Insegnamento a.a. 2021-2022

20612 - POLITICAL SCIENCE - MODULE 1 (TOPICS IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS)

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 24
PPA (6 credits - I sem. - OB  |  SPS/04)
Course Director:
LANNY MARTIN

Classes: 24 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 24: LANNY MARTIN


Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

One of the core goals of political science research is to explain and predict the behavior of voters in democratic elections. Because elections in modern democracies are centered on political parties, most electoral research focuses on the interplay between voter preferences and party strategies. In this course, students will explore classic and modern comparative research on this topic, with an emphasis on the themes of voter identity and value-based voting, party identification, affective polarization, voter turnout, voter knowledge, spatial voting models, electoral rules, and party competition.

CONTENT SUMMARY

  • Voter values.
  • Party strategy.
  • Party identification.
  • Voter knowledge.
  • Spatial models of voter behavior.
  • Voter turnout.
  • Affective polarization.
  • Party ideologies.
  • Patterns of party competition.
  • Social capital.
  • Politics of nativism.
  • Electoral institutions.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Summarize, and critically evaluate, major theories and/or empirical findings from political science research in the subfield of comparative political behavior.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Analyze patterns of mass behavior and explain and predict the consequences of such behavior for electoral outcomes.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Individual assignments

DETAILS

  • Guest lecturers are experts in mass political behavior, who will be presenting their current research on those topics.
  • Individual assignments consist of two partial exams (for attending students only), or a general comprehensive exam, in which students must demonstrate mastery of the course material.

Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
   x  
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
 x    
  • Peer evaluation
 x    

ATTENDING STUDENTS

For attending students, there will an option to complete two (non-comprehensive) partial exams, equally weighted to produce the course grade.

 

To be considered attending, and thus have the option to take a partial exam, students must have attended (either online or in-person) at least textbf{75% of the classes within the unit covered by the partial exam} (i.e., 9 of the 12 classes from September 6--October 13, and 9 of the 12 classes from October 25--December 1).  A student failing, or not sitting for, either partial exam must take the comprehensive general exam, which will constitute the full course grade.

 

Each partial exam will test mastery of the course material for the corresponding section of the course.


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Non-attending students must complete a comprehensive general exam, which will constitute the full course grade. 

 

The general exam will test mastery of all the course material.


Teaching materials


ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Readings are listed on the course syllabus, which is made available to students by the end of August 2019.

Last change 31/08/2021 14:50