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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. Poslední úprava: Brunclík Miloš, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (29.01.2025)
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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. Poslední úprava: Brunclík Miloš, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (29.01.2025)
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In order to sucessfully accomplish the course, students are obliged:
Poslední úprava: Brunclík Miloš, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (29.01.2025)
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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). Poslední úprava: Brunclík Miloš, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (29.01.2025)
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The course is based on lectures, seminars, and homework (readings and quizzes). Principles for the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools During the course, students may use artificial intelligence tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, etc.) for the following purposes:
When using AI, students are always required to:
The use of AI is prohibited for:
Presenting outputs generated by AI (even if slightly modified) as one’s own work is not allowed and will be considered plagiarism. Failure to comply with these rules will result in the seminar paper or presentation not being accepted, or the case being referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. The aim of these rules is to foster students’ critical thinking, develop their intellectual abilities, and protect academic integrity. These rules also limit the risks associated with AI, in particular the uncritical acceptance of AI-generated content, dependency on technology, plagiarism, or presenting potentially erroneous AI-generated results without critical evaluation. Finally, the aim is to help students learn to recognize when the use of AI is beneficial and when it is not. Use of AI by lecturer: Teachers may use AI in preparing teaching materials and providing feedback, always in accordance with the Statement of Charles University and the Recommendations for Educators. Students’ personal data will be protected, and student work will not be used for training AI models. Generative AI will not be used for the assessment of seminar papers, quizzes/tests, or the final exam. Seminar papers/presentations will not be inserted in AI tools by the lecturer. Recommendations regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence at Charles University Student Guide to Academic Integrity (FSV UK): Code of Study and Examination of Charles University Poslední úprava: Brunclík Miloš, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (23.09.2025)
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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) Readinigs: Louhglin, Martin. 2015. The British Constitution: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Introduction and chapter 1.
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).
Poslední úprava: Brunclík Miloš, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (29.01.2025)
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