K: Kolloquium: Comparative Politics Research Seminar (Fr, 13-18)

Dozent/in:

Ulrich Sieberer

Angaben:

Kolloquium, 2 SWS, Das Forschungskolloqium für Promovierende und Habilitierende findet in Blöcken und voraussichtlich online statt.

Termine:

Fr, 13:00 - 18:00, Raum n.V.
Blocktermine; werden noch bekanntgegeben

Oberseminar: Kolloquium für Abschlussarbeiten im Bachelor- und Masterstudiengang (Mi, 10-12)

Dozent/in:

Ulrich Sieberer

Angaben:

Kolloquium, 2 SWS

Termine:

Mi, 10:00 - 12:00, Raum n.V.

Pillar IV Seminar BAGSS

Dozent/in:

Ulrich Sieberer

Angaben:

Oberseminar, 2 SWS

Termine:

Di, 18:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.

PWM-VP-HS3: Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft III: "Institutional Design and Institutional Change in Western Democracies " (in English) (Di, 12-14)

Dozent/in:

Ulrich Sieberer

Angaben:

Seminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8

Termine:

Di, 12:00 - 14:00, Raum n.V.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

The seminar will most likely be taught in a synchronous online format with weekly Zoom meetings; details will be announced via the Virtual Campus (VC)

Prerequisites/Zulassungsvoraussetzungen:
BA or equivalent qualification in Political Science. A basic understanding of positive political theory is recommended.

Start Date: 13 April 2021

Registration in FlexNow!: 25 March 2021 until 08 April 2021 Deregistration in FlexNow!: 25 March 2021 until 23 April 2021

Assessment/Erwerb eines Leistungsnachweises:
Evaluation will be a combination of a term paper (70%) and an oral participation (30%). The entire class, including written work and oral presentations, will be conducted in English.

ECTS credits: 8

Inhalt:

Over the last two decades, a broad new institutionalist literature in comparative politics and political economy has demonstrated that political institutions critically affect political behavior, political processes, and policy outputs. Most studies conceptualize institutions as stable and exogenous constraints on actor behavior, i.e. as independent variables explaining behavior and outputs. More recently, however, scholars have turned increased attention to the question of how institutions are designed and changed, i.e. treat institutions as a dependent variable. This seminar covers this literature in order to understand why political institutions change over time. Theoretically, we discuss rational choice institutionalism and historical institutionalism as alternative but often complementary perspectives. The main emphasis is on rationalist theories of institutional design and change. This perspective conceptualizes changes in institutional rules as a strategy of political actors to achieve their substantive interests in political competition. Empirically, the seminar covers changes in core institutions such as the electoral system, the organization of parliaments and the executive branch, federalism, direct democracy, and the role of constitutional courts with a geographic focus on European democracies.

Empfohlene Literatur:

A detailed list of readings will be distributed in the initial session. The following literature provides a first introduction to core themes of the seminar: Shepsle, Kenneth A. 2006. "Old Questions and New Answers about Institutions. The Riker Objection Revisited." in: Barry Weingast/Donald Wittman (Hg.). The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1031-1049. [institutional change from the view of rational choice institutionalism] Pierson, Paul. 2004. Politics in Time. History, Institutions, and Social Analysis. Princeton: Princeton University Press, esp. Ch. 4+5. [institutional change from the view of historical institutionalism] Benoit, Kenneth. 2007. "Electoral Laws as Political Consequences. Explaining the Origins and Change of Electoral Institutions." Annual Review of Political Science 10: 363-390. [overview of approaches to studying institutional change with regard to a specific set of institutions]

PWM-VP-V: Comparative Political Institutions (in English) (Di, 16-18)

Dozent/in:

Ulrich Sieberer

Angaben:

Vorlesung, 2 SWS

Termine:

Di, 16:00 - 18:00, Raum n.V.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

The lecture will be offered in an online format; details will be announced via the Virtual Campus (VC).

Registration in FlexNow!: 25 March 2021 until 08 April 2021 Deregistration in FlexNow!: 25 March 2021 until 15 June 2021

Prerequisites/Zulassungsvoraussetzungen:
BA or equivalent qualification in Political Science. A basic understanding of positive political theory is recommended.

Assessment/Erwerb eines Leistungsnachweises: To be announced. Please block Tuesday, July 13, 16:00-18:00 for a possible exam.

ECTS credits: 6

Inhalt:

This lecture first introduces Master students to the most important varieties of institutionalist research in comparative politics including the ‘old’ institutionalism, rational choice institutionalism, historical institutionalism, and sociological institutionalism. Afterwards, we discuss core areas of (mainly) rational choice institutionalist research including the stabilizing effects of institutions on policy-making, institutions as solutions for collective dilemmas, principal−agent models of delegation, agenda-setting, deliberate institutional design, and informal institutions. At the end of the lecture, students will have a profound knowledge of general debates in institutionalist research and are able to relate these debates to specific research topics in comparative politics.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Peters, B. Guy: Institutional Theory in Political Science: The “New Institutionalism”. 3rd edition. New York: Continuum. Rhodes, R.A.W./ Binder, Sarah A. and Rockman, Bert A. (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006.