Instructor: Zuzana Ringlerova

Office: Room 4.48

Email: ringler@muni.cz

Office hours: See my page in the IS for current info

Course description  

Politics in countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland, or the UK are filling the pages of news websites. How to make sense of these news from the political science perspective? What role does the German Chancellor play in the national political system? Why do countries such as Germany or Italy typically have coalition governments while coalitions are rarely seen in the UK? How to make sense of the various political parties and their ideologies? And how does this all make sense in the context of theories of democracy? These are examples of questions we will look at throughout the semester. You will learn about the tools offered by comparative political science that will help you understand how the various Western European political systems work.

Welcome to the course!

Course materials

We will rely heavily on the following textbook. It is a great book and I would say it is worth purchasing your own copy. However, if you do not want to purchase your own copy, you will find scanned materials in the interactive syllabus.

De Vries, C., B. Hobolt, S., Proksch, S., & Slapin, J. (2021). Foundations of European Politics: A Comparative Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

We will also work with other materials. These will be uploaded to the interactive syllabus.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, you should be able to do the following:

Understand important concepts commonly used in comparative political science (such as types of political regimes, dimensions of political party ideologies etc.)

Identify major actors in different types of democratic political systems, describe their important characteristics, and understand how they interact.

Critically reflect on the implications of different theories and concepts within the field of comparative politics

Analyze data on relevant concepts and relate this analysis to relevant theories.

Prepare a literature review or a research design on a topic within the field of comparative politics.

Course requirements and grading

Class participation 20%

Seminar paper 30%

Presentation 10%

Final exam 40%

There will be an option to earn few bonus points that count directly toward the final score. The bonus points will be for activities such as submitting the first or second draft of the seminar paper. The activities and the number of bonus points will be specified by the second week of the semester.

The final score ranges from 0 to 100 points. It is calculated from the components listed above. Each of the components is weighted as listed above. I will use the following grading scale to assign your final grade:

Academic integrity

You are required to adhere to Masaryk University regulations. This involves following the rules of academic integrity. According to the university regulations, students are obliged to maintain academic honesty by refraining from plagiarism and from cheating during exams. Just to clarify possible doubts: if you haven't written the text yourself, it is plagiarism. Therefore, using text generated by artificial intelligence is plagiarism. However, you are allowed to use AI to give you feedback on the draft you have written. I highly recommend using Grammarly to check you grammar and style. You may also use a large language model (such as ChatGPT) to help you improve the style of your writing. In this class, you do not have to declare using Grammarly if you are only using the basic functions. You are required, though, to make a reference to a large language model (or to the grammarly advanced AI writing assistance) if you use it to help you with your style.

Violations of academic integrity will result in sanctions. These sanctions range from taking points off the particular part of the grade to assigning F as the final grade in the class. Serious violations of academic honesty will be reported to the FSS Disciplinary Committee. The decision about the sanction for academic dishonesty is entirely at the discretion of the instructor.

Course format

In this course, you will be learning new knowledge and skills in multiple ways:

you will practice critical reading skills and acquire factual knowledge during your preparation for class (through critical reading of the assigned material and preparing discussion questions)

you will practice discussion skills and critical analysis skills in class discussions

you will learn additional empirical knowledge and empirical analysis skills as well practice writing skills in your seminar paper

you will practice presentation skills in your paper presentations

Class rules

Before coming to class, please turn off anything that beeps or rings.

Please, help create a nice learning environment for yourself and your classmates. Reading any material that is not related to the class, texting, or browsing the internet during the class is rude and will not be tolerated.

Please refrain from eating during class. Having something to drink is fine.

If you have any questions regarding the material being discussed in class, do not hesitate to ask. If you ask such question, it will help to clarify the issue not only for you but for your peers as well!

In class discussions, be respectful of other students' opinions. You have the right to hold and express whatever opinion on the discussed topic, no matter how unacceptable they may seem to your classmates. They can disagree with you by they must show respect your right to hold your opinion. Likewise, you must respect their right to express their views freely. 

Learning suggestions

Read the readings well ahead of class and fill out the study questions carefully.

Begin working on your essay well ahead of the deadline.

Use a calendar with reminders to keep you on track with all deadlines.

Download the powerpoint slides and use them for your studying.

Use the pomodoro technique for most effective study and work:

tomato-timer.com

(check out the FAQ to learn about the technique)

Last but not least,

you are very welcome to come to my office hours or write to me in MS Teams chat if you have any questions.   

Information for students with special needs

Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me if they have any special needs. Your privacy will be respected. There are adaptive programs offered by Masaryk University which are designed to help students with disabilities. If you want to register to these programs, contact the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs (http://www.teiresias.muni.cz/?lang=en).

University regulations allow special accommodations for students who are parents to young children. Students who are parents to young children are encouraged to contact the instructor if they have any special needs.

Course caveat

In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances beyond the instructor’s control. You will receive information about any changes in the course by email.