Politics

Authoritarianism and its Critics

Module code: L2110
Level 6
30 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay

The most common form of autocracy today is electoral autocracy, where multiparty elections coexist with autocratic practices.

In this module, you’ll study:

  • the ideologies used to justify and critique these regimes around the world
  • how to analyze and interpret politicians’ speeches and actions, and evaluate writings about them
  • how justifications of electoral autocracy engage with past and present political theories
  • how these justifications distort ideas from democratic theory
  • how critiques of electoral autocracy draw from and contribute to democratic thought.

Module learning outcomes

  • Effectively formulate, organise and communicate arguments
  • Describe the arguments through which electoral autocracy is justified
  • Analyse how meanings are fixed in the formulation of justifications of electoral autocracy
  • Critically evaluate theories of the ideologies through which justifications of electoral autocracy are analysed
  • Analyse the underlying patterns in the ideologies through which electoral autocracy and democratic rule are justified and critiqued