84-321 Autocrats and Democrats
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
The international system is populated by countries with many different types of national governments. A common simplification of the many diverse political systems in the world is to divide them into democratic states and nondemocratic states or autocracies. This simplification misses many key differences among autocracies and causes us to overlook key similarities between autocracies and democracies. This course will cover three major areas. First, we will evaluate the strategic incentives faced by all leaders and discuss how these incentives differ by regime type. Second, we will discuss how leader responses to these incentives shape policy outcomes such as economic growth. Third, we will examine the factors that promote transitions from one regime type to another. Throughout the course, students will be asked to reconsider much of what theyve thought about both democratic and nondemocratic leaders. Class assignments will ask students to critically examine existing theories of political organization and apply their knowledge to real world cases, both historical and contemporary.
Prerequisites: none listed
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