96836 - POLITICAL SCIENCE

Academic Year 2022/2023

  • Moduli: Giovanni Agostinis (Modulo 1) Giovanni Agostinis (Modulo 2) Ester Sigillò (Modulo 3)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2) Traditional lectures (Modulo 3)
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in International relations and diplomatic affairs (cod. 8048)

Learning outcomes

The course provides notions about the method, concepts, categories, and key patterns of Political Science. At the end of the course the student is able to describe and interpret political phenomena and, in particular, the funtioning and transformations of democratic political systems. The course also provides students with intellectual tools for decoding the current political debate, as well as with logical and linguistic tools for communicating the results of their analysis to an audience of specialists and non-specialists

Course contents

Course description

The course introduces students to fundamental concepts, theories, methods, and trends in political science, providing an overview of the discipline and its subfields. At the end of the course, students will be able to identify and interpret key contemporary political phenomena, with a focus on the origins, functioning, and transformations of both democratic and autocratic political systems. The course provides students with theoretical tools and empirical evidence for understanding politics from a global comparative perspective, decoding hot-button issues that fuel contemporary political debates across different world regions. Additionally, the course will enable students to develop effective research, analysis, and presentation skills.

Course contents

The course will address the following key issues related to politics in a globalized world: Power, the State, and the nation; institutions and institutional change; democratization and autocratization; political participation and behavior; the organization of political systems and governance institutions; the international and transnational dimensions of politics and the nexus between domestic, regional, and global governance.

The first module of the course consists of 16 lectures structured into six different sections. Section one addresses the origins of political science, provides basic definitions of key political concepts and theories, and explores the epistemological foundations of and methodological approaches to the study of politics. Section two explores the emergence and characteristics of the most significant political unit of the modern world: the State. Additionally, section two analyzes the causes, characteristics, and effects of democracies and autocracies. Section three addresses the main political structures and institutions. Section four deals with the key actors and processes in contemporary politics. Section five addresses international and transnational politics, shedding light on the impact of globalization on political processes and structures and illuminating the origins, characteristics, and current crisis of the liberal international order.

The second module of the course consists of seminar sessions focused on three macro regions: Africa and the Middle East, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The class will be divided into three groups, each of which will focus on one of the three world regions. The first leg of the seminar module requires students to critically read and actively discuss in class texts that address the following issues: (i) State formation and capacity; (ii) political participation; (iii) democracy and its enemies; (iv) the interaction between domestic politics and regional governance. In the second leg of the seminar module, students will give group presentations focused on a specific country (of their choice) from their region, addressing at least one of the four above-mentioned issues.

Readings/Bibliography

Main texts for the course’s first module (selected chapters)

  • Baylis, J., Smith, S., Owens, P. 2019. The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Caramani, D. (Ed.) 2017. Comparative Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Heywood, A. 2019. Politics. Palgrave MacMillan.

  • Ikenberry, J. 2020. A World Safe for Democracy. Liberal Internationalism and the Crises of Global Order. Yale University Press.

  • Morlino, L., Berg-Schlosser, D., and Badie, B. 2017. Political Science. A Global Perspective. London: SAGE.

  • Newton, K. and Van Deth W.V. 2021. Foundations of Comparative Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Weiss, T.G. 2013. Global Governance. Why? What? Whiter? Cambridge: Polity Press.

  • Zürn, M. 2018. A Theory of Global Governance. Authority, Legitimacy, and Contestation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Readings for seminar sessions will be assigned at the beginning of the course

Teaching methods

The first module of the course is organized in lectures, each dealing with a specific topic. Students are warmly encouraged to read the assigned texts beforehand. PowerPoint presentations shown in class will be made available online before each lesson. The course’s second module consists of interactive seminar sessions, where students are required to critically discuss academic texts and make group presentations.

Assessment methods

During the first module of the course, students will take two written tests, which will assess their learning of the topics dealt with in class and treated in the assigned texts. Each test combines a set of closed (multiple-choice) and open-ended questions. During the course’s second module, students will give group presentations, which will be evaluated by the instructor. The final evaluation will be the average of the three scores. Those who miss one of the written tests or want to improve their grade will have to opportunity to take a resit exam at the end of the course. Those who miss both written tests will have to take a final oral exam (to be held during the June/July or September examination sessions), which will focus on the whole program of the course’s first module plus the readings assigned for one of the three regions analyzed in the course’ second module.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint presentations; online course material.

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Agostinis

See the website of Ester Sigillò