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Political Systems in Comparative Perspective - JPB151

Title:	Political Systems in Comparative Perspective
Guaranteed by:	Department of Political Science (23-KP)
Faculty:	Faculty of Social Sciences
Actual:	from 2019
Semester:	summer
E-Credits:	6
Examination process:	summer s.:
Hours per week, examination:	summer s.:2/1, Ex [HT]
Capacity:	35 / 70 (30)
Min. number of students:	unlimited
4EU+:	no
Virtual mobility / capacity:	no
State of the course:	taught
Language:	English
Teaching methods:	full-time
Teaching methods:	full-time
Note:	course can be enrolled in outside the study plan enabled for web enrollment priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan

Guarantor:	doc. PhDr. Miloš Brunclík, Ph.D.
Teacher(s):	doc. PhDr. Miloš Brunclík, Ph.D.
Class:	Courses for incoming students
Incompatibility :	JPB139
Is incompatible with:	JPB139

Examination dates SS schedule Noticeboard

Annotation

Last update: doc. PhDr. Miloš Brunclík, Ph.D. (21.01.2020)

The course provides students with basic knowledge on major models of constitutional systems of Western democracies, with a special focus on Europe. The course shows that political systems of Western countries are not only shaped by constitutions and other formal rules, but also by a range of factors that lay beyond the constitution. Hence, the course seeks to present current political systems of Western democracies as a result of interplay of constitutional and extra-constitutional factors. After accomplishing the course students will be able to define three democratic regimes types (presidentialism, semi-presidentialism and parliamentarism) as well as their varying conceptualizations. Furthermore, they will be able to identify major decision-makers in political systems in various democratic regimes types, they will understand key relations between the triangle of actors: head of state, government (cabinet) and parliament and their position and functions in respective regime types. In addition to the constitutional institutions in terms of their powers, students will be also able to identify and analyze impact of extra-constitutional factors such as party system, constitutional conventions, public expectations, timing of elections etc.
The course is divided into two parts. The first part of the course shall present key theoretical concepts that are essential for understanding major constitutional differences between Western democracies in a comparative perspective. It will discuss three democratic regimes types (presidentialism, semi-presidentialism and parliamentarism) in terms of their conceptualizations. The second part of the course shall focus on several key model countries that represent useful empirical cases of conceptual models presented in the first part: the USA, the UK and Germany and France. The course shall be completed with seminar where students shall present their papers on various theoretical or empirical themes closely connected to the course focus.

Aim of the course

Last update: doc. PhDr. Miloš Brunclík, Ph.D. (21.01.2020)

The aim of the course is to provide students with major analytical and conceptual tools to compare democratic polities of Western countries. The students will also gain a significant portion of empirical facts about democatic systems of the Western polities.

Course completion requirements

Last update: doc. PhDr. Miloš Brunclík, Ph.D. (21.02.2024)

In order to sucessfully accomplish the course, students are obliged:

to get at least 50 per cent of points in on-line quizzes (in the Moodle platform) on a weekly basis (30 % of the final grade). The quizzes reflect readings assigned for each topic.
to present an issue in a group seminar presentation (20 % of the final grade). All the members of the group must be present during the presentation of their topic. Students who do not participate at their group presentation are supposed to elaborate a seminar paper of about 3 000 words, including references to compensate for their absence.
to oppose and review a seminar presentation of other students (10 % of the final grade). Students who do not oppose a paper are supposed to write aabout 1-2 pages long essay in which they comment on the presentation, evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, clairty of the presentation and arguments used. Finally, students also add a few questions.
to get at least 50 per cent of points in the final exam. (40 % of the final grade).

Literature

Last update: doc. PhDr. Miloš Brunclík, Ph.D. (13.02.2021)

Class 1 Constitutions and Constitutionalism

Readings: Sartori, Giovanni. 1962. Constitutionalism. A Preliminary Discussion. The American political science review 56(4): 853-864

Class 2 Democratic Regime Types

Readings: Elgie, Robert. 2005. From Linz to Tsebelis: three waves of presidential/parliamentary studies?. Democratization 12(1): 106-122.

Class 3 Heads of States in a Comparative Perspective

Readings: Tavits, Margit. 2009. Presidents with prime ministers: Do direct elections matter?. Oxford: Oxford University Press chapter 1

Class 4 Constitutional Conventions

Readings: Taylor, Greg. 2014. Convention by consensus: Constitutional conventions in Germany. International Journal of Constitutional Law 12(2): 303-329.

Class 5 Political System of the USA (I)

Readings: US Election Booklet 2020

Class 6 Political System of the USA (II)

Readings: Marshall, William. 2008. Eleven reasons why presidential power inevitably expands and why it matters."Boston University Law Review 88: 505-522

Class 7 Political System of the USA (III)

Readings: Heitshusen, Valerie. 2020. Introduction to the Legislative Process in the U.S. Congress. Congressional Research Service.

Class 8 Political system of the United Kingdom (I)

Loughlin, Martin. 2015. The British Constitution: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Class 9 Political system of the United Kingdom (II)

Readings: Garnett, Mark and Philip Lynch. 2009. Exploring the British Politics. 2nd edition. London: Pearson and Longman. Chapter 8.

Class 10 Political system of the United Kingdom (III)

Readings: Garnett, Mark and Philip Lynch. 2009. Exploring the British Politics. 2nd edition. London: Pearson and Longman. Chapter 7.

Class 11 Political system of France

Knapp, Andrew, and Vincent Wright. 2006.The government and politics of France. Routledge. Chapter 4.

Class 12 Political system of Germany

Saalfeld, Thomas. 2003. Germany: Multiple Veto Points, Informal Co-ordination, and Problems of Hidden Action. In: Strøm, Kaare, Torbjörn Bergman, and Wolfgang C. Müller, eds. Delegation and accountability in parliamentary democracies. Oxford University Press (p. 347-375).

Teaching methods