PIM99-Comparative Elections and Voting Behaviour

Module Provider: Graduate Institute for Politics and International Studies
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:7
Terms in which taught: Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2021/2

Module Convenor: Dr Christoph Arndt
Email: c.arndt@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This is a graduate level seminar in comparative political behaviour. We will cover a variety ofÌýtopics dealing with comparative political behaviour, such as the formation of partisan identification,Ìýpublic opinion formation, the decision to vote, and the role ofÌýmacroeconomic conditions on electionÌýoutcomes. We explore these topics using data and evidence from established democracies and newly democratized countries as well as authoritarian countries. Moreover, we examine the substantive topics with a particular focus on the UK context to understand the development of British voting behaviour over time.

Aims:

The student will gain a broad and detailed knowledge of classical theories on voting behaviourÌýas well as newer approaches to political behaviour in both established democracies and newlyÌýdemocratized states, including electoral authoritarian regimes.

The readings will introduce you to the various methodological techniques, including case studies,

quantitative analysis, and agent-based modelling, that are used to test the empirical expectations of these theories. The goal of this course is to provide a solid foundation upon which you can build forÌýcomprehensive understanding and independent research.

To take this course, students should have a basic knowledge in qualitative or quantitative analyses.

• The student will be able to understand, compare and critique various theories, methods and facts covered in the course.


• The student will get extensive knowledge about voting behaviour in different contexts, its change over time and its placement in comparative perspective.


• The student will acquire competencies to analyse voting behaviour from different theoretical perspectives and be able to assess their applicability to a given research question.

Assessable learning outcomes:

Two Research Notes (2x15 %, total 30% of final mark): Students will write two analyses of readings from two different weeks with a word limit of 1.000 words each. The primary goal of the papers is not to earn grades but to provide you with an opportunity to react on the readings and develop critical thinking and writing skills. Feel free to use these papers as an aid in class discussion. Students will email us these papers by noon one day before the class.

A Research Paper (50%) The research paper should discuss the theoretical motivation for the proposed research, citing the relevant literature (at least 20 sources) to which the research seeks to contribute. The word limit is 5.000 words. It should clearly explain the original theoretical argument made and explicitly posit the key testable hypotheses derived from this theory. The paper should also discuss the dependent variable(s) and central explanatory variables that would be employed in an empirical investiga tion of these hypotheses.

In addition to submitting a written version, students will make a 12–15-minute presentation of their research paper to the class at the mini-conference before. The presentation will be marked (10 % of final mark) and is also thought as opportunity to get feedback and suggestions for the research paper.

Students will produce three discussion points about the readings for 3-4 selected topics. These questions are intended to im prove the understanding of the material and inspire discussion, so they should be the most interesting questions or arguments that the student has identified based on the week's readings.

Additional outcomes:

From this module, we also expect students to obtain some of the important skills such as presentation skills, group discussion, and data analyses with a statistical programme.Ìý

Outline content:

The module covers theoretical foundations about the comparative electoral behaviour, position-based voting behaviour, performance-based voting behaviour, and some basic methodological training. When we explore these substantive topics,