#24 The Many Faces of Democracy

Friday – 10:00 a.m.                                                                         Fall Term 2008 (14 weeks)
Coordinator:  Joel Rapp                                                              Co-Coordinator:  Leo Roos

Democracy is the worst form of government
Except for all those others that have been tried.
                                                                                    --- Winston Churchill

The Best argument against democracy is a
Five-minute conversation with the average voter.
                                                                                    --- Winston Churchill

Course Description
Which of these observations from one of history’s most eminent statesmen would you tend to agree with?  At first blush, a relatively easy question - clearly democracy is the best form of government – free elections, civil rights, the whole enchilada.  But if you’ll join us for this S/DG, The Many Faces of Democracy, you’ll discover the answer is not so easy after all. This class will reveal that there are dozens of different forms of democracy – each having common elements with each other but all different in varying degrees.  For instance, by the time of Aristotle (fourth century BC) there were hundreds of Greek democracies.  According to social scientists, if by the mid 1900s if some three-fifths of the world’s states (many of them poor and Non-Western) could become democracies, there is no reason why the rest of the world could not do so as well.  As we examine and judge these different democracies, from Primitive Democracies, to the more advanced Greek and current configurations, the pros and cons of these various forms will lead to some spirited debate, but by the end of the class we will hopefully have found our way to a decision. Democratically.

Topics:
Week 1:  AN OVERVIEW
Week 2:  The Various types of Democracy
Week 3:  Religious Democracies
Week 4:  Athenian versus Roman Democracy
Week 5:  Democracy in England
Week 6:  US Democracy- Where is it going?
Week 7:  18th and 19th Century - Is the Constitution a
Democratic Document?
Week 8:  The French Revolution
Week 9:  Communism, Fascism, Democracy
Week 10:  Oligarchy, Monarchy, Theocracy
Week 11:  Democratic Nation Building
Week 12:  20th and 21st Century Democracies
Week 13:  Socialist Democracy or Corporate Democracy
(Corporacy)
Week 14: Tying it all together

Bibliography

Core Book (optional)
Diamond, Larry.  The Spirit of Democracy.  Times Books/Henry Holt.

There are numerous web sites on the subject

Pre-Meeting:  Friday, August 22, 2008, 10:00 a.m.

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