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Introduction to Government and Politics

Class at Faculty of Social Sciences |
JTB113

Syllabus

27. 2. Class n°1: Introduction of essential concepts: government, governance, politics, policy

No reading 5. 3. Class n°2: Types of regimes

Reading: Cheibub, J.A. et al. (2010). „Democracy and Dictatorship Revisited.“ Public Choice 143 (1-2): 67-101. 12. 3. Class n°3: State and legitimacy

Reading: Barker, R. (1990) „Political Legitimacy.“ In Barker, R., Political Legitimacy and the State (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 20-44. 19. 3. Class n°4: Political parties and their role in non-democratic regimes 

Reading: Shirah, R. (2016). „Electoral Authoritarianism and Political Unrest“, International Political Science Review 37(4), 470-484. 26. 3. Class n°5: Is democracy under the threat? The rise of populism

Reading: Mudde, C. (2004). „The Populist Zeitgeist”. Government and Opposition 39(4), 542-563. 2. 4. Class n°6: Policy problems

Reading: Rochefort, D. and Cobb, R. (1994). Problem Definition: An Emerging Perspective. In  Cobb, R. and Rochefort, D., The Politics of Problem Definition: Shaping the Policy Agenda (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas), 1-31. 9. 4. Class n°7: Policy-making: How to make a policy and what´s next?

Reading: Perl, A. (2020). „Studying policy dynamics: policy cycles and regimes.“ In Capano, G. and Howlett, M. (eds) A Modern Guide to Public Policy (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited), 22-40. 16. 4. Class n°8: Corruption in politics

Reading: Liu, C. (2016) „Public Corruption: Causes, Consequences, and Cures.“ In Klassen, T.R. et al. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Global Public Policy and Administration (Abingdon and New York: Taylor & Francis Group), 134-146.- reading online only through UKAZ database. 23. 4. no class 30. 4. Class n°9: Left- and right-wing politics and/or other cleavages

Reading: Kriesi, H. (2010). Restructuration of Partisan Politics and the Emergence of a New Cleavage Based on Values, West European Politics, 33(3), 673-685. 7. 5. Class n°10: European Left: what happened after the end of the welfare state? (M. Mejstřík)

Reading: March, L., Radical Left Success before and after Great Recession (2016). In March, L. and D. Keith, Europe´s Radical Left: From Marginality to Mainstream? (London: Rowman), 27-50. 14. 5. Class n°11 - Political parties and their role in non-democratic regimes 

         Reading: Shirah, R. (2016). „Electoral Authoritarianism and Political Unrest“, International Political Science Review 37(4), 470-484.

Annotation

‘The course offers an introduction to basic ideas and concepts in the theory of politics illustrated on the phenomena in the European context. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be familiar with issues incl. definition of the politics and its development, the functioning of the state, the theory, and practice of democratic and non-democratic political systems, the theory and practice of political parties, the definition of main ideological currents that determine the contemporary politics, etc.