Checking date: 23/05/2025 16:05:18

Versión en español

Course: 2025/2026

Political actors and behaviour I
(13220)
Dual Bachelor in Political Science and Sociology (2009 Study Plan) (Plan: 192 - Estudio: 247)


Coordinating teacher: CLAVERIA ALIAS, SILVIA

Department assigned to the subject: Social Sciences Department

Type: Compulsory
ECTS Credits: 6.0 ECTS

Course: 2º
Semester:



Requirements (Subjects that are assumed to be known)
Political Analysis I
Objectives
This course focuses on the study of political actors in democratic systems. It places particular emphasis on analyzing one key actor: political parties. The course delves into their typology, organizational structure, the system in which they operate, and the factors that give rise to them. Other political participants are also studied, such as the media, social movements, and interest groups. The course aims to enable students to distinguish between the various political actors and understand how they interact with one another.
Description of contents: programme
1. Basic Elements of Political Parties 2. Party Families and Typologies 3. The Relationship Between Cleavages and Political Parties 4. Internal Organization of Political Parties 5. Political Parties in Institutions 6. Party Systems 7. The Media 8. Social Movements 9. Interest Groups: Trade Unions
Learning activities and methodology
In lecture sessions the teacher will explain the main foundations of each unit. Some resources could be recommended to complete the explanation of each unit. Work in seminar sessions will deal with comparing and analyzing cases suggested by the lecturer. Some sessions will be developed in the computing laboratories. The lecturer will assign reading materials (on which test could be implemented), as well as suggest the resources and references to be used by the students prior to each seminar session. Those resources will be written both in Spanish and English. Selective use of AI, specifying how it should be applied.
Assessment System
  • % end-of-term-examination/test 50
  • % of continuous assessment (assigments, laboratory, practicals...) 50

Calendar of Continuous assessment


Extraordinary call: regulations
Basic Bibliography
  • Dalton, R. J., y M. P. Wattenberg. Parties without partisans: political change in advanced industrial democracies. . Oxford University Press. 2000
  • Duverger, M. Los partidos políticos. . Fondo de Cultura Económica. . 2002
  • Green-Pedersen, C. . The Reshaping of West European Party Politics: Agenda-Setting and Party Competition in Comparative Perspective. Oxford University Press. 2019
  • Hutter, S. y H. Kriesi (eds). European Party Politics in Times of Crisis. Cambridge University Press. 2019
  • Katz, R. S. y W. Crotty (eds.) . Handbook of Party Politics. Sage. 2006
  • LaPalombara, J., and Weiner, M. (eds.) . Political Parties and Political Development.. Princeton University Press.. 1966
  • Mair, P. (ed.). . The West European Party System. Oxford University Press. 1990
  • Montero, J. R., R. Gunther y J. Linz . Partidos políticos. Viejos conceptos y nuevos retos. Trotta. 2007
  • Panebianco, A. . Modelos de partido. Alianza. 2003
  • Sartori, G. . Partidos y sistemas de partidos. . Alianza. 1997
  • Von Beyme, K. Partidos políticos en las democracias occidentales. CIS. 1986
  • Ware, A. . Partidos políticos y sistema de partidos. . Istmo. 2004
Additional Bibliography
  • Allern, E.H. y T.Bale . The Relationship between Left-of-Centre Parties and Trade Unions. In: Left-of-Centre Parties and Trade Unions in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford University Press. 2017
  • Casal-Bertoa, F. y G. Scherlis. Partidos, sistemas de partidos y democracia. Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires. 2015
  • Cross W. t J.B. Pilet (eds). The Politics of Party Leadership: A Cross-National Perspective. Oxford University Press. 2016
  • Daniel C. Hallin & Paolo Mancini. Sistemas mediáticos comparados: tres modelos de relación entre los medios de comunicación y la política. Hacer. 2008
  • Daniel Ziblatt. Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy. CUP. 2017
  • Donatella della Porta & Mario Diani. Los movimientos sociales. CIS. 2011
  • Gidron, N., y D. Ziblatt. Center-Right Political Parties in Advanced Democracies. . Annual Review of Political Science, 22(1), 17¿35. 2019
  • Haughton, T., y K. Deegan-Krause . Puzzles of Party Politics. In The New Party Challenge . Oxford University Press. 2020
  • Joaquim Molins, Luz Muñoz y Iván Medina. Los grupos de interés en España. Tecnos. 2016
  • Manuel Castells. Redes de indignación y esperanza. Alianza Editorial. 2012
  • McAdam, D., J.D. McCarthy y M.N. Zald . Movimientos sociales, perspectivas comparadas. Istmo. 1999
  • Sidney Tarrow. El poder en movimiento. Alianza Universidad. 1997
  • Susan E. Scarrow, Paul D. Webb, & Thomas Poguntke. Organizing Political Parties, Representation, Participation and Power. OUP. 2017
  • William P. Cross & Jean Benoit Pilet. The Politics of Party Leadership: A Cross-National Perspective. OUP. 2016
  • Xavier Coller, Guillermo Cordero y Antonio Jaime-Castillo. The Selection of Politicians in Times of Crisis. Routledge. 2018

The course syllabus may change due academic events or other reasons.