So now, let me review what we'll look at at this course and what the requirements are in conclusion.

This course is going to begin this week by looking at what democracy is, the different types of democratic regimes. We'll look at the trends in terms of the spread of democracy over time. In the second week, we'll examine one of the most important foundations of democracy. The belief that democracy is the best form of government, that it's legitimate for the country. And we ll study what the relationship is between legitimacy and the consolidation of democracy so that it becomes stable, enduring, and firmly rooted. We ll go on in week three, to look at political culture, the prevailing values, norms, expectations, understandings, beliefs, cognitions, perceptions that shape how people view the political system and if democracy is in place, how they view their own democracy? What kind of attitudes and values sustain democracy, and what is the distribution of attitudes, values, evaluations of democracies that we find in public opinion survey data? In week four, we'll look at economic development. What happens to countries when they experience economic development? When a middle class emerges, a more pluralistic society, do values change? What are the implications of changing social structure for politics? And as a subset of that, what are the implications of the rise of a more pluralistic and independent civil society of interest groups nongovernmental organization? Independent mass media, who are raising questions, pressing interests, monitoring the state, demanding of the state, holding the state accountable. What kind of civil society serves democracy? In week five, we'll look at democratic transitions in two respects. Historically, how did democracies emerge in the West? Often, over long periods of time and very incrementally. And what was the role of colonialism and then the process of decolonization in creating new opportunities for democracy, but very difficult challenges for

post-colonial democracy?. And then, we'll look at the more recent transitions to democracy that have happened during the third wave of global democratization, which began in the mid-1970s. Following that in week six, our attention will shift. We ll look at political institutions. Does it matter for democracy, for the quality of democracy, for the stability of democracy, what kind of political institutions a country has? should it have a strongly majoritarian form of government, so it can make strong decisions? Somebody clearly rules, somebody else is in opposition, or is it better to have very broad coalitions? Is it better to have parliamentary government or is it better to have presidential government? What are the implications of having different constitutional structures? And what is the role of political parties and party systems in that process? In week seven, we'll take this concern about political institutions and look specifically at one of the most manipulable, and impactful, institutional choices a country can make and that is the design of electoral systems. Should a country have a simple first pass the post-electoral system? One person representing one district, whoever gets the most votes wins. Or, is it better for democracy, for social inclusion, for stability to have a more proportional electoral system, where every interest is represented? Every group, whether they are major, majority in a geographic constituency or not can point to their representatives. What are the costs of such a system? What are the benefits of that type of system? From there, we'll look at one of the most challenging problems for democracy, identity conflict, ethnic pluralism, racial, religious, and ethnic divisions. What do these imply for the stability of democracy? Is a democracy doomed if its a deeply divided society or do we have tools like the tools I've mentioned, the choice of electoral system, the choice of executive structure? The design and distribution of power, vertically, in the country. Do you want concentrated power at the

center? Do you want distributed power, perhaps, in, even in a federal system? How do these choices fit together? And what are the implications of having one type of combination versus another for the management of ethnic and other related identity conflicts? Then, we'll look at another vexing problem for democracy, corruption, abuse of power. How do we contain these and promote a rule of law? What role is to be played by the concept of horizontal accountability? Some branches of government, monitoring what others do, and holding them accountable, and enforcing the law, the constitution, the norms of society. What is the full package of institutional mechanism, strategies, designs political coalitions that can help contain corruption, control corruption, and create new norms of responsibility, ethics, integrity, transparency? From there, we'll step back to a broader look at the core question so important of the future of democracy in so many countries around the world. Why do democracies break down? What can we learn from the specific, historical cases of democracies that have tried and failed that can give us lessons and insights that can help to avert future failures of democracy? Finally, in the tenth week, we'll step out from the internal workings of democracy to look at the international system. What impact does it have on the fate of democracy? Are there things that international actors can do to support and facilitate, that is, promote democracy? What things should they do, what steps pressures should they avoid? What works, what doesn't work? How do we have to learn from experience to improve the work of organizations, public actors, private actors, civil society, governments, regional organizations to assist and partner for the development and consolidation of democracy elsewhere in the world? And finally, what is the future of democracy? This course will work in a very simple way. Each week, you ll be asked to view, in multiple pieces, often if you re watching

individual the online, at your own leisure in individual short segments if you wish or multiple segments if you'd like. Somewhere between 2 and a half to 3 hours of lectures per week. Reading is up to you. There is on the syllabus, an extensive amount of reading for those who have the time, who want the depth of knowledge, who can make use of it who are able to understand the English language readings. And even who'd like to discuss them and help debate and interpret them to other students in the class. We strongly encourage online discussion. We seek it, we welcome it, and we will facilitate it in this class. We invite you to take the initiative. Tell your friends and colleagues about the course. Invite them to sign up and join. It's not too late to do so now. Start a discussion group, where each week you can discuss and debate the issues raised in the course with your fellow students. Feel free to start these discussion groups in your own national language if English is not your first language or not an easy language for you to function in. Feel free to come back to us. Tell us what you think. Blog about the class. Direct questions to myself and the course teaching assistants. We will examine you periodically with multiple choice and other questions that are finite choice questions that can be graded objectively. and each week in the lectures, after each segment, you'll find a question after the entire lecture is complete, you'll find a series of questions. If you watch 80% of the lectures and pass the quizzes for them, you will receive a certificate that acknowledges your completion of the course. If you also pass the online final exam, where at the end of the class, where many of those same questions will be repeated. So this does not require from you any reading though, we strongly encourage it and think you will benefit from it. You can pass the lecture quizzes and you can pass the online final exam simply by mastering and perhaps reviewing the lecture material in this class. But we invite you to be ambitious, if you have the time, if you have the

inclination, do some of the reading for the class, and usually, it's ranked in order of priority each week, except for the two books. My book, The Spirit of Democracy Samuel Huntingtons book the third wave. All of the other reading is free, and either available openly on the internet, or available on this course website. And the, syllabus for the course in terms of what you will be examined on for this second. More demanding final exam will particularly stress the free open source online reading material for the class. If you pass and exam based on this reading, you will be given a certificate of distinction of having passed the class at a deeper level at a deeper level of engagement, intensity, and mastery of the material. We invite you to participate, to take the exam, become a peer grader for the final exam, join an online discussion forum, offer your comments and views about course issues. And even start or join a local discussion group in your country, in your school, in your neighborhood, among your friends. Engage us. Join the weekly discussion forums that we will offer with the instructor and our special guests. Give us your feedback, your suggestions, your questions, your ideas. Share with us and with your fellow students in this class your own national experiences, your own civic experiences. In this way, we will all learn more in this ongoing process of trying to understand what makes for successful democracy.