In this course, students will engage with politics as a science and the methodology specific to it. They will be introduced to the knowledge accumulated in recent years in political science about the functioning and organization of our societies from an analytical and empirical perspective. Which institutional designs promote economic development, reduce inequality, or prevent corruption? What mechanisms allow the inclusion of citizens' voices in political decision-making? What are the costs and benefits of each electoral system? How does decentralization of states affect democracy? Where does sovereignty lie in an era characterized by globalization? How do citizens evaluate our democracies, what do they expect from states, and how do they assess the public services they receive? These are some of the questions we will explore with our students within a comparative framework to familiarize them with the relevance of political science in addressing some of the problems in our society.
UNIT 1: WHAT IS THE BEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT?
Topic 1: An Introduction to Empirical Political Science
1.1 What is politics, and why does it generate so much interest?
1.2 What can political science contribute to solving relevant problems in our society?
1.3 Basic research concepts in political science: variables, correlations, theories, paradigms, hypotheses, models. Research approaches.
Topic 2: Democracy and its Critics
2.1 Democracy and the different forms or systems of government.
2.2 Presentation and discussion of various ideal models of democracy.
2.3 The real performance of democracies: Discussion of objective data, citizen perception, and expert evaluation.
2.4 Who controls governments? Different designs of representative democracies.
UNIT 2: WHO MAKES THE DECISIONS?
Topic 3: Direct Citizen Participation
3.1 Referendums.
3.2 Other forms of direct participation in decision-making.
3.3 Inequality in direct participation.
Topic 4: Indirect Citizen Participation: Elections
4.1 Who can vote?
4.2 Who can be elected?
4.3 What method is best for selecting representatives?
Topic 5: Political Parties
5.1 Why do parties arise?
5.2 How do they choose their leaders?
5.3 What issues do they compete for in elections?
UNIT 3: WHERE DOES SOVEREIGNTY LIE?
Topic 6: State and Sovereignty
6.1 States and nations.
6.2 Sovereignty and its limits.
Topic 7: The Distribution of Power Between Different Levels of Government
7.1 Decentralization to substate levels.
7.2 Delegation of power to supranational levels.
7.3 Economic power and democratic impotence.
UNIT 4: WHAT SERVICES DO/SHOULD STATES PROVIDE TO THEIR CITIZENS?
Topic 8: The Role of the State in People?s Well-being
8.1 Different models of the welfare state.
8.2 The impact of social spending on economic development.
Topic 9: Public Policies
9.1 What services do citizens demand?
9.2 Satisfaction with public policies.
9.3 Attribution of responsibilities in public policy.
Students are expected to attend class, and the development of their critical thinking and analytical skills will be encouraged through debates on current political issues, linked to the accumulated knowledge on the subject from political science. TV series related to politics (such as The Wire, Borgen, Game of Thrones) will be used as supporting teaching material. At the end of each class, there will be an open debate of 15 minutes to assess the assimilation of knowledge and the development of critical thinking skills. The course will include theoretical and practical classes, guest lectures, workshops, and research presentations. Special attention will be given to current examples of national, state, and international politics as a thread to connect course topics (elections, parties, democracy, referendums, decentralization, sovereignty, public agenda, and public policies) to practical cases.
To be eligible for assessment in the ordinary call, all evaluation-related activities must have been completed. The assessable activities must be submitted on the dates specified by the teacher. If, for any duly justified and communicated reason, the student is unable to submit the activities within the set period, they may do so before the date of the subject?s final exam, so that the teacher can grade them. However, in such cases, the teacher is not obliged to provide feedback on those activities.
On the other hand, students have the right to take the final written exam even if they have not submitted all the other assessable activities. However, the final grade for the subject will only be calculated if all activities have been submitted, in accordance with the evaluation criteria and weightings established in this course guide. If any required activity has not been completed or submitted, the student will appear as "Not submitted" in the final grade report for that assessment period.
EXTRAORDINARY CALL
The evaluation criteria are the same as those in the ordinary call, so all evaluation activities required during the course must be submitted. Grades for the activities already completed (including the final written exam) will be retained while awaiting submission of the remaining pending activities. The same weighting criteria used in the ordinary assessment will apply. This measure is only valid for the current academic year; if the student does not pass the extraordinary call, re-enrolment will entail repeating the entire subject.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TOOLS
The use of AI is prohibited in this subject. Therefore, the use of such tools by students will be considered academic misconduct and will lead to the application of the existing regulations for such violations.
? A final exam will be held on the entire course content: 40%.
? A midterm exam will be held during the classes: 20%.
? A working paper will be written on a specific topic to be decided with the professor regarding the political system of a country: 15%.
? A working paper will be written on a classic political book to be decided with the professor: 15%.
Class attendance is mandatory. Active participation in class is required. A lack of participation may negatively affect the final grade: 10%
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