Democracy in the Americas

Democracy in the Americas
Special Topics course for BFA-1 students only by
permission of instructor.
The Americas-both North and South America-are a
socially, politically, and culturally diverse
region of the planet. But the region nonetheless
shares a significant number of historical and
contemporary political and social problems and
perspectives. This course focuses on these shared
problems and perspectives as they relate to the
current state of democracy in the region. During
the semester we will structure the conversations
around the reading of four emblematic books of
contemporary political science and theory. The
first section will be devoted to one of the most
insightful books ever written on the foundational
experience of the American republic and its legacy
in the present: Hannah Arendt's On Revolution. In
the second section, we will focus on the equally
foundational, but more recent experiences of
contemporary Latin American modern democracies,
paying particular attention to the emblematic
cases of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile-the most
important cases of late twentieth century
democratization processes and early twenty-first
century left-wing governments. During the second
half of the semester, we will move to our own time
and to the question of democracy in the United
States and Latin America in the present. In this
context, we will conceptually narrow down our
perspective and focus on two specific dimensions
of contemporary democracy: 1) the question of
"dualist democracy" as a form of society in both
North and South America, and 2) the question of
left and right-wing populisms in the region, in
particular focusing in the cases of the United
States, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia. During
the entire semester we will read from the
aforementioned Arendt, and from Argentine
political scientist Marcelo Cavarozzi, Chilean
political sociologist Manuel Antonio Garretn,
American constitutional theorist Bruce Ackerman,
Mexican political theorist Paulina Ochoa Espejo,
Paraguayan political and social theorist Benjamn
Arditi, and Ecuadorian sociologist and political
scientist Carlos de la Torre, among others.
Students will be also asked to regularly read the
Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Rio Times' online
editions as a way of permanently relating the
class discussions to current events.