POL4991 Political Culture and DemocracyBahçeşehir UniversityDegree Programs SOCIOLOGYGeneral Information For StudentsDiploma SupplementErasmus Policy StatementNational QualificationsBologna Commission
SOCIOLOGY
Bachelor TR-NQF-HE: Level 6 QF-EHEA: First Cycle EQF-LLL: Level 6

Course Introduction and Application Information

Course Code Course Name Semester Theoretical Practical Credit ECTS
POL4991 Political Culture and Democracy Fall 3 0 3 4
This catalog is for information purposes. Course status is determined by the relevant department at the beginning of semester.

Basic information

Language of instruction: English
Type of course: Non-Departmental Elective
Course Level: Bachelor’s Degree (First Cycle)
Mode of Delivery: Face to face
Course Coordinator : Assoc. Prof. ESRA ALBAYRAKOĞLU
Course Lecturer(s): Prof. Dr. YILMAZ ESMER
Recommended Optional Program Components: None
Course Objectives: This course is designed to discuss theories, methods, and findings of empirical research on democratic political culture. First, we will discuss a general frame of reference for the study of political culture and then we move into the classics to distinguish between different types of democratic communities. After setting out the stage for a general framework, we proceed to a detailed examination of Turkish political culture.

Learning Outcomes

The students who have succeeded in this course;
The students who have succeeded in this course;

1- Define various approaches to democracy;
2- Grasp the measurement of democracy and democracy scales developed by various institutions;
3- Explain various cultural approaches to politics and political regimes starting with Platon and Aristotle;
4- Evaluate definitions of political culture and comparative empirical studies of this concept;
5- Identify main features of Turkish political culture.

Course Content

Defining democratization, approaches to the measurement of democracy, classical and contemporary theories, analysis of democratic political culture, ‘‘The Civic Culture“, Islam and democracy, Turkish political culture

Weekly Detailed Course Contents

Week Subject Related Preparation
1) Introduction
2) What is democratization? What are the major analytical tools for studying democratization? How can regimes be classified? What are the two essential conditions of a democratic regime? Required reading: • Democratization-Chapter 2 (C. W. Haerpfer, P. Bernhagen, R. F. Inglehart, C. Welzel, Oxford University Press, 2009). Required reading: • Democratization-Chapter 3 (C. W. Haerpfer, P. Bernhagen, R. F. Inglehart, C. Welzel, Oxford University Press, 2009).
3) Approaches to the measurement of democracy, major indices of democracy Required reading: • Democratization-Chapter 3 (C. W. Haerpfer, P. Bernhagen, R. F. Inglehart, C. Welzel, Oxford University Press, 2009).
4) Classical and contemporary theories of democracy and democratization. Different paths to democratization Required reading: • Democratization-Chapter 6 (C. W. Haerpfer, P. Bernhagen, R. F. Inglehart, C. Welzel, Oxford University Press, 2009).
5) When and how democratization fails? Required reading: • Democratization-Chapter 17 (C. W. Haerpfer, P. Bernhagen, R. F. Inglehart, C. Welzel, Oxford University Press, 2009).
6) A general framework for the analysis of democratic political culture Required reading: • Dieter Fuchs. 2007. “The Political Culture Paradigm.” In Russell J. Dalton and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 161-184.
7) MIDTERM EXAM
8) A true classic in the study of political culture: "The Civic Culture" Required readings: • Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba. 1963. The Civic Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press. esp. chapters 1, 2, 13. • Gabriel Almond, 1980. “The Intellectual History of the Civic Culture Concept.” In Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, eds., The Civic Culture Revisited. Boston: Little Brown, pp. 1-36.
9) Political culture as an essential factor in sustaining a democratic regime. Required reading: • Democratization-Chapter 9 (C. W. Haerpfer, P. Bernhagen, R. F. Inglehart, C. Welzel, Oxford University Press, 2009).
10) Gender, gender equality, women’s rights and democracy: do we know the answer to this question? Required reading: • Democratization-Chapter 10 (C. W. Haerpfer, P. Bernhagen, R. F. Inglehart, C. Welzel, Oxford University Press, 2009).
11) Religion, religiosity and democracy. Required readings: • Samuel P. Huntington. 1993. “The Clash of Civilizations.” Foreign Affairs 72(3): 22-49. • Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart. 2003. “Islamic Culture and Democracy: Testing the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ Thesis.” In Ronald Inglehart (ed.). Human Values and Social Change. Leiden: Brill, 5-33. • Yilmaz Esmer, “Is There and Islamic Civilization?” in Ronald Inglehart (ed.) Human Values and Social Change. Leiden: Brill,
12) Rising populism and democracy: Can democracy survive the rising tide of populism? Required readings: • Yascha Mounk, 2018 The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It? Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 41-61. • Rick Shenkman, “The Shocking Paper Predicting the End of Democracy,” Sept 08, 2019, Politico.
13) Turkish Political Culture Required reading: • Y. Esmer, A. Okcuoglu, S. Kurutas, “Political Culture: A Tale of Two Civilizations” in E. Canan Sokullu, ed., Turkey in Transition: Politics, Society and Foreign Policy. Peter Lang, 2020, 81-100.
14) General Review

