| CODE | EST3199 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Political Parties in Europe | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | European Studies | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | As the fundamental connection between political institutions and citizens, political parties are central to the democratic life of political systems. However, while sharing this broad democratic role, political parties throughout Europe differ in structure, functions, policy preferences, performance. Within the diverse landscape of European political parties, it is also important to understand the emergence, evolution and functioning of EU-level political parties and how they inform the politics of the European Union. This study-unit is made of four interrelated components. The first part analyses the cleavages around which European parties emerged. The second part analyses the main European party families, as well parties and party systems of selected European countries. The third part focuses on how parties compete for votes and to affect public policies. The fourth part analyses EU-level political parties, focusing both on their interactions with domestic parties and their behaviour in the European Parliament. Study-unit Aims The objective of the study-unit is to provide BA students with a solid theoretical and empirical background to understand the basic aspects of the politics of political parties. The unit will provide students with the tools to understand the history, functions and interactions of European political parties. Special emphasis will be put on EU political parties, focusing on their role and behaviour in the European Parliament as well as on their relations with domestic party families. Learning Outcomes 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Define the main European political cleavages, parties and party systems; - Identify the similarities and differences among European and EU parties; - Describe the structure, function, and behaviour of European and EU parties; - Assess the performance of European and EU political parties. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Explain the main features of European and EU political parties; - Critically assess the performance and actions of European and EU political parties; - Accurately analyse the way European and EU parties compete with each other to increase their electoral support and influence in public policy decisions. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings - Gunther, Richard, José Ramón Montero, e Juan J. Linz, ed. 2002. Political Parties: Old Concepts and New Challenges. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Hix, Simon, Abdul G. Noury, e Gerard Roland. 2007. Democratic Politics in the European Parliament. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Katz, Richard S, e William J Crotty, ed. 2006. Handbook of Party Politics. Sage Publications. - Ware, Alan. 1995. Political Parties and Party Systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Jean Claude Cachia |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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