HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Political Science

Semester: Yearly

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Prof. Moshe Maor

Coordinator Email: msmaor@mscc.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Mon. 17:00-18:00, Wed. 13:45-14:15

Teaching Staff:
Prof Moshe Maor

Course/Module description:
The seminar will principally focus on processes of continuity and change in British political institutions and practices from the end of World War II.

Course/Module aims:
- To explain the complexity of interaction among British political institutions, and between these institutions and the social and economic actors within and outside of Britain.
- To elaborate how British political parties deal with market failures, political errors and European integration processes
- To explain the delegation of authority to various realms in Britain and the social and cultural changes affecting the British sphere
- To highlight trends in British political science - To give students the opportunity to criticize research studies examining British politics.
- To train students with regard to the investigation of primary sources in the analysis of political problems concerning the subject being studied

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Analyze issues which are now at the focus of public and academic debate in modern British politics
- Critically apply the theoretical and empirical knowledge acquired in class to better understand the factors which motivate and obstruct political change in the British context, as well as the insights regarding the ways these factors operate in this arena
- Criticize research studies examining British politics

Attendance requirements(%):
Compulsory Attendance, except in cases of Army service or birth.

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: - A few introductory lectures on modern British politics
- Mid-term exam
- Student presentation
- Presentation of seminar paper

Course/Module Content:
- The New British Constitution
- Issue Evolution and Party Manifestos
- Dynamics of Electoral Choice
- Left, Right and Center
- The Conservative Party under David Cameron
- Euro-scepticism
- New Labor and After New Labor
- Lib-Dem
- The Extreme Right
- War on Terror
- Interest Groups, Collective Action, and Protest Behavior
- Representation
Social Integration and Cohesion
- Public Expectations and Policy Responsiveness
- Accountability and Blame
- Devolution and Strategic Opposition
- Prime-Ministerial Performance

Required Reading:
COURSE GUIDE

1. Introduction


PART A: The New British Constitution


2. The Old Constitution

Bogdanor, V. 2009. The New British Constitution, Portland, OR: Hart, 3-52



3. The Human Rights Act, Devolution

Bogdanor, V. 2009. The New British Constitution, Portland, OR: Hart, 53-120



4. Hung Parliament, A Reformed House of Lord?

Bogdanor, V. 2009. The New British Constitution, Portland, OR: Hart, 121-172



5. The Referendum; The New Government of London; Towards a Written
Constitution?

Bogdanor, V. 2009. The New British Constitution, Portland, OR: Hart, 173-234

Russell, M. 2011. “Constitutional Politics”, In: Cowley, P., C. Hay and R. Heffernan (eds.) Developments in British Politics 9, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 8-28.



6. Mid-Term Exam


PART B: Political Institutions and Processes


7. Issue Evolution and Party Manifestos


Stevens, D. 2013. “Issue Evolution in Britain: The Debate on European Union Integration, 1964-2010”, European Journal of Political Research 52: 536-557.

Allen, N. and K. Mirwaldt. 2010. “Democracy-Speak: Party Manifestos and Democratic Values in Britain, France and Germany”, West European Politics 33(4): 870-893.

John, P. and W. Jennings. 2010. “Punctuations and Turning Points in British Politics: The Policy Agenda on the Queen’s Speech, 1940-2005”, British Journal of Political Science 40: 561-586.



8. Dynamics of Electoral Choice


Sanders, D. et al. 2011. “Downs, Stokes and the Dynamics of Electoral Choice”, British Journal of Political Science 41: 287-314.

Dancygier, R. and E.N. Saunders. 2006. “A New Electorate? Comparing Preferences and Partisanship between Immigrants and Natives”, American Journal of Political Science 50(4): 962-981.

Denver, D. 2011. “Elections and Voting”, In: Cowley, P., C. Hay and R. Heffernan (eds.) Developments in British Politics 9, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 70-90.

Whiteley, P. 2012. Political Participation in Britain: The Decline and Revival of Civic Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Introduction & Concluding chapters.



8. Left, Right and Center


Bartle, J. 2010. “The Moving Center: Preferences for Government Activity in Britain, 1950-2005”, British Journal of Political Science 41: 259-285.

