Understanding the fundamentals of democracy, democratic institutions and principles

Understanding the fundamentals of democracy, democratic institutions and principles, and its legacy, 2) acquiring and practice research and reading strategies for studying ancient texts, documents, and objects, 3) evaluating and analyze historical context and bias within ancient and modern sources of information, and 4) reflecting upon the status of democracy in the modern world and chart new paths forward. The essay should contain discussion of at least five readings from this semester, at least two from ancient Athens (weeks 1-7) and at least two from the rest of the semester (weeks 8-15), as well as Hélène Landemore's Open Democracy. It is strongly recommended that the paper is organized by sections: Introduction (1 paragraph), Discussion (6-8 paragraphs), Conclusion (1 paragraph). The Discussion section can contain shorter sub-sections as needed. There are numerous ways to organize the Discussion section: by chronological period, by topic, or by institution, etc. It is not recommended to arrange the discussion by individual source/reading--weave documents together to tell a coherent story through analysis of topics and ideas. Additional readings beyond what have been assigned in this class are not necessary, and in fact, they are discouraged in this assignment.