LFCOR Orientation (2 ECTS) consists of:

1) General Orientation Course for International Students (not compulsory for Finnish students)

2) Introduction to Academic Culture and Degree Studies (not compulsory for Finnish students)

3) Orientation to studying in the Degree Programme and personal study planning (1 ECTS) (compulsory for all LFC students).

Orientation: 30.8.2018 at 12-15, place: Pinni A 3107

Personal study planning (HOPS):

4) Basics of Information Literacy (1 ECTS) (compulsory for all LFC students). This course is taught by the university library and it will introduce the student to the printed and electronic library materials, and provide the student with a grasp of information retrieval, use and assessment of information, and good ethical practices in the academia. There are a pre-assignment, 3 x 2 hour workshops and online assignments related to each workshop in the course. You can participate in one of the six identical groups arranged in the 1 period. Please, see more information and registration for the course from here: http://www.uta.fi/kirjasto/en/courses/basicsofil.html

This course is an advanced introductory course to the themes and concepts of the Master's Degree Programme in Leadership for Change. Leadership and change dynamics are examined in relation to topical events and processes. The course uses a multidisciplinary approach and interactive learning methods in close cooperation with businesses and public sector organisations. The course is taught by academic experts and visiting practitioners.

The course has two parts: The “Key Concept Lectures” equip students with conceptual tools for analyzing organizational and societal change. At the “LFC Lectures” visiting practitioners discuss change dynamics from the perspective of their organizations. Students take an active role in organizing the LFC Lectures.

2.-4. period

The course continues in the form of LFC Lectures during the 2nd–4th period. More exact schedule will be announced later.

First year students, Wednesdays at 14-16. 

12 December 14–16: What is a thesis?

6 February 14–16: Presentations of theses analyses

20 February 14–17 Ideapaper presentations

27 February 14–17 Ideapaper presentations

13 March 14–17 Topic analysis presentations

20 March 14–17 Topic analysis presentations

End of April/early May, Research proposal presentations

Master's seminar includes one mandatory information retrieval training session (2 hours) arranged by Tampere University Library.                                                           

Second year students

Wednesday 19.9. 14–16 Research Proposal Seminar (continues from last semester) 

Tuesday 23.10. 10–14

Wednesday 24.10. 10–14

Tuesday 4.12. 12–16, Main Building K106 & K112

Wednesday 5.12. 12–16, Main Building K106 & K107

The course focuses on the basic and general features of scientific research, methodology, and argumentation, as applicable to any field of study. Some central themes in the philosophy of science will also be discussed, in an introductory manner.

The course is intended to all new international UTA Master’s degree students, but it will serve also international Doctoral students. Other degree and exchange students may join if there are free places.

Contact person: Coordinator of international education, Anna Wansén-Kaseva

Why do some issues receive political attention and some do not? Replying to this question is the purpose of agenda-setting. This is central not only to understand policy making but also political struggles. Studies progress building on early discussions of the power of keeping items on the agenda, path dependency and bounded rationality. Recent studies explore how the agenda changes after long periods of stability.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the agenda-setting classic and recent literature. Students will use the knowledge gained in the class to analyze policies that interest them through a final essay. The course makes use of demonstrations and data from the Comparative Agendas Project including 18 European and 2 North American countries, Australia and the European Union.

Email registration to the teacher is essential by 28/08/2018

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science, or equivalent studies at sending institution (exchange students).

5 ECTS for Bachelor's level completion (POLVOA31 & POLVOA32)
10 ECTS for Master's level completion (POLVOS26 & POLVOS27)

Further information from the teacher at the beginning of the course.

The current situation in the world politics and economy is very unstable, where the superpowers are engaged in various conflicts and rivalry. This development is apparent in trade wars with tariffs, creation of trade blocks, rivalry over global currency, creation of new development banks, new arms race, new military alliances and direct engagements to wars. At the same time, the acknowledged global challenges of climate change, poverty, population growth, etc., are pushed aside in the current power struggle, and are accumulating and threatening the lives of ours and the future generations’.

