Many are concerned with the state of democracy in the United States and throughout the world. To better understand these concerns, we will study how global democracy has changed over time through questions including - How should democracy be defined and measured? What are the causes of democratization and democratic erosion? Do factors like inequality, polarization, and immigration pose a major threat to democratic progress? How will recent technological developments like social media and AI affect the future of democracy?
PS140R is a TEMPORARY course number. This course will be renumbered to PS137L prior to the first day of classes.
This is a “data intensive course” with a prerequisite of PS 3 or PS 88.
While the main emphasis is on deepening our understanding of democracy and democratic change, most assignments will have at least some component of collecting, analyzing, and/or interpreting data.