Keman, H. 2010. “Third Ways and Social Democracy: The Right Way to Go?” British Journal of Political Science 41: 671-680.

Hakhverdian, A. 2010. “Political Representation and its Mechanisms: A Dynamic Left-Right Approach for the United Kingdom, 1976-2006”, British Journal of Political Science 40: 835-856.

Adam, J. and S. Merrill. 2006. 2006. “Why Small, Centrist Third Parties Motivate Policy Divergence by Major Parties”, American Political Science Review 100(3): 403-417.



9. The Conservative Party under David Cameron


Buckler, S. and D. Dolowitz. 2012. “Ideology Matters: Party Competition, Ideological Positioning and the Case of the Conservative Party under David Cameron”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 14: 576-594.

Pautz, H. 2013. “The Think Tanks behind “Cameronism”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 362-377.

Heppell, T. 2013. “Cameron and Liberal Conservatism: Attitudes within the Parliamentary Conservative Party and Conservative Ministers”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 340-361.



10. Euro-scepticism


Lubbers, M. and P. Scheepers. 2005. “Political versus Instrumental Euro-scepticism”, European Union Politics 6(2): 223-242.

Lynch, P. and R. Whitaker. 2013. “Where There is Discord, Can They Bring Harmony? Managing Inter-party Dissent on European Integration in the Conservative Party”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 317-339.

Daddow, O. 2013. “Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and the Eurosceptic Tradition in Britain”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 210-227.

McElroy, G. and K. Benoit. 2010. “Party Policy and Group Affiliation in the European Parliament”, British Journal of Political Science 40: 377-398.



11. New Labor and After New Labor


Gamble, A. 2012. “Inside New Labor”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 14: 492-502.

Finlayson, A. 2013. “From Blue to Green and Everything in Between: Ideational Change and Left Political Economy after New Labor”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 70-88.

Hay, C. 2013. “Treating the Symptoms Not the Condition: Crisis Definition, Deficit Reduction and the Search for a New British Growth Model”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 23-37.

Coats, D. 2013. Labor after New Labor: Escaping the Debt”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 38-52.



12. Lib-Dem


Evans, E. and E. Sanderson-Nash. 2011. “From Sandals to Suits: Professionalization, Coalition and the Liberal Democrats”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 13: 459-473.

Cutts, D. 2012. “Yet Another False Dawn? An Examination of the Liberal Democrats’ Performance in the 2010 General Election”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 14: 96-114.


13. The Extreme Right


Stoker, G. 2011. “Anti-Politics in Britain”, In: Cowley, P., C. Hay and R. Heffernan (eds.) Developments in British Politics 9, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 153-173.

John, P. and H. Margetts. 2009. “The Latent Support for the Extreme Right in British Politics”, West European Politics 32(3): 496-513.

Macklin, G. 2013. “Transnational Networking on the Far Right: The Case of Britain and Germany”, West European Politics 36(1): 176-198.



14. War on Terror


Kettell, S. 2013. “Dilemmas of Discourse: Legitimizing Britain’s War on Terror”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 263-279.

Heath-Kelly, C. 2013. “Counter-Terrorism and the Counterfactual: Producing the “Radicalization” Discourse and the UK PREVENT Strategy”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15: 394-415.

Miller, W.L. 2011. “Religion, Risk and Legal Culture: Balancing Human Rights against a ‘War on Terror””, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 13: 514-533.

MacDonald, M.N., D. Hunter and J.P. O’Regan. 2013. “Citizenship, Community, and Counter-Terrorism: UK Security Discourse, 2001-2011”, Journal of Language and Politics (in press). Available on-line at: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/54268/



15. Interest Groups, Collective Action, and Protest Behavior


Statham, P. and A. Geddes. 2006. “Elites and the “Organized Public”: Who Drives British Immigration Politics and in which Direction?” West European Politics 29(2): 248-269.

Dalton, R. et al. 2009. “The Individual-Institutional Nexus of Protest Behavior”, British Journal of Political Science 40: 51-73.