The course handles these current and future challenges of world politics and economy. The future aspect demands taking a holistic look at the development of past and present trends, to extrapolate their future. This happens through a systems approach, where the development of world politics and economy and their challenges are analysed through structures and functions of world system, its norms, values and legitimacy. The future challenges and structural and functional possibilities are last discussed relating them to the functional needs of the world system.  

Learning outcomes: The course will enhance student’s knowledge on the current and future challenges of world politics and economy. It empowers students in holistic analysis of the current and future challenges of world politics and economy. The methodical skills of future research of students will develop in the essay task. 

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science, or equivalent studies at sending institution (exchange students).

5 ECTS for Bachelor's level completion (POLVOA31)
10 ECTS for Master's level completion (POLVOS21)

Further information from the teacher at the beginning of the course.

BOOK EXAM (optional study mode for POMLFCS1 Democratic Decision-Making)

Electronic exam is open in I-IV periods. Please, register for the electronic exam using the code POLVOA31 Political Institutions and Processes: https://tenttis.uta.fi

BOOK EXAM (Optional study mode for POMLFCS2 European Integration and Disintegration)

Electronic exam is open in I-IV periods. Please, register for the electronic exam using the code POLKVS32 Advanced European Integration Studies: https://tenttis.uta.fi

BOOK EXAM. Optional study mode for POMLFCS3 Trends in Global Politics

Electronic exam is open in I-IV periods. Please, register for the electronic exam using the code POLKVS31 The Study of World Politics: https://tenttis.uta.fi

Leadership for sustainable change is an online course on sustainability and change leadership. It is aimed at master’s level students, but is also open for students at all levels and fields. The course is taught in collaboration with University of Helsinki and Tampere University.

Students study the online learning material, including text, video and assignments, at the MOOC platform. In an online study group, the student takes part in a project work, in which a sustainability change project plan is designed.

Enrolment to the course opens 4 September and takes place at http://mooc.helsinki.fi/ > Leadership for Sustainable Change

The course material as well as more info on the course backgrounds can be found at www.leadforsust.fi.  

Contents of the course

The following topics will be discussed during the course:

- Changes of organizing work

- Distinction between the terms leader and leadership

- History of leadership research

- Forms of collective leadership

- Embodiment in leadership

- Sociomateriality in leadership

- Leadership-as-Practice

Teaching schedule will be announced later.

This course is for Master students in Leadership for Change. The course is also held in I period for Master students in Management and Organizations (in Finnish).

A very limited number of Master level exchange students with suitable business management studies backround may be accepted to the course.

This module is made up of class sessions including group work (20 hours), as well as independent out of class tasks (61 hours). The module will be three periods long and will take place in the autumn semester of the first year of the master’s degree programme.

Across the Western world, representative democracy is party-based. Parties provide the essential link between the people and politicians and between parliament and government. At the same time, public confidence in parties as institutions is low to very low and anti-party sentiment has spawned protest parties of both right and left. Accordingly, this course adopts a thematic approach to the political science debate about political parties. Is the party over for political parties? The approach is theory-driven and the illustrative material will draw on a range of European systems.

Indicative Content

1. Classifying Political Parties

Can we speak of party types and, if so, on what basis – their origins, ideology, cross-national links? How can we understand the diversity of new parties, the likes of ethnic parties, anti-immigrant parties and regionalist parties?

2. Assessing Party Change

How and why do parties adapt and change? Can we enumerate a range of party change strategies? Have the historic class/denominational parties succeeded in becoming catchall parties?

3. Assessing Party Decline

Is there a sustainable case for party decline? Do parties really represent the people? Memberless parties; ‘registered supporters’; state subsidies; ‘cartellisation; the normative challenges to party democracy: personalisation, mediatisation, digitalisation.

