Spanish Politics

UAB Barcelona Summer School

Number of credits: 6 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
Course Fee: 850 €
Course Fee for UAB students: 200 €
Teaching Language: English
Place: UAB Campus Belltaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Barcelona
Teaching Period:  12 July to 30 July

Enrol now

Enrolment guidelines

Contact: summer@uab.cat

 

PROFESSOR BIO INFORMATION

Joan Ricart is an associate professor at the UAB where he teaches Catalan Politics and Political and Social Structure. He’s also a Guest Lecturer at the MBA of the Universidad Católica de Ávila (UCAV), and an associate professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the UAB and his PhD at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) with a thesis on Indonesian political parties and their process of institutionalization in a decentralized reality. He is the coordinator and an author of the publication: Los Sistemas Políticos de España e Indonesia. Una perspectiva comparada; Editorial UOC; 2016.

  • Department of Political Science and Pubilc Law
  • E-mail: joan.ricart@uab.cat

 

ACADEMIC GUIDE

Contents overview

The course aims at making students familiar with the main features of the Spanish political system, its problems and its evolutionary trends. We will see how Spain is organized politically; how Spanish people vote; the country’s relationship with the European Union; and who are its main political actors. Also, it will focus on providing students with the analytical tools necessary to examine the different elements of the Catalan political system, paying special attention to the transformation that it has undergone in the past few years, not only regarding the different profiles of Catalan society, but also its political culture and electoral behaviour.
 

Week programme

Spanish Politics
 Week   Contents Teaching/learning activities
1

Block 1: The Political Institutions:

  • Spain’s transition to democracy
  • Spain’s new democratic regime
  • Policy making in democratic Spain
  • The territorial organization of the State
  • Spain & the EU
  • In-class debate
  • Article analysis
  • Essay writing
2

Block 2: Political Culture & Political Actors:

  • Citizens attitudes & political participation
  • Elections in Spain
  • The Spanish party system
  • Political parties
  • Interest groups & social movements
  • In-class debate
  • Article analysis
  • Documentary analysis
  • Electoral analysis
  • Essay writing
3

Block 3: Catalan Politics

  • Catalan political institutions
  • Electoral behaviour & political competition
  • The Catalan party system
  • Catalan nationalism
  • Catalonia, a challenge to the Spanish transition?
  • In-class debate
  • Article analysis
  • Documentary analysis
  • Essay writing


Evaluation

Participation in class (including in-class discussions): 40%

3 short essays (900 words each): 60%

  • 1st essay: by the end of the 1st week
  • 2nd essay: by the end of the 2nd week
  • 3rd essay: by the end of the 3rd week

 

Links and references

Informació complementària

Enllaços relacionats