- Docente: Salvatore Vassallo
- Credits: 10
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- 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
The first section of this course provides students with the definition of some basic categories and concepts (politics, political regimes, political participation). Long-term processes of democratization are analyzed and characteristics of democratic regimes are defined, in comparison with non-democratic ones. The second section provides an introduction to the political system of the main democratic countries, with particular attention to the major political parties and the electoral competition, the structure of parliament and the law making process, the formation and stability of governments, the functioning and powers of territorial institutions, the role of interest groups in the policy-making process. Based on that knowledge, the third section offers a comparative analysis of actors, processes, and institutions of democratic political systems. A reflection over perspectives and challenges that democratic regimes face in the early of the 21st century concludes the course.
Readings/Bibliography
Salvatore Vassallo (a
Teaching methods
The course will be organized in lessons, each dealing with a specific topic. Students attending to classes are warmly encouraged to read the assigned texts beforehand. Charts and figures shown in class will be made available after each lesson.
Assessment methods
During the
Teaching tools
Video projector. Pc. Online course materials.
Office hours
See the website of Salvatore Vassallo