4. Classifying party systems

What is a party system? Electoral and legislative party systems. Party system change. How great are the differences between modern party systems? Are they all moderate multi-party systems à la Sartori?

Lecture topics

23 October:  Parties: The Debate in Headlines

25 October Party Decline or Party Adaptation?

November 1 Protest Parties, ‘Anti’-Parties and APES

November 6:  How can we classify political parties?

November 8: From Party Politics to Personalized Politics?

November 13: Party Systems and Pariahs

November 15: There are fewer of them, but do parties need members?

November 20: Revisiting the debate about the ‘crisis of party’

Email registration essential by 11 October.

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science, or equivalent studies at sending institution (exchange students).

Students will write an essay (maximum 8 pages of A4) in English or Finnish analysing the pros and cons of the ‘party decline’ thesis in a country of their choice.

5 ECTS for Bachelor's level completion (POLVOA41)
10 ECTS for Master's level completion (POLVOS28)

Further information from the teacher at the beginning of the course.

TEACHING

Briefing 1 October 2018 at 14-15, Pinni B4075

Online pre-assignments: 1 October – 23 November 2018 (40 hours)

Lectures: 26–30 November 2018 (8 hours)

Collaborative work in small groups: 26–30 November 2018 (32 hours)

Independent project work: 3 December 2018 – 31 January 2019 (55 hours)

There will be a briefing for the participants accepted onto the course on Monday 1 October 2018 at 2 pm in Pinni B4075.

Contact teaching will be organised as an intensive Master Class between 26 and 30 November 2018 at the University of Tampere. The venues will be announced at a later date. The schedule for the week:

Day 1: Mon 26 November 2018, 10 am – 5 pm

Day 2: Tue 27 November 2018, 9 am – 9 pm

Day 3: Wed 28 November 2018, 9 am – 5 pm

Day 4: Thu 29 November 2018, 9 am – 5 pm

Day 5: Fri 30 November 2018, 9 am – 3 pm

The Master Class will also include a voluntary evening programme and networking.

Enrolment

Enrolment begins on Monday 13 August 2018 at 10 am.

Enrolment ends on Friday 14 September 2018 at 4 pm.

Enrolment form: <https://elomake3.uta.fi/lomakkeet/21282/lomake.html>.

The course is intended for students of the University of Tampere, students of TaRC’s Finnish, Russian and Chinese partner universities (see <https://research.uta.fi/tarc/network/>) and media professionals, teachers, and researchers. The public events on 26 and 30 November are open to everyone.

The course is mainly targeted at students completing their master’s studies. Doctoral students can also apply for the course, as can students who are in the later stages of their bachelor’s studies and can provide sufficient evidence of their professional skills.

To apply for the course, please complete the enrolment form before 4 pm on Friday 14 September 2018. Please reserve adequate time for completing the form, and state clearly why you want to take the course. During the Master Class, the participants will work intensively on one of the three course topics:

1. Arctic Environmental Journalism
2. Global Connection of the Arctic
3. Visual Representations of the Arctic

On the enrolment form, the applicant should indicate two preferred topics.

The applicants will be informed by 28 September 2018 as to whether they have been accepted.

A maximum of 40 students will be accepted onto the course. Students who are writing their thesis on themes connected to media and the Arctic are most likely to be accepted. In addition, a maximum of 10 working media professionals will be invited via grants provided by JOKES (Journalistisen kulttuurin edistämissäätiö).

Teachers:

Teacher responsible: Mika Perkiömäki, <mika.perkiomaki@staff.uta.fi>

The principal teachers are Markku Heikkilä, Head of the Science Communication Unit of the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland (Rovaniemi); Anna Kireeva, Head of Communications at the Bellona Foundation (Murmansk); Thomas Nilsen, Editor of the Independent Barents Observer (Kirkenes); and Alexei Popogrebsky, film director, screenwriter and teacher of directing at the Moscow Film School. Contributing teachers are Malgorzata (Gosia) Smieszek, political scientist and researcher at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland; Vlad Strukov, Associate Professor in Film and Digital Culture at the University of Leeds.

Learning outcomes:

After completing the course, the participants will recognise factors influencing international debate that relate to journalistic duties and the media industry in the Arctic region. The participants will be able to analyse discussions related to the Arctic region and evaluate various journalistic means of managing conflict‑sensitive topics. The participants will have gained deeper knowledge of the chosen media environment and have developed expertise in questions of substance and working methods that relate to the media and the Arctic region.

The course provides an in-depth analysis of the way the media represents and mediates the Arctic region, and an examination of the changes and challenges taking place in the area. The participants will acquire knowledge about global media and the issues related to the Arctic region, especially in the Scandinavian and Russian Arctic regions. The participants will conduct their own media projects during the course.

General description:

The Arctic is becoming the focus of worldwide interest due to climate change and the utilisation of the region’s natural resources. It has seen the emergence of new industries, environmental pressures and geopolitical tensions. Meanwhile, academic and public discourse and the media are facing the challenge of finding adequate ways to discuss developments in the region.

The course includes an international event “Media and the Arctic: Master Class in Tampere, Finland, 26–30 November 2018”, organised by the Tampere Research Centre for Russian and Chinese Media (TaRC). Six distinguished and accomplished journalists and media professionals will join teachers from the University of Tampere to share their expertise with students and media professionals in an intensive, one-week Master Class.

The coursework will consist of pre-assignments, five contact teaching days, and a journalistic or other media-related final assignment dealing with the themes of the Master Class. Attendance on all five days and active participation in one of the workgroups is required.

Pre-assignment: Before the intensive contact teaching week, the participants are required to familiarise themselves beforehand with the course material, which includes readings, visual materials and video lectures on current research related to Arctic topics. The material will be made available via an online learning environment.

Day 1: The Master Class begins with a joint workshop for all participants to collaboratively reflect on the pre-assignment material. Day 1 also includes an open seminar, where the principal/supervising teachers will give keynote lectures based on the topical issues of the week and their experience as media professionals. The seminar functions as the opening discussion for the following three days.

Days 2–4: The participants work intensively in small workgroups. Supervised by two teachers, each group will consider one of the main topical issues of the course in greater depth. The three issues are ‘Arctic Environmental Journalism’, ‘Global Connections of the Arctic’ and ‘Visual Representations of the Arctic’. The teachers are responsible for planning the teaching methods used in the workgroups. These methods may include expert meetings, guided and independent reading and information gathering, analysis exercises, preparing journalistic articles, etc.

Day 5: At the end of the week, the students will present the materials produced by their workgroup in an open seminar. The week concludes with a panel discussion held by specialists of Arctic issues related to Russia, China and global topics. The discussion will also include comments on the students’ work and the complex field of the Arctic.

Final assignment: After the Master Class, the learning outcomes will be evaluated as agreed upon with the teachers. To successfully complete the course, the participants are expected to deliver a piece of independent written work related to their own field; this can be a journalistic article on the themes of the Arctic region along with an analysis of the knowledge obtained during the course, or some other type of written work. The final assignment should be returned via the online learning environment by the end of January 2019. The final assignment also includes giving peer feedback on other participants’ final assignments.

Evaluation

Pass/fail.

Evaluation criteria

Participation in all the contact teaching days and active participation in one of the workgroups. Completion and submission of the pre-assignment and the final assignment by the given deadlines.

Study material

The participants will be granted access to the study materials via an online learning environment by the end of September 2018.

Further information

The course will be taught with a major focus on discussion, critical thinking, and individual and collaborative work. The course will be taught in English; no knowledge of any other language is required.

The course is free for students of the University of Tampere and TaRC’s partner universities.

