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Hi, I have given you the module guide and reading list of the unit for guidance .On the module guide and reading list I would like for you to ignore all the UK politics readings etc. And focus on the German and Italian side please. Please use some of the readings on the reading list for cited resources. Thanks.

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First Year Politics Course PO51009D

UK and European Comparative Governance and Politics Module Guide

2017-2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

Unit Description

 

This unit introduces students to the comparative approach to politics and government, in addition to establishing a foundation for the understanding of the politics and governance of three key European states: the UK, Germany, and Italy. The first half of the unit is focused on the UK, while the second half concentrates on the other two countries at the unit’s core. Some reference will be made in both parts of the course to the politics of the European Union and the Cold War. Students will not only build an essential foundation for studying the politics of the UK/EU polity in which we live, but will also develop their knowledge of the use of comparative methods for the study of politics.

 

Teaching arrangements

 

Lectures and seminars

 

The lectures are held in both the Spring and Autumn term at 9am on Fridays.

 

Seminar attendance is compulsory. You can check which module you have been assigned to on-line at: https://mytimetable.gold.ac.uk/SWS/2016-17/login.aspx

 

 

 

 

Feedback / Office hours

 

All the staff teaching on this module have regular office hours in term time. You are welcome to talk to us about any aspect of the module. Our office hours are on the VLe.

 

 

Aims and Learning Outcomes

 

Aims

The aims of this unit are to:

· introduce the politics and governance of the UK, Germany, and Italy since 1945

· familiarise students with the comparative method in political science

 

Learning outcomes

After completing this unit, students will be able to:

 

· demonstrate foundation knowledge and understanding of the political systems of the UK, Germany, and Italy

· demonstrate foundation knowledge and understanding of the political history of the European Union and the Cold War

· show familiarity with a range of secondary source materials

 

Advice

Please see the unit lecturers/tutors if you have any problems or just want a chat about the unit – we are really happy to see people! Details of when, where and how to get hold of us are on the first page.

 

Assessment

This course is assessed by two coursework essays of 2,000- 2,500 words, each worth 50% of the total. Details of the arrangements for the submission of the coursework essays can be found in the Student Handbook. Students may be required to give short presentations in the seminars, depending on the seminar tutor.

 

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

 

This unit has a site on the college’s Virtual Learning Environment which contains:

 

· PowerPoint lecture slides (posted on the VLE before the lecture to aid note- taking)

· Facts and figures on general election results, major office holders and party leaders, that you will find a useful resource for the course.

 

There is also a Politics Virtual Office on the VLE which contains material such as citations guides so that your essays are properly referenced.

 

Reading

 

The lecture programme can only offer a number of angles on what is a wide-ranging subject area. It is therefore very important that students read as widely as possible. There are plenty of sources of information for this course. For the first half of the course, students may find it useful to look at:

 

· R. Grayson, British Politics: a beginner’s guide, One World, 2010

· R. Leach et al, British Politics, Palgrave, 2011

· R. Heffernan et al., (eds), Developments in British Politics 10, Palgrave, 2016. For the second half of the unit, students are recommended to purchase the following:

· D. P. Conradt, The German Polity (Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 9th edn., 2009 (previous editions by Longman)

· G.K .Roberts, German Politics Today. 3rd Edition (Manchester University Press, 2016)

· John Foot, Modern Italy, Second Edition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)

· James L. Newell, The Politics of Italy, (CUP, 2010)

 

 

Useful comparative analyses of the whole unit are:

· Y. Mény and A. Knapp, Government and Politics in Western Europe: Britain, France,

Italy, Germany (Oxford University Press, 1998).

· M. M. L. Crepaz and J. Steiner, European Democracies, (Longman, London, Sixth Edition, 2009).

 

And good historical overviews of Europe since 1945 are:

· Tom Buchanan, Europe’s Troubled Peace 1945-2000, Blackwell, 2012 (second edition).

· Tony Judt, Postwar. A History of Europe since 1945, William Heinemann, 2005.

 

 

Lecture Topics

 

Part 1: Britain and the EU

1. Introduction: the study of British politics

2. Building post-war Britain 1: from war to welfare, 1939-51

3. Building post-war Britain 2: ‘consensus’ to crisis, circa 1951-1979

4. Building post-war Britain 3: Thatcherism, 1979-97

5. Britain since Thatcher: from New Labour to the Coalition, 1997-

Reading week

6. ‘The Westminster Model’ and its decline

7. Parties and voting

8. Theories of representation: Women and ethnic minorities in British Politics

9. Participation, pressure groups and social movements

10. Britain in the world

 

Part 2: Germany and Italy

11. Building post-war democracies 1: Fascism and Nazism

12. Building post-war democracies 2: Germany and Italy, 1945-55

13. Building post-war democracies 3: European integration and consolidation of democracy 1955-90

14. Germany and Italy, 1989-2014

15. Comparative institutions and constitutions

Reading week

16. Comparative governments

17. Comparative political cultures

18. Comparative parties and party systems

19. German Federalism vs Italian Regionalism

20. Comparative social movements

 

 

Seminars

Attendance in seminars is compulsory. The seminars enable students to discuss the topics covered in the lectures and give short presentations if required by the seminar tutor. Where short presentations are required, questions and suggested reading can be found on the VLE.

 

Essay Questions

Each essay contributes 50% to your overall assessment. Do not write your name on it, only your student number.

