Estudia

1. THE BASICS OF POLITICS 1.1 What is politics? 1.2 What is political power? Power and authority. The legitimacy of power. 1.3 The three forms of politics

2. POLITICS AS A PROCESS. 2.1 The subjective foundations of politics: political culture, socialisation and symbols. 2.2 Political actors. Individual and collective actors (parties, interest groups and movements).

3. POLITICS AS A STRUCTURE 3.1 The emergence of the state and its forms, rules and procedures. 3.2 Typologies of states: democracies, dictatorships and hybrids. 3.3 The functional and territorial organisation of power. Forms of the state

4. PUBLIC POLICY: AN INTRODUCTION 4.1 Definitions of public policy 4.2 Public policy and coercion: the relationship with power

5. CURRENT POLICY DEBATES 5.1 Globalisation and its effects 5.2 Politics and gender 5.3 Politics and diversity 5.4 Politics and violence 5.5 Politics and the ecological crisis

• McCormick, John. (2025). Comparative Government and Politics. (13th ed.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Catàleg
• Garner, R., Ferdinand, P. and Lawson, S (2012). Introduction to Politics. Oxford University Press.
• Vallès, Josep M. (2020 - 06??). Ciencia política : un manual (Edición actualizada). Barcelona: Ariel. Catàleg

Activitats d'avaluació:

The evaluation will be based on active participation in the sessions, the completion of individual and group assignments, and the participation and contribution to the workshops and reading seminars.

It is mandatory to attend and participate in the scheduled sessions. The students not regularly attending will be considered as 'Absent' (in Catalan: "no presentat").

The students will need to pass the individual exam with a minimum grade of 5.

Where the teaching staff has doubts about the authorship of any assessed work, the student may be called to attend an in-person or synchronous interview (which may be recorded), in order to verify their knowledge and competences and confirm the authorship of the work. If authorship cannot be confirmed, the assessment will receive a failing grade.

Criteris específics de la nota «No Presentat»:
The student will be graded as "Absent" if he or she do not take the individual exam.

Avaluació única:
individual oral examination (100%)

Requisits mínims per aprovar:
The students will need to pass both the individual exam with a minimum grade of 5. For the rest of the evaluation activities, an average grade of at least 4 will be required to include them in the calculation of the weighted grade.

To be evaluated using the continuous assessment system, the students need to attend the sessions.

Online and in-person tutoring sessions will be available. All tutoring sessions must be requested via email, sending an email with sufficient notice.

Relevant information for students will be communicated during in-person sessions and/or via email.

For students who choose the single assessment system, a specific online forum will be provided where all relevant information regarding the course will be communicated.

The subject combines master lectures by the teachers with a continuous work effort by the students. The practical and directed activities will analyze case studies, develop aspects presented in the theoretical sessions, invite reflective learning and promote the autonomy of the student.

Most support materials used by professors during the lectures will be made available to students through the Moodle platform prior to each session. This complementary material can be useful for the student to review the work done, to expand their reading on some topics, and for the preparation of the evaluation activities, but due to their configuration it is strongly advised not to rely only on them for exam preparation, as the study material. Attendance to master classes will provide most of the conceptual guide for these materials to make sense.

Plagiarism, including inappropriate use of artificial intelligence-based text generative tools, will not be tolerated.