| Academic year: | 2008-2009 |
| Course code module | 1BPSW-11 |
| Semester: | 2nd semester |
| Credits: | 6 |
| Study load (hours) | 168 |
| Theory (hours): | 45,00 |
| Practice/Exercises(hours): | |
| Other (hours): | |
| Part-time program: | 1 |
| Instructor(s) | Petra Meier
|
| Language of instruction: | Dutch |
| Semester exam information: | exam in the 2nd semester |
| Contract restriction information: | |
1. Prerequisites
*Algemene competenties
A sound interest in politics (following the news)
*Sequentiality
2. Objectives (expected learning outcomes)
Students gather insights in:
the main political actors and institutions in Belgium;
the structures and processes of Belgian politics;
the main trends and debates in Belgian politics.
They learn how to adopt a political science perspective of politics and how to apply abstract concepts to political reality.
3. Course content
This course's aim is to introduce core actors, institutions, processes and debates of Belgian politics. We thereby pay a lot of attention to the sources of current issues and problems, where necessary by looking at the hisotric path of current institutions, processes and debates. This should enable students to develop a frame analysing and understanding Belgian politics and to achieve a better understanding of concepts and theories of political science. This aim is achieved by systematically studying current issues in Belgian politics. Politics is the organisation and management of society, but society undergoes change and so does its organisation. There is a shift and transformation of politics, with respect to the levels where it can be found and the actors involved in it. The course studies this evolution and its consequences for the Belgian society, treating among others: multi-level governance, decentralisation and federalisation, relations between government and parliament, asymmetric coalitions and the relations between communities, regions and the federal level, the impact of Europe, consociational vs. majoritarian democracy, partitocracy and the role of parties, pillarization, new social identities and identifications, electoral evolutions and volatility, changes in political participation, living in an ethnically diverse society, ...
4. Teaching method
Direct contact: Lectures
5. Assessment method
Exam: Written, without oral presentationClosed bookOpen questions
6. Compulsory reading – study material
A reader containing a selection of articles on current issues in Belgian politics by (mainly) Belgian political scientists. The reader is available at Acco.
Students are expected to have read the literature before attaining class.
7. Recommended reading - study material
none
8. Tutoring