Varieties of Political Regimes: Latin America in Comparative Perspective

Undergraduate course

Course description

Objectives and Content

Objectives: The huge variety of regime types both past and present turns Latin America into a laboratory for the study of political regimes. The course aims to use fundamental theoretical and conceptual understandings of various democratic and non-democratic regime types to discuss and analyse the range of empirical variety in political regime development in Latin America.

Content: The course is divided into four sections. The first section provides theoretical and conceptual as well as analytical tools for the empirical study of different political regime types. The second section provides an overview of political regime development in 19th century Latin America. The third section is devoted to varieties of non-democratic regimes in Latin America, whereas the fourth section concerns varieties of democratic regimes in Latin America. The course emphasizes temporal variations as well as intraregional differences and similarities between countries.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge

  • Describe the main temporal and intraregional variations in Latin American political regime development since independence

Skills

  • Analyze empirical regime developments by using the theoretical conceptualizations of different political regime types
  • Compare and discuss differences and similarities between empirical cases of the various Latin American regime types

General competence

  • Critically relate concepts, models and theories to empirical examples and facts

Semester of Instruction

Spring - irregular
Required Previous Knowledge
None
Recommended Previous Knowledge
Credit Reduction due to Course Overlap
Full credit reduction with SAMPOL220
Access to the Course
Open for all students at the University of Bergen.
Teaching and learning methods

Form: Lectures

Number of weeks: 10

Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
None
Forms of Assessment

10 hour take home exam.

The exam will be given in the language in which the course is taught.

The exam can be submitted in English. It is also possible to submit in Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.

Grading Scale
Grading A-F
Assessment Semester

Assessment in teaching semester.

Re-take exams are arranged for students with valid absence according to ยง 5-5 of the Study Regulations at UiB. If a retake exam are arranged for students with valid absence, students with the following results can also register:

  • Interruption during the exam
  • Fail/Not passed

If you qualify for the retake exam and a retake exam is arranged for students with valid absence, you can register yourself in Studentweb after August 1.

Course Evaluation
All courses are evaluated according to UiB's system for quality assurance of education.