Syllabus
Course title:
EU Comparative Politics: Tensions in Representative Democracy
Study program: MSc Programs Public and Social Policy (VSP) - Erasmus students
Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University
Scope of instruction: 1/1 (lectures/seminars)/Credits available: 6 credits
Course number: JSM777, Winter Term 2022/2023
Time and place: Tuesdays at 14:00 for course in room C121, U Kříže 8, Praha 5 Jinonice. (Lectures/Seminars)
Lectures and Seminars:
Head of Lectures and Seminar classes:
Dr. Emilija Tudzarovska emilija.tudjarovska@soc.cas.cz emilija.tudzarovska@fsv.cuni.cz
Consultations to be booked beforehand via e-mail: Tuesdays, 16.00-17.00
Seminar class language of instruction is English.
Goals of instruction:
The aim of this course is to improve the knowledge of students of the EU comparative politics and the contemporary policy-decision making, from the aspect of actors, institutions and policy-making cycle. The goal of this course is to understand the functioning of the EU, the legacy of the post-1989 transformations under the EU integration project, and the increased tensions in representative democracies. It will offer better understanding on the concept of liberal democracy, well established in Europe and the factors behind the rise of several of threats to liberal democracies, as illustrated in the cases of Italy, France, Czech Republic, United Kingdom etc. especially evident in times of elections. It will explore the tensions between different appeals to sovereignties (popular, parliamentary, and constitutional) and will identity the factors behind these occurrences in contemporary Europe.
It will also explore the rise of populism, the crisis of party politics, the appeal to technopopulism; the historical transformations of political systems in EU societies, the understanding of democratic backsliding, and the East-West divide. This course also aims to explore the role of the EU as a union of member-states, from the aspect of representative democracies, institutions and actors involved in the policy making (legitimatization and politicization), and the historical transformation of the EU in the aim to understand the EU contemporary politics.
Main Objectives:
The course will introduce students to the functioning of the European Union and the actors and institutions involve in the policy decision-making cycles. It will also introduce the students with broader understanding of the concept of liberal democracies, crisis of party politics, and the challenges introduced to the policy-making both on EU and nation-state level. Preparatory readings will include contributions from EU integration theories, historical junctures, political theory, comparative politics, foreign policy and political economy.
This course is designed to help students acquire general knowledge about the EU comparative politics and the factors behind the rise of tensions in representative democracies, taking into account internal dimension (nation-states transformations; political systems; popular sovereignty; electoral strategies) and external dimension (liberal market economies, EU Institutional design; EU ideological project). After completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Know about the EU contemporary politics and decision-making processes taking place on supra-national and national level; how these two concepts are interlinked and mutually interdependent. (EU financial crisis; migration crisis; rule of law challenges)
- Learn about the key challenges to liberal market democracies and its impact on EU politics and policy decision-making;
- To identify the factors that gave rise to contemporary tensions in representative democracies from historical-cultural context,
- Learn about crisis of party politics in the EU;
- Learn about the varieties of historical transformations of the EU, with focus on CEE countries.
- Engage in critical thinking and studying about the contemporary EU affairs, i.e. engagement with contemporary scholarly discussion on the EU politics and the role of the states in the global political and economic affairs;
Registration prerequisites:
This voluntary course is offered to students of the Masters programmes of Public and Social Policy (Veřejná a sociální politika), other MSc. programmes and international visiting students (e.g., Erasmus students).
Conditions for passing:
Students shall be admitted to the written examination for this course (in English) if they have been sufficiently graded for their performance in lectures and seminars, and if they have elaborated and submitted a final written assignment (in English) on an agreed topic. The topic shall be based on prior consultations with head of the course.
Student’s performance in lectures will be evaluated as follows:
Students should submit written papers/assignment on questions associated with the topics of the lectures prior taking the final written examination. Questions will be available two weeks in advance. The final exam will take form of a critical essay.
Answers should be e-mailed to the Head of Lectures/Seminars classes: Dr. Emilija Tudzarovska (emilija.tudjarovska@soc.cas.cz). Answers to written papers/assignment (up to 4,000 characters, spaces included) will be evaluated as per the given Table 1. The final written examination will take form of a (critical review) essay (up to 15,000 characters) on a question(s) as per the given lectures.
For student’s performance in seminars consult seminar syllabus.
Table 1: Points can be earned in the following ways:
Item
Min
Max
Student’s performance in lectures 10 20
Student’s performance in seminars 10 20
Final written assignment 12 25
Written examination 18 35
Total 50 100
Table 2: Final grading shall be based on the following formula (provided the student earns at least the minimum number of points for each particular item – consult Table 1):
Final point score
Grade 91 or more
A
Excellent (výtečně) 81–90
B
Very Good (velmi dobře) 71–80
C
Good (dobře) 61–70
D
Satisfactorily (uspokojivě) 51–60
E
Sufficiently (dostatečně) 50 or less
F
Fail (nedostatečně)
N. B.:
- Sources shall be credited in line with the latest version of the ISO 690 standard. No form of plagiarism is tolerated at the Charles University. Any instances of plagiarism shall be discussed by the Disciplinary Board and, eventually, the Dean.
Time: T