全学自由研究ゼミナール(PEAK)(Japan and the Governance of Democratic Market Economies)

Citizens in advanced societies constantly appeal to the ideals of democracy, but how is representative democracy actually organized? How do different countries handle the inevitable tradeoffs among competing democratic ideals? And how do they seek to make public policies that reflect the desires of their (often competing and contending) citizenries while also crafting effective responses to the vagaries of market capitalism?

Running through this course are two broad themes. First, democracy can be conceptualized as a chain of delegation from voters to politicians and parties and then to governments. This chain, though sometimes loose or knotted, makes governments sensitive to the demands of the people who elect them. Second, democracies generally fall into two broad camps, majoritarian and consensus. The first type places highest priority on majority rule, decisiveness, and accountability, while the second seeks to encourage participation by the widest possible range of social groups. Majoritarian systems, as exemplified by the United Kingdom tend to have two-party systems; consensus countries, such as Sweden or Denmark almost always have multi-party systems and coalition cabinets.