2020/2021

2020/2021

DM270

SPS/04 (POLTICIAL SCIENCE)

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC POLICIES

PERCORSO COMUNE

1°

1st semester (28/09/2020 - 11/12/2020)

6

40 lesson hours

Italian

ORAL TEST

BATTEGAZZORRE FRANCESCO (titolare) - 6 ECTS

The course does not require any specific prior knowledge or training. However, students will benefit from having being already acquainted with the lexicon and the conceptual tools of political science, as can be acquired by attending an undergraduate course in Political Science or Comparative Politics.

The course introduces the main theories of political institutions and checks their empirical validity in a comparative perspective. The aim is to provide students with a systematic knowledge of the main ways of functioning of contemporary democracies, as well as the tools for a competent and mature assessment of the problems currently facing Western democratic systems. In order to achieve this aim, the course will foster the development of the following capabilities: analytical reception and autonomous elaboration of the course contents; methodological awareness; critical assessment of the results of comparative analysis.

The course deals with the analysis of contemporary democracies on a two-stage program. The first stage is devoted to general issues of institutional theory and comparative methodology. The second examines democratic systems on the basis of a scheme that distinguishes two patterns of democracy: the majoritarian or Westminster model, and the consensual model. More specifically, the list of topics includes:
Part one: 1) General theory of institutions; 2) Theory of political institutions; 3) Concepts, theories, and hypotheses; 4) Techniques for the empirical check of the hypotheses.
Part two: 1) Two models of democracy; 2) The majoritarian democracies; 3) The consensual democracies; 4) The executives-parties dimension; 5) The federal-unitary dimension.

Face-to-face lectures, unless the situation due to the Covid pandemic should require moving to online teaching. In this case, live-streamed lectures will be preferred. The course is not expected to include seminar activities.

Arend Lijphart, Le democrazie contemporanee, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2012

Oral examination. Students are expected to demonstrate: a) an exhaustive knowledge of the themes discussed in class and illustrated in the exam papers; b) the capacity to apply the acquired knowledge to issues that are the subject of public debates; c) the ability to provide an accurate and systematic exposition of the contents of the course; d) the ability to critically assess the interpretative scheme presented and discussed in class.

Students receipt will be by appointment, writing to francesco.battegazzorre@unipv.it