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Description
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INACTIVE - This course aims to cover all aspects of elections and voting, from choosing candidates, the media coverage of politics, campaigns, the decision whether to vote, and the voting mechanisms to how people actually vote. These issues are all interconnected in some complex and many simple ways.Political science can help the student to analyse all aspects of elections. The course will equip the students who take it to look at elections in a different and more focussed way, and to understand the many different factors that impact on elections and their results. As well as learning about voting and elections, students should be better equipped to assess and analyse any social research questions.
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Learning Outcomes |
1. Know the basic rules of electoral systems and main theories of voting behaviour.
2. Explain the operation of a variety of electoral systems and their likely impact on voters.
3. Construct and make a coherent argument on the topic of elections and voting and using existing theories gather and present relevant empirical data to support that argument both verbally and in in written form.
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| Workload |
Full-time hours per semester |
| Type |
Hours |
Description |
| Lecture | 24 | No Description | | Assignment | 16 | Essay | | Library | 40 | accessing and reading library materials | | Examination | 15 | preparation and completion | | On-line learning | 5 | Reading materials and listening to relevant radio programmes | | Independent learning | 25 | Study | | Total Workload: 125 |
All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
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Electoral systems - Effects on the voter, the party system and party strategiesParties and candidates- Candidate selection in different systems and their effectsOpinion formation - how do people think about politics?Do candidates matter? Opinion Polls.
what they are, how they do them, why they work/ don't work?Designing an opinion pollPolitical communications: agenda setting and framingShould opinion polls be banned in advance of polling day?Why bother vote? The paradox of turnoutSocio-cultural structure of politics: Partisanship, voter identification and cleavagesDo we vote the way our parents did?Rationality- instrumental versus expressive votingIssues, space and valence issuesMedia, agenda, money and campaign effects.
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| Assessment Breakdown | | Continuous Assessment | 50% | Examination Weight | 50% |
| Course Work Breakdown |
| Type | Description | % of total | Assessment Date |
| Assignment | Essay | 40% | Week 10 | | Performance evaluation | Class contribution | 10% | Week 10 |
| Reassessment Requirement |
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
1 = A resit is available for all components of the module
2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module
3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component |
| This module is category 1 |
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Indicative Reading List
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- Lawrence LeDuc, Richard Niemi, and Pippa Norris: 2010, Comparing democracies 3, Sage, London,
- Cees van der Eijk & Mark Franklin: 2009, Elections and Voting, Palgrave, Basingstoke,
- Michael Marsh, Richard Sinnott, John Garry & Fiachra Kennedy: 2008, The Irish Voter, MUP, Manchester,
- Michael Gallagher and Michael Marsh: 2008, How Ireland Voted, Palgrave, Basingstoke,
- Jocelyn Evans: 2004, Voters & Voting, sage, London,
- Harold Clarke, David Sanders, Marianne Stewart and Paul Whitely: 2004, Political Choice in Britain, OUP, Oxford,
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Other Resources
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None |
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Programme or List of Programmes
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| EPL | BA in Economics, Politics and Law |
| EPLYA | BA in Economics, Politics and Law |
| Timetable this semester: Timetable for LG342 |
| Date of Last Revision | 26-SEP-07 |
| Archives: | |
