Course Schedule


Lehrveranstaltungen

Deliberative Democracy (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Thomas

Termin:
wöchentlich | Montag | 14:15 - 15:45 | 03.04.2023 - 07.07.2023 | C 14.102 b Seminarraum

Inhalt: In the aftermath of the peaceful revolutions of 1989, the theory of democracy took a deliberative turn. Established models of elitist as well as economic theories of democracy seemed to lack the conceptual foundation to fully grasp the rationale of the ongoing changes in the next democratic wave in modern societies. Rethinking the democratic transformation of modern politics, practitioners and theorists alike turned to the idea of deliberative democracy in search of future direction. The conceptual turn to deliberation as an essential mode of democratic opinion and will formation has not only been accompanied by re-interpretations of the rationales for parliamentary democracy. Rather, it became a “working theory”, inspiring a wide range of new institutional designs and practical experiments with various forms of round tables and participatory policy making. Three decades later, different criticisms of these practices and its underlying theoretical assumptions and perspectives notwithstanding, the idea of deliberative democracy still seems to be the dominant model in the theory of democracy. Thus, for a younger generation of scholars, it seems to be timely to look for conceptional alternatives with a more radical outlook. This seminar starts by introducing students to the history and different interpretations of the idea of deliberative democracy. What are its distinctive features compared to other models? Why deliberative democracy? How are its proponents justifying its normative preferability? What are the main objections raised against its underlying presumptions and its possible consequences? If it really is a “working theory”, what are the social and institutional prerequisites of the practices it inspired? Are there new and convincing alternatives?

Moderne Repräsentationstheorien (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Dawid Friedrich

Termin:
wöchentlich | Donnerstag | 12:15 - 13:45 | 06.04.2023 - 06.07.2023 | C 1.209 Seminarraum

Inhalt: "The concept of political representation is misleadingly simple: everyone seems to know what it is, yet few can agree on any particular definition. In fact, there is an extensive literature that offers many different definitions of this elusive concept" (Zitat aus der Stanford Encyclopedia on Political Representation). Was ist politische Repräsentation? Sind Repräsentation und Demokratie untrennbar miteinander verbunden? Was sind die Herausforderungen der politischen Repräsentation? Wie "reist" politische Repräsentation über die Grenzen des Nationalstaates hinweg? In welchem Verhältnis steht die politische Repräsentation zu anderen Schlüsselbegriffen der modernen Demokratietheorie, insbesondere zu Partizipation und Deliberation? Diese Fragen werden in diesem Seminar durch gemeinsames Lesen, Kommentieren und Diskutieren von Schlüsseltexten der zeitgenössischen politischen Theorie behandelt.