Heffernan, R. 2011. “Pressure Group Politics”, In: Cowley, P., C. Hay and R. Heffernan (eds.) Developments in British Politics 9, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 174-195.



16. Representation


Campbell, R. 2009. “Do Women Need Women Representatives?”, British Journal of Political Science 40: 171-194.

Sobolewska, M. 2013. “Party Strategies and the Descriptive Representation of Ethnic Minorities: The 2010 British General Election”, West European Politics 36(3): 615-633.



17. Social Integration and Cohesion


Mason, A. 2010. “Integration, Cohesion and National Identity: Theoretical Reflections on Recent British Policy”, British Journal of Political Science 40: 857-874.

Campbell, R. 2011. “The Politics of Diversity”, In: Cowley, P., C. Hay and R. Heffernan (eds.) Developments in British Politics 9, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 196-214.



18. Public Expectations and Policy Responsiveness


Jennings, W. 2009. “The Public Thermostat, Political Responsiveness and Error-Correction: Border Control and Asylum in Britain, 1994-2007”, British Journal of Political Science 39: 847-870.

Jennings, W. and P. John. 2009. “The Dynamics of Political Attention: Public Opinion and the Queen’s Speech in the United Kingdom”, American Journal of Political Science 53(4): 838-854.

Flinders, M. and A. Kelso. 2011. “Mind the Gap: Political Analysis, Public Expectations and the Parliamentary Decline Thesis”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 13: 249-268.

The LSE GV314 Group. 2012. “Research Note: Groups and the Limited Pluralism of the Set-Piece Consultation”, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 14: 175-186.



19. Accountability and Blame


Vivyan, N. and M. Wagner. 2012. “Do Voters Reward Rebellion? The Electoral Accountability of MPs in Britain”, European Journal of Political Research 51: 235-264.

Sulitzeanu-Kenan, R. 2010. “Reflection in the Shadow of Blame: When Do Politicians Appoint Commissions of Inquiry?”, British Journal of Political Science 40: 613-634.

King, A. and N. Allen. 2010. “”Off with their Heads”: British Prime Ministers and the Power to Dismiss”, British Journal of Political Science 40: 249-278.





20. Devolution and Strategic Opposition


Dewan, T. and A. Spirling. 2011. “Strategic Opposition and Government Cohesion in Westminster Democracies”, American Political Science Review 105(2): 337-358.

Scully, R. and Wyn Jones, R. 2011. Territorial Politics in the Post-Devolution United Kingdom”, In: Cowley, P., C. Hay and R. Heffernan (eds.) Developments in British Politics 9, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 113-129.

Gormley-Heenan, C. 2011. “Power Sharing in Northern Ireland”, In: Cowley, P., C. Hay and R. Heffernan (eds.) Developments in British Politics 9, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 130-151.



21. Prime-Ministerial Performance


Bannister, M, and R. Heffernan. 2012. “Cameron as Prime Minister: The Intra Executive Politics of Britain’s Coalition Government”, Parliamentary Affairs 65 (4): 778-801.

Dowding, K. 2013. “The Prime Ministerialization of the British Prime Minister”, Parliamentary Affairs, 66 (3): 617-635.

Dowding, K. 2013. “Prime-Ministerial Power Institutional and Personal Factors”, In: Strangio, P., P. ‘t Hart, and J. Walter (eds.) Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 57-78.

Heppell, T. 2013. “Prime Ministers and their Parties in the United Kingdom”, In: Strangio, P., P. ‘t Hart, and J. Walter (eds.) Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 129-150.

Theakston, K. 2013. “Evaluating Prime-Ministerial Performance: The British Experience”, In: Strangio, P., P. ‘t Hart, and J. Walter (eds.) Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 221-241.

Additional Reading Material:

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 20 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 80 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
- Student presentation: 20%
- Mid-term exam: pass/fail
- 5 reading reports: pass/fail
- Seminar paper: 80%

During the course, the lecturer may decide on changes in the course program based on academic considerations. This may include changes in the requirements detailed in the syllabus. If the students do not fulfill the routine requirements of the seminar (not reading, infrequent attendance at lessons, and others) the additional tasks of reading reports and final exam will be included.