This coursee trace the evolution of western demicratic theory from the ancient Greeks to the present, with particular emphasis on the democratic political institutions, from the Greek polis ti the modern representative democracies. At the end of the course the studet will:
know the most important principles and ideas within democratic theory;
understand the relationship between democrary and liberalism;
be able to evaluate the main objections to democrary (tyranny of the majority; mass ignorance; perils for the individual freedom);
be able to analyze critically the contemporary challenges to democrary (populism, technocracy, etc.) and the possible reactions to them