Learning outcomes

After completion of the course, the student is expected to:

• have a good knowledge and understanding of political science theories of comparative European politics, and ability to apply these empirically
• have a good knowledge of European national polities and their history
• have a good ability to exploit this knowledge for comparative political science analysis, including the formulation of problems, the collection and critical evaluation of information
• have good analytical skills, including writing and oral presentation skills

Content

This course is devoted to the comparative analysis of national European polities. Europe carries a double heritage of democracy and authoritarian rule. We will focus on both contemporary European democracies, and historical non-democratic regimes and their legacies. Unifying the course themes is an analytic effort to better understand the conditions of democracy, political organisation and civil society in contemporary Europe.

The overall goals of the course is to build

• the student's familiarity with political science theories of comparative European politics, and the ability to apply these
• the student's familiarity with the European national polities and their history, and his/her ability to exploit this knowledge for comparative political science analysis
• the student's general analytical skills, including writing and oral presentation skills

Instruction

The course consists of lectures and seminars. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

The course examination consists of three parts: i) written assignments and active participation in the seminars covering the themes in the course ii) a written exam, and iii) a final literature review