Political Science

Teacher(s)

Reuchamps Min;

Language

English

Main themes

This course is an introduction to political science, exploring the founding concepts of the discipline, the institutions, ideologies, actors and practices that structure political life. It is based on concrete questions faced by citizens who wish to understand the workings of politics and living together in contemporary societies.
Among the major questions addressed:

• What do the terms politics, polity, policies mean?
• What is the state and how is it structured?
• What is democracy and what types of political systems are there?
• What are the main political ideologies?
• Who are the main political actors?
• What is power and how is it distributed in our societies?

This course aims to give students the tools to analyse contemporary political dynamics, by mobilising theoretical knowledge and concrete examples.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	to distinguish between different conceptions related to politics, polity and policies;
2	to define the main founding theories of political science;
3	to identify the functions and components of the State, the types of political regimes and the major ideologies;
4	to analyze role and behaviours of political actors;
5	to apprehend understand the different conceptions of power;
6	to apply these analytical tools to concrete political situations.

Content

This introduction to the discipline will refer to concrete questions a political science student is asking herself/himself, and more generally, any citizen who tries to understand how the political and the civil spheres are organized. What is political action, politics, a policy? What is the meaning of power? What is legitimate power? What is a political system? What is democracy? Which are the principal collective actors of the political system (political parties, special interest groups)? Which are the values, materialists and "post materialists", of the citizens? What about political participation of the citizens? Which are the principal determinants of the vote? Is there a citizenship’s crisis?

Teaching methods

The course relies on an online course available on Moodle for each each ‘quadrimester’ (Q1, Q2, Q3) and the content of the weekly sessions, following a schedule that will be announced in the beginning of the course.

Evaluation methods

The evaluation is continuous and ends before the exams’ session. The final grade (from 0 to 20 points) is made of three components:

• • Writing of short papers and peer-review
  • Mid-term test (MCQ), in a computer room (upon registration)
  • Final test (MCQ), in a computer room (upon registration)

Practical information about the course and the evaluation will be delivered and explained by each professor in class and presented in a written document sent by e-mail to all registered students after the first session in class.

Other information

Depending on the evolution of sanitary conditions and consequently of the sanitary code, the teaching and evaluation mode will possibly change, in whole or in part, to remote mode via one or several computer tools provided by the University.  Students enrolled in the course will be informed by e-mail.

Faculty or entity

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