LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at improving and strengthening the analytical skills of students in order to comprehend the main mechanisms featuring the political process.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide the conceptual and theoterical tools capable  to make students able to analyse and understand the key aspect of politics. It aims, in particular, to make intellegible the logic of power struggle and its consequences on  public policies. The students, moreover, must able to identify the key players of political systems - political parties, voters, public opninion, lobbies, institutions, social movements etc - , the logic of their behaviour and the consequences of their interactions on decison making process and on the feature of political regimes.

PREREQUISITES

The students must be able to read  a academic article and to better understand the complex plot of political phenomena  (political actors, political structures, decision makin process etc.)

TEACHING METHODS

the course adopts a teaching metodology based on lectures (2 hours per each lesson), integrated with some specific seminars or workshops.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course in divided in two parts.

In the first part wil be analysed the concept of power and its connexion with a general theory of politics. This part include a theoretical definition of power and the identification of different types of powers by means of two classification.  On this basis a general framework for political analysis will be illustrated.

In the second part this general framework will be used to examine the main political phenomena: political players (parties, political movements, lobbies ect.) , political regimes and their changes, political process (elections, public policies etc).

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

M. Stoppino, "Potere e teoria politica, Milano, Giuffrè, 2001

Clark W., Golder M., Goder S., "Principi di Scienza Politica", McGraw Hill, 2011.