Democracy: Breakthroughs and Breakdowns

Harvard Extension School

GOVT E-1135

Section 1

CRN 27047

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What gives rise to democracy? What leads it to die? This course has a broad comparative and global sweep, seeking to answer these questions by analyzing the development of democracy in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. The course introduces students to competing conceptions of democracy, competing theories of when democracy is created and barriers to democratic survival, and analyzes major episodes of democratic breakthrough and breakdown ranging from the fall of the Berlin wall to the rise of Nazism and the collapse of democracy in cold war Latin America.

Credits: 4

Term

Spring Term 2027

Part of Term

Full Term

Format

Online

Credit Status

Graduate, Noncredit, Undergraduate

Section Status

Open

Instructor Info

Daniel Ziblatt, PhD

Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University

Meeting Info

1/25 to 5/15

Participation Option: Online Asynchronous

Deadlines

Last day to register:

Additional Time Commitments

Optional sections to be arranged.

Notes

The recorded lectures are from the spring 2026 Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences course Gen Ed 1204.

Tuition

All Sections of this Course

CRN	Section #	Participation Option(s)	Instructor	Section Status	Meets	Term Dates
27047	1	Online Asynchronous	Daniel Ziblatt	Open		Jan 25 to May 15