Understanding Regimes and Democratic Transitions

📋 Course Outline

1. Regimes and Regime Change
2. Democracy as Contestation
3. Measuring Democracy
4. Democratic Decline and Stagnation
5. Dictatorships and Autocracy Types
6. Causes of Democratization
7. Electoral Systems and Effects
8. Legislatures and Governments
9. Political Parties and Systems

📖 1. Regimes and Regime Change

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Regime: The set of rules, norms, or institutions that determine how the government is constituted, organized, and how major decisions are made within a state (source content). It provides the governing framework for political authority.

• Regime Change: The process of altering the rules, norms, or institutions that define a regime. It involves a fundamental change in how power is organized and exercised in a state.

• Early Democracy: Not explicitly defined in the source content; generally refers to the initial stages or forms of democratic governance historically emerging before modern concepts.

• Modern Democracy: An evolved form of democracy characterized by inclusive participation, free and fair elections, and rule of law. It encompasses contemporary understandings such as Dahl’s polyarchy, emphasizing contestation and inclusion (source content).

📝 Essential Points