Political Behaviour and public opinion

Year 2011-12

Political Behaviour and public opinion (21673)

Qualification: Degree in Political and Administration Sciences.
Year: 3rd
Term: 1st
Number of ECTS credits: 6
Hours of student dedication: hours
Teaching language: Catalan, Spanish, English
Teachers: Ignacio Lago, Verónica Benet and Marc Guinjoán

1. Introduction to the course

This course will discuss a selection of the basic issues on political and electoral behaviour in western political systems. The course will consider the different apprahces to electoral behaviour, the main factors associated with voting and the intermediaries that exist in deciding how one votes. In addition it will discuss how public opinion is formed and the role political information plays in the degree of rationality in political decisions.

2. Competences to be achieved

Generic competences:

G5. Basic IT skills

G6. Ability to manage information (ability to search for and analyse information from a variety of sources

G9. Critical and self-critical abilities.

Specific competences

E7. Ability to recognise how electoral processes work. To know and be able to analyse electoral processes: electoral campaigns, party electoral strategies, political set ups and ability to analyse and interpret electoral results.

Subject specific knowledge (to know):

Theories on the process of social election.
How electoral campaigns work
The main electoral systems and their political implications
How to elaborate, analyse and interpret surveys
The techniques for analyzing and interpreting electoral results

Generic knowledge (to know how to):

Carry out an electoral analysis
Analyse electoral compaigns
Define post electoral set ups.
Design and analyse public opinion surveys

E19. To recognise political communication techniques. Knowledge of the basic political communication tools.

Subject specific knowledge (to know):

The tools available for the dissemination of political messages and information.
The main communication techniques.

Generic knowledge (to know how to):

Design electoral campaigns
Transmit political messages and information
Identify issues in public debate

E20. To use ICT and to analyse their impact on the political system. To know how to use ITC as a tool for political and public administration analysis.

Subject specific knowledge (to know):

The ITC applicable to politicla analysis and the public administration
Theoretical foundations of electronic government and administration

Generic knowledge (to know how to):

Use applied IT programmes in political and social research on public administration.
Contribute to the design and administration of political institutions and administration web pages.
Manage and improve electronic administration tools.

3. Contents

Analysis of individual and collecive actor atittudes and behavior. The mechanisms by which public opinion is created. Public opinion and elections and the key role they play in representative democracies.

4. Assessment

The fianl mark will be dependent on a final exam (50%) and an original, research coursework piece carried out in small groups (50%).

5. Bibliography and other resources

5.1. Basic bibliography

DALTON,R.J.: Citizen Politics. Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies, CQ Press, 2006 (4th edition).

ANDUIZA, E. and A. BOSCH: Comportamiento político y electoral. Ed. Ariel, Barcelona, 2004.

INGLEHART,R.: El cambio cultural en las sociedades industriales avanzadas, CIS-Siglo XXI, Madrid 1991.

5.2. Other resources

Additional references will be given for each sesión. In their coursework, student must use political surveys (from the CIS, CEO, European Social Survey, Eurobarometre, Latinobarometre, etc) that will be provided by the teachers.

6. Methodology

Lectures where the basic contents of the course will be explained and seminars in small groups where students can carry out their coursework and discuss it with the teacher every two weeks.

Student must work autonomously to prepare for sessions and to complete their coursework.

7. Programme of activities

week		Ses	Type	Session content	Student´s work for the week
					Learning activity		Class hrs.	Non class hrs.
					In class	Out of class	Class hrs.	Non class hrs.
I*		1	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
I*		1	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project		4
IIª		2	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
IIª		2	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project		4
IIIª		3	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
IIIª		3	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
IVª		4	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
IVª		4	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project		4
Vª		5	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
Vª		5	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
VIª		6	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
VIª		6	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project		4
VIIª		7	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
VIIª		7	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
VIIIª		8	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
VIIIª		8	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project		4
IXª		9	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
IXª		9	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
Xª		10	Lecture	First session of the course	Discussion	Required reading and preparation of coursework project	2	4
Xª		10	Coursework	Elaboration of coursework project	Discussion of project with teacher	Required reading and preparation of coursework project		4
Hours of dedication: Subtotal							28	40
XIª XIIª	Hours of dedication for final assessment 30 (exam) 52 (coursework project)							82
TOTAL HOURS								150