Lehrende: Prof. Dr. Martin Elff
Veranstaltungsart: Seminar
Orga-Einheit: Politics, Administration & International Relations
Anzeige im Stundenplan: Elections
Semesterwochenstunden: 3
Credits: 5,0
Standort: Campus der Zeppelin Universität
Unterrichtssprache: Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: 5 | 35
Prioritätsschema: Standard-Priorisierung
Inhalte: On the eve of election day, the race of the parties is replaced by the race of the prognoses. Even before an official electoral result is announced, the TV public is presented with predictions made by polling agencies about how likely each party is to win, by which groups of voters it is supported, and how many voters have changed their decisions in comparison to the previous election. What follows are the days of exegesis of the popular mandate. Leaders of almost every party put forward their views about it and almost always find their own positions vindicated. Nevertheless one may ask about what we really know of citizens' opinions and preferences? Social science research in opinions, attitudes and electoral behaviour tries to overcome a merely impressionistic interpretation of electoral behaviour and to find out the actual motives of voting decisions. Who votes how, and why? Is it that voters try to maximize their own utilities and interests or do they pass moral judgement over the parties? Is voting a tally of the performance of government and opposition or a mandate for future policies? How do citizens form their opinions and attitudes about social or foreign policy and how well informed are these? What are the effects of campaigns on the decision in the voting booth? This course gives an introduction to the various attempts at answering these fascinating questions. This course focuses on Electoral Behavior in the United States and especially the Presedential Elections in 2016
Lernziele: Aim of the course is to provide an understanding of the fundamental concepts and theories in political science research on electoral behaviour and political attitudes. It thereby enables participants to find their way through the literature on various aspects of this research area, to develop their own research questions and to address them in their own academic work.
Literatur: Kaina, Victoria und Andrea Römmele (Hg.). 2012. Politische Soziologie: Ein Studienbuch. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Pappi, Franz U. und Susumu Shikano. 2007. Wahl- und Wählerforschung. Baden-Baden: Nomos. Rattinger, Hans. 2009. Einführung in die Politische Soziologie. München: Oldenbourg. Andrew Gelman. 2009. Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do. Expanded Edition, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Evans, Jocelyn A.J. 2004. Voters & Voting. London: Sage. Van der Eijk, Cees, and Mark N. Franklin. 2009. Elections and Voters. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
