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Course: 2025/2026

Political actors

(14091)

Dual Bachelor in International Studies and Political Science (Plan: 506 - Estudio: 320)

Coordinating teacher: CLAVERIA ALIAS, SILVIA

Department assigned to the subject: Social Sciences Department

Type: Compulsory

ECTS Credits: 6.0 ECTS

Course: 1º

Semester: 2º

Requirements (Subjects that are assumed to be known)

Foundations of Political Science

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

Final exam: 50% of the final grade. The reading materials will be part of the content for the exam.
Essays and case studies to be submitted in due time (as well as a test on reading materials): 50% of the final grade.

Students will have to pass the final exam in order to pass the course.

Resitting exams (June/July exams): 
The continuous assessment grade is saved if the students have attended the course. 
If they did not complete it, they are entitled to get the 100% of the total grade from the final exam ( Final exam 100%)

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

Hallin, D. y P. Mancini. Sistemas mediáticos comparados: tres modelos de relación entre los medios de comunicación y la política. Hacer. 2008
Allern, E.H. y T. Bale . 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
Castells, M.. Redes de indignación y esperanza. Alianza Editorial. 2012
Coller, X., G. Cordero y A. Jaime-Castillo. The Selection of Politicians in Times of Crisis. Routledge. 2018
Della Porta, D. y M. 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 . The New Party Challenge . Oxford University Press. 2020
McAdam, D., J.D. McCarthy y M.N. Zald . Movimientos sociales, perspectivas comparadas. Istmo. 1999
Molins, J., L. Muñoz y I. Medina. Los grupos de interés en España. Tecnos. 2016
Scarrow, S., P. D. Webb, y Thomas Poguntke. Organizing Political Parties, Representation, Participation and Power. OUP. 2017
Tarrow, S.. El poder en movimiento. Alianza Universidad. 1997
William P. Cross & Jean Benoit Pilet. The Politics of Party Leadership: A Cross-National Perspective. OUP. 2016
Ziblatt, D.. Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy. CUP. 2017

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