DWA 227 — Authoritarianism in the Age of Globalization

Diplomacy and World Affairs, Occidental College — Fall 2026

Professor: Igor Logvinenko Email: ilogvinenko@oxy.edu Office: 210 Johnson Hall Meetings: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:20–2:40 PM (Johnson 104) Office Hours: In person, Thursdays 3:00–4:30 PM (210 Johnson Hall); via Zoom, Wednesdays 2:00–3:30 PM. Book a slot.

Course Description

Thirty years after Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the “End of History,” political authoritarianism remains viable while democracy is increasingly under threat around the world. In fact, only 7 percent of the global population resides in liberal democracies as of 2025. At the same time, many dictators have embraced hypermobility of capital, free trade, and modern information technology. Deepening globalization has also challenged long-established democratic systems, producing anti-establishment populist politics at the “local” level. How do authoritarian leaders react to the challenges of globalization in the 21st century? Does globalization undermine or enhance their hold on power? Will authoritarianism survive a long-term engagement with global markets? The aim of this course is to explore these and other related questions.

This course fulfills the Global Connections (CPGC) requirement of the college.

Course Objectives

This course covers the political economy of contemporary authoritarianism; how modern autocrats hold power under conditions of global capital mobility, open trade, and networked information; how democracies erode and what global capitalism has to do with it; and what the scholarly literature gets right and wrong about these dynamics.

Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

1. Distinguish the main analytic categories in the study of non-democratic rule
2. Summarize and evaluate a scholarly arguments in this literature
3. Assess measurements on their merits: what democratic backsliding indices claim to measure and where they disagree
4. Locate, assess, and cite scholarly sources on a research question about authoritarianism, and build an annotated bibliography
5. Write a 3,000–4,000-word literature review and defend it live under questioning

(CPGC: Global Connections)

Course Workload

DWA 227 is a 4-unit course. On average, you should expect to spend at least twelve (12) hours a week (including in-class time) on this course.

Required Texts

• Guriev, Sergei, and Daniel Treisman. 2022. Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. 2019. The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty. New York: Penguin Press.
• Applebaum, Anne. 2024. Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World. New York: Doubleday.
• Weekly articles, reports, and other assigned readings not listed above are collected in this shared Google Drive folder.

Course Structure

Most Tuesday classes begin with an overview of the week’s material; on Thursdays, students work in and out of pre-assigned discussion groups. By Wednesday at 8pm, each student posts 3 questions framed in the context of the readings (about 300–500 words), alternating week to week between two roles. Connector: connect previous readings (and specific passages) to the current week’s readings; discussion questions must include at least three such connections and a question constructed to stimulate discussion. Applier: apply the week’s assigned material to real-world events (contemporary or historical, reported in reputable outlets), producing three such applications and explaining why and how the material applies; applications should stimulate discussion.

Assignments

1. Connector/Applier Posts (10%) Due Wednesday at 8pm each week. Graded complete/incomplete. Two weeks may be skipped, no questions asked. Keep all your posts in a single document.

2. Participation (20%)

• Fifteen percent: graded on preparation and contribution, not volume. Strong: building on the post rather than reading it aloud, citing a passage, taking up and pushing another student’s point. Adequate: prepared, and speaking on on-deck days. Weak: present but silent, or talking without the text. A mark is recorded for each student at the end of every meeting; cumulative standing is reported once at midterm. Attendance at guest speaker events counts. Students for whom speaking in a group is difficult may tell the instructor in week 2 to arrange other ways to demonstrate preparation.
• Five percent: attendance at guest-speaker/DWA events. Attend at least two DWA-sponsored events related to global politics or authoritarianism (broadly understood) — including any of the guest speakers listed below — and submit a one-page (single-spaced) response by email within a week of each, naming the talk title and speaker(s), briefly describing the event’s purpose, and connecting it to a theme from the course. Essays are graded complete/not complete; two completed essays earn an A on this part of the participation grade.

