Syllabus
Political System of France
Political System of Switzerland
Political System of Belgium
Political System of the USA
Political System of Austria
Political System of Italy
Political System of Spain
Political System of Sweden 1.-2. France.
Basic chracteristic of the distinctive republics´ development, Fifth republic characteristic. The powers and place of the president and the prime minister within the political system (historical developments).
National Asembly. Election system. Presidential election. Political parties and party system in France. 3.-4. Belgium.
Political system and its transformation. 5. Switzerland.
Directorial regime. Semi-direct democracy, federalism. 5.-7. The United States of America
Key principles of the Cnstitution. Amending the Constitution. Federalism. Federal-state relations.
Historical developments of federalism.
Legislative, executive, and judiacial Branches of Government. Separation of powers. Checks and balances. Powers and place of the president within the political system.
U.S. election system. Party system. Interest groups. 8. Austria
Semi-presidential System. Neocorporativism. Election system. Party system. Interest articulation. 9. Italy
Change in the First and Second Republics. 10. Spain
Basic characteristic of the Spanish system and its transformation. 11.-12.Sweden
Swedish system and its specific features.
Annotation
The course is focused on the key problems of comparative political science. In the summer semester, the course will provide students with the characteristic features of selected countries´ political system and their developments.
The attention will be paid to the application of theoretical knowledge of election systems, party systems, relation between the executive and legislative powers, and pluralistics and neocorporative interest articulation.