Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3273: Dark Masters? Political Advisers in Modern Democracies

This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

PART I: Advisers and their institutional habitat

Who is a political adviser? Delimiting the subject of study. The concept of political adviser
Where do political advisers work? The institutional habitat of advisers - Administrative traditions in comparison
What is the profile of political advisers? Educational and socio-demographic background of the adviser elite.
Why are advisers employed? Politicization and policy capacity

PART II: Advisers and policy making

What do political advisers do? A classification of advisers’ substantive policy roles
What is the dimension of advisers’ work? Working with civil servants, other advisers and stakeholders.
What is the content of political advisers work? Content of policy advice, policy analytical tools and use of knowledge by advisers

PART III: Advisers and their relationship with civil servants and politicians

How do political advisers interfere with the civil servants? From the traditional binary political-administrative relationship to a “menage a trois”.
How do advisers interact with politicians and how much influence do they have? Advisers and the circles of trust surrounding politicians.

PART IV: Advisers and accountability

From the shadows into the light, are political advisers accountable and to whom?

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities	22	11 x 2 hour seminars
Guided Independent Study	44	Reading set texts and extra reading
Guided Independent Study	2	Preparing for guest speakers
Guided Independent Study	30	Conducting research
Guided Independent Study	30	Preparing the assessments

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).