30329 - HISTORY (MODULE II- HISTORY OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS)
Department of Social and Political Sciences
Course taught in English
code 30328 ‘History - Module 1 (Global history)’ and code 30329 ‘History - Module 2 (History of political institutions)’ are respectively the first and the second module of the course code 30327 ‘History'
Go to class group/s: 23
Course Director:
MATTIA FOCHESATO
MATTIA FOCHESATO
Mission & Content Summary
MISSION
The goal of this course is to provide an understanding of the origins, functions, and effects of political institutions in historical perspective, paying particular attention to their dynamics (that is, how different institutions appeared and how they changed over time). It relies on the critical reading and discussion of research papers that apply theoretical insights and empirical tools to engage in major debates about the nature and consequences of political institutions. In this way, this course builds on students' earlier work in their degree, and hence integrate material from a variety of disciplines, such as political sciences, economics and history.
CONTENT SUMMARY
The course is expected to examine what types of political institutions form, why they form, what they do, and how they change over time. In particular, it presents students with a series of debates related to the rise and consolidation of states in historical perspective, reviewing current (and some classic) works on the subject. These debates include, for example, why nation-states came to dominate over other state forms (such as empires or city-states), which role elites played in state formation, in which ways the functions of the state began to take shape, or how state capacity was built and sustained in different places and times.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
At the end of the course student will be able to...
- Understand the process of creation of modern political institutions.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
At the end of the course student will be able to...
- Successfully connect aspects of economic change and political regimes.
Teaching methods
- Lectures
- Individual works / Assignments
- Collaborative Works / Assignments
DETAILS
The teaching style will privilege interaction and active participation. Attendance is warmly encouraged and necessary for a successfully participate in groupwork but will not be formally checked.
Assessment methods
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ATTENDING STUDENTS
Students are encouraged to attend and to come to class having read the readings assigned. The assessment of attending students consists in two compulsory components:
- Groupwork (Compulsory, 55% of final grade): Students will have to work on a team project on a topic chosen among those communicated at the beginning of the course, write a report on the topic and present it during one of the three final lectures. More details on the assignment will be available through Blackboard.
- Final written exam (Compulsory, 45% of final grade), to be taken either on May 19 2023 or June 6 2023. The written exam will consist of short-answer questions where students will have to describe or apply basic concepts and discuss paper(s) and/or book chapter(s) included in the program and discussed in class.
NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
A written exam on the full program (100% of the final mark). The material assessed will comprise the compulsory readings.
Teaching materials
ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Because one of the aims of the course is to present students with diverse views on the topics discussed, and make them think critically about them, it cannot be used a single textbook.
- The main readings are a series of academic articles and book chapters that are detailed at the beginning of the course.
- Additional materials (hand-outs, lecture notes, occasional articles, etc.) are distributed during of the course.
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