Module description
This module provides students with a systematic examination of the major substantive and intellectual themes in the study of representative government and politics in Europe. Modern Europe has undergone a transformation of its traditional political and cultural boundaries with the development of the European Union (EU) – and within and beyond the EU, the European political landscape is constantly transforming in the face of a variety of developments, challenges, and crises.
This module provides a critical understanding of the key tensions in political representation and democracy in Europe, both on the multi-level system of the EU and beyond it. Its analytical focus is on the interplay among and between the different national and EU levels of representation and government and how they are transforming and challenged.
The module is structured around the thesis that politics in European democracies has changed significantly in recent decades. Our conception of European states as 'party democracies' has been fundamentally challenged. Social and attitudinal changes have altered the nature of European electorates and, in turn, the very nature of what representative government means. Several crises and transformations, such as the Eurozone crisis, Brexit, the so-called “refugee crisis”, the rise of the far right and not least climate change, have challenged (and still are challenging) European politics.
You will be asked to think about each topic as a research question. You will therefore need to consider the theory in question, the methods that can be used to address the subjects outlined each week and then to judge the weight of the empirical evidence. By the end of the module, we will be able to produce an evaluation of the state of representative government in the European political system and how it relates to a number of political challenges and transformations.
*Please note that module information is provisional and may change from year to year.
Assessment details
1000-word Encyclopedia entry (30%) and 1800-word Case Study (70%)
Educational aims & objectives
The module aims include:
· to cover key areas of contemporary European politics and the factors and challenges that have affected representative democracy in Europe;
· to convey the recent state and current debates in European politics;
· to provide analytical tools to critically examine the current political trends in Europe.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the module students will be able to:
• describe the current state of European politics and representative democracy in Europe;
• choose an appropriate mix of sources to critically assess the main theoretical and empirical debates in European politics;
• comparatively and critically reflect on the current political trends and the challenges in European politics.
Teaching pattern
Two hours per week, one lecture and one seminar
Suggested reading list
- Bale, T. (2017) European Politics: A Comparative Introduction, 4th edition (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
There are two other textbooks on comparative politics that are also useful. They provide the general background to the module and may be of great help when you need some more basic and/or additional contextual information:
- Caramani, D. (ed.) (2020) Comparative Politics, 5th edition (Oxford University Press)
- R. J. Dalton (2020), Citizens Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies, 7th edition (CQ Press)