Spanish Politics
| Number of credits: 6 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) | Price: 840 € Price for UAB students*: 200 € *Max. 5 places |
| Teaching Language: English | Place: UAB Campus Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès) |
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Teaching Period: 13 to 31 July |
Professor: Joan Ricart |
PROFESSOR BIO INFORMATION
Joan Ricart is an associate professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) where he teaches “Política Catalana” (Catalan Politics) and “Estructura Social i Política” (Political and Social Structure).
He’s also a Guest Lecturer at the MBA of the Universidad Católica de Ávila (UCAV). 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 of the publication: Los Sistemas Políticos de España e Indonesia. Una perspectiva comparada; Editorial UOC; 2016.
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. 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
| Week | Contents | Teaching / learning activities |
| 1 | The Political Institutions: the 1978 Constitution. Welfare and democratic State, rule of law and parliamentary Monarchy. Parliament, Government and the Courts. The Constitutional Court. The regionalization of Spain. Spain in the EU. Politics and policy making in the democratic Spain. | |
| 2 | Political culture and political actors. Citizen attitudes and participation. The Spanish party system. Political parties. Interest groups, collective action and social movements. Social actors, political parties and institutions. | |
| 3 | 1. "Classic" Catalan Politics: 1980-2003 2. Elements of the Catalan system 1: social profiles 3. Elements of the Catalan system 2: political culture 4. Elements of the Catalan system 3: electoral behaviour & political competition 5. System transformations: 1999-2000 & 2003-04 elections 6. A social body in constant change 7. Political Culture: the end of the Spanish Transition? 8. Changes in the electoral behaviour 9. A new Catalan System? |
Evaluation
Participation in Class: 20%
In Class exercises (including writings and in class discussions): 40%
Regular attendance: 40%
Links and references
- Barometer del Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió (CEO): http://ceo.gencat.cat/ca/barometre/index.html
- Barometer Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS): http://www.cis.es/cis/opencm/EN/11_barometros/index.jsp
- Electoral Results (Spain): http://www.infoelectoral.mir.es/
- Gunther, R., Montero, J.R., Botella, J.: Democracy in Modern Spain; Yale University Press; 2004