02492 - Comparative Politics

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing the students with the basic knowledges about the comparative method and about concepts, models and theories for the analysis of contemporary democracies (political institutions, leadership, parties and party sysems, electoral systems, public opinion and political communication).   Further, the course focuses on the functioning of some important western democracies. At the end of the course students are supposed to be able to manage  political science concepts and models in order to describe and analyse the most important contemporary democracies and their transformations.

Course contents

- Comparative method
- Democratic regimes in comparative perspective; concepts, models and empirical cases (France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, United States,  "little democracies"):
*The state and the nation
*Systems of government
*Leaders, parties, party systems and electoral systems
*Media, public opinion and political communication

- Recent transformations: the presidentialization of politics and the audience democracy

Readings/Bibliography

1) G. Sartori, Logica, metodo e linguaggio nelle scienze sociali, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2011, chapters I and VI.
2) S. Rokkan, State Formation, Nation Building, and Mass Politics in Europe. The Theory of Stein Rokkan (ed. Peter Flora), Oxford University Press, 1999, Part one, chapters V, VI, VII, VIII, Part two, chapters II, IV.
3) D. Caramani (ed.), Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, 2013, chapters 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17,18,19.
4) B. Manin, The principles of representative government, Cambridge University Press, 1997, chapter VI.

Teaching methods

Teaching  lessons

Assessment methods

sAll students will be evaluated on the basis of two written works in class at the end of the course.

Teaching tools

Power point, illustration of audiovisual materials.

Office hours

See the website of Sofia Ventura