A Graduate Research Traineeship in Democratization at the University of Iowa

民主的概念是动态的和多方面的。由于民主已经从各种知识分子的角度进行了考察，因此，如果要使学生为进行有关民主化的研究或教学做好充分准备，任何有关民主化研究的研究生培训计划都必须是跨学科的。爱荷华大学提出的实习计划将通过在政治科学系（3名学生）和社会学系（2名学生）招募学生，然后提供一个培训计划，利用这些系以及法律和工商管理学院的实质性课程，来实现这一跨学科目标。正式的课程工作将以两个核心研讨会为基础；一个是对民主化研究进行广泛的理论和方法概览，另一个是协调讨论会，目的是使学生参与集中于若干亚洲、东欧、前苏联和拉丁美洲国家的民主化进程的正在进行的研究项目。选修研讨会增加了拟议培训计划的跨学科质量，分为四个实质性主题领域：侧重于制度、经济和市场、社会政治文化和精英战略。这些不同的领域反映了民主化研究的主要研究传统。学生将从这些实质性领域中至少选修一门课程。研究学徒将是培训计划的必要部分。这种学徒制将使学生直接参与目前正在经历新的民主化浪潮的国家的研究机会。在大多数情况下，这种研究参与将形成学生的论文研究的基础。爱荷华大学的政治科学系和社会学系都是高评价的研究生系，但相对于其师资规模而言，研究生人数较少。由于这些院系传统上为研究生提供了大量的个人关注和指导，因此他们的博士完成率非常高。这些专业的研究生课程的入学率相对较低，因此，在这些课程中增加三到五个学生不会对这些课程的质量产生任何影响。爱荷华大学将参与这个项目的教师目前都在进行民主化的教学和研究；他们随时准备欢迎有兴趣在这一相关和令人兴奋的研究领域获得培训的新一批研究生。

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.