Master
2021/2022
Modern Political Science
Type:
Compulsory course (Political Analysis and Public Policy)
Area of studies:
Political Science
Delivered by:
Public Policy Department
Where:
Faculty of Social Sciences
When:
1 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies:
distance learning
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
Artem Uldanov
Master’s programme:
Political Analysis and Public Policy
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
4
Contact hours:
32
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This is a blended-learning course, based on the series of video-lectures given by prof. Furio Cerutti (University of Firenze). This course is designed as a vocabulary of the main terms used by all of us when talking about local as well as world politics. We often use these terms without a proper awareness of their meanings and connections, a circumstance not exactly helpful for any attempt to understand how politics really works, regardless of our wishful thinking or simplistic morality or easy cynicism. Now, if we want to go deeper into the workings of politics we must agree to begin with very abstract notions. This includes the general definitions of what politics, conflict, power and what legitimate power mean. On these premises, we will then explain the still main political institution, the state, and peer into the dynamics of war and peace that has dominated the relationships between the states. Since with economic globalisation, which has restricted the room for political action, things are getting much more complicated, so classical notions have to be rethought. The very nature of the threats endangering our global commons does not leave the definition of politics. Students will watch video-lectures as a part of their independent work and in classes we will discuss its content.
Learning Objectives
- Overview of the main research areas of political science, history of its development and formation
- General introduction into the process of institutionalization of political science and its main scientific schools
- To discuss different approaches in political science of XX century
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Get skills of effective public speech and public presentations, both in groups and individually
- Know main concepts and frameworks of comparative political analysis, role of conceptualization for better research and how party systems are working in diffrent conditions
- Students will achieve a clearer and less confused awareness of political vocabulary, thus gaining a more complex, more autonomous and more critical understanding of political processes
- Students will gain general understanding about concepts of power, legitimacy and authority, how they are interconnected and how its balance affecting politics
- Students will get initial knowledge about complexity of democracy concept and what is polyarchy, Madissonian democracy and pluralistic democracy
- To recieve clear vision on role and place of civic and military actors in politics and to understand how global politics was shaped after the Cold War
Course Contents
- Aim and method of the course. General information.
- (Political) power, authority and legitimacy
- From democracy to polyarchy - Robert Dahl
- Civic-military relations and the world of conflicts - Samuel Huntington
- Social foundations of politics - An introduction to Seymour Lipset.
- Comparative politics and ladder of abstraction - Giovani Sartori
Interim Assessment
- 2021/2022 2nd module0.2 * Reflection paper + 0.3 * Midterm test + 0.1 * Active participation in class + 0.4 * Final test
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Dahl, R. A. (1971). Polyarchy : Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=52899
- Huntington, S. P. (1993). The Clash of Civilizations? Foreign Affairs, 72(3), 22. https://doi.org/10.2307/20045621
- Klingemann, H.-D., & Goodin, R. E. (1996). A New Handbook of Political Science. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=273524
- Loomis, B. A. (1983). Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. Edited by Lipset Seymour Martin. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981. Pp. xxi + 586. $8.95, paper.). American Political Science Review, (02), 557. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.cup.apsrev.v77y1983i02p557.558.24
- Sartori, G. (1970). Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics. American Political Science Review, (04), 1033. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.cup.apsrev.v64y1970i04p1033.1053.13
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Dahl, R. A. (1989). Who Governs? : Democracy and Power in an American City. New Haven: Yale University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=52913
- Huntington, S. P. (1957). The Soldier and the State : The Theory and Politics of Civil–Military Relations. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1913278
- Sartori, G. (1999). The Party——Effects of Electoral Systems. Israel Affairs, 6(2), 13. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537129908719557