The course is designed to provide both a conceptual understanding of democratic theories and an empirical knowledge of experiences of democratic transition and consolidation in a number of different Asian countries.

We will investigate different forms of democracy, particularly in new- or late-democratizing countries of Northeast and Southeast Asia. The first lectures tackle definitions and different models of democracy. We will define the formal characteristics of democratic institutions, and the informal constraints to democratic practices, the limits to democracy's evolution, the processes of democratic consolidation and the relation between democracy and development.

We will then analyse theories of democratization, investigate and compare specific national cases in Asia, divided according to their experiences with democracy: rapid top-down democratization, slow, bottom-up democratization, semi-democratization and no or little democratization.