Paris: Democracy

The Social Sciences Core Sequence focused on democracy—entitled Democracy: Equality, Liberty, and the Dilemmas of Self-Government—was first established at UChicago in the 2021–22 academic year. In Winter 2025, for the first time, this Core Sequence is offered abroad—in London. In Winter 2026, this program will move to Paris, to allow students to study democracy with access to a new set of resources.

Paris provides an excellent hub for the study of democracy. Students will be able to explore the city’s history, through visits to, for example, French Revolution sites such as the Bastille and the Marais area, and sites associated with the 1968 period of unrest. They will likewise see artistic representations of democracy in the city’s various museums, such as the Museum of National Resistance, the Louvre’s historical paintings and antiquities collections, and the National Museum of the History of Immigration. The areas of France outside of Paris, such as ancient Roman sites, also present excellent opportunities.

The sequence will consist of four courses. The first three will be taught in English and will focus on, respectively: 1) Fundamental questions about the nature of democracy, drawing on analyses of ancient societies, such as those in Athens, Rome, and/or Florence, 2) The age of revolutions and constitution-building, drawing on works of philosophy and theory as well as political manifestos, constitutions, essays, and other documents, and 3) Challenges that modern societies experience in establishing democratic governance, defending against its erosion, and, ideally, strengthening it. Each of these courses will incorporate field trips around the city, and potentially to other areas as well, to experience historical and present-day artifacts and activities. The final course will be a French language course.

Faculty who teach on this program rotate from year to year. The faculty roster is designated by the program faculty director.

Winter 2026 Course Descriptions

Democracy’s Life and Death (Michèle Lowrie)

What is a democracy? How are democracies established and maintained? What are their advantages and disadvantages for stability, security, liberty, equality, and justice? How are democratic cultures maintained? Do democracies decline and die for internal reasons or from external threats? Many democracies aggressively pursue empire in self-defense, buying their own self-determination at the price of others’. Does maintaining non-democratic rule over some part of the political sphere erode internal democratic norms? We address these questions by examining the historical examples of ancient democratic Athens and the Roman Republic. Being in France will give us the opportunity to devote attention also to self-governance in ancient Gaul. All readings will be primary texts from ancient Greece and Rome.

Democratic Revolutions (Instructor to be announced)

Democracy as we know largely took shape in the series of revolutions that transformed the political landscape of Europe and America from the seventeenth through the early nineteenth centuries: especially The English Revolution, The Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution. Associated with these revolutions, furthermore, are consequential colonial rebellions in Ireland, India, and Haiti. This course will take up these large developments in turn and address the influential political controversies from which they emerged and to which they gave rise. In addition to reading modern historical accounts of these revolutions, their causes and consequences, we will engage closely with the contemporary source texts associated with them, ranging from pamphlets and debate records to extended treatises in political theory and even some representative literary works.

Challenges of Modern Democracies (Julian Go)

This course grapples with the questions of democratic government in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The readings sustain the concern for close textual analysis and historical inquiry established earlier in the sequence, but introduce systematic attention to the uses of comparison, both over time and across nations. Thematically, we will consider how questions of social difference (ethnoracial, class, gender, etc.), colonialism, the rise of fascism and populism challenge democratic governance while also offering opportunities for revitalization and transformation.

Headquarters for the College’s study abroad programs in Paris is the University of Chicago John W. Boyer Center in Paris, the University’s teaching and research hub in Europe. Since 2003, the Center has been home to a growing array of the College’s hallmark Study Abroad programs and has supported our community of students, faculty, alumni, and partners from around the world. Designed by Studio Gang, the new Center features state-of-the-art classrooms, offices, event and reception spaces, and gathering areas for students, among other features.

Students in the Paris: Democracy program are housed in a residence hall within the Cité Internationale Universitaire (Cité). The Cité, a park-like residential complex in the fourteenth arrondissement, is the international student campus in Paris, though French students also live there. Students reside in single rooms with a private bath and have access to Cité facilities, including a library, theater, laundry, and athletic facilities. Students will have access to common kitchens in the residence halls and can purchase inexpensive meals at the Cité’s restaurant universitaire.

It is important to recognize the cultural context of student housing in France and understand that the amenities of dormitory facilities may vary. Although some of these differences may take some getting used to, remember that cultural differences extend to all aspects of your experience abroad. Having realistic expectations for your term in Paris will help you approach the study abroad experience with a positive attitude.

Participants in the Paris: Democracy program remain registered as full-time students in the College. They take and receive credit for four courses: the three courses in the Social Sciences sequence and the French language course. The social sciences sequence meets the College’s general education requirement in the social sciences. Students who have already met this requirement may use these courses as electives. Their use, partial or total, in other majors must be approved by the undergraduate chair of that department. The language course will normally count as an elective. Course titles, units of credit, and grades are placed on the College transcript.

Study abroad students pay regular College tuition, a program fee, and a nonrefundable study abroad administrative fee. The tuition and program fee are paid in conformity with the home campus payment schedule, and a deposit toward the nonrefundable study abroad administrative fee is submitted when accepting a place in a program. Precise figures for the Paris program during the 2024-2025 year are listed below:

Winter tuition: as set by the Bursar’s Office

Study abroad administrative fee: $675

Paris: Democracy program fee: $5,960

Previous program participants report spending in the range of $200 to $250 per week on meals and incidentals while on the program, though frugal students may spend less, and others could spend much more. Bear in mind that the cost of living in Paris is relatively high and that, while it is possible to live frugally, it is also possible to run short of money if you are unwary. It is therefore essential that you budget your funds, managing your resources so that they last for the duration of the program. If you are planning to travel before or after the program or on weekends, you should budget accordingly.

Study abroad students retain their financial aid eligibility. For more information about financial aid resources, please see our Tuition, Fees, and Funding section.

The Paris: Democracy program is open to University of Chicago undergraduate students only. Applications from outside the University are not accepted.

The program is designed for undergraduates in good academic and disciplinary standing who are beyond their first year in the College. While the program stipulates no minimum grade-point average, an applicant’s transcript should demonstrate that they are a serious student who will make the most of this opportunity. Because the social sciences sequence is taught in English, there is no language prerequisite, although students are encouraged to take French on campus before the program begins.

Each application is examined on the basis of the student’s scholastic record and personal statement. If you are interested in applying for this program please fill out the online application.

To discuss the Paris: Democracy program and the possibility of participating, please contact Michaela Foreman.