STV9365 – Institutions for Democracy? Parliaments, Parties and Interest groups in Comparative Perspective
Course description
Learning outcome
Parliaments are the critical institutions through which popular sovereignty evolved, and political parties and interest groups are the main organizations citizens can form to exercise this sovereignty. The course will analyze the forms that these political institutions take in contemporary democracies, based on recent comparative research. The focus will be on how these institutions provide and channel representation of citizens’ preferences into decision-making at national level. The emphasis will be on how they act and interact to generate responsiveness and accountability.
Admission
The course is open to PhD students. PhD students from Norwegian institutions will have priority, but the course will also be open to other interested participants. There is no course fee but participants must cover their own travel and stay.
Limitation: 15 participants
Application deadline: July 31
APPLICATION FORM
Teaching
Time: 23 - 25 September 2015
Venue: The Norwegian Centre for Research in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (CFN/PFN), 190, Avenue de France, Paris
Convenors and lecturers
- Elin Haugsgjerd Allern, Professor, University of Oslo
- Knut Heidar, Professor, University of Oslo
- Kaare Strøm, Professor, University of California San Diego and University of Oslo
Other course lecturers
- Florence Faucher, Professor, Science Po., Paris
- Olivier Rozenberg, Professor, Sciences Po., Paris
- Sabine Saurugger , Professor, Science Po., Grenoble (tbc)
Practical arrangements
- A 1-2 page abstract on the dissertation theme (research question, method, data/sources and central literature) for those PhD students presenting their project in the seminar should be sent to Knut Heidar by September 1. This abstract will be distributed to all participants before the seminar begins.
- There will be Q&A (and comments) after lectures and in each session.
- All lectures and discussions will be in English.
- Accommodation will be arranged for all participants in central Parisian hotels (ca. 100 € per night). Information on seminar address and hotel accommodations will be distributed by e-mail later
- All meals will be covered by CFN/PFN for all participants.
Preliminary program
Wednesday, September 23
0930-1000: Registration; coffee and tea
1000-1015: Welcome and about the centre: Bjarne Rogan, Professor and Academic Director of The Norwegian Centre for Research in the Social Sciences and the Humanities in Paris.
Parliamentary Democracy: Inevitable, Sustainable, Impossible?
1015-1100 Perspectives and background
1100-1200 How institutions shaped democracy: the history
Parliaments
1200-1300 Parliaments: structures and processes
1300-1400 Lunch
1400-1500 Parliaments: personnel and recruitment
1500-1600 Deparliamentarization? The Case of France
1600-1700 Student presentations (Adjustable according to number of students)
Thursday, September 24
Parties
0900-1000 Parties: structures and processes
1000-1100 Parties: personnel and recruitment
Interest groups
1200-1300 Party-interest groups connections
1300-1400 Lunch
1400-1500 Interest groups: strategies and influence
1600-1700 Student presentations (Adjustable to number of students)
Friday, September 25
Parties, cont.
9000-1000 The impact of extra-parliamentary parties
On democratic institutions
1000-1100 Some theoretical perspectives
1100-1130 Discussion
1130-1230 Student presentations (Adjustable to number of students)
End of course
1230-1300 Course practicalities (credits, papers, evaluation, etc.)
Examination
The course will give participants five (5) ECTS credit points if registered in PhD-programs at the Social Science Faculty, University of Oslo. Other Norwegian PhD student will obtain credit points according to the rules applying at their respective departments. Students are expected to give a brief presentation of their PhD-project during the seminar (max. 10 min.) and to write a short essay based on their participation in the course; the essay should be completed within a month after the seminar. A reading list will be issued in advance.