CBPC1435 Decolonizing Democracy: Lessons From the Global South
There are few words in our modern political vocabulary more celebrated than democracy. Yet, in popular discussions about this concept, the liberal democratic variant (i.e., free and fair multiparty elections, rule of law, protection of civil and political rights), synonymous with the West, has come to be taken as the end-goal to which all non-Western countries must aspire. But what would it mean to decolonize democracy? How would our understanding of this concept change if we decentered Western historical experience?
In this course, we set out to do just that, by asking a series of basic questions: What, exactly, is democracy? Where does this concept come from and how has its meaning changed over time? If democracy means ‘rule of the people’, then is this system of government compatible with societies and international systems marked by great inequalities of wealth and power? Finally, can countries, like Colombia, claim democracy if their national sovereignty is compromised by external actors?
Utilizing ideas, insights, and theories from political science, history, sociology, development economics, and cinema and literature studies, this course sets out to help students answer these questions in an interdisciplinary manner, by exploring alternative claims to, and practices of, democratic politics, with a particular focus on case studies from the Global South. In so doing, it seeks to expand students’ democratic imaginations, by challenging their preconceived notions about democracy, and inviting them to engage in debates about the meaning of this concept and to reflect on their own everyday experiences of it.
Periodo en el que se ofrece el curso
202410
Idioma en el que se ofrece el curso
Inglés
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