Università Roma Tre

The aim of the first part of the course is providing to the students some basic instruments of knowledge: a) the meaning of politics; b) how to construct scientific theories; c) elements of methodology used by political science to investigate the political phenomena.
The second part of the course analyses some crucial themes, such as: a) the state and the processes of state-building; b) the process of European integration; c) the types and features of political regimes (non-democratic, hybrid and democratic regimes).
The third part of the course analyses, always in a comparative perspective, the subject of democracy: a) political parties, groups, social movements; b) elections and electorial systems; c) political representation; d) the democratic institutional systems (parliament, government, public administrations); e) the actors and the dynamics of policy-making.

Texts for the exam:

1) Handbook - P. GRILLI DI CORTONA, O. LANZA, B. PISCIOTTA, L. GERMANO, Capire la politica, Utet Università, Novara, 2020 (third edition);

Here the link to the publisher's website Utet: http://www.utetuniversita.it/catalogo/scienze-umane-e-sociali/capire-la-politica-3694
The book is available in electronic format on Pandoracampus
website: https://www.pandoracampus.it/store/details/10.978.8860/087362

2) Book - P. GRILLI DI CORTONA, Lezioni di scienza politica, a cura di Rosalba Chiarini e Barbara Pisciotta, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli, 2016.

Objectives

The aim of the course is to introduce the main concepts, approaches, methods and the central problems regarding the scientific analysis of political phenomena in order to provide students with basic knowledge for analyzing and understanding the functioning of contemporary political systems.

Program

The course will present and discuss in comparative perspective all main themes of the discipline, specifically will be analyzed the following topics: state, democracy, non-democratic regimes and regime changes, political parties, interest groups, electoral systems, parliaments, governments, bureaucracy and public policies.

Reference books

1) P. Grilli di Cortona, O. Lanza, B. Pisciotta, L. Germano, Capire la politica. Una prospettiva comparata, Utet, Novara, 2020 (III edizione);
2) P. Grilli di Cortona, Lezioni di scienza politica, a cura di R. Chiarini e B. Pisciotta, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli, 2016.