Lecture 1 Introduction West European Politics

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Lecture 1 IntroductionWest European Politics
Today I. Course organisation II. Introduction
to West European Politics
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Course organisation

• Course supervisor
• Kai Arzheimer
• Office hours Wednesday 10.30-11.30 (room 5.006)
• Email karzh_at_essex.ac.uk
• Tel ext 3504
• Class teacher
• Blendi Kajsiu

course supervisor
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Student workload

• Attending the lectures
• Course reading
• Preparing for classes and active participation
• Two essays of max. 3500 words each (deadlines
  in week 7, 22)
• Two end-of-term class tests of about 45 minutes
  duration (weeks 11, 25)
• One three-hour end-of-year examination

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Rules

• Late submission of essay zero tolerance
• No extensions
• extenuating circumstances (circumstances beyond
  the student's control, of a medical, practical or
  personal nature, see http//www2.essex.ac.uk/acad
  emic/students/ug/crswk_pol.htm)

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Zero Tolerance

• All coursework submitted after the deadline will
  receive a mark of zero. 
• The mark of zero shall stand unless the student
  submits satisfactory evidence of extenuating
  circumstances that indicate that the student was
  unable to submit the work prior to the deadline
• There is only one deadline 8.45 a.m. on the day
  of the lecture during submission week (electronic
  submission) a hard copy has to be handed in to
  the class teacher in the same week.
• No extensions will be granted  A student
  submitting coursework late will have the
  departments and the Universitys arrangements
  for Extenuating Lateness drawn to their
  attention.
• http//www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/services/students
  /ztm.htm

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Rules

• Late submission of essay zero tolerance
• No extensions
• extenuating circumstances (circumstances beyond
  the student's control, of a medical, practical or
  personal nature, see http//www2.essex.ac.uk/acad
  emic/students/ug/crswk_pol.htm)
• Plagiarism
• (http//www.essex.ac.uk/plagiarism/)
• Study Skills Officer Theresa Crowley
  crowtx_at_essex.ac.uk

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Study Skills Support

• The Department provides study skills support
  that is available for all students who feel they
  may benefit from advice and instruction to assist
  them in developing and improving the study skills
  required to study politics.
• First-year students in particular are strongly
  recommended to use the support, which is
  available in two forms individual study skills
  appointments (usually 30 minutes) and group
  sessions.
• Please see note outside 5.306 for details

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Course material

• PowerPoint slides will be placed onto the Course
  Material Repository (CMR)
• http//courses.essex.ac.uk/gv/gv271/
• After the lecture
• To print out slides go to
• FILE PRINT PRINT WHAT HANDOUTS SLIDES PER
  PAGE 3
• OK

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Course reading

• Bale, T. 2008. (2nd edn.) European Politics A
  Comparative Introduction. Palgrave
• Gallagher, M., Laver, M., and Mair, P. 2005 (4th
  edn.) Representative Government in Modern Europe.
  McGraw-Hill.
• Hogwood, P., and Roberts, G. 2003. (2nd edn.)
  European Politics Today. Manchester University
  Press.

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Course objectives

• analytic concepts to engage in comparative
  analysis
• knowledge about the political systems in Western
  Europe
• an understanding of the organisation of politics
  in West European states
• the basic knowledge, understanding, and analytic
  tools for undertaking more specialised study in
  your final year or at graduate level.

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Course contents - Part I
Political Developments Across Western Europe

• Introduction and Overview
• The Comparative Method
• The historical legacy
• Cleavages and Party families across Western
  Europe
• Party systems across Western Europe
• Proportional Electoral Systems
• New Politics parties and agendas
• Veto Players, Media, Public Opinion, and
  Interest Groups
• Restructuring state administrations
• Class Test

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Course contents - Part II
Governing Institutions and Political Practices

• Germany 1949-1989 The Bonn Republic
• Unification and the politics of the Berlin
  Republic
• France Foundations and Party Politics of the
  Fifth Republic
• The two Italian Republics 1945-1990 and
  1992-today
• The Nordic Social Democratic Model
• Consociational Democracy
• The New Democracies Spain, Greece and Portugal
• Political integration in Europe rescue or
  surrender of the nation-state?
• The Institutions and Policies of the European
  Union
• Class Test
• Retrospect Varieties of Liberal-Democratic
  Governance in Western Europe

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Introduction to West European Politics

• Scope of Western European Politics
• The region
• The family of liberal-democratic states
• Three political generations
• Variations within the family
• The European nation state
• Challenges to the nation-state

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Introduction to West European Politics

• Justification of Western Europe (literature,
  Cold War/non-communist past, family character,
  European integration process, limited scope)
• why Britain and East-Central European polities
  are not included

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• Defining Western Europe
• Lines of division
• - geographical
• - social/cultural
• - historical
• - economic
• - political
• (Western) Europe

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WEST EUROPEAN FAMILY OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
RULES OF THE GAME ELECTIONS FREE, FAIR
REGULAR FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION FREEDOM OF
SPEECH LOYAL OPPOSITION MAJORITY RULE
ALTERNANCE PROTECTION OF MINORITIES
INSTITUTIONS GOVERNMENT PARLIAMENT JUDICIARY PO
LITICAL PARTIES CIVIL ADMINISTRATION REGULAR
ELECTIONS CONSTITUTION HUMAN RIGHTS
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WEST EUROPEAN NATION STATES THREE POLITICAL
GENERATIONS
OLD NATION-STATES (PRE-1800) FRANCE SPAIN
PORTUGAL DENMARK SWEDEN (BRITAIN)
FRENCH REVOLUTION- STATES (19th
CENTURY) GREECE GERMANY LUXEMBOURG BELGIUM
ITALY NETHERLANDS SWITZERLAND
POST-WORLD WAR I- STATES (1918 - )
AUSTRIA IRELAND NORWAY 1905 FINLAND ICELAND
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WEST EUROPEAN NATION STATES VARIATIONS AMONG
THE FAMILY
FRANCE PRESIDENTIAL GERMANY FEDERAL
NORWAY FINLAND SWEDEN DENMARK
SOCIAL DEMOCRACIES
BELGIUM NETHERLANDS AUSTRIA LUXEMBOURG SWITZERLAN
D
CONSOCIATIONAL DEMOCRACIES
SPAIN PORTUGAL GREECE
NEW DEMOCRACIES
ITALY SUI GENERIS
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The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
not a nation state!
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Nation-building in retrospect
Problems of nation-state building boundaries
accidental outcomes of war, leadership and elite
politics Why there is hardly any true
nation-state Still language, cultural or
religious borders do not coincide Why in most
cases nation-building followed state-building
(top-down) Nationalism became prominent ideology
in order to secure political legitimacy and
stability
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Challenges to the nation-state
- Two world wars - Fascism - Internationalisation
of economies/globalisation - The emergence of the
welfare state - Changing notions of citizenship -
International cooperation and institutionalisation
- Political integration processes (EU)
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Summary
- Western Europe distinct from the rest of the
world in economical and political terms - Yet
internally heterogeneous - Largest concentration
of established liberal democracies in the world -
Invented and realised the nation state - As well
as political integration