Module description
The module examines in detail the act of voting in contemporary democracies (mostly, Western democracies mostly, but also non-Western democracies). The topics covered include how voters form preferences for parties/candidates, how they translate these preferences into a vote (or an abstention), and how they react to electoral campaigns and the state of the economy. It also covers how parties decide upon their electoral program, and how this affects their electoral performance.
The module focuses on the scientific study of elections. The lectures present the scientific theories developed to make sense out of elections. It goes beyond mere journalistic takes. Seminars are even more “science-sy”, as students are expected to critically analyse scientific papers examining elections. They go in the details of the paper covering methodological issues such as data, measures, and research designs.
There is no pre-req for this module, but students are expected to know basics of quantitative methods (or statistics) or be willing to learn them as these will be required to analyse the scientific papers covered in class.
Assessment details
Unseen written exam (100%).
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module students will be able to:
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Actively read, fully understand, and critically appraise the scientific literature on elections.
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Mobilize and articulate this scientific literature on elections to form an informed judgement about the state of elections in contemporary democracies and analyze new elections.