Insegnamento a.a. 2024-2025

The main topics covered in the course "Politics of Advanced Democracies" are structured around three overarching macro-topics that align closely with the intended learning outcomes of fostering analytical, empirical, and applied understanding of democratic systems. These macro-topics and their corresponding subtopics include:

1. Mass Political Behavior and Social Cleavages in Advanced Democracies

   • Enduring and Declining Issues in Class and Religion
   • Party System Change and the Rise of Insurgent Issues
   • The Evolution of Cleavage Voting and Political Dealignment

2. Party Competition and Political Institutions

   • Party Families and Ideological Alignments
   • The Role of Electoral Systems in Shaping Representation
   • Government Formation and Coalition Politics in Parliamentary Systems
   • Presidential vs. Parliamentary Executives and Their Implications
   • Checks and Balances in Parliamentary and Presidential Democracies

3. Challenges to Representation and Democratic Quality

   • The Quality of Political Representation in Contemporary Democracies
   • Democratic Backsliding and the Erosion of Governance Norms
   • Representation in a Globalized World: The Role of International Institutions

Each topic is designed to enable students to critically analyze democratic institutions and processes, assess theoretical arguments through empirical evidence, and apply this knowledge to evaluate and improve democratic governance. These topics are integrally connected to learning outcomes that emphasize understanding mass behavior, institutional impacts, and representation in the context of advanced democracies. This structure prepares students to engage with both theoretical debates and practical challenges in the field of political science.

At the end of the course "Politics of Advanced Democracies," students should be able to:

• Define key concepts related to mass political behavior, party systems, and democratic institutions in advanced democracies.
• Describe the impact of electoral systems and institutional structures on policy outcomes and political representation.
• Identify major theoretical arguments concerning political cleavages, party competition, and governance mechanisms.
• Recognize patterns of democratic backsliding and challenges to governance in contemporary democracies.
• List the main institutional differences between parliamentary and presidential systems and their implications for policymaking.
• State the criteria for assessing the quality of political representation in democratic systems.
• Express an informed perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of democratic institutions.
• Illustrate the relationship between voter preferences, electoral systems, and legislative outcomes using empirical examples.
• Explain how coalition formation and bargaining operate in parliamentary democracies.
• Summarize the evolution of party system changes and their drivers, including the rise of populist movements.
• Distinguish between enduring and emerging issues in political behavior, such as class, religion, and cultural backlash.
• Defend normative evaluations of political representation and governance quality based on theoretical and empirical insights.
• Estimate the potential impact of institutional reforms on political outcomes.
• Select appropriate analytical tools to assess current political trends and events in democratic nations.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply theoretical frameworks to evaluate democratic institutions and processes in advanced democracies.
• Analyze empirical data to assess the quality of political representation and the effectiveness of governance systems.
• Interpret trends in mass political behavior and their implications for party competition and institutional change.
• Relate voter preferences and electoral outcomes to legislative and policy-making processes.
• Compare the functioning of parliamentary and presidential systems, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
• Justify proposed institutional reforms based on theoretical and empirical evidence.
• Simulate coalition formation and bargaining processes to predict policy outcomes in parliamentary democracies.
• Evaluate arguments concerning democratic backsliding and propose potential remedies.
• Develop well-supported arguments to discuss contemporary political challenges, such as populism and global governance.
• Plan and execute group projects that require collaborative research and effective communication.
• Demonstrate effective teamwork by coordinating roles and responsibilities within group assignments.
• Discuss political issues and institutional designs with clarity, fostering critical thinking and professional-level communication skills.
• Argue normative perspectives on the quality of democracy, supported by systematic analysis and research evidence.

• Lectures
• Practical Exercises
• Individual works / Assignments
• Collaborative Works / Assignments

Practical exercises require students to describe and evaluate real-world policies across advanced democracies, and to relate those policies to the ideological programs of policymakers. Individual assignments are exams. Collaborative assignments require students to work in groups on the practical exercises described above and a simulation project on coalition bargaining.

In-class group assignments: 30%

Partial Exams: 70% (35% each)

In the exams, open-ended and multiple-choice questions are mainly aimed at testing the learning of the concepts, methods and tools illustrated in the course material and their correct understanding.

In-class group assignments are aimed at improving the ability of students to apply concepts learned to real-world policymaking and political bargaining situations.

General exam: 100%

In the exam, open-ended and multiple-choice questions are mainly aimed at testing the learning of the concepts, methods and tools illustrated in the course material and their correct understanding.

List of Readings

De Vries, Catherine E., Sara B. Hobolt, Sven-Oliver Proksch and Jonathan B. Slapin. 2021. Foun-

dations of European Politics: A Comparative Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Deegan-Krause, Kevin. 2007. New Dimensions of Political Cleavage. In The Oxford Handbook of

Political Behavior, ed. Russell J. Dalton and Hans-Dieter Klingemann. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Goldberg, Andreas C. 2020. The Evolution of Cleavage Voting in Four Western Countries: Structural,

Behavioural or Political Dealignment?" European Journal of Political Research 59(1):68{

90.

URL: https: // ejpr. onlinelibrary. wiley. com/ doi/ 10. 1111/ 1475-6765. 12336

Grofman, Bernard. 2016. Perspectives on the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems." Annual

Review of Political Science 19(1):523{40.

URL: https: // www. annualreviews. org/ doi/ pdf/ 10. 1146/

annurev-polisci-020614-092344

Huber, John D. and G. Bingham Powell. 1994. Congruence Between Citizens and Policymakers

in Two Visions of Liberal Democracy." World Politics 46(3):291{326.

Inglehart, Ronald. 1971. The Silent Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-

Industrial Societies." American Political Science Review 65(4):991{1017.

Inglehart, Ronald F. and Pippa Norris. 2016. Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic

Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash. Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP16-026 Harvard

Kennedy School.

URL: https: // papers. ssrn. com/ sol3/ papers. cfm? abstract_ id= 2818659

Linz, Juan J. 1990. The Perils of Presidentialism." Journal of Democracy 1(1):51{69.

Martin, Lanny W. and Georg Vanberg. 2020. Coalition Government, Legislative Institutions, and

Public Policy in Parliamentary Democracies." American Journal of Political Science 64(2):325{

40.

Rupnik, Jacques. 2012. Hungary's Illiberal Turn: How Things Went Wrong." Journal of Democ-

racy 23(3):132{137.

Schleiter, Petra. 2020. Government Formation and Termination. In The Oxford Handbook of Politi-

cal Executives, ed. Rudy B. Andeweg, Robert Elgie, Ludger Helms, Juliet Kaarbo and Ferdinand

Muller-Rommel. Oxford University Press.