Political Regimes: The End of Democratisation? - Dr Pieter van Houten
The development of and variation in political regimes are a central concern in the study of comparative politics. While for decades the main focus was on processes of democratisation and the conditions under which democracies emerge and persist, in more recent years - as a result of political trends around the world - authoritarian and 'hybrid' regimes have received increasing attention again. This module will provide students with a sense of different strands of contemporary research on political regimes. Themes will include an overview of different approaches to the study of political regimes and democratisation (partly based on some 'classical' works on these topics in comparative politics), the relation between inequality and democratisation or democratic stability, recent research on the social bases of political regimes, factors and strategies supporting authoritarian regimes, the nature and prevalence of 'hybrid' regimes, and the alleged current 'democratic recession' in long-standing democratic states. The core readings use a variety of methodological approaches and draw and data and case studies from different parts of the world.