The course comprises three interrelated units: in the first it examines a selection of important «moments» of Democracy qua ideal or/and regime, such as the moment of classical Athens and its «re-invention» in the XVIIIth century. In the second unit it examines some models of democracy, mainly from a theoretical point of view, such as the model of participative Democracy, of deliberative Democracy, agonistic Democracy, as well as the model of the economic theory of Democracy. In the third unit, it examines the state of « malaise » or crisis observed in contemporary democracies and the challenges they have to meet, such as the problems of democratic control, legitimization and account ability which issue from the reduction of the power of national representative institutions and the fragmented character of world governance, the tendancies of the rise of populism and extremism, the relation of the tension between technocracy and popular sovereignty etc. Students are expected, through the combination of knowledge acquired in other courses, to penetrate the phenomenon of democracy, to grasp significant dimensions of its variety and historicity, as well as to engage in a questioning concerning contemporary related issues.