30317 - POLITICAL SCIENCE AND COMPARATIVE POLITICS
BIG
Department of Social and Political Sciences
Course taught in English
BIG (8 credits - I sem. - OB | SPS/04)
Course Objectives
The course provides an in-depth overview of the scientific study of political phenomena, in democratic and authoritarian regimes. In addition, the course presents the fundamental concepts in philosophical political theory, giving special attention to the themes of democracy and of citizenship.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Click here to see the ILOs of the course
Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course student will be able to do:
Know the most important findings of contemporary comparative political science and be familiar with the main debates in normative political theory; be acquainted with the analytical scientific approach to the study of politics; understand the institutionalist perspective, which posits that the outcomes of the political process depend on the interaction between social structure and the rules of the game.
Applying knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course student will be able to do:
Understand how the tools and concepts developed by the discipline
turn potentially hard-to-untangle issues into tractable problems; use the toolbox of contemporary analytical and normative political science to throw light, in an independent and critical way, on current events and events from recent history; think of major political events in terms of categories like democratization, authoritarian reversal, and revolution; independently assess the possible (intended and unintended) consequences of institutional reforms (e.g., federalism, electoral reforms, etc.) in democratic settings.
Course Content Summary
- The state: contractarian vs. predatory view of the state.
- Political regimes: democracy and dictatorship.
- Varieties of dictatorship.
- Economic growth under dictatorship and democracy.
- Economic development and democracy.
- Cultural determinants of democracy.
- Transitions to democracy.
- Breakdown of democratic regimes and authoritarian reversals.
- Two visions of democracy: majority control vs. proportionate influence.
- Varieties of democracy: electoral systems.
- Political parties.
- Varieties of democracy: parliamentary vs presidential.
- Prime ministers and policy in parliamentary systems.
- Presidents and policy in presidential systems.
- The fragility of presidential systems.
- Federalism.
- Corruption.
- Clientelism.
- Ethnicity and politics.
Detailed Description of Assessment Methods
For attending students:
- a partial (worth 50% of the grade) covering the first half of the program, and a final (worth 50% of the grade) covering the second half of the program.
For non-attending students:
- a cumulative final exam covering the entire program.
Textbooks
W.R. Clark, M. Golder, S.N. Goder,
Principles of Comparative Politics, 2nd Edition.
Last change 21/03/2016 12:31