For more information, please contact the TaRC personnel at the Faculty of Communications, University of Tampere:

Coordinator Mika Perkiömäki <mika.perkiomaki@staff.uta.fi>

Senior Lecturer in Journalism Ari Heinonen <ari.a.heinonen@staff.uta.fi>

Researcher Dmitry Yagodin <dmitry.yagodin@staff.uta.fi>

Professor of Russian Language and Culture Arja Rosenholm <arja.rosenholm@staff.uta.fi>

Professor of Journalism Heikki Luostarinen <heikki.luostarinen@staff.uta.fi>

The course will be beneficial for students with a background in Russian studies, politics, communication, media, journalism, intercultural communication, visual studies or Eastern European studies. However, students with backgrounds in other disciplines are also welcome. 

The course home page: <https://research.uta.fi/tarc/masterclass-2018/>.

few places for master level business exchange students

Modes of study: lectures, readings, writing summaries

HUOM hallintotieteen ja julkisen talousjohtamisen tutkinto-opiskelijat:

Opintojakso HALHAS21 Governing hybrid organizations voi sijoittua tutkinnossa joko valinnaisiin opintoihin tai vaihtoehtoisesti osaksi julkisen talousjohtamisen tai hallintotieteen maisteriopintoja seuraavasti: HALHAS21 kurssin (5 op) suorittamalla voi korvata julkisen talousjohtamisen opintosuunnassa kurssin HALJTS04 Julkinen talousjohtaminen ja muuttuvat hallintorakenteet (5 op) ja hallintotieteessä HALHAS19 Johtamisen ja julkisen politiikan tutkimus ja ajankohtaiset kysymykset (10 op) puolet suoritusvaihtoehdosta 1 (Strategia ja muutoksen johtaminen). Toinen 5 op suoritetaan tenttimällä vastuuopettajan kanssa sovittava kirjallisuus. 

Jakso ei ole pakollinen hallintotieteiden maisterin tutkintoa suorittaville! Jaksolla voi korvata hallintotieteen ja julkisen talousjohtamisen jaksoja edellä mainitulla tavalla tai sen voi suorittaa vaihtoehtoisena jaksona osaksi tutkinnon valinnaisia opintoja.

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP01 Introduction to International Relations, or equivalent studies at sending institution (exchange students).

Upon completing the course, the students have an advanced understanding of some of the wicked or difficult-to-solve policy problems in contemporary Europe and of the means by which to address them on the EU and national levels. In particular, the students will be able to analyse cases where these two levels are interconnected. Problem-based learning will illustrate the difficulties and prospects of problem resolution with examples on problems like borders policy, Brexit and consumer involvement.

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP01 Introduction to International Relations, or equivalent studies at sending institution (exchange students).

Content: The course examines the link between higher education (cooperation) and international relations, in particular, relations between the EU and Russia. It addresses both the past, present and future of cooperation in the field of education. Also, the reforms in HE in Finland and Russia are addressed, as well as Russia’s attempts to export its education and  its link with its foreign policy goals. During the course students are encouraged to analyse critically both the opportunities and challenges that the cooperation faces in the post-Crimea situation, and in general, the role of education in foreign policies and international relations.

POMCBIR3 consists of seven lectures, study visits to the Consulate General of Finland and German Russian Exchange, and a panel discussion with teachers, students and other experts. In addition students are required to prepare a group presentation for the Consulate visit  and write an essay after the Winter School. The course will be given as part of the CBIR Winter School/FIRST+ intensive course  in St. Petersburg, 21-25 January 2019.

Lectures

Lecture 1. Introduction to Education Cooperation in the European North (Dmitri Lanko & Sirke Mäkinen)

Required reading

1) Chou, Meng-Hsuan, Kamola, Isaac and Pietsch, Tamson. 2016. Introduction. The transnational politics of higher education. In The Transnational Politics of Higher Education: Contesting the Global/Transforming the Local by Chou, Meng-Hsuan, Kamola, Isaac and Pietsch, Tamson. 12-28. Routledge.

