Political institutions in the EU countries 2100-SPP-L-D1PIEU
The course will be consisted of the following themes:
1. Majoritarian and Consensus Democracies
Lijphart’s Approach to Institutional Design: Westminster (Majoritarian) vs. Consensus (Consensual) Models. Institutional Features of Majoritarian Democracies. Consensus Model of Democracy. Power-sharing, Parties and Interest Representation in Consensus Democracies. Advantages and Shortcomings of the Consensus Model.
2. Patterns of Power-Sharing
Varieties of Institutional Designs in Europe. Governments and Parliaments. Parliamentarism and Semi-Presidentialism in the EU member-states.
3. Patterns of Horizontal Power Division
Horizontal division of Power: Federal, Unitary and Decentralized States. Local Governments. The EU and Multilevel Governance. Divided Societies and Conflict Resolution.
4. Political Regime Dynamics: Democratization
Democratization: Theories and Approaches. P. Schmitter and G. O’Donnel. Factors and Patterns of Democratization. The Concept of Democratic Backsliding. Backsliding in Central European EU member countries. The EU and Democratic Backsliding.
5. Political Regime Dynamics: Democratic Backsliding
The Notion of the Democratic Backsliding. Backsliding and Institutional Change. The EU and Democratic Backsliding.
6. Parties, Elections and Political Institutions
Party and electoral systems in the EU countries. Elections and turnout. Ideologies and Party Manifestos.
7. Citizens and Interest Groups
Political Participation and Institutional Trust beyond Elections. Interest Group Representation Models: Pluralism, Corporatism and Neopluralism.
8. Models of the Welfare State vs. Political Institutions in the EU
Welfare State. Models of the Welfare State (Esping-Andersen): Social-Democratic (Nordic), Corporatist (Conservative), Liberal (Anglo-Saxon). The “Southern Model” of the Welfare State. Social Policies. European Social Policy.
9. Europeanization of Politics and Policy
Europeanization: Definition and Mechanisms. The Impact of the EU on the National Political Systems and institutions. Europeanization of Public Policy.
Each subsequent session is devoted to one of the above mentioned themes which will be tackled from a comparative perspective of selected European Union countries.
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Students who complete this class will:
- know and understand at an advanced level - the course of the political process at various institutional levels, especially in the field of diagnosing needs and resources, planning, implementing and evaluating social programs
- know and understand the social, political, economic and cultural conditions of the course of the political process in their historical perspective and in international and comparative terms
- know and understand at an advanced level selected theories conceptualizing the relationship between the elements of the political process, characteristic of Political sciences and administration - especially for the sub-discipline of social policy and public policy.
Assessment criteria
Participation: 20%. All students are required to have completed the
readings for each week before class begins, and everyone should be prepared to discuss the readings during class.
Written exam: 80%.
Practical placement
Not applicable
Bibliography
- North, Douglass. (1990). Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press
- Esping-Andersen, G., & United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. (1996). Welfare States in Transition : National Adaptations in Global Economies. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=309783
- Hakki Taş. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society by Michael Edwards (ed.). Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2011 . 515pp., £95.00, ISBN 978 0 19 539857 1. Political Studies Review, (2), 271. https://doi.org/10.1111/10.1111/psr.2013.11.issue-2
- Lijphart, A. (DE-588)122454499, (DE-576)161993060. (1999). Patterns of democracy : government forms and performance in thirty-six countries / Arend Lijphart. New Haven [u.a.]: Yale University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.07968176X
- Choudhry, S. (2008). Constitutional Design for Divided Societies : Integration or Accommodation? Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=467636
- Edwin Griggs. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State by Francis G. Castles , Stephan Leibfried , Jane Lewis , Herbert Obinger and Christopher Pierson (eds). Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2010 . 876pp., Political Studies Review, (2), 267.
Further reading will be provided for every subsequent session.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: