Module POL2100 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL2100: Political Conflicts in Europe
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
This module familiarizes you with basic approaches to understand political conflicts in Europe from the perspective of comparative politics. This includes theories on party political conflict and its dimensions as well as theoretical approaches to understand ‘post-factual’ politics and threats to the quality of democracy. It aims at providing you with the skills to apply core theories to current political conflicts in a variety of European countries, to critically evaluate the usefulness of these theories, and to equip you with the presentation skills required to describe, analyse, and explain political conflicts in Europe yourself. That is, the module seeks to improve your ability to critically analyse texts and to communicate effectively. Apart from its focus on substantive issues, the module also seeks to introduce you to the comparative method and other quantitative research designs in political science. This focus also promotes an understanding of predictive social science models. Case studies come from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Northern Europe.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate knowledge of the major concepts and theories used in political science to understand conflicts in Europe 2. evaluate theories in the field of comparative politics based on empirical evidence |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. exercise informed judgment concerning the use of empirical evidence in support of an argument in published research 4. synthesize competing theories to analyse new problems |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. present complex arguments with clarity and concision 6. work independently and with peers to meet common research and assessment deadlines effectively 7. speak confidently in front of small and large audiences on a subject you have studied |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
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:
Party political conflict
- Party systems and party families in Eastern and Western Europe
- The rise of right-wing populism in Western and Northern Europe
- Economic hardship and political conflict (case studies from Southern Europe)
The rise and fall of democracy
- The promotion of democracy and EU enlargement (case studies: Eastern European countries, Balkan)
- The quality of democracy (e.g. Poland and Hungary)
- Political culture: trust and mistrust in political institutions in the East and West
- Elite-mass linkages in a time of ‘post-factual’ politics
Globalisation and European integration
- European identity: threat or unifying force?
- Globalisation and immigration as a conflict at the national level
- The nature of political conflict at the European level
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 |
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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 |
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Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 22 | 11 x 2-hour lectures with a mix of lecture, collective discussion, and presentations |
Guided Independent Study | 78 | Preparation and completion of course assignments (50 hours essay, 14 hours presentation, 14 hours reaction paper) |
Guided Independent Study | 50 | Reading for seminars |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).