2) Wojciuk, Anna, Michalek, Maciej and Stormowska, Marta. 2015. Education as a Source and Tool of Soft Power in International Relations. European political science 14, 298-317.

Lecture 2. International Education and Cultural Imperialism during the Cold War (Natalia Tsvetkova)

Required reading

3) Tsvetkova, Natalia. Universities During the Cultural Cold War: Mapping the Research Agenda, In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War. Ed. by Mikkonen, Simo, Scott-Smith, Giles, and Parkkinen, Jari. Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 2018, pp. 139-161;

4) Tsvetkova, Natalia. Soft Power and Public Diplomacy. In Russia and the World: Understanding International Relations, Natalia Tsvetkova (ed.), 231–251. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Roman & Littlefield, 2017.

Lecture 3. Educational Reforms in the 1990s and 2000s in Russia and Finland (Lanko & Mäkinen)

Lecture 4. EU-Russia cooperation in the field of education and research (Larisa Deriglazova)

Required reading

5) Deriglazova, Larisa and Mäkinen. Sirke 2019. “Still Looking for a Partnership? EU-Russia Cooperation in the Field of Higher Education”. Journal of Contemporary European Studies. (under review - will be uploaded here in January)

Lecture 5. Educational cooperation or Brain Drain? (Lanko)

Required reading

6) Chankseliani, Maia. 2018. Four Rationales of HE Internationalization: Perspectives of U.K.Universities on Attracting Students From Former Soviet Countries. Journal of Studies in International Education 22:1, 53–70.

Lecture 6. Russia’s Educational Diplomacy and Its Reception Abroad (Mäkinen)

Required reading

7)  Mäkinen, Sirke. 2016. In search of the status of an educational great power? Analysis of Russia’s educational diplomacy discourse. Problems of Post-Communism 63:3, 183-196

Lecture 7. Internationalisation of Higher Education: Why Institutions (do not) Work (Svetlana Shenderova)

Required reading

8) Shenderova, S. (2018). Permanent uncertainty as normality? Finnish-Russian double degrees in the post-Crimea world.  Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 40:6, 611-628, DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2018.1529134

- How and why legal environment affects business
- Law principles of contracting and business negotiations in international context
- Corporate governance in limited liability companies
- Legal framework of tax planning and tax-related risks in cross-border business

Open for master level exchange students.
New spring semester exchange students may enrol also by e-mail to Janne.Ruohonen@staff.uta.fi until 8th of January 2019.

The course will begin with an introduction lecture to organisation theory and analysis. The themes for the following weeks cover research areas varying from what goes on inside organizations to how external environments affect organisations. These themes are:

- organisational learning - decision-making in organisations - organisational culture - organisations and their external environment - neoinstitutional theory - organisational ecology - networks and organisations

While the course content is structured around these themes, the lectures provide a background story for how organisational theory has developed historically. This will enable students to understand the intellectual development of organisation theory and its various shifts in emphasis. The students are required to attend lectures, read academic articles identified by the instructor, write analytical essays, and take part in group presentations and discussions.

NB: This course is for Master students in Leadership for Change. A limited number of Master students in Management and Organizations may be accepted to the course.  

Despite recent concerns about a crisis of democracy, parliaments are to be the central political arenas in any liberal democracies. They are the key linkages between government and civil society backbenchers. This course is designed to provide students with a policy-relevant and theoretically informed examination of parliaments in the Nordic Countries. It is therefore concerned with both the formal processes and the traditions and relationships that characterize these institutions. Students are however incited to situate these cases in a wider European context.

Students will develop a detailed knowledge of parliaments and they will situate this alongside wider concerns about scrutiny and democratic engagement. The course will include a visit of the Eduskunta (Parliament of Finland) as well as guest lectures.

Email registration by the teacher is essential by 19/02/2019. Early registration is needed in order to organize the visit of the Eduskunta. No late registration will be accepted.

