Delivered at:: School of Politics and Governance

Course type:: Compulsory course

When:: 1 year, 2, 3 module

Instructors

Abstract

The goal of this course is to introduce to students the latest mainstream works from the leading international journals in Political Science and Comparative Political Economy. Why some countries are stuck in technological backwardness, while others prosper? Why in some countries people enjoy longer and healthier lives? What is the role of political institutions in answering these questions? What is the political economy of the US Congress’ organization? Are bureaucrats motivated by ideology or career concerns? Also, I will introduce today’s hot topics in Political Science and tie them to the current events. What role does Internet play in contemporary social movements? Does social media help overcome collective action problem or just disseminate more information? Who are trolls and how they manipulate public opinion? Why far rights are gaining their momentum? Why did “the efficient secret” of the UK Parliament disappear when it came to Brexit? Along answering these theoretical questions, we will touch upon the empirical concerns (endogeneity problems, null-hypothesis testing in frequentist models) and their possible solutions: instrumental variables, research discontinuity design, Bayesian analysis).

Learning Objectives

First, it seeks to provide a broad overview of the current state of the literature in several key areas of contemporary Political Science.
Second, the course also seeks to provide students with a better understanding of modern methodological tools and research design, as well as how to apply them to developing and critiquing a research agenda. The course places particular emphasis on the potential pitfalls of causal analysis, how to spot them in the works of others, and how to attempt to overcome them in one's own work.

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

Take-Home Midterm Assessments
The assessment will consist of traditional essay questions that will only cover material for the module that proceeds it and is not cumulative. The main goal is to ensure that students have understood the readings and the lectures and that they are able to critically evaluate the material both within the context of each week's topic and the discipline more widely. It will consist of a series of questions that students will answer in essays that should not exceed 5 pages. The assessment will not be proctored and will be open note. In other words, you may feel free to use any sources you want. Remember, however, that all work MUST be your own and outside materials should be properly cited. Consulting colleagues or copy-pasting from ANY source is strictly forbidden. Students will be mailed the exam. They should complete it and mail it back to the instructors by the deadline.
Final Exam
The assessment will consist of traditional essay questions that will only cover material for the module that proceeds it and is not cumulative. The main goal is to ensure that students have understood the readings and the lectures and that they are able to critically evaluate the material both within the context of each week's topic and the discipline more widely. It will consist of a series of questions that students will answer in essays that should not exceed 5 pages. The assessment will not be proctored and will be open note. In other words, you may feel free to use any sources you want. Remember, however, that all work MUST be your own and outside materials should be properly cited. Consulting colleagues or copy-pasting from ANY source is strictly forbidden. Students will be mailed the exam. They should complete it and mail it back to the instructors by the deadline.
Referee Report 1
In order to hone their analytical skills, students will turn in a brief, 2 { 3 page critique essay on one of the readings assigned for the course. Each student will be asked to select the reading for this assignment during seminar. Critiques are due BEFORE the beginning of the seminar in which that particular reading will be discussed. The essay should focus on an evaluation of the argument and the student's opinion of the scientic merit of the piece.
Referee Report 2
In order to hone their analytical skills, students will turn in a brief, 2 { 3 page critique essay on one of the readings assigned for the course. Each student will be asked to select the reading for this assignment during seminar. Critiques are due BEFORE the beginning of the seminar in which that particular reading will be discussed. The essay should focus on an evaluation of the argument and the student's opinion of the scientic merit of the piece.
Critique Presentation
Students will be asked to do a 5 - 10 minute oral presen- tation based on one of their written critique assignments. The presentation should provide a brief summary of the article being discussed, before spending the majority of its time on the critiques. Students are expected to produce slides for the presentation, which should be emailed to the seminar instructor after the seminar in which the presentation is made. Students will be allowed to sign up for presentation slots during seminar.
Research Proposal
Students will write one research paper proposal consisting of two parts. The rst portion of the should brie y identify a theoretical or empirical puzzle worth exploring, lay out hypotheses to be tested, and then identify appropriate methods for testing the argument. The bulk of the paper, however should be focused on the critique portion. This portion should discuss the potential strengths and weaknesses of the research design proposed in the rst part from the standpoint of causal inference and measurement, as well as to propose some ways in which the weaknesses of the proposal could be addressed. The proposal should be approximately 7 - 10 pages long.
Participation
Classes will be conducted in a hybrid lecture/discussion format. Doing assigned readings before lecture is useful, but not required. the lectures will generally as- sume that students are unfamiliar with the topic. They will primarily focus on providing an overview of the topic, situating the assigned reading in pre-existing work, and highlight- ing recent advances and trends in the related literature. Readings MUST be done before seminar sections. Seminar sections will go into greater detail on the readings and will be designed to dissect the empirical components of the readings in order to critically evalu- ate the research design, its strengths, and its weaknesses. Students should come to class with questions on unclear terms, concepts, or events. Asking questions is therefore critical for a successful class.

Interim Assessment

2022/2023 3rd module
0.15 * IntermediateAssessments+0.2 *FinalExam+0.15*RefereeReport1+0.15 * RefereeReport2 + 0.05 *RefereeReportPresentation + 0.2*Research P roposal +0.10* Participation

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

Master’s Programme 'Applied Politics'

International accreditation

Modern Political Science