Democracy: What is it Good For?
Course | Available (Membership Required)
Most people know the observation, often attributed to Churchill, that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others. Democracy certainly seems to be faltering on the global stage, with many questioning whether its moment has come and gone. But what is democracy exactly, and what is it supposed to do that it is apparently not doing? In this course we will answer that question by looking at democracy in all its varieties, and also by comparing democracy to “all the others” (communism, socialism, fascism, etc.) to determine if in fact democracy is the best, or at a minimum, the least worst form of government.
Darren Zook
Darren C. Zook, PhD has taught for 16 years at UC Berkeley, and has been recognized numerous times for his contributions to education on campus. He teaches courses on comparative politics, security studies, human rights, and conflict resolution, and has extensive field experience in nearly every part of the world, including two trips to North Korea. In 2012 he was a Fulbright Research Scholar based in Singapore, conducting research on cybersecurity threats in the Asia-Pacific region.