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science, or equivalent studies at sending institution (exchange students).

This course adopts a seminar format. There are no lectures. The evaluations of students is based on class attendance and participation (20%), reading assignments (30%) and the final essay based on theories covered in the course (50%).

5 ECTS for Bachelor's level completion (POLVOA32)
10 ECTS for Master's level completion (POLVOS27 & POMLFCS1)

This course explores the relationship between war and society, how this relationship is currently being transformed and the theoretical tools which can be employed to study related topics. After finishing the course students will be aware of the classic writings dealing with war; understand the developments driving the changes in war and warfare today; and be equipped with theoretical tools to independently study questions related to the issue.

The course consists of three parts. The first part introduces the students to major works of political philosophy regarding the nature of war through a series of lectures. It also provides an overview of how changes in society and technology have changed warfare throughout history. The second part deals with phenomena changing war and warfare today and in the near future. These include Kaldor’s concept of new wars, autonomous weapons, empowerment of non-state actors, cyberwarfare, the role of media etc. Students will work on a number of independent and group assignments. Finally, in the last part of the course, students are to give short presentations to the group on a selection of current approaches to studying security and war, such as critical theory, feminist and post-colonial approaches, different schools of security studies etc.

Students are expected to participate actively during lessons and finish a number of assignments. After the course, students will demonstrate capability to apply what they have learned through an essay on a topic of their own choosing. Evaluation will be based on active participation and the final essay.

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP01 Introduction to International Relations, or equivalent studies at sending institution (exchange students).

It is a fair bet that on any day of the year there will be an election somewhere, whether at the local, regional, national or supranational level. Somebody whispered to me that there is a general election coming up in Finland. But what is the point of elections? What do they decide – if anything? Few candidates like them, many voters dislike them and they are expensive at public expense. This course offers a fundamental examination of the multiple aspects of elections and the electoral process, with primary reference to contemporary representative democracies.

Indicative Content

1. The framework of electoral rules. The impact of the voting system rules on candidate selection and candidate election. Plurality, preferential and mixed member systems
2. Election campaigns. How much do national party campaigns really affect voters? Has there been a ‘presidentialisation’ of election campaigns? Do candidate campaigns in the constituency really matter?
3. The mediatisation of elections. Are the media (print/broadcast) decisive electoral actors? Do the media determine the campaign agenda? What about the role of the so-called social media?
4. The digitalisation of elections. How far does this varying from one country to another? Voting Advice Application. Video blogs. How do individual candidates communicate digitally with prospective voters?
5. Electoral outcomes. Do elections decide who governs? If not, who does? If elections do not determine who governs, what do they decide? Descriptive representation. Can we distinguish between ‘decisive’ and ‘indecisive’ elections?

Course Schedule

March 5 Why hold elections?

March 7 What should elections seek to achieve?

March 12 Do electoral actors play by the rules?

March 14 Do campaigns matter?

March 19 Have elections become more personalised?

March 21 Are elections decisive?

March 26 Do elections change the direction of policies?

March 28 Concluding Discussion: So what else did you want to know about elections but have’nt dared to ask?

Email registration essential by 25 February

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science, or equivalent studies at sending institution (exchange students).

5 ECTS for Bachelor's level completion (POLVOA41)
10 ECTS for Master's level completion (POLVOS28)

Further information from the teacher at the beginning of the course.

Contents: 

- Risk management trends

- Long term risks

- Economics theories for risks

- Financial crisis management

- Measuring risk in financial markets

- Risk management in financial markets

- Risk management in corporate finance

The first course exam Tue 23.4. at 12 - 16, main building D10b.
The first retake on Mon 13.5. at 8 - 12, main building D10a+b, MAB general exam. Sign up at NettiOpsu at least 7 days before the exam.
The second retake on Tue 4.6. at 16 - 20, main building D10a+b, MAB general exam. Sign up at NettiOpsu at least 7 days before the exam.