European Democratic Culture

Aim

After completion of the course the student should be able to:

• understand Europe's democratic historical development, and the democratic forms and thoughts of today.
• analyze key issues regarding the development of democracy in Europe, and discuss perspectives, concepts and theories.

Content

In this course historical and contemporary notions of European and national citizenship are examined. A bearing thought is that even though the idea of democracy by no means has been universally accepted or taken for granted in Europe, the development of a democratic culture has played a central role in European politics since the French Revolution. Even today the question of democratic forms for European governance are central to many political controversies. The ideas and practice of democracy are discussed, as well the enemies of democracy and the ambitions of democratic parties in Europe.