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BA Politikwissenschaft § 5 (1) 12.b Vergleich politischer Systeme - Verteifung

Students acquire the ability to illustrate and explain the structure and function profiles of different democratic governmental systems. Moreover, they are able to individually analyse and evaluate complex phenomena from the field of comparative government based on relevant theoretical-conceptual approaches.

Contemporary Challenges to Representative Government


In Europe and beyond, democracy as-we-know-it is based on a system of representative government that originated and developed in a world in which large industries were the main drivers of economic growth, and national governments were the legitimate and undisputed holders of political power. Today, many of these characteristics are changing or even disappearing, with the growth of the service sector on the one hand, and growing international economic interdependence on the other. The aim of this course is to map the contemporary challenges to representative government, and to explore how governments have dealt with these over the last couple of decades. The challenges to representative government will be mapped in relation to the societal changes caused by the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial economy, and in relation to the political changes caused by growing economic interdependencies and the so-called financialization of the economy. The lectures will therefore cover a broad set of themes including the changing political landscape after the Great recession, the changing interests of business and labour organizations, the structural power of global business and the constraints deriving from membership to regional organizations such as the European Union.

Comparative approach, both qualitative and quantitative / the logic of comparison

4000 words essay by the end of the semester.

Mair, P. (2011) ‘Bini Smaghi vs. the Parties: Representative government and institutional constraints’, Working Paper, EUI RSCAS, 2011/22, available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1814/16354

Karremans and Lefkofridi (2020) ‘Responsive vs. Responsible? Party Democracy in Times of Crisis’, Party Politics, 26(3): 271-279

Genschel, P., & Zangl, B. (2014). State transformations in OECD countries. Annual Review of Political Science, 17, 337-354.

positive Absolvierung der Pflichtmodule 1, 2, 3 und 7

Consultation hour: On the last day of the block seminar (16 April), the afternoon is free, so can be used for consultation. I could stay in Innsbruck until around 6pm.