Магистратура
2023/2024
Современная политическая наука
Статус:
Курс обязательный (Политика. Экономика. Философия / Politics. Economics. Philosophy)
Направление:
41.04.04. Политология
Кто читает:
Департамент политики и управления
Где читается:
Факультет социальных наук
Когда читается:
1-й курс, 3, 4 модуль
Формат изучения:
без онлайн-курса
Охват аудитории:
для своего кампуса
Прогр. обучения:
Политика. Экономика. Философия
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
6
Контактные часы:
64
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course introduces students to the current topics, debates, and research questions that are central to political science today. It goes beyond the basics, focuses on contemporary trends and key areas of research in the discipline, and aims at enhancing students’ understanding of complex political phenomena. Many of the questions political scientists address are truly timeless: How do strong states and effective bureaucracies form? Who votes, for whom, how, and why? How modern nations and identities are formed, and why is nationalism on the rise in the world? Why do wars happen, and which systems of international relations are considered more stable? Why, according to some scholars, the process of globalization has slowed down, and what strategies have countries adopted to develop their national economies in the last decades? Answers to these and many other questions are critical both for understanding the real-world outcomes – such as economic growth, inequality, instability within a state and in international relations between states – and for developing effective policies that can change these outcomes. Despite the obvious importance of these questions, few have clear answers. As in any scientific discipline, new research constantly challenges and revises traditional views and introduces new, important paradigms. In this course, students will be introduced to the main topics that have become relevant in the field of political science in recent years. Although the issues discussed have a long history, the main aim of the course is to introduce students to a wide range of contemporary debates and to the most recent developments in this dynamically developing field. This is not a methodological course. The modern methodological tools presented in the articles may be discussed in seminars, but students will not be assessed on their proficiency in any particular modern methodological tool. Yet, this course will create a platform for deep discussion and intellectual exchange that will not only broaden horizons but also generate new ideas and approaches to the study of political reality.
Learning Objectives
- The main objective of the course is to provide a broad overview of the current state of the literature in several key areas of contemporary political science. By the end of the course, students should not only understand the current developments across the main sub-disciplines within political science (such as comparative politics, international relations, area studies) and their subfields (state-building and institution formation, political economy, nationalism and national identities, international conflicts and alliances), but also understand how recent research fits into the overall picture of political science scholarship.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- To understand the state of the art in the discipline, and how this recent work fits into the grand arc of research in Political Science
- to understand the modern methodological tools and research design, as well as how to apply them to developing and critiquing a research agenda.
- to have the necessary tools to constructively critique the work of others, as well as an understanding of how to use these tools to design cutting edge research of their own.
Course Contents
- Causal Inference and the Scientific Enterprise
- Vote Choice and Responsibility
- Economic Voting and Clientalism
- Identity Politics
- Non-Economic Voting and Ideology
- Democratic Parties, their Influence, and Representation
- Electoral Rules and their Origins
- Autocracies
- Autocratic Institutions and Policymaking
- Political Protests
- Civil War and Violence
- The Politics of Reform
- Institutions, Investment, and Property Rights
- Corruption and Governance
- The Welfare State and Inequality
Assessment Elements
- Participation 3 moduleActivity at seminars - taking part in discussions, discussions of seminar materials, meaningful comments based on lectures and mastered literature
- Perticipation 4 moduleActivity at seminars - taking part in discussions, discussions of seminar materials, meaningful comments based on lectures and mastered literature
- ProjectGroup work of students as part of the study of a block of topics devoted to the types of electoral systems, voters' preferences, and the peculiarities of influencing the opinions of voters within the framework of election campaigns. A group of 3-5 students selects a real case of elections held in the period 2022/2023 (the country and level of elections are chosen by the students independently and agreed upon with the seminar teacher). The selected case is analyzed according to the parameters studied during the lecture and presented at the last 2 seminars of the module in the form of a group presentation.
- EssayWriting an essay containing a critical analysis of one of the articles to be discussed in seminar classes. The essay must be written and submitted before the date of the seminar at which the relevant article is analyzed.
- Written exam
Interim Assessment
- 2023/2024 4th module0.25 * Essay + 0.175 * Participation 3 module + 0.175 * Perticipation 4 module + 0.15 * Project + 0.25 * Written exam
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- A new politics of identity : political principles for an interdependent world, Parekh, B., 2008
- Bakshy, E., Messing, S., & Adamic, L. A. (2015). Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook. Science, 348(6239), 1130–1132. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa1160
- Druckman, J. N., & Levendusky, M. S. (2019). What Do We Measure When We Measure Affective Polarization? Public Opinion Quarterly, 83(1), 114–122. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfz003
- Economic voting, , 2002
- Kreuzer, M. (2010). Historical Knowledge and Quantitative Analysis: The Case of the Origins of Proportional Representation. American Political Science Review, (02), 369. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.cup.apsrev.v104y2010i02p369.392.00
- Leemann, L., & Mares, I. (2014). The Adoption of Proportional Representation. Journal of Politics, 76(2), 461–478. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381613001394
- Protest : studies of collective behavior and social movements, Lofland, J., 2007
- Reuter, O. J., & Gandhi, J. (2011). Economic Performance and Elite Defection from Hegemonic Parties. British Journal of Political Science, (01), 83. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.cup.bjposi.v41y2011i01p83.110.00
- Wimmer, A. (2018). Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apart. Survival (00396338), 60(4), 151–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2018.1495442
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Bonneau, C., & Cann, D. (2015). Party Identification and Vote Choice in Partisan and Nonpartisan Elections. Political Behavior, 37(1), 43–66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-013-9260-2
- Shepherd, B. E., Jarrett, R., & Fu, L. (2016). Causal Inference for Statistics, Social, and Biomedical Sciences: An Introduction. Biometrics, 72(4), 1387–1388. https://doi.org/10.1111/biom.12615