POLI 205 Outline

THE KING'S UNIVERSITY

COURSE NUMBER:

POLI 205

COURSE TITLE:

Invitation to Politics and Government

NAME OF INSTRUCTOR:

Dr John Hiemstra

CREDIT WEIGHT AND WEEKLY TIME DISTRIBUTION:

credits 3(hrs lect 3 - hrs sem 0 - hrs lab 0)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

An introduction to the main problems, concepts and ideologies at play in political life and an analysis of the processes and institutions by which these are realized in the Canadian political system.

Students with credit in POLI 200 or POLI 201 cannot receive credit for POLI 205.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Dickerson, Mark O., Thomas Flanagan, and Brenda O’Neill: An Introduction to Government and Politics: A Conceptual Approach, 9th Edition. Nelson Canada, 2014
Students are REQUIRED to read a daily major newspaper, specifically the Edmonton Journal, Globe and Mail, or National Post. A copy of each is available daily The King’s library.
Additional readings will be listed on Moodle as the course proceeds

MARK DISTRIBUTION IN PERCENT:


Midterm exam	25%
Class participation and unannounced quizzes (readings, media & previous content)	15%
Research Paper	25%
Paper proposal	5%
Final exam	30%

	100%

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Students will gain understanding of key concepts in political science
Students will articulate and begin to tackle the central questions of public life, with an explicitly focus on the role that citizens, civil society, politicians, and governments ought to play in these questions.
Students will understand how different governmental practices, systems and institutions operate, and how well they solve contemporary public problems.
Students will develop skills in researching and writing an analytical research paper.
Students will understand the nature of ideology and political ideas, and their influence on everyday politics, government & public policy.

COURSE OUTLINE:

PART I: NAVIGATING CONTESTED PROBLEMS & SHIFTING CONCEPTS

1. ‘Political Science’ & ‘Problems of our Time’
2. Government & Politics
3. Power, Authority and Legitimacy
4. Sovereignty, State & Citizenship [plural society]
5. Nation
6. Political Culture and Socialisation
7. Law
8. Constitutions
9. Globalisation and the International order

PART II: DEEPER BELIEFS Politics, Concepts & Science?

10. Ideology: Contested Roots, Divergent Explanations?
Political Ideologies in Modernity:

11. [L]iberalism [classical and reform]

12. Conservatism

13. Democratic Socialism and Communism

14. Nationalism and Fascism

15. Roots of ideology?

16. The Political Spectrum

Beyond Ideology? Radical critiques of Modernity

17. Feminism

18. Environmentalism

19. Other political ideas:

20. Christian Options

PART III: FORMS OF GOVERNMENT: CONCRETE POLITICAL RESULTS

21. Classifying in Political Science
22. Basic ‘forms of government’: what is the relationship between ‘society and state’?

Liberal democracy

Transitional States

Autocratic and totalitarian systems

23. Another typology: what is the relationship between ‘executive and legislative powers’?

Presidential and parliamentary systems

24. Another typology: what is the degree of centralisation or de-centralisation of political power?

Unitary, devolution, federal, confederation.

PART IV: THE POLITICAL PROCESS: functions & elements of the system

25. The political process
26. Interest groups, Parties and Movements
27. Mass media
28. Representation, elections and electoral systems
29. Representative Assemblies
30. Political Executive
31. Bureaucracy
32. Judiciary
33. Conclusions

Required texts, assignments, and grade distributions may vary from one offering of this course to the next. Please consult the course instructor for up to date details.