Syllabus
Dear students, the lectures will take place in two blocks during the following weeks: 29.3-2.4. 5.4-9.4 26.4.-30.4. 3.5.-7.5.
In each of the weeks the course take place on:
Monday, 12.30-13.50, J3014
Tuesday, 12.30-13.50, J4020
Thursday, 12.30-13.50, J4019.
Annotation
The study of regime change - and in particular of the so-called "Third Wave of Democratization" - has traditionally been dominated by comparative politics, which lays emphasis on national institutions, actors and processes. The collapse of communism in 1989, however, has compelled scholars to shift the analytical focus of their research to the previously under-valued international aspects of transition.
The emerging consensus is that, in the dynamics of transition and democratic consolidation, domestic factors remain primary, but they are adjusted, constrained or sometimes even determined by the international context. This changing perception of regime change - from an exclusively domestic affair to a multilayered and highly internationalized phenomenon - poses new conceptual, analytical and methodological challenges to students of political science and international relations.
The proposed course seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the debates on international and transnational factors shaping regime change, with a regional focus on Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space.