Intendierte Lernergebnisse
Die Lehrveranstaltung wird zweisprachig (deutsch und englisch) abgehalten.STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMESBy the end of the course, students will be able to evaluate competing understandings of globalization, various theoretical views concerning globalization and development, deeper understanding of the role of the Global South in globalization processes and in particular the extant evolution of the concepts of globalization and democracy.Knowledge and understanding:An understanding of the concept of globalization and contending definitions of it.New conceptual vocabulary to discuss the forces of globalization and analyze globalization within a multidimensional conceptual frameworkAn understanding of the forces that determine the globalization process(es).The ability to contextualize recent developments in a wider historical context – i.e. ability to articulate of the importance of historical perspective for understanding globalization.The ability to critically analyze the political-economic relationship within geopolitical and epistemic regions.Competence in scholarly writing and oral communication.
Lehrmethodik
Die Lehrveranstaltung wird zweisprachig (dt./engl.) abgehalten.
Inhalt/e
The purpose of the course is to explore how democracy is to be understood today? How is the original meaning of democracy to be rescued in the age of (post-)Trumpism, when the democratic idea is too often related to the political model of the 1% based on the rule of the best or aristoi, political representation and, above all, a specific economic paradigm? How is democracy to be studied in order to demarcate it from the crisis of representation (i.e. the crisis of political parties and trade unions), and the emergence of new political subjects and new forms of collective action? Hence, we will address the question of the actual and potential connections between democracy and globalization.Globalization and democracy are broad and at the same time also popular concepts, so we are often facing a “double challenge”: subject matter that is all-encompassing, as it is elusive because of plethora of loose and simplified narratives about it. Hence, the first part will analyze several key discourses on globalization (hyperglobalists vs. sceptics vs. transformationalists) and deconstruct several key concepts guiding our inquiry, inter alia, (under)development, progress, growth, human rights. Next, we will address major theories of democracy, the historical debates about democracy, as well as the modern conceptions of democratic theories/ praxes, in particular their challenges in a globalized world. In the last part, we will use the concepts of globalization to reflect both structural divisions and cross-border processes.The course addresses various aspects and dimensions of the globalization process, so the students will be able to critically reflect the concept and, above all, its political and economic role.
Some of the key issues that will be explored include:Is globalization a new phenomenon?Is globalization characterized by unification/universalism or rather fragmentation/particularism?How does globalization affect social/economic/political geography of the contemporary world? Is globalization really compressing the time and space aspects of social relations or rather the opposite?How does globalization affect relations between developed countries and developing countries?How does globalization affect democracy?