COURSE DESCRIPTION AND APPLICATION INFORMATION
| Course Name | Code | Semester | T+A+L (hour/week) | Type (C / O) | Local Credit | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political Parties and Voting Behavior | PS 514 | Spring | 03+00+00 | Elective | 3 | 7.5 |
| Academic Unit: | Political Science and Public Administration |
| Mode of Delivery: | Face to face |
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Course Unit: | Graduate |
| Course Coordinator: | KEREM YILDIRIM & berkay.ayhan |
| Course Lecturer(s): | KEREM YILDIRIM |
| Course Objectives: | This course aims to analyze political behavior issues including voting behavior, electoral system design, and political party organization. The course utilizes comparative perspectives as well as in-depth analysis of the case of Turkey in order to understand political parties and elections. Students are going to develop insights into the working of democracies, the process of democratization, and political ideologies. |
| Course Contents: | Political parties and party systems, elections and election systems, representation, models of elections and voting, political parties, electoral behavior, democracy and democratization, Turkey’s democratization, political parties, and voting behavior |
| Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit (LO): |
|
| Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods: | Lecture |
WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATIONS
| Week | Subjects | Related Preperation | LO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | 1 | |
| 2 | Political Parties and Party Systems | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 3 | Elections and Representation | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 4 | Theories of Representation | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 5 | Election Systems in Different Countries | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 6 | Models of Elections and Voting | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 7 | Political Ideologies | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 8 | Organization of Elections and Political Parties | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 9 | Limits of Political Participation | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 10 | Electoral Behavior, Campaigns, and Polarization | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 11 | Democracy and Democratization | Reading assigned materials before class | 1, 3, 4 |
| 12 | Democracy and Democratization in Turkey | Reading assigned materials before class | 2 |
| 13 | Political Parties in Turkey | Reading assigned materials before class | 2 |
| 14 | Voting Behavior in Turkey | Reading assigned materials before class | 2 |
At Kadir Has University, a Semester is 14 weeks; The weeks 15 and 16 are reserved for final exams.
REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED READING
| Readings on Political Parties and Voting Behavior / Dalton, R. J. (2008). Citizen politics: public opinion and political parties in advanced industrial democracies. Washington: CQ Press. / Dalton, R. J., and Klingemann, H. (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior. Oxford: Oxford UP. / Farrell, D. M. (2011). Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. / Baldini, G., and Pappalardo, A. (2009). Elections, Electoral Systems and Volatile Voters. London: Palgrave Macmillan. / Lijphart, A. (1999). Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press. / Niemi, R. G., Weisberg, H. F., and Kimball, D. (2010). Controversies in Voting Behavior, 5th Edition. Washington, DC: CQ Press. / Boix, C. (1999). Setting the Rules of the Game: The Choice of Electoral Systems in Advanced Democracies. The American Political Science Review, 93(3), 609-624. / Andrews, J. T., and Jackman, R. W. (2005). Strategic fools: electoral rule choice under extreme uncertainty. Electoral Studies, 24, 65-84. / Readings on Turkey / Heper, M., and Landau, J. (eds.) (1991). Political Parties and Democracy in Turkey. London: I.B. Tauris. / Sayarı, S., and Esmer, Y. (2002). Politics, Parties, and Elections in Turkey. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers. / Cop, B. (2011). Extreme Instability in Electoral System Changes: The Turkish Case. Turkish Studies, 12(1), 5-13. / Hale, W. (1980). The Role of Electoral System in Turkish Politics. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 11(3), 401-417. / Özbudun, E. (2007). Democratization Reforms in Turkey, 1993-2004. Turkish Studies, 8(2), 179-196. / Özbudun, E. (2014). AKP at the Crossroads: Erdoğan’s Majoritarian Drift. South European Society and Politics, 19(2), 155-167. / |
OTHER COURSE RESOURCES
| Aslan-Akman, C., and Akçalı, P. (2017). Changing the system through instrumentalizing weak political institutions: the quest for a presidential system in Turkey in historical and comparative perspective. Turkish Studies, 18(4), 577-600. / Turkish Studies Volume 3, No 1, “Turkey’s Political Parties” / |
ASSESSMENT METHODS AND CRITERIA
| Semester Requirements | Number | Percentage of Grade (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Homework Assignments | 1 | 40 |
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 20 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 40 |
| Total: | 3 | 100 |
WORKLOAD
| Events | Count | Duration (Hours) | Total Workload (hour) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Homework Assigments | 1 | 40 | 40 |
| Preparation for Presentation / Jury | 1 | 20 | 20 |
| Extra-Class Activities (reading,individiual work, etc.) | 13 | 4 | 52 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 27.5 | 27.5 |
| Total Workload (hour): | 187.5 | ||
1 ECTS = 25 Hours Workload
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES (LO) AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS (PQ)
| # | PQ1 | PQ2 | PQ3 | PQ4 | PQ5 | PQ6 | PQ7 | PQ8 |
| LO1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| LO2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| LO3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| LO4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Contribution: 1 Low, 2 Average, 3 High