6336 - Democracy, Electoral Systems and Voting Behaviour
Course information
- Title
- Democracy, Electoral Systems and Voting Behaviour
- Course number
- 6336.24
- Academic year
- 2024-2025
- ECTS
- 10.00
- Level
- Master
- Faculties
- History and Social Sciences
- Educations
- MSSc in Social Science and Political Science, M.A. in History
- Prerequisites
- Bachelor in History, Social Science, Politics and Administration or equivalent qualifications.
- Language of instruction
- Faroese
- Registration
- Students apply through the student affairs office lss@setur.fo
- Beginning date
- Monday, January 27, 2025
- End date
- Monday, May 26, 2025
Academic content
- Purpose
- That the student will acquire a thorough understanding of Democracy theory, concepts, and as a phenomenon, and how democracy is applied in practice.
- Learning outcomes
- Upon completion of the course, the student shall be able to: • Explain what Democracy as a governing system is, and where it originated. • Explain the different perspectives on Democracy, taught during the course, and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. • Analyse how democracy works based on knowledge about democratic models and institutions. • Describe the role of political actors in a democratic system. • To evaluate and compare electoral systems, and to have a theoretical approach to voting behaviour. • Be able to asses relevant democratic issues in the contemporary society in a conscious and reasoned way, and to analyse election results and representation. • Independently use the theories and models they have learned during the course, to analyse and evaluate relevant current issues in the contemporary society.
- Content
- In this course, we will study what democracy is, its origin in ancient Greece, and different perspectives on contemporary Democracy. During the course, students will learn about different competing perspectives on Democracy (e.g. Liberal-, Constitutional-, Republican-, and Deliberative Democracy), democratic theories and models, and how democratic institutions work in practice. In the second part of the course we will analyse representation, elctions and electoral systems. What effect does an electoral system have on the allocation of seats in parliament and voting behaviour? Does gender, age, income, social status e.t.c. have and effect on the electorate, and how does an election campaign influence the voters? We will examine electoral results and current elections plus how to design an election poll. The concept of representation will be studied and we will discuss some of the main challenges facing Democracy in the 21th century The course is 30 hours, and consists of lectures, group-work, and student presentations.
- Learning and teaching approaches
- The course is 30 hours, and consists of lectures, group-work, and student presentations.
Assessment
- Assessment method
- Written exam (5 hours), and an individually written paper (3.000-5.000 words). The student chooses a topic in consultation with the teacher. The written exam comprises 50 % of the total grade, and the paper comprises the other 50 %.
- Examination (internal/external)
- External
- Grading scale
- 7-scale
- Exam date/dates
- The written assignment is due the 6th of june and the written examination will be held in week 26
- Deadline for withdrawal from exam
- Saturday, February 15, 2025
Academic responsibility and teachers
- Academic responsibility
- Jógvan Dalbø Hansen
- Teachers
- Jógvan Dalbø Hansen, Sonja Jacoba Jógvansdóttir