Attendance. For absences (illness, family emergencies, official Oxy events, days of faith and conscience), notify the instructor as early as possible to arrange an alternative way to demonstrate the week’s preparation. Students missing more than two weeks’ worth of meetings should meet with the instructor.

3. Two In-Class Quizzes (10%) Short handwritten quizzes: identifications plus one paragraph. - Quiz 1 — Tuesday, September 15 - Quiz 2 — Tuesday, October 27

4. Book Review (10%) About 1000 words, on Spin Dictators, The Narrow Corridor, or Autocracy, Inc. Due: Thursday, October 22.

5. Blue-Book Midterm (15%) In-class, handwritten, Thursday, October 8. The question pool will circulated in advance. One handwritten page of notes allowed.

6. Literature Review with Oral Defense (35%) A 3,000–4,000-word review of the literature on a topic in the academic study of authoritarianism (excluding bibliography) — expanding on a course topic or one of the student’s own choosing, after consulting with the instructor. Three parts: - Annotated bibliography (10%) — due Thursday, November 5 - Panel defense (10%) — November 17, 19, and 24 - Final draft in narrative form (15%) — due Thursday, December 10 (finals period)

Panel defense format. Students are grouped with three or four classmates working on related topics. Each student gives a 4–5 minute statement of their question, their argument, and the weakest point in their own case; the panel then takes 8–10 minutes of open questions. Panelists are expected to have read one another’s bibliographies and to have a question ready for each.

The final draft is graded on a one-page rubric distributed with the assignment, plus a short holistic comment.

Grade Distribution

A: 93–100 | A−: 90–92.9 | B+: 87–89.9 | B: 83–86.9 | B−: 80–82.9 C+: 77–79.9 | C: 73–76.9 | C−: 70–72.9 D+: 67–69.9 | D: 60–66.9 | F: below 60

Final exam. There is no final exam in this course. The final literature review is due Thursday, December 10, during the finals period; do not make plans that would conflict with the submission.

Mid-Semester Progress Reports. Mid-semester progress reports are not intended to be used as determinative or predictive of the final grade in a course, but to provide an opportunity for the faculty to communicate an approximate estimation of progress by the students in the course by the midpoint of the current semester. I will submit yours during the Fall 2026 reporting window (October 5–18). Please review your report before you meet with your academic advisor.

Incompletes. Eligibility requires completing at least one-third of the graded work, that work being of passing quality, and a personal circumstance verified by the Dean of Students Office. The final decision rests with the instructor. In this course an incomplete applies only when the outstanding work is the final paper; discussion, posts, quizzes, the midterm, and the panel defense cannot be reconstructed after the semester ends.

Key Dates

• Thu Sep 3 — practice blue-book session (ungraded), in class
• Thu Sep 10 — no class (asynchronous documentary lab)
• Tue Sep 15 — Quiz 1
• Thu Sep 24 — midterm question pool circulated
• Thu Oct 8 — blue-book midterm (in class)
• Tue Oct 13 — no class (asynchronous documentary lab)
• Thu–Fri Oct 15–16 — Fall Break, no class
• Thu Oct 22 — book review due
• Tue Oct 27 — Quiz 2
• Thu Nov 5 — annotated bibliography due
• Tue Nov 10 — literature review workshop; peer-review worksheet due in class
• Tue Nov 17, Thu Nov 19, Tue Nov 24 — panel defenses
• Wed–Fri Nov 25–27 — Thanksgiving, no class
• Thu Dec 10 — final literature review due (finals period)

Connector/Applier posts are due Wednesdays at 8pm weekly. Any session still marked provisional will be settled no later than Thursday, September 17, announced in class and posted on Canvas. Assignment due dates do not move.

