Institutions and Political Representation

This course aims to provide a better understanding of the concept of political representation and its related aspects, such as responsiveness, accountabilities, legislative activities, and unequal representation. While the primary focus will be on the crucial role of parliament in representative democracies, the course will also explore some non-electoral forms of political representation.

By the end of the course, students should:

• Have a good theoretical knowledge of the various meanings of political representation and its practical applications
• Be able to understand and synthesize a large scientific literature related to representation and political institutions
• Have developed critical thinking, discussion, and writing skills
• Have a good understanding on the functioning of representative democracy in all its aspects
• Be able to analyse debates related to issues of (mis)representation and legislative politics

This course includes both lectures and guest lectures. First, regarding lectures, students are expected to complete the preparatory readings before each session to better understand the theoretical material. These readings will be discussed in groups during the class and then debated with the entire class. Second, depending on availability, several guest lectures will also be organised. These will involve a presentation by the guest lecture, followed by an exchange with students. Students are expected to prepare questions in advance. Some of the guest lectures may be shared with another class; in such cases, the lecture might be conducted in French rather than English. Guest lectures delivered in French will not be included in the exam material.

The course will rely mainly on Compulsory readings, Discussion in class, Powerpoint slides and Guest speaker(s). The compulsory readings will be made available on the UV.

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

Office hours: on Teams by appointment (contact me by mail)

Contact: Awenig.Marie@ulb.be

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Travail personnel
• Autre
• Rapport écrit

Travail personnel

Autre

Rapport écrit

The examination for this course consists of three elements.

First, students need to write a 2500-word essay in which they argue for or against a particular statement. They should mobilize compulsory and non-compulsory readings, the theoretical material covered during lectures, examples discussed in class and during guest lectures, as well as recent or less recent political events. A list of statements will be made available on the UV. The essays will be graded based on the quality of the academic writing style, the student’s ability to engage with the academic literature, and the clarity of the argument. Students are advised to adhere to the word count. A 10 percent margin is allowed, but essays that are too long or short will be penalized. The use of AI tools to write and/or to correct the syntax of the essay is strictly forbidden. Any submitted work using those tools will be considered a case of fraud.

Second, regarding the press article comment (400 words), students are requested to select one press article (or TV/social media video report) over the course of the semester that relates to one or several concepts covered in the course. The objective of this assignment is to demonstrate how key concepts of political science can help analyze contemporary political events. Students need to submit a 400-word analysis of the chosen press article, including the following elements: 1) summarize the political event covered in the news article (or video report) and discuss this political even using key concepts covered in class. Students will be graded based on their ability to find a news article that relates to concepts covered in class and their ability to demonstrate how these concepts help them better understand contemporary political events.

Third, students are expected to complete the weekly readings, as these will be discussed in class. For each week that includes a lecture, students must either submit one question (minimum 200 words) about the weekly readings or respond to one of the questions (minimum 200 words) posed by the professor. These questions and responses will be discussed during the class. In the event of a guest lecture, students are requested to prepare a question for the guest. An online forum will be provided on the UV where students can submit the day before the session their questions or responses regarding the readings, as well as their questions for guest speakers.

Construction de la note (en ce compris, la pondération des notes partielles)

Students will be assessed as follows:

• • Essay (75%) – deadline: 20/12
  • Press article comment (15%) – deadline: 20/12
  • Weekly readings (10%) – deadlines: day before class

Retake session:

• Students who have failed the class (grade below 10 out of 20) in January will have the opportunity to retake the essay on a different topic (100% of the grade).

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• anglais