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Undergraduate students enroll in 115A. Graduate students enroll in 215A. Is it possible that the way in which the ancients resolved the serious problem of political representation in Athenian democracy gives us fundamental keys to understand and give a satisfactory answer to the problem of political representation in contemporary democracy, particularly in Latin America? Despite the great differences in time, economy, population and social organization, we believe the answer is yes. In this course we will consider the principles, concepts and practices that Athenian democracy brought into play to solve the problem of political representation, that is, the problem of the distribution of power and the relationship between citizens and the elite, as it appears in the works of Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides and some of the sophists. With the results achieved, we will move on to examine the main problems facing contemporary democracy, focusing on the crisis of representation that affects it globally, but with special force in Latin America. For this part we will consider the ideas of different modern and contemporary thinkers and scholars. This course will ask questions including: What is democracy? What are the most notable characteristics of ancient Greek democracy and the modern conception? Is it the best form of government? What is a representative democracies? What are the main characteristics of the representation crisis in Latin America? What are the main risks and weaknesses of current democracy? How can we evaluate the quality of a democracy?