 

Essays should include a full bibliography of works consulted or referred to in the essay. Reference should be in either the Harvard or MHRA format – both of which are available in the ‘Citations’ section of the Politics Virtual Office on the VLE. Works

 

should be placed in alphabetical order and give details of author(s), title, publisher and date of publication. You must also cite your sources and ensure that any quotations are referenced by page location. Essays must be expressed in your own words and incorporate your own ideas. Plagiarism – the presentation of another person’s thoughts or words as your own – must be avoided. You should consult the section on assessed coursework in the Student Handbook for further guidance.

 

Essay questions are available on the VLE

 

Lecture Programme & Reading List

 

 

PART ONE: THE UK

 

1. Introduction: the study of British politics

 

No seminar reading

 

If you have time, and especially if you are unfamiliar with British politics, it would be worth reading a good overview, such as Richard Grayson’s, British Politics: a beginner’s guide, One World, 2010.

 

 

2. Building post-war Britain 1: from war to welfare, 1939-51

 

Seminar Reading

Kevin Jeffreys, ‘Rebuilding Post-war Britain: Conflicting Views of the Attlee Governments, 1945-51’, new perspective, 3(3), March 1998. Available at

<http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~semp/conflict.htm>

 

 

Further reading

Paul Addison, The Road to 1945 (1994).

Brian Brivati & Harriet Jones eds., What Difference did the War Make? (1993). Angus Calder, The People’s War (1992).

Peter Hennessy, Never Again: Britain, 1945-1951 (1992).

Kevin Jefferys, The Churchill Coalition and Wartime Politics, 1940-45 (1991). B Jones et al., Politics UK, 7th edn, Ch. 2

R Leach, et al, British Politics 2nd edn., Ch. 2

Kenneth O. Morgan, Britain since 1945: The People’s Peace (2001), Chapters 1-3

 

3. Building post-war Britain 2: consensus to crisis? circa 1951-1979

 

Seminar reading

Dennis Kavanagh, ‘The Postwar Consensus’, Twentieth Century British History, 3(2), 1992

 

Further reading

Anthony Butler, ‘The End of the Post-war Consensus: Reflections on Scholarly Uses of Political Rhetoric’, Political Quarterly, 64(4), 1993

Colin Hay, ‘The Winter of Discontent Thirty Years On’, The Political Quarterly, 80(4), October-December 2009

Kevin Hickson, ‘The Postwar Consensus Revisited’, Political Quarterly, 75(2), 2004 Kenneth O. Morgan, Britain since 1945: The People’s Peace (2001), Chapters 4-8. David Dutton, British Politics Since 1945: The Rise and Fall of Consensus (1991).

Harriet Jones & Michael Kandiah eds., The Myth of Consensus: New Views on British History, 1945-64 (1996).

R Leach, et al, British Politics 2nd edn., Ch. 2

David Marquand & Anthony Seldon eds., The Ideas that Shaped Post-war Britain (1996).

H. Pemberton and L. Black., ‘The Winter of Discontent in British Politics’, British Academy Review, 13, June 2009. Available at:

<http://www.britac.ac.uk/pubs/review/13/index.cfm>

 

 

 

4. Building post-war Britain 3: Thatcherism, 1979-97

 

Seminar reading

Daniel Wincott, ‘Thatcher: Ideological or Pragmatic’, Contemporary Record, 4(2), November 1990

 

Further reading

Andrew Gamble, Britain in Decline (1990).

Andrew Gamble, The Free Economy and the Strong State (1988). Ian Gilmour, Dancing with Dogma: Britain under Thatcherism (1993). Stuart Hall & Martin Jacques, New Times (1989).

Dennis Kavanagh & Anthony Seldon eds., The Thatcher Effect (1989

Peter Kellner, ‘Why the Tories were Trounced’, Parliamentary Affairs 50, 4 (1997), pp.

616-630.

R Leach, et al, British Politics 2nd edn., Ch. 2 and 21

Margaret Thatcher The Downing Street Years and The Path to Power (1993 & 1995). Hugo Young, One of Us: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher (1993).

 

5. Britain since Thatcher: from New Labour to the Coalition, 1997-

 

Seminar reading

Andrew Chadwick & Richard Heffernan, The New Labour Reader (2003), Introduction

 

Further reading: New Labour

Andrew Chadwick & Richard Heffernan, The New Labour Reader (2003).

John Callaghan, Steven Fielding & Steve Ludlam eds., Interpreting the Labour Party: approaches to Labour politics and history (2003)

James Cronin, New Labour’s Pasts (2004).

Anthony Giddens, The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy (1998).

Philip Gould, The Unfinished Revolution: How Modernisers saved the Labour Party

(1999).

Richard Heffernan, New Labour and Thatcherism: Political Change in Britain (2001). B Jones et al., Politics UK, 7th edn., Appendix

Simon Jenkins, Thatcher and Sons: A Revolution in Three Acts (2007).

 

Further reading: the Coalition

Tim Bale, The Conservative Party from Thatcher to Cameron (Updated and Revised Paperback) (Cambridge: Polity Press) (2011)

Andrew Denham, Peter Dorey, Mark Garnett (eds.) From Crisis to Coalition: The Conservative Party, 1997-2010 (2011)

Simon Griffiths, ‘What was Progressive in Progressive Conservatism?’, Political Studies Review (January 2014)

Richard Hayton, Reconstructing Conservatism, (MUP), 2013

R. Heffernan et al. (eds.), Developments in British Politics 9, 2011, Introduction Heppell, T. and Seawright, D. (eds.), (2012) Cameron and the Conservatives: The Transition to Coalition Government (Basingstoke: Palgrave).