Seminar of modelling political behaviour in Belgium and in Europe: citizens and elites

Teacher(s)

Baudewyns Pierre;

Language

English

Main themes

This seminar examines different types of political behaviour, starting from electoral behaviour and expanding to other connected topics : values, identities, political socialization, opinions, political protest, and various forms of electoral behaviour (non-vote, vote for various parties, "protest vote", "issue vote", etc. This is done through the analysis of existing data sets, both at the Belgian and comparative (especially cross-country, within Europe) levels. A particular emphasis is also laid on Europe-related topics. Issues of data quality and comparability are also tackled. A core connected topic is the political behaviour of political elites (political personnel, e.g. MPs) and the connection between the opinions and behaviour of citizens versus elites, both at the national and European (EU) levels.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	After completing this seminar, the student should be able Adopt a critical perspective on knowledge, on the development of knowledge and practices in the field of political behaviour; Conduct a personal reflection: develop informed analysis, a reasoned argument and Personal founded judgment Demonstrate knowledge of a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods in the collection and analysis of data, and ability to apply them rigorously in the research process; Communicate, orally and in writing on subjects (information, reflections, conclusions and the knowledge and underlying principles) in a clear, structured, reasoned way according to the standards

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”.

Content

See syllabus

Teaching methods

Each seminar session examines a particular set of topics complemented by a "hands-on" session with assistants and teacher. each class is structured in three parts:
1- questions and answers session on a mandatory topic;
2- questions and answers on the project of one of the students;
3- questions and answers on topics of each student

Evaluation methods

Evaluation is based on three peer-review and a paper in a journal format. Participation in class is also graded.

Other information

Evaluation: peer-reviews, project reports and communication sessions. The main data sets, as well as the useful software to process the data, are made accessible through the local computing facilities.

Bibliography

Cfr. syllabus

Faculty or entity

PSAD