Course Schedule

Veranstaltungen von Sarah Engler


Lehrveranstaltungen

European party systems from a comparative perspective (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Sarah Engler

Termin:
 wöchentlich | Donnerstag | 14:15 - 15:45 | 14.10.2024 - 31.01.2025 | C 14.202 Seminarraum

Inhalt: The seminar offers an overview of party systems in the old and new democracies of Europe. While the first part of the seminar deals with theories on political divides, party strategies, and voting behavior that have mainly emerged from a look at Western European democracies, the second part of the course focuses on party competition in Central and Eastern Europe and in the context of the supranational European Union. Core questions that we cover in this seminar among others: How can we understand and conceptualize political divides and to what extent do they differ across countries? How can we explain the success of green and populist radical right parties and the mainstream parties' reaction towards them? To what extent does the authoritarian past of post-communist countries still matter in party politics today?Is political competition always programmatic, or what other strategies do parties apply to attract voters?

Direkte Demokratie: demokratietheoretische Debatten, empirische Befunde und die Anwendung im politischen Alltag (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Sarah Engler

Termin:
 wöchentlich | Montag | 12:15 - 13:45 | 14.10.2024 - 31.01.2025 | C 14.202 Seminarraum

Inhalt: In diesem Kurs schauen wir uns die direkte Demokratie (Referenden, Initiativen) aus verschiedenen Perspektiven an. Zuerst betrachten wir die verschiedenen demokratischen Ideale und ordnen die direkte Demokratie darin ein. Inwiefern passt sie in unser System der liberalen Demokratie? Erweitert oder widerspricht sie der liberalen Vision einer Demokratie? Welche Folgen hat direkte Demokratie für die Repräsentation, die Handlungsfähigkeit eines Staates, Minderheitsrechte oder auch die Zufriedenheit der Leute mit der Demokratie? Diese Fragen beantworten wir nicht nur theoretisch, sondern werfen einen Blick auf empirische (mehrheitlich englischsprachige) Studien, welche diese und viele weitere Fragen untersuchen. In einem dritten Teil schauen wir uns anhand des Schweizer Beispiels an, wie direkte Demokratie im Alltag funktioniert.

What country do people want to live in? Citizens' conceptions of (an ideal) democracy and how to measure it (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Sarah Engler

Termin:
 wöchentlich | Montag | 14:15 - 15:45 | 14.10.2024 - 31.01.2025 | C 14.204 Seminarraum

Inhalt: In many countries of the world citizens go to the streets for democracy. In Belarus, protesters demanded an end of Lukashenko’s dictatorship. In Poland, masses mobilize on the streets to stop democratic backsliding, and in Chile citizens fought for a better democracy than under the current constitution. But what do people mean when they talk about democracy? Is it just free and fair elections or do they want more? Do all citizens understand the same when talking about democracy, and if not, why do they differ? In this class, we look at these questions first from a theoretical perspective, and then students explore them empirically by analysing individual survey data of the European Social Survey. The ESS asks respondents what they consider to be important for a democracy, and how they evaluate the state of democracy in their country looking at those aspects. Students will work with the statistical program STATA to explore these questions.

Democracy and Democratization in Eastern Europe (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Sarah Engler

Termin:
 wöchentlich | Donnerstag | 12:15 - 13:45 | 14.10.2024 - 31.01.2025 | C 12.105 Seminarraum

Inhalt: We take a look at the current state of democracy in post-communist Europe and the path that led to it. We learn which factors helped or hindered democratic progress and how these factors relate to theories of democratization in other regions. What role did external actors, such as the EU, have in democratic consolidation? How can we explain the large differences between the quality of democracy in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic? In the second part, we discuss existing concepts of democracy such as Dahl's polyarchy or liberal democracy, and engage with different approaches of measuring democracy. Finally, we look at how populism and political distrust paved the way for democratic backsliding in countries like Poland or Hungary, discuss whether Orbán's 'illiberal democracy' can be democratic at all, and explore possible scenarios for the future of democracy in Europe. The class is structured in three thematic parts: (I) Theories of democratization (II) Democratic consolidation in Central and Eastern Europe (III) Democratic backsliding. We critically engage with the literature, discuss the theoretical and empirical approaches in detail and look at contemporary events and phenomena that are related to the research questions of the readings.