COURSE DESCRIPTION

“Political science” (4 credits) : Study and application of  various areas and means of power.

Focus of critical attention on how political strategies, ideologies, tools, theories, and institutions work in a modern world.  

COURSE OVERVIEW

The purpose of political science is to create a conscious citizen with an active political culture and a strong position. This is very important in a democratic society. It arises and develops in connection with democratization

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

u To extend the fundamental concepts of political theory

u To improve communication skills;

u To prove their point of view;

u To analyze current events ;

u To evaluate modern world and Ukrainian policy;

u To formulate their own conclusions.

TOPICS

1. The essence and role of politics and political science in society.

2. Political power and political activity.

3. Political ideologies of the XXI century.

4. Political system

5. Political regimes: history and modernity.

6. Political parties, public organizations and pressure groups as subjects of politics.

7. Political leadership.

8. Elections and voting.

9. World politics

10. Political modernization. European integration.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

1. Political Ideologies and Worldviews: An Introduction. URL: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/political-ideologies/

2. Ellen M. Immergut. Political Institutions. The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579396.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199579396-e-15

3. State and Local Government and Politics: Prospects for Sustainability - 2nd Edition. URL:

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/state-and-local-government-and-politics-prospects-for-sustainability-2st-edition-simon

4. Pivneva L. N. Political science for medical students: a tutorial for the course in Political Science for the School of Medicine. Kh.: V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 2016. 260 p.

5/ A New Handbook of Political Science. New York, Oxford University Press Inc., 1998.

COURSE OBLIGATIONS

In addition to reading the assigned chapters, this course will rely on online and offline issue discussions, final test, and a individual project presentation to assess student comprehension.  Additionally, the instructor will be available outside of class to engage students via telegram group, email, or Moodle.  Students are required to use the Moodle course site throughout the course.      

Class participation: According to KNEU regulations, students must attend at least half of their classes in order to be admitted to the exam.

Attendance: Missed classes must be completed as quickly as possible, having studied the missed material. We only have a week to make changes to the electronic journal.

The typical structure of the lecture includes the study of basic concepts, theoretical issues, discussions and current issues, watching interesting videos. I hope that we will invite representatives of foreign universities to present their views on various political issues.

Seminars are mostly oral. They are aimed at demonstrating your knowledge of current events, your attitude to major political issues. Often they will be held in the form of presentation of individual and group projects, trainings. Our department uses various forms of education, for example discussions, case studies, role and model games.

Online issue discussions:  Students are required to participate in three online threaded discussions that examine recent events in global financial markets.  Students will respond to short articles posted to the course site as well as to comments made by classmates.  These discussions permit the instructor to evaluate student achievement in extending the fundamental concepts of political theory. It is also an activity in the classroom. Preference for answers is given to those who wish. Without speeches and participation in discussions, it will not be possible to obtain admission to the exam.

Final test: Final test are tools for checking and representing knowledge and understanding main concepts of political sience. It includes 20 tests from different topics. The final test will be conducted in the last class. 

Individual project presentation:  The topic of individual projects "International relations of Ukraine and the state of your choice: the interaction of economy and politics." That is, the topic will be the same, and the states for analysis will be different. Each student will select a state to develop a presentation for the final in-class session.  Individual projects should be designed as a slide show or a small video.

Regarding evaluation criteria. The work should have independent conclusions on the problems and prospects of cooperation. It is desirable to use some statistics, specific facts. The study period should cover no later than 2014. There may be a shorter period, such as last year. It will be great if there is little text, instead use photos, pictures. References to the sources used should also be included. The presentation of individual projects will take place at the penultimate class.

Exam. The exam will be held in the classroom as 5 open questions from

different topics. The students should write down an essay with main definition, concepts, their own opinions and conclusions.

GRADE WEIGHTINGS

Final grades will be based on the following weighted factors.

AssignmentPercentage

Online issue discussions     30% (2% each)

Final test                                10

Individual project presentation               10

Exam                                   50%

TOTAL    100%  

The following is the University of Redlands grading criteria:

100 or 90

(A):   Outstanding.  The student displayed exceptional grasp of the material, frequently with evidence of intellectual insight and original thought.

89 or 80

(B):    Excellent.  Work demonstrated a thorough grasp of the material with occasional errors and omissions.  Assignments were thoroughly and completely done, with careful attention to detail and clarity and with evidence of intellectual insight.

79 0r 70

(C):   Good. Work demonstrated a thorough grasp of the material with occasional errors and omissions.  Assignments were thoroughly and completely done, with careful attention to detail and clarity and with evidence of intellectual insight.

69 or 60 Acceptable.  The quality of work was acceptable, meeting minimal course standards, but was not exceptional. Performance on examinations and other assignments was satisfactory and demonstrated that the student was keeping up with the material and attending to detail.

Graduate students will not receive credit for a course awarded a grade of 1.7 or below.  A cumulative grade point average below 3.0 is not sufficient for good standing in graduate programs.

F                   Incomplete.  With a valid excuse, an incomplete will be given.  Consult the U of R Catalog for further information on incomplete grades.

FX                Withdraw.  Student officially withdraws from the class.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Political science includes 9 lectures and 15 seminars. At the end of the semtster you will take an exam. The form of the exam will depend on the format of training and quarantine restrictions.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

The highest standards of academic conduct are required.  This is particularly true for the proper citation of course and research material in all written assignments.  If you did not actually collect the data or independently arrive at the idea presented, then a proper citation must be used.  Citations (in the form of parenthetical notes, endnotes or footnotes) must be used for quoted or paraphrased text and any time you borrow an idea from an author, the instructor, or your peers.  Using someone else’s sentence or organizational structure, pattern of argument and word choice, even if not exactly similar in every respect, warrants citation.  It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that their citations and quotation marks unambiguously highlight the ideas, words, sentences, and arguments that they borrow from other sources.  Paraphrasing is not simply changing one or two words in a sentence; it completely reconstructs someone else’s idea in your own words.  

Discussion with the instructor and your peers is encouraged before the composition of written work; however, all written work (including online discussion contributions), unless specified by the instructor, is to reflect independent composition and revision.  Students working on group or collaborative assignments are expected to contribute equally to all tasks necessary for completion of the assignment.

Students are expected to follow all written and verbal instructions provided by the instructor with regard to written assignments, quizzes and/or exams.  In addition to plagiarism, other impermissible academic behavior includes, but is not limited to, collaboration without instructor consent, falsifying research data, illicit possession of exams, using study aids during exams, unauthorized communication about an assignment or exam, handing in others’ work as your own, reusing assignments or papers from other courses, and impeding equal access to educational resources by other students.

COURSE SCHEDULE*

*The schedule may be changed depending on class requirements.