| Dozent/in |
Frederico Dias Ferreira da Silva, Ph.D. |
| Veranstaltungsart |
Hauptseminar |
| Code |
HS261746 |
| Semester |
Herbstsemester 2026 |
| Durchführender Fachbereich |
Politikwissenschaft |
| Studienstufe |
Bachelor
Master |
| Termin/e |
Mi, 23.09.2026, 12:15 - 14:00 Uhr, Intern, HS6
Fr, 20.11.2026, 09:15 - 17:00 Uhr, HS 11
Sa, 21.11.2026, 09:15 - 15:30 Uhr, 2.A10
Fr, 04.12.2026, 09:15 - 17:00 Uhr, 2.A07
Sa, 05.12.2026, 09:15 - 15:30 Uhr, 2.A07 |
| Weitere Daten |
Einführungsveranstaltung findet statt am Mittwoch, 23.09.2026 von 12:15 - 14:00 Uhr im HS 6 |
| Umfang |
2 Semesterwochenstunden |
| Turnus |
Blockveranstaltung |
| Inhalt |
This course examines how citizens in Western democracies develop political opinions and translate them into electoral choices. Starting from early twentieth-century debates over whether ordinary citizens can meet the demands of democratic government, it traces the major theoretical traditions that have shaped the study of voting behavior over the past century. We will discuss what public opinion is, how it forms, and whether it can be trusted as a basis for collective decision-making. The course then works through the three classic models of the vote: the sociological model, which roots preferences in social group membership; the socio-psychological model, which centers party identification and long-term loyalty; and the economic model, which treats voting as instrumental calculation.
The second half turns to debates about voter competence. Does the electorate reward and punish governments reasonably on the basis of performance? Are voters retrospective accountants, motivated reasoners, or ambivalent citizens torn between competing considerations? How do information, media, and prior predispositions interact to produce the opinions we observe in surveys? Throughout the course, students engage directly with key texts, developing critical reading of empirical political science and learning to weigh the evidence behind influential claims. By connecting these theories to real elections in the United States and Western Europe, the course equips students to analyze contemporary electoral politics. |
| Lernziele |
1. Trace the development of voting-behavior research from early public-opinion theory through the classic models to contemporary cognitive approaches.
2. Compare the sociological, socio-psychological, and rational-choice models and assess the explanatory strengths and limits of each.
3. Evaluate competing claims about voter rationality and democratic competence, drawing on retrospective-voting and motivated-reasoning research.
4. Apply these models to interpret actual electoral patterns in the United States and Western Europe, including partisan dealignment and the rise of populism.
5. Read and critically summarize foundational empirical texts, identifying their core claims, methods, and evidentiary limits.
6. Construct and defend a reasoned argument about whether democratic publics meet the normative demands placed on them. |
| Sprache |
Englisch |
| Anmeldung |
***Wichtig*** Um Credits zu erwerben ist die Anmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung über das UniPortal zwingend erforderlich. Die Anmeldung ist ab zwei Wochen vor bis zwei Wochen nach Beginn des Semesters möglich. An- und Abmeldungen sind nach diesem Zeitraum nicht mehr möglich. Die genauen Anmeldedaten finden Sie hier: http://www.unilu.ch/ksf/semesterdaten |
| Leistungsnachweis |
Active participation, research proposal |
| Abschlussform / Credits |
Aktive Teilnahme, Researach Proposal / 4 Credits
|
| Hörer-/innen |
Nach Vereinbarung |
| Kontakt |
frederico.silva@ics.ulisboa.pt |
| Literatur |
Literature (main titles, if details not yet known):
- Achen, Christopher H., and Larry M. Bartels. 2016. Democracy for Realists. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Campbell, Angus, Philip E. Converse, Warren E. Miller, and Donald E. Stokes. 1960. The American Voter. New York: Wiley
- Converse, Philip E. 1964. “The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics.” In Ideology and Discontent, ed. David E. Apter, 206–261. New York: Free Press
- Dalton, Russel J., and Martin P. Wattenberg (eds.) 2000. Parties Without Partisans. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper & Row
- Fiorina, Morris P. 1981. Retrospective Voting in American National Elections. New Haven: Yale University Press
- Key, V. O., Jr. 1966. The Responsible Electorate. Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press.
- Kriesi, Hanspeter, Grande, Edgar, Lachat, Romain, Dolezal, Martin, Bornschier, Simon and Timotheos Frey (2008) West European Politics in the Age of Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Lavine, Howard, Christopher D. Johnston, and Marco R. Steenbergen. 2012. The Ambivalent Partisan. New York: Oxford University Press
- Lazarsfeld, Paul F., Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet. (1944) 1968. The People’s Choice. 3rd ed. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Lippmann, Walter. (1922) 1997. Public Opinion. New York: Free Press.
- Lipset, Seymour M., and Stein Rokkan (eds.). 1967. Party Systems and Voter Alignments. New York: Free Press
- Lodge, Charles, S. And Milton Lodge (2013). The Rationalizing Voter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Norris, Pippa, and Ronald Inglehart. 2019. Cultural Backlash. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Zaller, John R. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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