DSPO 25A44 - Understanding the role of (political) institutions

Institutions matter! Institutions play a vital role in the political domain at various levels (i.e. regional, national, European and international) and in various contexts (e.g. over time and space). After all, political actors make decisions and develop policies within institutional settings. And these institutions (whether formal and informal) also shape the opportunities of citizens to make their voice heard or to participate in the decision-making process. This course deals with how institutions constrain and enable the potential for political cooperation and how they shape political decision-making. In particular, through the readings, the course will tackle key questions of political analysis. How are institutions designed? How can they shape (individual and collective) behaviour? How institutions vary over time and space but also, how they are resisted are some of the questions this course will deal with.

François RANDOUR

Séminaire

English

Participation during the course is strongly encouraged. A successful approach to the course requires a constant effort to read, speak and write in English.

Spring 2021-2022

The evaluation will consist of (1) 1 individual written paper (40% of the grade); (2) 2 peer-review reports to be prepared for the last session of the course (30% of the grade); (3) 1 group (2 to 3 students) oral presentation using interactive and online quizzes (‘Wooclap' ) between session 2 and session 10 (30% of the grade);