Module POL2026 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL2026: Political Analysis: Behaviour, Institutions, Ideas
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of these main topics:
- The study of Politics: Explaining, Understanding, Evaluating
- Rational choice and political action
- Rational actors or rational fools? Substantive and procedural rationality
- Collective action and social choice
- Trust in Politics
- Social Capital and democratic participation
- Do Institutions matter?
- Constructing political reality
- Feminism and Ideologies
- Concepts in political language and political analysis
- Norms and political argument
Learning and Teaching
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | 122 | 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 & Teaching activities | 18 | Overview of topics by module convenor in weekly Lectures |
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 10 | Small group discussion of key texts in weekly Tutorials |
| Guided independent study | 40 | Reading and preparation for tutorials |
| Guided independent study | 82 | Research and writing of essays |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
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.
Della Porta, D and M. Keating, eds. (2008) Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective,Cambridge
Marsh, David and Gerry Stoker, eds. (2002) Theory and methods in political science. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hay, Colin (2002) Political Analysis: A Critical Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Elster, Jon (1989) Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences.CambridgeUniversity Press
Kahneman, D. (2011), Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow. Allen Lane
Olson, M. (1965), The logic of Collective Action, Harvard UP
Donald Green and Ian Shapiro (1994) Pathologies of rational choice theory. Yale UP
Hollis, M. (1989) The Cunning of reason: Cambridge University Press.
Freeden, M. (1996), Ideologies and Political Theory, Oxford UP
Bellamy, R. (1993) Theories and Concepts of Politics. Manchester: MUP.
Connolly, W. (1993) The terms of political discourse, Princeton UP
Goertz, G. (2005), Social Science Concepts: A user’s guide, Princeton UP
Castiglione, D., J. van Deth, and G. Wolleb (2008), The Handbook of Social Capital, Oxford UP
March, J. and J. Olsen (1989), Rediscovering Institutions, Free Press
Harding, S. ed. (1987) Feminism and methodology, Indiana UP
ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
