17.561 | Fall 2020 | Undergraduate

European Politics

Syllabus

Course Meeting Times 

Lectures: 1 session / week, 2 hours / session

Recitations: 1 session / week, 1 hour / session

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Course Description

This course examines politics and political economy in Britain, Germany, and two Scandinavian countries, Denmark and Sweden. These countries exemplify different types of parliamentary democracies, distinct “varieties of capitalism,” and different welfare state regimes. We will focus on the structure of political power within the state and on differences in the political economies of these countries (what kinds of economic structures, what kinds of links between state and economy, what kinds of welfare regimes and labor market policies are characteristic of these three countries).

Requirements

ACTIVITIES PERCENTAGES

Class participation

This includes posing questions during lectures and coming to class prepared to discuss readings and video material

15%
Three current events memos 30% (10% each)
Group project 10%

Midterm

Covering all the material in the first half of the class

20%

Final exam

Covering all the material in the class, with emphasis on the second half

25%

 For more information on the memos and the group project, see the Assignments section.

Course Info

Departments
As Taught In
Fall 2020
Learning Resource Types
Written Assignments