Program Overview

University Program: Staats- und Demokratietheorie

Overview

The Staats- und Demokratietheorie program offers a systematic overview of the major perspectives and arguments in classical and contemporary state and democracy theory. The program covers central questions in state and democracy theory, including processes of state genesis, state forms (particularly democracy), structures of state bureaucracy, and the relationship between the state and civil society.

Course Details

• The program is taught by Prof. Dr. Volker Schneider.
• Classes are held on Mondays and Thursdays from 08:15 to 09:45 in Audimax A600.
• The course combines a systematic overview with an in-depth examination of selected original texts from Plato to Habermas.

Course Content

The course content includes:

• Processes of state genesis
• State forms, with a focus on democracy
• Structures of state bureaucracy (public administration)
• Processes of state activity (public policy)
• The relationship between the state and civil society

Lecture Schedule

The lecture schedule for the 2013 summer semester includes:

• 2013/04/15: Introduction
• 2013/04/18: Scientific theory - Popper, Kuhn
• 2013/04/22: Holistic and individualistic theories - Marx/Engels, Buchanan
• 2013/04/25: Differentiation and system theories - Luhmann, Coleman, Bunge
• 2013/04/29: State and Polis in ancient Greece - Plato, Aristotle
• 2013/05/02: The state in the Renaissance and Enlightenment - Machiavelli, Hobbes
• 2013/05/06: State formation as rational construction or evolution - Locke, Hume
• 2013/05/09: No recording (Ascension Day)
• 2013/05/13: Empirical theories of state genesis - Diamond, Elias, Mann
• 2013/05/16: State forms in ancient Rome - Cicero, Augustine
• 2013/05/20: No recording (Pentecost Monday)
• 2013/05/23: State forms in the Middle Ages - Aquinas, Padua
• 2013/05/27: No recording (trial exam and discussion)
• 2013/05/30: No recording (Corpus Christi)
• 2013/06/03: Institutions of modern democracy - Montesquieu, Rousseau
• 2013/06/06: Democracy, law, and freedom - Kant, Mill
• 2013/06/10: No recording (cancelled)
• 2013/06/13: Democracy and justice - Rawls, Hayek (made up from Monday, 10.06.2013)
• 2013/06/15: Elites, masses, and media - Schumpeter, Sartori, Dahl (made up from Thursday, 13.06.2013)
• 2013/06/17: Bureaucracy and hierarchy - Weber, Simon
• 2013/06/20: Policy networks and regulatory state - Mayntz, Majone
• 2013/06/24: Beginnings of policy theory - Humboldt, Stein
• 2013/06/27: Institutional policy theories - Mayntz/Scharpf, Ostrom
• 2013/07/01: Relational and cultural policy theories - Pappi, Sabatier
• 2013/07/04: Associations between state and society - Hegel, De Tocqueville
• 2013/07/08: Corporatism and private interest governments - Lehmbruch, Schmitter, Streeck/Schmitter
• 2013/07/11: Challenges to the state - Habermas, Scharpf
• 2013/07/15: No recording (exam)
• 2013/09/27: Future of democracy - Fukuyama, Crouch

Additional Information

For further details on the course content, please refer to the LSF, ILIAS, and the website of the chair.