Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3180: Latin American Parties, Politics and Elections

This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.

Module Aims

Besides serving as an introduction for those who are unfamiliar with the history, politics, and socio-economic structure of the region, the course seeks to expose you to relevant topics, problems and current debates regarding Latin American politics and to encourage you to think critically about some of the most important challenges faced by democracies in the region.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. participate in informed discussions about the political history of Latin America;
2. critically evaluate current political developments in the region;
3. critically analyse concepts and contexts of Latin American politics;
4. identify common trends as well as differences between Latin American democracies;
Discipline-Specific Skills5. identify and discuss key concepts in the literature on democracy, democratisation and democratic quality, applying them to empirical case studies;
6. critically assess whether - and to what extent - theoretical arguments and methodological approaches used to analyse Western democracies can be extrapolated to other political contexts;
7. use and analyse a range of sources and materials commonly employed in political science research, including historical studies, public opinion data and news sources;
Personal and Key Skills8. convey ideas precisely and concisely, both orally and in writing;
9. present and defend your work in an effective and convincing manner in front of an audience;
10. work independently and with peers to achieve goals;
11. analyse and interpret empirical data.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Peter Kingstone and Deborah Yashar (2012) ­Routledge Handbook of Latin American Politics contains detailed essays on a series of big topics (many of them covered in this module).

Thomas Skidmore, Peter Smith and James Green (2013) Modern Latin America 8th edition (OUP)

John Peeler (2009) Building Democracy in Latin America 3rd edition (Lynne Rienner)

Peter H. Smith (2005) Democracy in Latin America: Political Change in Comparative Perspective (OUP)

Joe Foweraker et al. (2003) Governing Latin America (Polity)

Barry Clarke and Joe Foweraker eds. (2001) Encyclopedia of Democratic Thought (Routledge

Robert Dahl (1998) On Democracy (Yale University Press).

R. Dahl, I. Shapiro and J. A. Cheibub (2002) Democracy Sourcebook (MIT Press).