OSUN Theme: Democratic Practice
Mafia States and Patronal Democracies
Term: February 5, 2025 – May 14, 2025Level: 300-Level
Day/Time: Tuesday; Thursday 8:30 AM - 9:50 AM EDT
Instructor: Bálint Madlovics, Central European University
This course offers a comprehensive framework for understanding current trajectories of democratization and autocratization, emphasizing informality, grand corruption, and populism. The course’s focus is the political, economic, and social landscape of post-communist regimes (Central Europe, post-Soviet countries, and China), while providing an outlook for other regions. The course examines recent events like the Russia-Ukraine war and its impact on de- and re-democratization tendencies.
Prerequisites: No prerequisites. Having studied comparative politics, economics or sociology is useful but not required.
Credits: 4 US / 8 ECTS