Plato thought democracy was doomed to turn into tyranny, but it has become the only acceptable form of government in the modern world - even one-party states hold elections. Was Plato just wrong? In this course we will try to decide, by studying the principles, successes, and challenges of contemporary democracies. We will also look at another ancient practice that has flourished in the modern world: bureaucracy. We will consider the various ways that egalitarian democracies can interact with hierarchical, meritocratic and effectively permanent bureaucracies. Do the experts who control bureaucratic administrations channel the ultimate will of the people? Should they? We will examine these questions, along with speculating about the future of populism and identitarian politics.
Democracy and Bureaucracy: From the Past to the Future
This is an In-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.
Overview
Programme details
Course starts: 23rd Jan 2025
Week 1: Democracy: The history of an idea and a practice. From slave-state democracies through bourgeois-aristocratic partnership to universal adult suffrage. From fearing the masses to trusting the people.
Week 2: Democracy: The philosophical debate about elected governments. The general will and the corruption of the people. The wisdom and madness of crowds. The tyrranies of majority and minority. Direct and indirect democracies.
Week 3: Contemporary democracy and its influencers: Is the system tarnished or perhaps enhaced by the influence of the elite media, mass medie, social media, big business, big money, and/or the military.
Week 4: Illiberal democracy: Is charisma more important than competence? Why is populism so popular? Can divided societies be united democracies? Is [Trump, Orban, Milei, Bukele, Modi, Sisi, etc.] the problem or the solution?
Week 5: Bureaucracy: Imperial and Christian Rome and the anti-family establishment. Weber's rational administration. The wonders of efficiency, justice, merit, and accurate records.
Week 6: Bureaucracy: the revolving doors and standard systems of governments, businesses, and everyone else. Office politics and real politics. Charisma as friend and enemy of the bureaucratic system.
Week 7: Post-bureaucracy: The decline of the gifted amateur and critical humanist, the rise of the technical expert and the cult of science. Politicised science and regulatory capture. The legal-technical web of the international system.
Week 8: The search for political legitimacy: What replaced divine appoval for governments? Has popular rule become too unpopular to be trusted and obeyed? Should we be ruled by "the science"? By the self-selected elite of some "swamp"?
Week 9: Bureaucracies and democracies: Are they really rivals? Or do they complement each other? Is their any alternative? Does transparency help? Are the current arrangments corrupt? Can they be improved significantly by tweaks?
Week 10: Discussion: Which system best serves the common good? What comes next? Will there be a revolution, or just more of the same?
Recommended reading
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Continuing Education Library for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are welcome to use the Library for reference. More information can be found on the Library website.
There is a Guide for Weekly Class students which will give you further information.
Availability of titles on the reading list (below) can be checked on SOLO, the library catalogue.
Preparatory reading
- Economy and Society / Max Weber
- The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism / Max Weber
Certification
To complete the course and receive a certificate, you will be required to attend at least 80% of the classes on the course and pass your final assignment. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £285.00 |
| Take this course for CATS points | £30.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Tutor
Mr Edward Hadas
Edward Hadas is a Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University. He also teaches philosophy, economics, and social theory to visiting American undergraduates. He is the author of Money, Finance, Reality, Morality (2022) and Counsels of Imperfection: Thinking through Catholic Social Teaching (2020).
Course aims
To study two leading contemporary systems of organisation and control: democracy and bureaucracy.
Course objectives:
- To understand and evaluate the philosophy and actual practice of democracy.
- To understand and evaluate the philosophy and actual practice of bureaucracy.
- To recognise the tension between egalitarian and hierarchical approaches to authority.
Teaching methods
The course will be taught as a mixture of informal lectures and class discussions.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will be expected to:
- know the basic characteristics, virtues and criticisms of democratic governments and bureaucratic organisations;
- nderstand the tension between the two models of administration and control;
- sympathise with both elected leaders and unhappy voters in contemporary democracies.
Assessment methods
Students will be assessed on the basis of their essay, with some attention paid to participation in classroom discussions.
Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard.
Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form
Application
To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an Enrolment Form (Word) or Enrolment Form (Pdf)
Level and demands
No prior knowledge of politics or sociology is required for this course. There will be almost no mathematics. Students will be expected to follow and participate in a classroom discussion, as well as writing an academic essay on a topic of their choice.
The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.
Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)
To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.