This introduction to the discipline will refer to concrete questions a political science student is asking to himself, and more generally, any citizen who tries to understand how the political and the civil spheres are organized. What is political action, politics, a policy? What is the meaning of power? What is legitimate power? What is a political system? What is democracy? Which are the principal collective actors of the political system (political parties, special interest groups)? Which are the values, materialists and "post materialists", of the citizens? What about political participation of the citizens? Which are the principal determinants of the vote? Is there a citizenship's crisis?
The course must allow the student to be familiarized with basic theoretical problems, orientations and conceptual apparatus of political science.
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
The evaluation is twofold: on the one hand, a multiple-choice questions exam and, on the other hand, individual works during the semester. Practical information about the course will be delivered and explained by each professor in class.