Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2104: Party Politics and Democracy

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Overview

NQF Level	5
Credits	15	ECTS Value	7.5
Term(s) and duration	This module ran during term 1 (11 weeks)
Academic staff	Dr Lise Herman (Convenor)
Pre-requisites	Politics in Europe (POL1020), Introduction to Comparative Politics (POL1029) OR Power and Democracy (POL1019).
Co-requisites	None
Available via distance learning	No

For the past two centuries, political thinkers have considered parties with suspicion. They have been pictured at best as a necessary evil for representative government, at worst as agents dividing the polity for their own political gain. Yet, the history of modern European democracy is inseparable from the gradual emergence of partisanship as a structuring fact of political life. This module will provide you with a detailed exploration of this paradox. Drawing on insights from political science, the history of political ideas, and contemporary political theory, it will allow you to investigate the place of parties in the historical development of European and American democracies.

Pre-requisites:
Politics in Europe (POL1020), or

Introduction to Comparative Politics (POL1029) or

OR Power and Democracy (POL1019).

Module created	09/04/2018	Last revised