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Course Information

POL711 Political Party Systems I.

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2013

Extent and Intensity

0/0/0. 9 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Eva Kneblová (lecturer)
Mgr. Michal Pink, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Supervisor

doc. PhDr. Lubomír Kopeček, Ph.D.
Division of Politology - Department of Political Science - Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Iva Petříková
Dodavatelské pracoviště: Division of Politology - Department of Political Science - Faculty of Social Studies

Course Enrollment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

Fields of study the course is directly associated with

there are 14 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

Main objective of the course is to femiliarize students with elementary terminology, models and theoretical approaches related to the analyses of the character and operation of the pluralist systems of political paries. The course will focus on the concept of political party and pary system, delimitation of types of party systems in the current democracies. Students will learn to use the terminology, analyse political parties and their systems and apply the theoretical models on party systems. Students will also gain factographical knowledge about Great Britain, Germany and Italy.

Syllabus

• Topic 1: Concept of political party and party system. Key terms and concepts: definition of political party, its emergence and function. Organizational and functional types (elitist, mass, catch-all, cartel party), role of paries in democracy, political partisanship in the 19th and 20th Century, parties and society, party competition, cleavages, party families. Topic 2: Party systems, format of party systems, example of Germany. Topic 3: Types of party systems, expamle of Great Britain, Italy. Topic 4: Elections, electoral systems and effect of electoral systems on party systems. Topic 5: Current forms and changes of political partisanship.

Literature

• SARTORI, Giovanni. Srovnávací ústavní inženýrství :zkoumání struktur, podnětů a výsledků. Translated by Jana Ogrocká. Vyd. 1. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, 2001. 238 s. ISBN 80-85850-94-X. info
• STRMISKA, Maxmilián, Vít HLOUŠEK, Lubomír KOPEČEK and Roman CHYTILEK. Politické strany moderní Evropy. Analýza stranicko-politických systémů (Political Parties in Modern Europe: Analysis of Party Systems). 1. vyd. Praha: Portál, 2005. 727 pp. Politologie. ISBN 80-7367-038-0. info
• STRMISKA, Maxmilián. Volební systémy a stranicko-politické soustavy. "Silné" volební systémy, stranické systémy a Sartoriho "volební zákony" (Electoral Systems and Party Arrangements. "Strong" Electoral Systems, Party Systems and the "Electoral Laws" of Sartori). Středoevropské politické studie, Brno: MPÚ MU, 2001, vol. 3, No 4, p. 38-51. ISSN 1212-7817. URL info
• NOVÁK, Miroslav. Systémy politických stran :úvod do jejich srovnávacího studia. Vyd. 1. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, 1997. 275 s. ISBN 80-85850-22-2. info
• Chytilek, Roman a Šedo, Jakub (eds.) Volební systémy. Brno : MPÚ MU, 2004.
• STRMISKA, Maxmilián and Petr FIALA. Teorie politických stran. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 1998. 263 s. ISBN 80-85947-31-5. info
• Handbook of party politics. Edited by Richard S. Katz - William Crotty. 1st ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2006. xiii, 550. ISBN 0-7619-4314-5. info
• Parties without partisans :political change in advanced industrial democracies. Edited by Russell J. Dalton - Martin P. Wattenberg. 1st pub. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. xiv, 314 s. ISBN 0-19-925309-9. info

Assessment methods

The students are required to hend in a written asignment (3 500 words). Evaluation will be based on the written asignment, mid-term test nad written exam. Students can gain maximum of 34 points (25 for the written exam, 9 for written asignment). Evaluation: A. 34 – 32 points B. 31 – 29 points C. 28 – 26 points D. 25 – 23 points E. 21 – 19 points F. 18 points and less.

Further Comments

The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: in blocks.

Listed among pre-requisites of other courses

• POL713 Political Party Systems II.
  POL711  

The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2002, Spring 2003, Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012.

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• Enrollment Statistics (Autumn 2013, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2013/POL711

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