Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course students will
- Be able to distinguish the key aspects of party organisation
- Be thoroughly conversant with the most up to date research on all aspects of party organisation
- Understand the impact party organisation on party behaviour and its knock-on effect for descriptive representation and party policies.
- Have assessed and critiqued the debates on the legitimacy of political parties, especially in the context of the use of new technology for intra-party democracy
- Understand political parties as a unit of analysis and the importance of this approach in understanding in-country variation of party behaviour and representation.
- Have developed student’s independent research capabilities
- Have an awareness of the most up to date datasets of political parties and the quantitative and qualitative methods of comparing and analysing political parties
- Have enhanced teamwork, presentation and writing skills