POL40540

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:
- Understand the politics of Europe from a comparative perspective;
- Explain the strengths and weaknesses of a comparative approach to important political issues;
- Understand how the political and legal institutions of a variety of European countries function;
- Understand continuities and changes in the social, organisational, and ideational bases of political representation.

Indicative Module Content:

The modules takes a comparative approach to the politics of contemporary European societies, analysing the dynamics of domestic politics, mindful of the context of multilevel EU governance where appropriate.
Topics include classic themes in comparative politics: institutions of representation and constitutional government, political mobilisation and organization, as well as key themes in contemporary European discourse such as immigration and the causes and consequences of economic crisis.
The central focus of the module is on the extent to which democratic governance itself may be in crisis.
To this end, we consider topics such as problems of 'responsible' versus 'responsive' representation though parties (as Peter Mair called it), why we see new challenger parties on both right and left, what 'populism' means and what it betokens, liberal vs illiberal democracy, European integration vs European disintegration.

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Assessment Strategy

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

An outline or draft should be submitted prior to the first summative assignment, and formative (and ungraded) feedback is provided via Brightspace. This is not required prior to the second summative assignment, although students may do this if they wish. Individualized feedback as well as a grade is provided via Brightspace as soon as possible after each major assignment. The weekly activities can be completed either individually or in groups and the quality of the discussion in class provides the learning opportunity. All students may request individual meetings to discuss the comments on their written work, their progress, and any other concerns.