Bachelor
2024/2025
Introduction to Political Science
Type:
Compulsory course (International Program 'International Relations and Global Studies')
Area of studies:
International Relations
Delivered by:
Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs
When:
2 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of one campus
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
4
Contact hours:
56
Course Syllabus
Abstract
The working language of the course is English. The course is designed to serve as an introduction to politics in a globalised world, with a particular focus on how political science tries to understand and explain cross-country differences and cross-time differences between countries.
Learning Objectives
- Introduce students to the main differences between democratic and non-democratic regimes, and between different models of democratic government
- Introduce students to how political preferences are formed, how voters behave, how parties compete, how interest groups form, and how electoral systems shape behaviour
- Explain how political institutions work, such as presidential and parliamentary systems, single-party and coalition governments, federalism, and courts and central banks
- Explain how political behaviour and institutions shape policy outcomes, such as economic performance, public spending, and immigration and environmental policies
- Prepare students for further courses in political science
Expected Learning Outcomes
- A student knows the history of the discipline and subfields
- A student knows the main approaches in the field and can use the main methods in political science
- A student analyzes and compares the left-right dimension? mapping political preferences, cleavages and voting behavior, strategic voting
- A student analyzes and compares types of electoral systems and political consequences of electoral systems
- A student analyzes majoritarian and consensus democracies, parliamentary, presidential and mixed systems, and knows political implications of regime types
- A student analyzes non-elected institutions and democracies, knows the principal-agent framework
- A student analyzes social movements, knows political explanations for interest group influence
- A student analyzes vertical designs of government and understands what states are federal
- A student compares types and patterns of government and knows theories of coalition formation
- A student knows and can compare basic approaches to explaining democracy
- A student knows approaches to measuring democracy
- A student knows what are political parties, understands ьeasuring the number of parties, knows explaining party behavior, analyzes party positions
- A student should be able to critically assess the theory of rational voting. A student should be able to name the factors affecting turnout.
Course Contents
- What is Political Science? Main approaches in the field. Methods in Political Science.
- Democracies and democratisation
- Non-democratic regimes.
- Political preferences and voting behavior
- Electoral systems
- Political parties
- Voter turnout
- Social movements and interest groups
- Regime types
- Coalition and single-party government
- Federalism and decentralization
- Delegation of power
- Political accountability and representation.
- Politics and economic performance
Assessment Elements
- Oral examinationAt the exam, a student will receive a set of three questions related to the course material. After a ten-minute preparation, a student is expected to orally answer those questions. The exam instructor may ask follow-up questions if necessary.
- Mock 1The duration of the mock is three hours, during which a student is expected to write three essays answering three questions related to the course material. The mock will be evaluated according to the completeness and correctness of the answers provided.
- Mock 2The duration of the mock is three hours, during which a student is expected to write three essays answering three questions related to the course material. The mock will be evaluated according to the completeness and correctness of the answers provided.
- Class participationStudents’ class participation is graded on the basis of students' participation in seminar discussions. Class participation refers to discussion performance rather than mere attendance. All students are expected to attend seminars and participate by listening attentively, contributing to discussions and participating in in-class group projects. Students’ statements and answers to questions must contain well formulated arguments that clearly show their position. To do this, students must demonstrate a quality preparation for the seminar: do their homework, read the assigned literature and be ready to perform a critical evaluation of it.
- Quizzes and testsQuizzes and tests are short in-class tests with true/false, multiple choice or open-ended questions, designed to check understanding of the material and students' ability to apply it.
Interim Assessment
- 2024/2025 2nd module0.25 * Class participation + 0.1 * Mock 1 + 0.1 * Mock 2 + 0.45 * Oral examination + 0.1 * Quizzes and tests
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Hosein, A. (2016). Political Science : The Study of Nations, Government, and Governing. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1151416
- Leonardo Morlino, Dirk Berg-Schlosser, & Bertrand Badie. (2017). Political Science : A Global Perspective. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2273334
- Roskin, M. G. (2014). Political Science: An Introduction, Global Edition (Vol. Thirteenth edition). New York: Pearson. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=nlebk&AN=1419818
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Potz, M. V. aut. (2020). Political Science of Religion Theorising the Political Role of Religion by Maciej Potz. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.1676310614