Scottish Politics

Description

Overview: The class will seek to provide a comprehensive overview of Scottish politics contextualising it within UK, European and world politics, historical inheritance and contemporary Scottish society. It will examine the practice of Scotland’s governing institutions, the changing nature of democracy in Scotland, the impact of devolution on policy and broader governance as well as Scotland’s constitutional status. Syllabus: The class will be taught through two one-hour lectures per week and one one-hour tutorial per fortnight. Tutorials will cover material in small group discussions and students will be given specific direction on reading and research related to the set text book for the class. Learning Outcomes: Substantive Knowledge (Knowledge and Understanding) Students will gain an understanding of: • policy-making, democratic and other theories and their relevance to Scotland • the nature of democratic representation and participation in Scotland • Scotland’s political institutions and their differences with those at UK level • the similarities and differences between governance and democratic practice at the UK and Scottish levels • Skills (Intellectual, Transferable) Students will also further develop their intellectual and transferable skills: • oral communication through the presentation of a paper and participating in discussions at seminars • research skills through the collecting of information from a wide variety of sources (e.g. online, academic journals, government publications, academic texts) in order to write their class project and prepare for the exam • information/IT/time management skills through the management of a large volume of information collected for seminars, project and examination, drafting a project to a set deadline and answering complex exam questions in a concise, well written style • analytical skills through the analysis and evaluation of the literature and online sources available in their chosen topic Assessment: Essay: 1/3 of final grade Exam: 2/3 of final grade