Elections and voters in Europe

 Mimes x office document icon PROGRAMME: Undergraduate
SEMESTER: 6th/8th semester
CATEGORY: Seminar / Elective
ERASMUS : Available
CREDITS/ECTS: 3/6
INSTRUCTOR: Vassiliki Georgiadou
   
ΚΩΔΙΚΟΣ 110484  

Description – The course is about electoral participation and voting behavior in national  and European elections. It concentrates on referendum electoral processes and mid-term elections trying to figure out how voters make their choices in “first order” and “second order” elections. Drawing on the foundations of political and electoral sociology, the main objective of this seminar is to provide the students with the background to understand the theoretical, methodological and empirical issues of electoral analysis dealing with the individual elements, the political attitudes and the contextual factors that interpret the vote at the different levels of electoral competition.

The entire course is in English. The number of participants is limited to 20. Students are required to regularty attend the seminar. The process of selection includes evaluation of knowledge, skills and motivation aspects of the students.

Objectives of the course – It aims to introduce students to the main topics within the field of electoral studies providing them with general tools to study elections and voters’ behavior.

Expected learning outcomes – Students are capable of posing research problems, setting research tasks and putting together a research design relevant to the study of elections and voters’ behavior.

Bibliography – Kai Arzheimer / Jocelyn Evans / Michael S. Lewis-Beck, The Sage Handbook of Electoral Behavior, Sage Publications 2017.

Jacelyn A.J. Evans, Voters and Voting. An Introduction, Sage Publications, 2004.

Rod Hague / Martin Harrop / Shaun Breslin, Comparative Government and Politics, Macmillan 1992.

Martin Harrop / William L. Miller, Elections and Voters. A Comparative Introduction, Macmillan, 1987.

Jan E. Leighley (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior, Oxford University Press, 2012.

Frances Millard, Elections, Parties, and Representation in Post-communist Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Evaluation methods – Active participation during the lectures, short presentation of a paper chosen from the selected bibliography, presentation and delivery of a max. 5000-word research paper.