questions for 8 points) with 60 points maximum score. To obtain the credit, at least 36 points, or 60 %, must be achieved in the credit test. The test will contain the topics of the lectures based on the lectures and basic literature. In the event of failure, the student has a right to repeat the written test.
The course is also listed under the following terms Winter 2012, Winter 2013, Winter 2014, Winter 2015, Winter 2016, Winter 2017.
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