Guest Speakers

• Thu Sep 3 — Amb. Virginia Palmer (Stuart Chevalier Professor of the Practice, Diplomacy & World Affairs), “Q&A + International Careers” — via Young Initiative. Public talk 12–1pm.
• Thu Sep 17 — Sergii Glebov (Visiting Assoc. Prof., UC Irvine; Assoc. Prof., Odesa I. I. Mechnikow National University), “Russia’s War on Ukraine and European (In)Security” — via Young Initiative. Public talk 12–1pm; class visit 1:20.
• Thu Sep 24 — Jason Bell, author of Operation Sparrow, hosted in class; possible public talk the same day (provisional).
• Thu Oct 29 — Daniel Treisman (UCLA), co-author of Spin Dictators — via Young Initiative. Public talk 12–1pm; class visit 1:20.
• Wed Nov 4 — Leah Stokes (UCSB), The Carbon Wave — via Young Initiative. Public talk 12–1pm; note the Wednesday; no class visit; optional.
• Thu Nov 12 — Phillip Ayoub (Professor, University College London), “The Global Resistance to LGBTIQ Rights” — via Young Initiative. Public talk 12–1pm; class visit 1:20–2:40.

Attendance at the public talks counts toward participation.

Course Policies

Communication

Email replies within 24 hours on weekdays, 48 on weekends. Anonymous written course feedback is collected twice: at the end of week 3 and in the week after the midterm.

Late Assignments

A grace period of 48 hours applies after each deadline, no questions asked. For every 24-hour period after the end of the grace period, one letter grade is deducted. This policy does not apply to the final draft of the literature review, which is due at the deadline.

Laptop & Smartphone Use

Laptops and smartphones may not be used during class (except with accommodations or prior approval); take notes on paper. Bring a laptop for in-class writing and workshop days when asked.

AI Policy

1. In-class work (discussion, quizzes, the blue-book midterm, presentations and defenses): closed-book except where stated, and no AI.
2. Take-home writing: written without generative AI. AI may be used to search for sources, verify facts, or brainstorm — testing an idea, working through an argument, sketching an outline — but no AI-generated text may be submitted as your own writing; you are responsible for whatever appears on the page with your name on it.
3. No AI detectors are used. If work raises authorship concerns, the student will be asked to walk through their argument in conversation.
4. When in doubt, ask first.

AI use by assignment

Newspaper and Magazine Access

Occidental College provides free access to the following outlets; students are expected to use them for the Applier role and throughout the course.

• The Atlantic: visit accounts.theatlantic.com/institutional-login, type in “Occidental College,” click Continue, and sign in with your Oxy credentials.
• The Economist: visit economist.com, click Log in, enter your Oxy email with the password field blank, and enter your Oxy credentials on the Oxy login page.
• Los Angeles Times: visit latimes.com/Oxy25, enter your Oxy email, create a password and click “Agree and Continue,” then enter redemption code OXYSS25 and complete the form with your name and zip code.
• New York Times (new subscribers): visit accessnyt.com, search for and select Occidental College, click “Create Account” with your @oxy.edu email, create a password, validate via the confirmation email, then select Student or Faculty/Staff and complete sign-up.

Student Support Services

• Writing Center — help with drafts at any stage
• Library — research consultations and Ask a Librarian; laptop lending
• Academic Success Coach — time management and organization (academiccoaching@oxy.edu)
• Center for Digital Liberal Arts — digital tools and media work
• Intercultural Community Center — community and belonging

Course readings address political violence, repression, and war; a student for whom a given week’s material will be difficult in that way may tell the instructor beforehand to arrange how they take part.

Required College Policies

Statement of the Shared Academic Integrity Commitment

Academic Integrity is a shared community value. It is built around trust and respect between members of the Occidental Community, and embodies a commitment to honesty and integrity in every aspect of one’s academic life.

All members of the Occidental community are committed to uphold the highest degree of academic integrity. Unless stipulated otherwise, the academic work done for all assignments is expected to be the student’s own; students are expected to give proper credit to the ideas and work of others.

Signing the Academic Integrity Commitment at the beginning of every semester represents a student’s affirmation to uphold the shared values of honesty and integrity. When signing the Integrity Commitment associated with work in a course, students are affirming that they have not cheated, plagiarized, fabricated, or falsified information; nor assisted others in these actions.

