Bachelor
2019/2020
Introduction to Political Science
Type:
Compulsory course (HSE and University of London Parallel Degree Programme in International Relations)
Area of studies:
International Relations
Delivered by:
Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs
When:
2 year, 1, 2, 4 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Instructors:
Dina Rosenberg,
Tatiana Rudneva
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
6
Contact hours:
104
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 approaches to measuring democracy
- 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 knows what are political parties, understands ьeasuring the number of parties, knows explaining party behavior, analyzes party positions
- A student analyzes social movements, knows political explanations for interest group influence
- A student analyzes majoritarian and consensus democracies, parliamentary, presidential and mixed systems, and knows political implications of regime types
- A student compares types and patterns of government and knows theories of coalition formation
- A student analyzes vertical designs of government and understands what states are federal
- A student analyzes non-elected institutions and democracies, knows the principal-agent framework
Course Contents
- What is political science? Main approaches in the field Methods in political science
- Political preferences and voting behavior
- Political parties
- Social movements and interest groups
- Regime types, agenda setters and veto players
- Coalition and single- party government
- Federalism and decentralization
- Delegation of power
- Economic performance and equality
- Satisfaction with democracy
- Defining and measuring democracy Explaining democracy
Assessment Elements
- OnlineONLY For students who will study online: These students' participation grade will be the average of their grades for essay plans for each topic. Students will send an essay plan (we will send the description and the examples) for each topic (there are 13 topics). The deadline for each plan is the day when the lecture on this topic is held (the lecture is in Zoom, and students will be able to attend it online). Submission after the deadline has passed is subject to a daily penalty of 1 point unless a student has a note from the doctor.
- OnlineThe final examination is organised by the University of London as a three hour written exam via VLE platform. The student will be given a choice of twelve questions, out of which exactly three must be answered in any order. Each question must be answered in the form of a free response essay.
- OnlineThe final examination is organised by the University of London as a three hour written exam. The student will be given a choice of twelve questions, out of which exactly three must be answered in any order. Each question must be answered in the form of a free response essay.
Interim Assessment
- Interim assessment (4 module)Gfinal = 0,20* GUoLwritten exam + 0,40*2MOCK exam + 0,40* Gseminar
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