A Graduate Research Traineeship in Democratization at the University of Iowa

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The concept of democracy is dynamic and multifaceted. Because democracy had been examined form a variety of intellectual perspectives, any graduate training program in the study of democratization must necessarily be interdisciplinary if it is to adequately prepare the students for conducting research or teaching on the topic of democratization. The proposed traineeship program at Iowa would meet this interdisciplinary goal by recruiting students onto both the Political Science (three students) and the Sociology (two students) Departments and then providing a training program that draws upon substantive courses in these departments, as well as the Colleges of Law and Business Administration. The formal course work will be anchored by two core seminar; one that present a broad theoretical and methodological overview of studies of democratization and a Coordination Seminar that acts to integrate the students into ongoing research projects focused on the process of democratization in a number of Asian, East European, former Soviet and latin American countries. The elective seminars that add to the interdisciplinary quality of the proposed training program are organized into four substantive topic areas: those focused on Institutions, Economics and Markets, Socia-Political Culture and Elite Strategies. These different areas reflect the major research traditions in the study of democratization. Students would take at least one course from each of these substantive areas. A research apprenticeship would be a required part of the training program. This apprenticeship would directly involve the student in research opportunities in countries currently experiencing a new wave of democratization. In most cases, this research involvement would form the basis for the students' dissertation research. The Political Science and Sociology Departments of the University of Iowa are both highly rated graduate departments that have small number s of graduate students relative to the size of their faculty. Because these departments have traditionally provided the graduate students with a good deal of individual attention and mentoring, they have had very high rates of PhD completion. Enrollments in graduate courses in these departments is relatively low, therefore, adding three to five more students in these classes will not affect the quality of these courses in any way. The University of Iowa faculty that would participate in this program are all currently involved in ongoing teaching and research on democratization; they stand ready to welcome a new set of graduate students interested in obtaining training in this relevant and exciting area of study.