Theories and practices of democracy

Antonella Turchi holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Florence, with a mark of 110 cum laude. She has deepened her study of topics such as History of political thought and political institutions, History and politics of contemporary Italy and Europe, Theory and history of international relations. Since 2014, she has been the first researcher at INDIRE (where she has worked as a seconded lecturer since 1991). During her experience at INDIRE, she has studied in depth issues related to systems, methodologies, strategies and instruments of knowledge representation. She has also worked on comparative analyses of European education systems. In recent years, her research interests have turned to the field of evaluation and school improvement processes. For the full curriculum, check the INDIRE website: http://www.indire.it/personale/antonella-turchi/

Gianmarco Bei holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Florence. He participated in the Research Group funded by the University of Bergamo on the themes of e-Democracy and the impact of Information and Communication Technologies on local governance and citizens’ participation in democratic life. Since 2014, he has been CTER (Technician Collaborator Research Body) at INDIRE.

The course will be divided into 2 modules of 3 ECT each.

Module 1 – Democracies and participation (3 ECT)

The module is divided into three parts, aiming to:

• acquire the vocabulary of the discipline and to have an overview of the theories and history of democracy from the classical world to the present day;
• focus on some major issues of the contemporary age, in particular on:
  • liberal democracy and populist democracy;
  • the elitist critique of democracy;
  • plebiscitary democracy;
  • representative democracy and competitive democracy;
  • representation, competition and rights;
  • democracy, capitalism and socialism;
  • polyarchy and consensual democracy;
  • global democracy and telematic democracy;
  • knowing the issues of political communication.

Module 2 – Electoral systems, parliaments, governments (3 ECT)

The module is divided into three parts and focuses on Parliaments and Governments, starting with an analysis of electoral systems, with the aim of:

• knowing the different electoral and representation systems;
• knowing the different parliamentary systems;

knowing the various forms of government.

The course will be divided into 2 modules and will aim to provide knowledge that enables the student to gain several knowledge and competencies.

Module 1 – Democracies and participation (3 ECT)

The module is divided into three parts, aiming to:

• acquire the vocabulary of the discipline and to have an overview of the theories and history of democracy from the classical world to the present day;
• focus on some major issues of the contemporary age, in particular on:
  • liberal democracy and populist democracy;
  • the elitist critique of democracy;
  • plebiscitary democracy;
  • representative democracy and competitive democracy;
  • representation, competition and rights;
  • democracy, capitalism and socialism;
  • polyarchy and consensual democracy;
  • global democracy and telematic democracy;
  • knowing the issues of political communication.

Module 2 – Electoral systems, parliaments, governments (3 ECT)

The module is divided into three parts and focuses on Parliaments and Governments, starting with an analysis of electoral systems, with the aim of:

• knowing the different electoral and representation systems;
• knowing the different parliamentary systems;

knowing the various forms of government.

The course in Theories and Practices of Democracy aims to contribute to the development of skills enabling students to analyse and interpret the sources and texts of political theory, as well as to understand and interpret the historical evolution of the concept of democracy and the evolution of theories and practices of democracy, with the aim of being able to critically approach the major issues of political cultures and processes. The course also aims at providing the ability to critically orient oneself in the complexity of the debates related to the discipline and in the interpretation of contemporary reality, making an autonomous and conscious use of the acquired analytical skills.

A. Knowledge and understanding
The student will be able to:
▪ to know and interpret the sources and texts of political theory;
▪ know the historical evolution of the concept of democracy;
▪ know the evolution of the theories and practices of democratic systems;
▪ understand political processes;
▪ understand and interpret current political societies.

B. Applied knowledge and understanding
The student will learn to analyse the main aspects and characteristics of democratic states and acquire the theoretical tools necessary to participate fruitfully in a variety of professional activities. They will also learn to construct analysis and comparison grids.

C. Autonomy of judgement
The student will be able to elaborate autonomous interpretations and judgements, starting from the analysis of the socio-political contexts of reference.

D. Communication skills
The student will be able to present orally the main current socio-political theories and analyses for understanding the genesis and developments of major global political changes, in order to recognise and evaluate, with appropriate vocabulary, the theoretical and practical consequences.

E. Learning capacity
The student will be able to independently explore the main socio-political issues of the modern and contemporary ages.

A. Use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some cutting-edge topics within the subject studied, with specific reference to the ability to gather information and data through bibliographic, printed and online material in order to develop autonomous interpretations and judgements.

B. Professional approach to work and possession of adequate skills to devise arguments, support them and solve problems within the subject studied, with particular attention to socio-political aspects.

C. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making autonomous judgements, with specific reference to the ability to focus on some major issues of the contemporary age, such as, for example, the re-emergence of nationalism and populism, and their effects on the state of democracy.

D. Ability to communicate information and ideas and to formulate analytical contributions for the benefit of specialist and non-specialist interlocutors, with specific reference to the ability to carry out critical analyses in order to understand contemporary reality.

E. The ability to undertake subsequent studies with a high degree of autonomy, keeping up to date on the subjects in question, so as to be able to implement a study method suitable for dealing with learning situations of a logical-theoretical and historical-cultural nature, with the relative argumentative methods. These skills will enable students to continue their studies towards greater levels of complexity and specificity.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

• 6 hours of recorded video lessons available on the platform.
• 2 synchronous meetings on the platform .
• Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons. 

  INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

  • 1 course orientation forum;
  • 2 thematic in-depth forums;
  • possibility to carry out work in groups;
  • structured e-activities (as described in the section “in itinere assessment methods”).

   

  SELF-LEARNING

  Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

• Video lesson slides
• Gentile E., (22 April 2016), Democrazia in folle, in Il Sole 24 Ore (http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/cultura/2016-04- 22/democracy-folle182929.shtml?uuid=ACBLPkAD&refresh_ce=1)
• Bobbio, N., (1985), Che cos’è la democrazia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvzCCrRteiQ
• Sartori G., (2010), Homo videns (part one), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53AmAJPcak4
• Sartori G., (2010), Homo videns (part two), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hos2U5QsbFA
• Cassese S., (2017), Limiti e crisi della democrazia moderna, http://www.zammumultimedia.it/sabino-cassese-alademocrazia-va-male-ci-sono-degli-anticorpia.htm
• Capano G., Piattoni S., Raniolo F. and Verzichelli L. (2015), Manuale di scienza politica; Bologna: Il Mulino (from ch. III to ch. VII and ch.IX)
• Pasquino G., (2014) Partiti, istituzioni, democrazie, Bologna, Il Mulino (ch. XI)
• Crouch C., (2019), Post-Democracy and Education, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-ocnq8ak_0

In order to respond flexibly to the specific needs of each student, the lecturer reserves the right to recommend alternative or additional readings during the course of the lessons to students who request them.

Access to the final examination is subject to the completion of 2 etivities.

• E-activity n. 1: Module 1 – Comparative analysis of political communication methods of the main Italian political parties and movements. Individual assignment to be posted on the platform.

• E-activity n. 2: Module 2 – Analysis of the electoral, parliamentary and governmental system of a country of student’s choice from the following countries: Spain, France, Germany, UK, USA.

The assessment of learning will take the form of an oral interview on the course contents and on the final report submitted, if any. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian