Political Change: Political Parties and Party Systems (L2034)

30 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

On this module, you’ll explore major processes of political change and the factors that drive them. You’ll analyse how change has taken shape in practice and test different theories that explain it.

Political parties remain one of the key links between citizens and state in liberal democracies. Despite the challenges they face, they continute to play an important representative role and attract attention from both scholars and the media.

As American political scientist E.E. Schattsneider said, ‘modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of political parties’. But is this still true? To explore this question, you’ll consider:

  • where parties and party systems came from
  • their similarities and differences
  • what roles they’re meant to play and how well they perform them
  • how they’ve changed and where they’re heading
  • whether they fulfill modern democracy's needs, or if new forms of participation can complement them.

You’ll develop an understanding of how political parties and party systems have evolved and their importance in democracies. While the focus is mainly on Western Europe, the theories and analytical tools you’ll learn can be applied to party systems around the world.

Teaching

10%: Practical (Workshop)
90%: Seminar

Assessment

30%: Coursework (Essay)
70%: Written assessment (Essay)

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 30 hours of contact time and about 270 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We鈥檙e planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We鈥檒l make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

Courses

This module is offered on the following courses: