Great Debates 2017-2018
Goal 1: The course will introduce students to several recent major debates in political science both in terms of their substance and in terms of the different standards of empirical evidence used in the debates.
Goal 2: The course will make students aware of the different theoretical and methodological approaches to the academic study of major issues in political science.
Description
This course is centered around three influential “great debates” in political science: cultural identity and international relations, social capital and political participation, and consociational democracy and group conflict. Each debate is introduced by reading a key book on it and is followed up by a discussion of its various aspects through several examples of research on the original debate. Students will learn to understand particular issues from several perspectives, including different theoretical and methodological approaches and themselves apply political science concepts to analyses the issues at hand.
Study Material:
Books: Arend Lijphart, Democracy in Plural Societies; Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and Robert D Putnam, Bowling Alone (any editions)
Articles: to be assigned in the syllabus
Examination
A final exam.
Registration
See Preliminay Info
Timetable
Please note that there will be lectures on:
4 september 11.00-13.00 in SA41
11 September 09.00-11.00 in SB45
25 september 11.00-13.00 in SB11
9 October 11.00-13.00 in SA49
23 October 11.00-13.00 (exam) in SB11
15 January 2018, 11.00-13.00 (resit) in SB11
and workgroups (WG1 = 11.00-13.00, WG2 = 15.00-17.00, WG3 = 09.00-11.00) on:
18 September
2 October
16 October