Topics in Political Science
Module Code: PO4740
Module Name: Topics in Political Science 2013–14
- ECTS Weighting: 15
- Semester/Term Taught: Michaelmas + Hilary Term
- Contact Hours: 1-2 hours per week
- Module Personnel: Lecturers - Professor Tim Hicks in MT, Professor Tom Louwerse in HT.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- identify and describe empirical trends in inequality in the advanced industrial countries;
- identify and describe the political and economic causes of differences in inequality;
- identify and describe the political consequences of inequality;
- understand and critically evaluate the arguments in the debate on the working of the representative system in advanced democracy;
- evaluate the claims made in the scholarly and public debate on the functioning of the democratic system, in particular relating to the representative link between citizens and politicians, support for party politics, direct democracy, populism and the impact of the Eurocrisis;
- critically read and evaluate social scientific arguments and evidence.
Module Learning Aims
MT: To introduce students to scholarly approaches to studying the political issues surrounding societal inequality.
HT: To introduce students to the scholarly and public debate on contemporary challenges to representative democracy.
Module Content
MT 2013: In 2008, the top 10% of the US population received 46% of all income while in Sweden the figure was 28%. The current economic climate sees governments needing to rebalance their budgets – often dramatically. This can be achieved both by cutting spending that is often aimed more at the poor or increasing taxes that are often paid more by the rich. Unsurprisingly, then, inequality is currently very politically salient, but politics as a subject more generally has been described as the study of 'who gets what, when, and how'. During this semester, we will investigate the politics of inequality both across 'developed democracies' and within them. The aim is to develop an understanding of inequality in terms of its contemporary and historical patterns, its causes (both political and otherwise), and its consequences for political participation and policy outcomes.
HT 2014: The legitimacy of democratic rule is to a large extent derived from public support for the system. Representative democracy in the twenty-first century is however far from unchallenged. Observers point to a decline in political trust, the erosion of political parties, increasing electoral volatility and the advent of populist parties. To what extent can we find scholarly support for these observations: is the representative system really under pressure? Can the democratic representative system adapt to societal changes and/or are there alternatives to the representative system, such as direct democracy? This part of the module takes an international comparative approach to these questions, focusing on the challenges to representative democracies in the last two decades.
Recommended Reading List
Selected journal articles - TBA
Assessment Details
60% end of year exam; 40% course work split equally between Michaelmas and Hilary terms.Back to top