00895 - Political Science (F - N)

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course the student has a basic knowledge of the main theoretical approaches and conceptual tools  for understanding and analyzing political processes and institutions in  a comparative perspective.

Course contents

This course is intended to provide students with the basic conceptual tools for understanding and analyzing political phenomena. This course is divided into three parts (Module 1), plus a seminar (Module 2). The course will deal with the following topics:   birth and evolution of the nation state; democratic and non democratic regimes; political culture, political communication and political participation; interest groups; parties and party systems; electoral systems and party competition in advanced democracies; legislative assemblies; goverments and bureacracy; policy making. The seminar will explore the idea of democracy, by examining the models of democracy elaborated within Western political thought from classic Greece to  e-democracy.

Readings/Bibliography

For students who will attend  class

Rod Hague and  Martin Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics. An Introduction, McGraw Hill 2010

Bernard Manin, Principles of Representative Goverment, Cambridge University Press 1997.

For students who will not attend class

Rod Hague and Martin Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics. An Introduction, McGraw Hill 2010

Bernard Manin, Principles of Representative Goverment, Cambridge University Press 1997.

Giovanni Sartori, Comparative Constitutional Engineering, New York University Press, 1997.

Teaching methods

There are 30 teaching sessions of two hours each. 25 of them are about the textbook topics; 5 are related to the seminar.

You are expected to contribute to discussing the various topics examined.

Assessment methods

For students who will attend class

Students may pass  their exam by completing  two written tests (midterm and final). The final score is the average of the marks obtained in both tests. Each test includes 15 questions, 5 of which are short answer questions and 10 multiple choice answer questions. Short answer questions are graded up to 1.5; multiple choice questions are graded 1 (correct) or 0 (wrong or missing). 

For students who will  not attend class

Students may pass their exam by completing  a written test including 30 questions, 10 of which are short answer questions and 20 multiple choice answer questions. Short answer questions are graded up to 1.5; multiple choice questions are graded 1 (correct) or 0 (wrong or missing).

Teaching tools

Powerpoint slides will be available on line, at the web site http://campus.cib.unibo.it.

Office hours

See the website of Daniela Giannetti

See the website of Andrea Pedrazzani