Course 2017-2018 a.y.

Classes: 31 (I sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: PAOLO ROBERTO GRAZIANO

The course provides the main analytical tools needed to understand the nature of politics and political behavior in both national and international contexts.
The course is divided in two parts.
In the first part the course addresses issues such as the evolution of political science, the description of the main features of various political regimes and the role of power relations in contemporary democracies.
In the second part an analysis of the origins and development of the concept of human rights as it appears in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is carried out.

First part.

• Introduction: what is politics? How to study it? What is its relationship with other disciplines?
• Democracy, democracies and nondemocratic regimes.
• Political institutions: executive and legislative power, the courts; public administration.
• Political parties, the media, interest groups, social movements.

Second part.

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Are Human Rights Universal?

Students can choose between two options.

• A partial written exam at the end of the first part of the course (50 percent of the final grade) and one at the end of the second part (50 percent).
• One cumulative written exam at the end of the course.

Attending students have the opportunity to gain extra credit with an in class presentation.

• R. HAGUE, M. HARROP, Comparative Government and Politics. An introduction, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
• L. HUNT, Inventing Human Rights, Norton, 2007, pp. 324-377.
• E. ROOSVELT, The Promise of Human Rights, Foreign Affairs, 1948.
• C. DOUZINAS, Are Human Rights Universal? and What are Human Rights?.
• S. MOYN, Human Rights in History.
• A. SEN, Asian Values and Human Rights.