Sources

Course Notes / Textbooks: Weekly readings will be uploaded on ItsLearning at the beginning of the semester. Please note that all book chapters and articles listed on the syllabus are also accessible through the BAU Library.
References: Haftalık ders okumalarının tamamı, dönem başında ItsLearning’e yüklenir. Ders izlencesinde yer alan tüm kitap bölümleri ve makalelere BAU Kütüphanesi’nden de erişilebilir.

Evaluation System

Semester Requirements Number of Activities Level of Contribution
Attendance 13 % 10
Midterms 1 % 30
Final 1 % 60
Total % 100
PERCENTAGE OF SEMESTER WORK % 40
PERCENTAGE OF FINAL WORK % 60
Total % 100

ECTS / Workload Table

Activities Number of Activities Workload
Course Hours 13 39
Study Hours Out of Class 13 58
Midterms 1 1.5
Final 1 1.5
Total Workload 100

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

No Effect 1 Lowest 2 Low 3 Average 4 High 5 Highest
           
Program Outcomes Level of Contribution
1) To learn and compare major sociology perspectives, both classical and contemporary, and apply all of them to analysis of social conditions.
2) To be able to identify the basic methodological approaches in building sociological and anthropological knowledge at local and global levels
3) To be able to use theoretical and applied knowledge acquired in the fields of statistics in social sciences.
4) To have a basic knowledge of other disciplines (including psychology, history, political science, communication studies and literature) that can contribute to sociology and to be able to make use of this knowledge in analyzing sociological processes
5) To have a knowledge and practice of scientific and ethical principles in collecting, interpreting and publishing sociological data also develop ability how to share this data with experts and lay people, using effective communication skills
6) To develop competence in analyzing and publishing sociological knowledge by using computer software for quantitative and qualitative analysis; and develop an attitute for learning new techniques in these fields.
7) To identify and to have a knowledge of the theories related to urban and rural sociology and demography, and political sociology, sociology of gender, sociology of body, visual sociology, sociology of work, sociology of religion, sociology of knowledge and sociology of crime.
8) To have knowledge of how sociology is positioned as a scientific discipline from a philosophical and historical perspective
9) To have the awareness of social issues in Turkish society, to develop critical perspective in analysing these issues and to have a knowledge of the works of Turkish sociologists and to be able to transfer this knowledge
10) To have the awareness of social issues and global societal processes and to apply sociological analysis to development and social responsibility projects
11) To have the ability to define a research question, design a research project and complete a written report for various fields of sociology, either as an individual or as a team member.
12) To be able to transfer the knowledge gained in the areas of sociology to the level of secondary school.