PHPE408D

Cross-listed with PHIL408D. Credit only granted for PHPE408D or PHIL408D. Many think that democracy is the only acceptable form of government, but it is hard to articulate why. This course will look at normative arguments in defense of democracy. It will also look at criticisms of these arguments, along with normative arguments in favor of non-democratic forms of government. The course will also look at theoretical and empirical work concerning how democracies actually function in the real world (e.g., the median voter theorem, the Hong-Page theorem, McKelvey Schofield chaos theorem, etc.), and ask how this theoretical and empirical work should inform our normative arguments for democracy.