Power, Politics and Governance

Recommended Prerequisites

Skills in social theory, sociological theories, political theory, political sociology and political science are recommended.

Teaching Methods

The curricular unit mobilizes a participative pedagogy, with direct involvement from students in choosing the case studies to be discussed and emphasizing the critical analysis of the phenomena under consideration. The ability for autonomous reflexion is accentuated.

Learning Outcomes

The general objective of this course is to provide advanced knowledge about the political phenomena, aiming to develop a systematic analysis of the major transformations of power, politic and governance phenomena, as well as to capture a diversity of theoretical perspectives on those phenomena.

 Students must be able to:

- Understand the different socio-political regulation paradigms of contemporary societies and the changes in the relationship between the state and the civil society;

- Identify and characterise the phenomena of power, politics and governance in the plurality of their different socio-political expressions;

- Recognise the articulation patterns and the transformation dynamics between them.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. The production of conflict and consensus in contemporary societies

2. The principles of the State, market, community and association

3. The main sociopolitical currents for the analysis of power at the micro, meso and macro levels

4. Politics in the frame of traditional regulation

5. Governability as a paradigm of political regulation

6. Governability institutions: actors, political systems, organizations and institutions

7. From general conceptions of politics to subpolitics

8. From traditional regulation to neo-regulation. Governance as s paradigm of political regulation

9. The multilevel governance

10. Governance in the context of complex societies.

Head Lecturer(s)

Daniel Gameiro Francisco

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Practical essays along the semester : 50.0%
Synthesis work: 50.0%

Bibliography

DAWSON, Mark, Henrik Enderlein, and Christian Joerges - Beyond the Crisis: The Governance of Europe’s Economic, Political and Legal Transformation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

FERREIRA, António Casimiro - Política e Sociedade- Teoria Social em tempo de Austeridade. Porto. Vida Económica, 2016.

LEVI-FAUR, David (Ed.) - The Oxford Handbook of Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

JON, Pierre; Peters, B. Guy - Governing Complex Societies - Trajectories and Scenarios. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.