Teaching GuideTerm
Faculty of Sociology
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Grao en Socioloxia
 Subjects
  Comparative Political Systems
   Contents
Topic Sub-topic
1. Comparative analysis and political theory 1. The study of politics.
2. The nature and main characters of comparative analysis.
3. Foundations. Aristotle: Politics. Maquiavelo: The Prince. Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws. Tocqueville. The Democracy in America.
4. The behaviorist revolution.
5. New approaches. Formulation of theories and empirical analysis.
6. Types of study. Cases and variables. Causality: necessary conditions and sufficient conditions.
7. Classifications and typologies.
8. Resources and on/line sources.
2. Political systems of the world 1. Politics as an independent variable.
2. Systems theory applied to the political analysis.
3. Elements of the political systems: actors, institutions and political cultures.
4. The dynamics of the political system.
5. Extractive and inclusive institutions.
6. Typologies of political systems: democracies, authoritarian regimes and hybrid types. Distribution by geographic areas.
7. Globalization and politics.
3. Authoritarian regimes and hybrid systems 1. Definitions and typologies: dictatorships, traditional and modern authoritarianisms. The totalitarian systems.
2. Methodology and theoretical elements for the study of authoritarian regimes.
3. From authoritarianism to democracy: opening, liberalization and democratization.
4. The Francoist regime and the transition to the democracy in Spain.
4. Democracies. Definition, evolution and requirements 1. Participation and democracy.
2. Direct democracy and representative democracy. Imperative mandate and representative mandate.
3. Historical antecedents. The Athenian democracy. Rome: from civitas to empire.
4. The current democratic systems. The democracy such as method.
6. Requirements: participation, opposition, rights and freedoms.
7. Measurements and degrees of freedom and quality.
5. Majoritarian and consensus democracies 1. Majoritarian versus consensus democracies.
2. The majoritarian model in United Kingdom and New Zealand.
3. The consensual model in Switzerland and Belgium.
6. Party Systems. Two/party and multiparty systems 1. The effective number of parties.
2. Dimensions of the parties conflict.
3. Comparative approach.
7. Electoral Systems 1. The elements of the electoral systems.
2. Majority and proportional models.
3. The electoral system of the United Kingdom.
4. The electoral system of the USA.
5. The electoral system of the French Republic.
6. The electoral system of Spain.
7. The electoral system of the Federal Republic of Germany.
8. The electoral system of the Italian Republic.
8. Executive Power Models 1. Theories of coalitions.
2. Incentives for minority and overwhelming cabinets.
3. Comparative approach.
9. The Executive/Legislative Balance 1. Parliamentary and presidential systems.
2. Separation of powers and checks and balances. The dominance of the executive over the legislature.
3. Comparative approach.
10. The Federal/Unitary Dimension 1. The federal-unitary dimension. Distribution an decentralization od powers.
2. Federal states and his main institutions.
3. Comparative approach.
4. The Spanish decentralized model
11. Parliaments 1. Bicameralism/unicameralism.
2. Varieties of bicameralism.
3. Comparative approach.
12. Constitutions: procedures of amendment and judicial review. 1. Written and no written down constitutions
2. Flexible and rigid constitutions.
3. Judicial review.
4. Constitutional rigidity and judicial review.
5. Comparative approach.
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