B019303 - POLITICS, POLICY AND GOVERNANCE

Italian - Politics, Policy, Governance

The course explores the link between two main dimensions of community life: society and politics. They are living subjects, subject to mutations and reciprocal influences, therefore the topics are dealt with in a dynamic and evolutionary way. The foundations are established, the most relevant transformations are outlined and the way in which the transformations themselves, over time, have redefined the perspectives of the relationship between society and politics.

Attending students:
Luigi Ceccarini, Ilvo Diamanti, Tra politica e società - Fondamenti, trasformazioni e prospettive, Bologna, il Mulino, 2018


Not attending students:
Luigi Ceccarini, Ilvo Diamanti, Tra politica e società - Fondamenti, trasformazioni e prospettive, Bologna, il Mulino, 2018
Marco Revelli, Populismo 2.0, Torino, Einaudi, 2017.

The training objectives of the course essentially aim at acquiring skills oriented towards knowledge of the history of political institutions and of the political and social phenomena that characterize contemporary societies, with particular reference to Italian democracy. The course aims to provide students with a professional training supported by a solid knowledge base, focused on the themes of contemporary society and its political dynamics, at a general and local level.

KNOWLEDGE: What is politics; concepts, approaches and methods of political analysis; the nature of the state and its historical evolution; the origins of democracy and its transformation; define the political system and distinguish its components; national political institutions; mechanisms through which society influences the political system; systems of governance and governance; the process of producing public policies.

SKILLS: Ability to recognize and use the main concepts with which politics is interpreted in its connection with society; potential ability to analyze political and social phenomena with specific regard to the Italian reality.

DETAILED PROGRAM: Political concepts; theoretical approaches; the state, civil society, the political system; socio-political fractures; culture and political identity; participation and democracy; movements and political protest; interest groups and pressure groups; political parties; electoral behavior; political communication and public opinion formation; political representation; old and new logics of collective action.

None

Lectures with specific exercises and insights - Use of slides.

Final written examination (with possible oral integration). The exam lasts 90 or 120 minutes. The written examination involves answering a certain number of questions (at least 3 sufficient answers out of 5 questions or 5 answers out of 7 questions) that require open answers, with a maximum length of the answers (usually 30 lines). The questions focus on the knowledge acquired during the course. After the first teaching form there is an intermediate written test which takes place in the same way as the final test.

Attending students:
Written examination (with possible oral integration)

Not attending students:
Oral examination

Introduction. The concept of politics and its connection with representative democracy. Socio-political research; the paradigms; theoretical approaches; investigation techniques.
Part one. Politics in society; political socialization, the question of culture and political identities; the concepts of power, state and political system are dealt with.
Second part. Society in politics. The partecipation; the actors of representation and mobilization; centrality of socio-political fractures in the relationship between society and politics.
Third part. The vote and public opinion. Elections as a fundamental rite of representative democracy; electoral behavior and political communication; the transformations of the concept of public opinion.
Part four. Political change in postmodernity. The elements that characterize politics in the current historical, post-modern and post-ideological phase. The evolution of representative democracy and forms of participation; the actors of mobilization and mediation in the framework of the present time.