Refer to Student Handbook for the framing of the commitment, definitions of Academic Ethics, and Process for alleged violations of the commitment.

Civil Rights & Title IX

In the event that you write or speak about having experienced discrimination or harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic or sexual misconduct (including sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, stalking, sexual exploitation or any other form of sexual and/or gender-based harassment), as a designated Responsible Employee, I must inform the Civil Rights & Title IX Office. They will contact you to let you know about resources and support services at Oxy, as well as reporting options both on and off-campus. You have no obligation to respond to the Civil Rights & Title IX Office or to meet with them to discuss support services and reporting options.

If you do not want the Civil Rights & Title IX Office contacted, instead of disclosing this information to your instructor, either through conversation or a class assignment, you can speak confidentially with:

• Oxy’s Survivor Advocate, Project SAFE (survivoradvocate@oxy.edu)
• Emmons Counseling (For appointments, call: 323-259-2657)
• Rev. Dr. Susan Young, Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (young@oxy.edu)
• Oxy 24/7 Confidential Hotline (323-341-4141)

The College’s civil rights policies, along with additional resources, can be found at: https://www.oxy.edu/civil-rights-title-ix. If you would like to contact the Civil Rights & Title IX Office directly, you may email Civil Rights & Title IX Coordinator Alexandra Fulcher at afulcher@oxy.edu or call 323-259-1338.

Special Accommodations/Learning Differences

Occidental College (Oxy) complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, and other applicable state and federal law prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

• All accommodation requests including academic, housing (ESA & Services Animal) and temporary accommodations are managed by the Disability Services Office. It is a student’s responsibility to request accommodations via the Disability Services website. For information about additional accommodations and support services, students can email accessibility@oxy.edu.
• Oxy’s Psychological Testing Program: We offer low cost psychological testing for students who qualify. Any student who thinks they may have a learning, or psychological disability may complete Oxy’s Psych Testing Application to be added to the waitlist.
• Academic Success Coaching: Our Academic Success Coach assists students in developing skills and strategies to enhance their academic performance. They provide personalized guidance on time management, organization, study techniques, goal setting, and self-regulation. By collaborating with students, our coach helps identify and overcome obstacles to academic success, fostering a supportive environment that promotes personal and educational growth. Contact: academiccoaching@oxy.edu

Accommodations for Reasons of Faith and Conscience

Consistent with Occidental College’s commitment to creating an academic community that is respectful of and welcoming to persons of differing backgrounds, we believe that students should be excused from class for reasons of faith and conscience without academic consequence. While it is not feasible to schedule coursework around all days of conviction for a class as a whole, faculty will honor requests from individual students to reschedule coursework, to be absent from classes that conflict with the identified days. Information about this policy and a religious and spiritual holiday calendar are available on the ORSL website.

Schedule

Dated against the official Oxy Fall 2026 calendar (classes Aug 25 – Nov 30; Fall Break Oct 15–16; Thanksgiving Nov 25–27; finals Dec 3–10); TR pattern — last class meeting is Tue Nov 24. Book usage: Spin Dictators (wks 3, 5, 9), The Narrow Corridor (wks 4, 10), Autocracy, Inc. (wks 7, 14).

Reading load. Where a week lists more than three items, some are marked Depth (optional); quizzes, the midterm, and on-deck discussion draw on the Core readings only.

Week 1 (Aug 25 & 27) — Introductions

• Introductions and Course Logistics
• Slides: The State of Democracy 2026 (V-Dem Democracy Report 2026 highlights)
• Fukuyama, “The End of History?” The National Interest, no. 16 (1989)
• Fukuyama, Francis, John Mearsheimer, and Peter Katzenstein. “Future of Democracy: Realism vs. Liberalism,” panel debate, Cornell University (2017)
• V-Dem Institute, Democracy Report 2026 (executive summary + global trends)
• Levitsky and Way, “Democracy’s Surprising Resilience.” Journal of Democracy 34, no. 4 (2023)

