General provisions

Only for students admitted to the Upper Secondary School 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 Sweden and other political systems;
• the role of media and information-technology in politics;
• the development of international politics during the 20th century; the development of the European Union; and the role of Sweden on the international arena;
• the role of human rights and international law in international politics as well as in Swedish foreign policy;
• the relation between the school-subject "social science" and the social science-subjects at university;
• the relation between the scientific study of politics and social affairs and the didactic skills required for teaching this body of knowledge

Students shall participate actively and independently in seminar discussions and in written assignments 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 independently drawn conclusions from a source material;
• be familiar with the basics of source references;
• connect to concepts and/or theories of both didactics and political science;
• systematically reflect over didactic choices in the teaching of social science

Content

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 couurse is based on a holistic perspective of politics and political systems and has the expressed aim of being comparative. The Swedish political system, its constitution as well as the process of elections, the parties and party system, as well as organisations are accounted for. The students also study the role of the municipalities in Swedish democracy. Basic features in the make-up of the body politic 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 of democracy and separation of 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.

The course consists of five modules, which may vary in order.

Part 1: Political Ideas

The purpose of the module is to make the students acquainted with basic concepts in political theory. The main focus is on thinkers who have been important for political ideologies such as fascism, anarchism, liberalism, conservatism and socialism. More recent "isms" such as feminism and ecologism are 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, including a discussion of the role of international law in general, and human rights in particular. 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 module 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; the role of media and information-technology in politics; 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.

Part 5: Didactics of Social Science

The module aims to introduce the theory and terminology of general- and social science didactics (general didactics chiefly for the students who study social science as their first subject), and clarifying how the secondary school subject of social science relates to the social scientific subjects at university. Students are also given an opportunity to, in writing and based on their own observations, practice their ability to systematically reflect over didactic choices in the teaching of social science.

Politics in Sweden and other countries, seminars, 6.5 credits

Written examination, 7 credits

Didactics of Social Science, 1.5 credits

Instruction

The instruction for this course consists of a combination of lectures and seminars, one classroom observation visit, and the writing of memos. Active participation is required for seminars, the classroom observation visit, and the lecture preparing for said observation visit.

Assessment

The course will be examined via:

• a written examination (7 ECTS) (grades awarded are Fail - Pass - High Pass)
• active participation in seminars; completed written assignments; and the critique of the written assignments of other students (6.5 ECTS) ( grades awarded are Fail - Pass - High Pass)
• participation in the classroom observation visit preparation; participation in the classroom observation visit; the writing of a report drawing on this visit; and the participation in the didactic seminar where these reports are discussed (1.5 ECTS) (grades awarde are Fail - Pass)

In order to receive a Pass for the entire 15 ECTS credit points, all examinations must be concluded with a passing grade. In order to receive a High Pass for all 15 ECTS credit points, a minimum of 6.5 of the credit points have to be graded with a High Pass. When grading the course in its totality, the grades awarded are Fail (U) - Pass (G) - Pass with Distinction (VG). If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Other regulations

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