The Idea of Democracy | Humanities & Social Sciences

The Idea of Democracy

Course Number: 
HSL655
LTP structure: 
3-0-0
Discipline: 
Philosophy
Credit: 
3.0

Pre-requisite

N/A

Course Objective

· Familiarize students with the histories of thinking and defining ‘democracy’ and its contrasts with different as well as related political forms (tyranny, monarchy, anarchy)
· Understand the related concepts and categories through which democracy is thought such as power, politics, freedom, equality, “people”, the individual, society, community, nation, state, representation, deliberation.
· Understand the ideas of democracy with historical examples of democratic formations such as parliamentary democracy, and of the forms and techniques of deliberation, collective decision-making, participation, and representation.
· Critically engage with definitions and critiques of democracy.

Course Content

The course provides a critical understanding of the idea of democracy in terms of the his-tory of ideas and historical examples of political formations termed ‘democratic’. Funda-mental readings of primary texts and selections will be taken from across the histories of the development of forms of democracy from Solon and Plato to B. R. Ambedkar and Jean-Luc Nancy.

The information provided here may not be updated. Please check UG/PG section for updated course offering data.

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