Political parties and lobby groups

Teacher(s)

Paye Olivier;

Language

French

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

The course introduces the students to the analysis of two major types of political collective actors, the political parties and the lobby groups, mainly in the context of the Western democratic political systems, with a special focus on Belgium. By the end of the lectures, the students will have studied a comprehensive framework based on the main concepts, classifications, empirical trends and explanatory theories produced by political science about political parties and lobby groups. They will thus be able to better understand the role played by these intermediate groups in the Western democratic political systems in general and in the Belgian political system in particular.

Content

The class aims to introduce the students to the analysis of two major types of collective political actors, political parties and interest groups, considered mainly in the context of Western democracies, with a particular focus on the Belgian case.
First, the class provides a brief overview of political parties and interest groups, including their mutual relationships as well as their relationship with the State. Then, the class is divided into two distinct sections, one on political parties, the other on interest groups. The section on political parties deals mainly with their functions, their organisation and their voters. The section on interest groups includes both conceptual clarifications (the distinction between interest group, lobby, social movement, etc.) and classic typologies (the distinction between public interest groups and private interest groups, for instance). It also focuses on the processes of collective mobilisation and on the means used to influence public authorities.

Teaching methods

The class comprises both ex cathedra lectures (1) and a ‘self-teaching activity’, that is to say some work the students have to do by themselves to deepen the class content (2).
(1) EX CATHEDRA LECTURES
Based on a portfolio of slides, available in paper format at the Bureau des supports de cours and downloadable in electronic format from the course website on the Moodle platform, the lectures are intended to introduce, develop and illustrate the passages of the following handbook which constitute the literary version of the class content: N. Schiffino, O. Paye et al., Fondements de science politique, 2e éd., Bruxelles, De Boeck Supérieur, 2022. The precise passages of this publication which make up the class content are listed in a detailed course presentation document available on the course website. When a guest lecture is organised as part of a lecture, it forms an integral part of the class content and, consequently, of the exam material.
(2) SELF-TEACHING ACTIVITY
The students are invited to extend their knowledge of the class content taught during the lectures by reading a portfolio of texts that develop certain points of the class content. This reading portfolio is available in paper format at the Bureau des supports de cours and in electronic format on the course website, on the Moodle platform.
The reading of these texts is guided by reading guidelines indicating what should be retained from them. The work expected of the students consists in confronting the content of the texts with the analytical angles presented during the lectures; it is this confrontation, and not the mere restitution of the texts, that the exam assesses.

Evaluation methods

The assessment consists exclusively of a three-hour long written open-book exam: students are free to consult during the exam any document in paper format, including annotated ones, that they have brought with them at the start of the exam, to the exclusion of any electronic device. Students must bring to the exam at least the texts of the reading portfolio and a pocket calculator.
The exam is made of four questions, two on political parties and two on interest groups. Each question is assessed on 10 points; the resulting total is then divided by two to obtain a consolidated result on 20 points, rounded where applicable. Each question calls for an answer in a format, specified in the exam paper, of approximately 15 to 30 lines. The evaluation methods are the same for all exam sessions. Exam papers from previous years can be consulted on the course website.
The exam bears both on the ‘class content’ (i.e. the relevant passages of the handbook Fondements de science politique which constitute the literary basis of the class, the content of the portfolio of slides and the oral developments made during the lectures, including, where applicable, a guest lecture given in that context) and on the ‘reading portfolio content’ (i.e. the content developed in the texts that make up the portfolio). All of this content may be examined, including the points of the handbook, of the slides or of the portfolio texts that are not developed orally during the lectures: studying them remains the students’ responsibility.
The exam questions are based on one or more supporting texts, consisting of excerpts from the press or other topical documents. The students are asked to analyse them with the analytical angles covered during the lectures, extended by the in-depth elements contained in the texts of the reading portfolio. The analytical angles on which the exam questions may bear are listed in the detailed course presentation document, available on the course website. This list may be modified during the semester; only its updated version, put online on the course website at the end of the semester, is authoritative as to the material to be studied for the exam.
At least one exam question calls for a connection to be made with one or more texts of the reading portfolio as well as, where applicable, with a guest lecture given as part of the class. For this question or these questions, the relevant referencing, in the answers, of the passages used — to the guest lecture (by mentioning it as the source) as well as to precise pages of the texts concerned — will account for 25% of the mark for the question.

Online resources

The class has a Moodle webpage on which the students will find, amongst other things:

• a detailed course presentation document, which includes in particular a list of the exact excerpts of the handbook Fondements de science politique constitutive of the class content, the reading guidelines for the texts of the portfolio and the list of the analytical angles constitutive of the exam material;
• the electronic version of the slides projected during the lectures (as well as, where applicable, additional slides presenting, for instance, illustrations drawn from more recent current affairs);
• the electronic version of the reading portfolio, also available in paper format at the Bureau des supports de cours;
• exam papers, and model answers, from previous years;
• a forum allowing the students to ask questions of clarification about the class content.

Bibliography

Le cours s'appuie sur des passages de l'ouvrage suivant : N. Schiffino, O. Paye et al., Fondements de science politique, 2e éd., Bruxelles, De Boeck Supérieur, 2022. Ce manuel contient des orientations bibliographiques spécifiques pour les étudiant•e•s qui souhaiteraient aller plus loin. Le cours s'appuie aussi sur un portefeuille de lecture dont la lecture est obligatoire (voir ci-dessus).

Teaching materials

• N. Schiffino, O. Paye et al., Fondements de science politique, 2e éd., Bruxelles, De Boeck Supérieur, 2022.
• Diaporama du cours de Partis politiques et groupes d'intérêt
• Portefeuille de lecture du cours de Partis politiques et groupes d'intérêt

Faculty or entity

> ESPB