General provisions

Only for students admitted to the Teacher Education Programme.

Entry requirements

General entry requirements and Social Studies 1b/1a1+1a2 or Civics A

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course in Political Science the students are expected to be able to present and discuss:

• the history of political ideas;
• the political government, public administration and the main features of the official political life in Sweden and other countries;
• the political problems of other political systems;
• the development of international politics during the 20th century;
• the development of the European Union and the role of Sweden on the international arena;
• questions of school democracy
• the relation between the scientific study of politics and the didactic skills required for teaching this body of knowledge
• the contents of the documents outlining the normative basis of the educational system and the relation between the contents of the teaching and the possibilities of implementing in the school-context issues of democracy, politics and citizenship.

Students shall participate actively and independently in seminar discussions and in a written assignment treat a defined research problem and in connection therewith:

• have practiced the application of a scientific approach to sources and source material;
• understand the value of, and bases for, good argumentation;
• be able to distinguish between theoretical literature and empirical findings;
• be able to separate personal opinions from the independent conclusions to be drawn from a source material;
• be familiar with the basics of source references
• connect to concepts and/or theories of both didactics and political science.

Content

Politics in Sweden and other countries. The course consists of four modules.

Part 1: Political Ideas

The purpose of the course is to make the students acquainted with basic concepts in political theory. An introduction is given to the ideas of democracy with special focus on democracy at school. The perspective of gender and ecologism is also accounted for. The student is trained to independently scrutinise and analyse political ideas and in a normative way reason about relevant problems guided by the course literature, the lectures and the discussions in the seminar.

Part 2: International Politics

This part of the course shall provide students with an overview and enhanced understanding of international politics in general and Swedish foreign policy in particular. A number of central theoretical traditions and perspectives on international politics are introduced. The development of international politics after 1945 is presented and the Swedish neutrality- and security policy will be analysed. Processes of international politics such as conflict and cooperation will be discussed.

Part 3: Comparative and Swedish Politics

The objectives for this part of the course are to provide students with an orientation in the basic terminology, theories and methods within central areas of political science research as well as the presentation of research results from several essential research fields such as: democratisation processes; political parties; political participation; and institutions and their effects.

Part 4: Public Administration

The objective of this last part of the course, is to proceed through the political process to the implementation-phase. Having concluded this segment, students should have a basic understanding of the potential and problems inherent in different ways of organising the public administration, and how different forms of implementation can affect the public perception of the state in its totality, as well as of politics.

It is intended that this course should be broad, with the objectives of providing students with elementary political science knowledge and skills which will create the basis for later continuation and specialisation courses within a number of areas. This part is based on a holistic perspective of politics and political systems and has the expressed aim of being comparative. The Swedish political system in constitution as well as the process of elections, the party system, organisations are accounted for. Also the students are able to study the role of the local communities in Swedish democracy. Basic features in nation-building such as electoral systems, party systems, parliaments, governments and public administration are discussed, as well as the role of interest organisations and media. Basic principles on democracy and power will also be discussed.

Throughout the course, the students are to be given opportunities to develop basic skills regarding communication, research, and analytical work. The capacity for independent analysis and reflection will be increased by means of seminar-discussions and the writing of academic memos. This is to be done not only in terms of political science proper, but also the didactics of social science.

Politics in Sweden and other countries, seminars, 7.5 credits

Part 1: Political Ideas

The purpose of the course is to make the students acquainted with basic concepts in political theory, presented in a historical perspective. An introduction is given to the ideas of democracy with special focus on democracy at school. The perspective of gender and ecologism is also accounted for. The student is trained to independently scrutinise and analyse political ideas and ideologies and to reason about relevant problems from the course literature, the lectures and the discussions in the seminar.

Part 2: International Politics

This part of the course shall provide students with an overview and enhanced understanding of international politics in general and Swedish foreign policy in particular. A number of central theoretical traditions and perspectives on international politics are introduced. The development of international politics after 1945 is presented and the Swedish neutrality- and security policy will be analysed. Processes of international politics such as conflict and cooperation will be discussed.

Part 3: Comparative and Swedish Politics

The objectives for this part of the course are to provide students with an orientation in the basic terminology, theories and methods within central areas of political science research as well as the presentation of research results from several essential research fields such as: democratisation processes; political parties; political participation; and institutions and their effects.

Part 4: Public Administration

The objective of this last part of the course, is to proceed through the political process to the implementation-phase. Having concluded this segment, students should have a basic understanding of the potential and problems inherent in different ways of organising the public administration, and how different forms of implementation can affect the public perception of the state in its totality, as well as of politics.

It is intended that this course should be broad, with the objectives of

providing students with elementary political science knowledge and skills which will create the basis for later continuation and specialisation courses within a number of areas. This part is based on a holistic perspective of politics and political systems and has the expressed aim of being comparative. The Swedish political system in constitution as well as the process of elections, the party system, organisations are accounted for. Also the students are able to study the role of the local communities in Swedish democracy. Basic features in nation-building such as electoral systems, party systems, parliaments, governments and public administration are discussed, as well as the role of interest organisations and media. Basic principles on democracy and power will also be discussed.

Written examination, 7.5 credits

Written examination

Instruction

The instruction for this course consists of a combination of lectures and seminars. Active participation is required. The students also write two seminar papers. Seminar attendance is mainly mandatory.

Assessment

The course will be examined via a written examination (7.5 ECTS) and the grades awarded are Fail - Pass - High Pass. Also the course will be examined via active participations in seminars and written assignments (7.5 ECTS) and the grades awarded are the same as mentioned above. In order to receive a High Pass for all 15 ECTS credit points, half of the credit points have to be graded with a High Pass.

Grading System: Grades awarded Fail (U) - Pass (G) - Pass with Distinction (VG).

Other regulations

This course can not be included in a Bachelor 's Degree along with Political Science A 30 credits.