Political Science

Code:

1OP03

Acronym:

CPol

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Social Science

Instance: 2024/2025 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Secção Autónoma de Ciências Sociais
Institution Responsible:	Faculty of Economics

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LECO	26	Bologna Syllabus since 2012	3	-	3	42	81
LGES	17	Bologna Syllabus since 2012	3	-	3	42	81

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

1. An introduction to political science, and a demonstration of the interdisciplinar dialogue with economics and organisation theory.
2. An introduction to the key concepts of democracy, rule of law, and social market economy.
3. An analysis focused on the relationship of democratic institutions, public policies and firms, in the European Union.

Learning outcomes and competences

Students must:
1. Identify political science, emong social sciences.
2. Understand the convergence of political science, economics and organisation theory in explaining the dynamics of European integration.
3. Take into consideration the political and institutionnal environment for the economic and entrepreneurial activies, in present Europe.
4. Understand the influence of the social environment on European firms.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Basic trainning in economics and organisation theory.

Program

1. The European Union as a political union of sovereign States:
1.1. The Union's values and goals.
1.2. The legal and political identity of EU, and its distinctiveness, vis-à-vis the Anglo-Saxon world (the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada).
1.3. EU's institutional architecture.


2. The European model: liberal democracy and the Welfare State:
2.1. The making of the liberal State.
2.2. Liberal State and democracy.
2.3. Democracy as a methodology, as participation, and as social justice.
2.3. Democray, capitalism, and the Welfare State.
2.4. Democracy and human rights.
2.4. Is there an European democracy?

3. Democracy's political institutions:
3.1. Parliamentarism, presidencialism, and other regimes.
3.2. Pluralism and representation: political views and families.
3.3. The party-system and the electoral system.
3.4. The role of the State: sovereignty, economic policies, social policies.
3.5. The European structure: the competences of various institutions and the decision-making process.

4. The politics of the interaction firms-environment: State intervention and entrepreneurship, in a social market economy.
4.1. European vs. national level.
4.2. Raison d'être and goals of the Government's economic intervention.
4.3. Economic intervention and public regulation.
4.4. The State as an enabler of the market economic: free access and competition.
4.5. The firm and the State: context costs vs. context benefits.

5. The politics of the interaction firms-environment: social actors and collective actors:
5.1. Collective actors and action.
5.2. Interests and interest groups: Olsen's paradox.
5.3. Entrepreneurial representation.
5.4. Trade-unions and professionalism.

6. A final reflection on instituions, markets, and the public sphere.

Mandatory literature

Não aplicável; A União Europeia- o que É e o que Faz, Serviço de Publicações da União Europeia, 2022
Maria Manuel Leitão Marques; Manual de introdução ao direito. ISBN: 978-972-40-7821-2
Augusto Ernesto Santos Silva; Obrigado por estarem presentes. ISBN: 978-972-27-3215-4

Complementary Bibliography

Paulo Olavo Cunha; Direito empresarial para economistas e gestores. ISBN: 978-972-40-8376-6

Teaching methods and learning activities

Lectures will be complemented by data analysis and students'presentations on critical issues regarding the instittuional framework of current European economy.

keywords

Social sciences > Political sciences > Governance

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	50,00
Teste	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	42,00
Frequência das aulas	42,00
Total:	84,00

Eligibility for exams

Class attendance is compulsory (at least, 75% of the classes), as well as an individual written test and a group presentation in class.

Calculation formula of final grade

50% for the written test and 50% for the presentation.

Classification improvement

A final exam is considered.