Issues on Sociology of Politics and Democracy

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

The chosen modality of seminar implies teaching/learning methods based on pro­activity, not only of teachers, but also of students, who must read the assigned papers and prepare contributions to the discussion in advance of each session. In addition, in some modules there is video viewing, opinion courts and other dynamics.

Learning Outcomes

The aim is to provide the students with a comparative and critical perspective on theories of democracy and sociopolitical change. In view of this, a broad set of tools and theories of the Sociology of Politics will be provided to allow for the understanding of substantive issues raised by the processes of democratization. The diversification and fragmentation of social values and life styles, in part resulting from the intensification of migration fluxes, from the raising of new social movements and new forms of activism, but also from the decline of the employment security, will be among the issues to be dealt with.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The seminar proposes an introduction to the main theoretical currents, lines of inquiry and debates that concern the following themes:

1. Engendering Democracy

2. Democracy and Human Rights and Interventionism: trends and debates

3. Racism and anti­racism in European and Latin American contexts

4. Theories of Democracy in Context of Crisis.

Head Lecturer(s)

António Manuel Simões Lopes Paiva de Carvalho

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Periodic or by final exam as given in the course information: 100.0%

Bibliography

ALLEN, M, “Civil rights and political human rights: contesting human rights failures within the minimally democratic state”, Politics, 29, 1, 2009.

BAUMAN, Z, Living on Borrowed Time, Polity Press, 2010.

CHUN, L “Human Rights and Democracy”, The International Journal of Human Rights, 5, 3, 2001.

GERTZ, G; MAZUR, A, Politics, Gender, and Conceptsy, Cambridge UP, 2008.

HESSE, B, “Im/plausilbe Deniability: Racism's Conceptual Double Bind”, Social Identities 10, 1, 2004.

LENTIN, A., “Europe and the Silence about Race”, European Journal of Social Theory, 11, 2008.

MATIYA, Jarvis (2013) “Can there be a human rights approach to intervention?”, Commonwealth Law Bulletin vol. 39 (1), pp. 105­1.

SOMERS, M R, Genealogies of Citizenship – Markets, Statelessness, and the Right to have rights. Cambridge UP, 1­60, 2008.

VITERNA, J; K M FALLON, “Democratization, Women's Movements, and Gender­Equitable States: A Framework for Comparison”, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 49:455­477, 2008.