30329 - HISTORY (MODULE II- HISTORY OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS)

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.

The course is expected to examine what types of political institutions form, why they form, what they do, and how they evolve. 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.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

• Understand the process of creation of modern political institutions.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

• Successfully connect aspects of economic growth and political regimes.

• Face-to-face lectures

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.

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.

A written exam on the full program (100% of the final mark). The material assessed will comprise the compulsory readings.

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.