Universität Wien

210055 LK BAK7: Comparative Political Analysis (2019W)

(engl.)

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 21 - Politikwissenschaft
Continuous assessment of course work

Eine Anmeldung über u:space innerhalb der Anmeldephase ist erforderlich! Eine nachträgliche Anmeldung ist NICHT möglich.
Studierende, die der ersten Einheit unentschuldigt fern bleiben, verlieren ihren Platz in der Lehrveranstaltung.

Beachten Sie die Standards guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis.

Die Lehrveranstaltungsleitung kann Studierende zu einem notenrelevanten Gespräch über erbrachte Teilleistungen einladen.
Plagiierte und erschlichene Teilleistungen führen zur Nichtbewertung der Lehrveranstaltung (Eintragung eines 'X' im Sammelzeugnis). Ab WS 2018 kommt die Plagiatssoftware (‘Turnitin') bei prüfungsimmanenten Lehrveranstaltungen zum Einsatz.

Es wird dringend empfohlen, VO und LK des jeweiligen Kernfaches im gleichen Semester zu besuchen, da beide Lehrveranstaltungen aufeinander abgestimmt sind.

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 50 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 07.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 14.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 21.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 28.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 04.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 11.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 18.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 25.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 02.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 09.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 16.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 13.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 20.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Monday 27.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The course language is English! This means that class discussions, weekly assignments, written tests and the term paper must be completed in English.
Goals: This course provides an introduction to comparative politics. A central goal is to introduce students to basic theoretical and empirical concepts of comparative politics, as well as to tackle concrete research examples from high-quality scientific articles. Students are expected to learn how to read efficiently scientific literature, practice the usage of central concepts and arguments in discussions and exercise scientific writing.
Method: A central aspect of this course is a thorough reading of the selected literature, its discussion in class and scientific writing.
Contents: The course deals with various selected topics from comparative politics including:
- Empirical Research
- Elections & Electoral Systems
- Parties & Party Systems
- Voting Behavior
- Parliaments & Legislation
- Governments & Policy-Making
- Legislative Politics in Parliamentary Systems
- Supranational Institutions
- Constitutions & Constitutional Courts

Assessment and permitted materials

Requirements and Grading:
Students are required to attend all meetings. It is allowed to miss up to 2 classes, but students must attend the first class. Students are expected to complete the assigned readings (1 scientific article and 1 chapter from Caramani (2017)) each week and be ready for class discussions. This means that class participants should be prepared to summarize and discuss any required reading when called upon.
Grading of the course will be based on the following three components:
(1) 30% - Class attendance, participation in class discussions and weekly home assignments.
(2) 15 % - Mid-term test
(3) 15 % - Final test
(4) 40 % - Timely submission of a term paper (min. 3000, max. 4000 words).

The term paper should pose a research question embedded in the scientific literature, develop theoretical expectations (testable hypotheses) and propose a research design to test the theoretical expectations. Class participants are NOT required to gather data and analyze it. In essence, the term paper should include a title page, an abstract, an introduction, literature review, theory, a research design, conclusions, and references and is practically a half of a standard scientific article.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The minimum requirement is the completion of each of the four class components (see above). In order to be graded, students can miss up to 2 classes, have to write the mid-term and final tests and submit the term paper on the set deadlines.
Plagiarism and Ghostwriting are strictly forbidden. To make sure that these rules are not violated in some occasions students will be required to provide an oral discussion of their written work.

Examination topics

Required Literature

Reading list

Books:
Caramani, D. (2017) Comparative Politics, 4th Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Powner, L. (2015) Empirical Research and Writing. A Political Science Student’s Practical Guide, Los Angeles: CQ Press.

The full literature is listed on the syllabus available on Moodle.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:21