Political Parties in a Comparative Perspective (Winter term 2025/26)

Content

This seminar deals with a critical actor in representative democracies: political parties. The course is structured along four segments. The first block seeks to introduce students to the topic. Methodologically, we will learn how to approach and critically assessing the course literature. Substantively, we will discuss the importance to understand of party democracy. The second block is dedicated to the origins of political parties. We will explore how institutions and societal developments contribute to their emergence. In a third block, we will learn about their functions in democracies. We will start with their recruiting functions and assess the implications of candidate selection methods for democratic representation? Thereafter, the following three sessions deal with parties as electoral organizations. How do parties appeal to their voters? On which agenda do they decide and which groups do they target? How do they respond to their competitors? The final block is reserved for the presentation of students' projects.

Material

Week 1: Introduction