Week 2 (Sep 1 & 3) — Contesting Globalization

• Frieden, J. A. 2007. Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century. (pp. 1–27)
• O’Neil, Shannon K. “The Myth of the Global.” Foreign Affairs, June 2022
• Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation (1944), Chs. 1 & 6
• Xi Jinping, “Shoulder Responsibility of Our Times, Promote Global Growth.” Davos keynote, 2017
• Thu Sep 3, 12–1pm — guest: Amb. Virginia Palmer, “Q&A + International Careers” (Young Initiative); attendance counts toward participation

Week 3 (Sep 8; no class Thu Sep 10) — Authoritarianisms: From Fear to Spin

• Spin Dictators, opening chapters (the fear→spin argument)
• Linz, Juan. Definitional pages on authoritarian regimes, from “An Authoritarian Regime: Spain” (1964) / Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes (1975)
• Friedrich, Carl J., and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy (1956), Ch. 2 (the six-point totalitarian syndrome)
• Frantz, Erica, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, and Joseph Wright. The Origins of Elected Strongmen (2024), intro (optional — the personalism variable)
• Thu Sep 10 — no class (instructor away); asynchronous documentary lab: structured viewing guide plus a handwritten half-page of connections to Spin Dictators.

Week 4 (Sep 15 & 17) — Capitalism Under Democracy and Dictatorship

• The Narrow Corridor, Chs. 1–2 (pp. 1–73)
• Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom, Ch. 1
• Olson, Mancur. “Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development.” APSR 87, no. 3 (1993)
• Martínez, Luis R. “How Much Should We Trust the Dictator’s GDP Growth Estimates?” Journal of Political Economy 130, no. 10 (2022) — BFI research summary + paper introduction
• Quiz 1 — Tuesday Sep 15
• Thu Sep 17 — guest: Sergii Glebov, “Russia’s War on Ukraine and European (In)Security”; public talk 12–1pm, class visit 1:20

Week 5 (Sep 22 & 24) — Spin in Practice: Media, Information, and Legitimation

• Spin Dictators, middle chapters (media control, propaganda, manipulating democracy’s language)
• Miłosz, Czesław. The Captive Mind (1953), “Ketman” chapter
• Applebaum, Anne. “The New Propaganda War.” The Atlantic, June 2024
• Guriev and Treisman, “Informational Autocrats.” JEP 33, no. 4 (2019) (optional — condensed version of the book’s argument)
• Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language” (1946) (optional)
• Havel, Václav. “The Power of the Powerless” (1978), greengrocer §§ I–VII (Depth — optional)
• Thu Sep 24 — guest: Jason Bell, author of Operation Sparrow, in class; possible public talk the same day (provisional)
• Midterm question pool to be circulated Thu Sep 24

Week 6 (Sep 29 & Oct 1) — Democracy & Authoritarianism in Africa

• Opalo, Ken. “The Truth About Africa’s Coups.” Journal of Democracy 35, no. 2 (2024)
• Ero, Comfort, and Murithi Mutiga. “The Crisis of African Democracy.” Foreign Affairs 103, no. 1 (2024) (run as structured disagreement with Opalo)
• Elischer, Sebastian. “Populist Civil Society, the Wagner Group, and Post-Coup Politics in Mali.” OECD iLibrary (2023)
• Bleck, Jaimie et al. “Drinking Tea with the Neighbors.” APSR (2023): 1–20 (Depth — optional)

Week 7 (Oct 6 & 8) — Autocracy, Inc.: Kleptocracy & Global Finance

• Tuesday: Autocracy, Inc., first half (the networked autocrats, kleptocratic finance); Sharafutdinova and Dawisha, “The Escape from Institution-Building in a Globalized World.” Perspectives on Politics 15, no. 2 (2017): 361–78; Hirschman, Albert O. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (1970), Chs. 1–3 excerpt (offshore finance as the oligarch’s exit)
• Blue-book midterm — Thursday Oct 8

Weeks 8–9 (Oct 13; Fall Break Oct 15–16; Oct 20 & 22)

