• Introduction - Defining political science
  • I) Preliminary definition
  • II) Object definition
  • III) Methodological issues
  • IV) Seminar’s objectives
• Chapter 1 - The Foundings : Political power and the state
  • I) Forming society: Keeping social conflicts to an acceptable level
  • II) Which state?
• Chapter 2 - Political competition
  • I) Elections
  • II) The political market
• Chapter 3 - Political actors
  • I) Political parties
  • II) Interest groups
  • III) Media

The seminar will provide students with an understanding of the basic concepts and methods of political science, to explain how political power has been analysed and limited. Besides studying the debates surrounding the political science’s definition and methods of analysis, the seminar will highlight the main actors and processes that bring political phenomena to life.

The first semester will focus on actors (such as voters, political parties, or trade unions) and processes, to build a theorical frame, that will be used during the second semester, to analyse different political systems, especially France and the United States. The seminar will therefore combine a theoretical approach, by studying political theory; and a practical approach, by examining comparative politics.

The aim of this course is to :

• Become familiar with the basic concepts of political science and its main methods

• Better understand how the struggle for political power has been theorized and accomplished

The seminar will be useful for the entire academic path, and for students who would like to work in public administrations.

The introduction to political science seminar is helpful to understand fundamental concepts and reasonings, that will be useful from a multidisciplinary perspective. In law schools, for example, the relationship between public law and political science is rich: these fields are complementary for every student interested in public policies.