• Tue Oct 13 — no class (instructor travel); asynchronous documentary lab: viewing guide plus a handwritten half-page of connections.
• Oct 20 & 22 — Digital Authoritarianism & Surveillance:
  • Spin Dictators, technology/surveillance chapter
  • Schlumberger, Oliver, Mirjam Edel, Ahmed Maati, and Koray Saglam. “How Authoritarianism Transforms: A Framework for the Study of Digital Dictatorship.” Government and Opposition 59, no. 3 (2024): 761–83 (open access)
  • Yang, Eddie, and Margaret E. Roberts. “The Authoritarian Data Problem.” Journal of Democracy 34, no. 4 (2023)
  • Anastasopoulos, Jason, and Bryan Lian. “The Limits of Authoritarian AI.” Journal of Democracy 37, no. 2 (April 2026)
  • Birhane, Abeba. “Algorithmic Colonisation of Africa.” The Elephant, August 21, 2020 (optional — Global South angle)
• Book Review due Thu Oct 22

Week 10 (Oct 27 & 29) — Democratic Breakdown and Autocratization

• The Narrow Corridor (Red Queen selections — how corridors are exited)
• Little, Andrew T., and Anne Meng, “Measuring Democratic Backsliding” and reply/rejoinder package (with Miller response and Knutsen et al./V-Dem reply). PS: Political Science & Politics (2024) — run as an in-class debate
• Levitsky, Steven, and Lucan Way. “The Path to American Authoritarianism.” Foreign Affairs, February 2025
• Watts, Edward J. “Lessons in the Decline of Democracy From the Ruined Roman Republic.” Smithsonian Magazine, November 2018 (Depth — optional; drawn from Mortal Republic, 2018)
• Quiz 2 — Tuesday Oct 27
• Thu Oct 29 — guest: Daniel Treisman (UCLA), co-author of Spin Dictators; public talk 12–1pm, class visit 1:20

Week 11 (Nov 3 & 5) — Courts and Autocracy

• Dichio and Logvinenko, “Stewards, Defenders, Progenitors, and Collaborators: Courts in the Age of Democratic Decline.” Law & Policy (2024) — framing essay of the special issue
• One or two case-study articles from the special issue (TBD)
• Scheppele, Kim Lane. “Autocratic Legalism.” University of Chicago Law Review 85 (2018) (suggested pairing)
• Beard, Mary. SPQR (2015), Ch. 1, “Cicero’s Finest Hour” (Catiline, emergency powers, executions without trial)
• Cicero, In Verrem I or Plutarch, Sulla 31–33 (the proscriptions) — final pick TBD
• Wed Nov 4, 12–1pm — optional talk: Leah Stokes (UCSB), The Carbon Wave; a Wednesday, no class visit
• Annotated bibliography due Thu Nov 5

Week 12 (Nov 10 & 12) — Literature Review Workshop

• Tue Nov 10: literature review workshop (framing, sources, research design) + structured peer review — complete a short worksheet on two classmates’ bibliographies and bring it to class; those classmates are your panel-mates
• Thu Nov 12 — guest: Phillip Ayoub (Professor, University College London), “The Global Resistance to LGBTIQ Rights”; public talk 12–1pm, class visit 1:20–2:40
  • Ayoub, Phillip, and Kristina Stoeckl. “The Global Resistance to LGBTIQ Rights.” Journal of Democracy 35, no. 1 (January 2024) — assigned the week before

Week 13 (Nov 17 & 19) — Panel Defenses

• Panels defenses.

Week 14 (Nov 24 only — Thanksgiving Nov 25–27) — Final Panels & Wrap-Up

• Remaining panels, then closing discussion: authoritarianism and the future of globalization
• “Globalisation and Autocracy Are Locked Together. For How Much Longer?” The Economist, March 2022 (Depth — optional)

Final Literature Review due during finals period — Thursday, December 10 (3,000–4,000 words; no 48-hour extension for the final draft; graded on the rubric distributed with the assignment)