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Course title |
Political Science (Ⅱ) |
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Semester |
111-2 |
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Designated for |
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE,POLITICAL THEORY DIVISION |
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Instructor |
CHANG, KUEI-MIN |
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Curriculum Number |
PS1006 |
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Curriculum Identity Number |
302E10120 |
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Class |
02 |
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Credits |
3.0 |
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Full/Half
Yr. |
Half |
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Required/
Elective |
Preassign |
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Time |
Friday 6,7,8(13:20~16:20) |
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Remarks |
Restriction: students whose last two digits of their student ID are divisible by 3 with the remainder of 2 AND Restriction: within this department (including students taking minor and dual degree program)
The upper limit of the number of students: 80.
The upper limit of the number of non-majors: 20. |
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Course introduction video |
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Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning |
Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning |
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Course Syllabus
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Please respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not copy any of the course information without permission
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Course Description |
This one-year course introduces the field of political science through a survey of the major issues and questions of politics from a comparative perspective. The first semester will be devoted to understanding how and why countries become democracies and when democracies remain stable forms of government. After an introduction to essential issues within political science (such as what is politics, what is the comparative approach, what is the state, what are the fundamental differences between authoritarian and democratic governments), we will investigate questions about how modern democracies function. Is economic development critical to stable democracy? Does a population need particular cultural characteristics for its government to function democratically? What are the effects of regime type on economic growth and government performance? How important are political parties to democracy? The goal of these themes is for students to develop analytic tools for understanding various political systems and evaluating the proper nature of our society.
In the second semester, we will explore a choice of topics, such as human rights, political ideologies, secularisms, social movements and contentious politics, economic inequality and welfare states, nationalism and national identity, etc. Parallel goals of this semester include developing research and writing skills. Together, these objectives help form the foundation for future coursework in the discipline and should help students make informed judgments about the political world around them. |
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Course Objective |
The course objective is to introduce first-year political science students to major issues and theories in the study of politics. |
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Course Requirement |
The course grade will be based on one exploration paper (40%), one class presentation (20%), weekly reading comments and questions (20%), and discussion section participation (20%).
Exploration paper. You are expected to form a research/study group of 3 to 4 students and sign up on NTU COOL by March 3. An exploration paper investigates a topic related to the course that you want to know more about. The essay should be 5,000 to 8,000 words and should address the following aspects: (1) what information you have gathered from published works and websites; (2) why you think the issue is important; (3) what conclusions you have drawn from the information you have gathered; and (4) what you think are the biases or inadequacies of the sources that you used. The essay is due on June 9.
Class Presentation. Each group will give a 15 minutes presentation on June and June 9. The content should include: (1) a research topic and its importance; (2) your sources and your findings thus far; (3) the provisional conclusion that you have drawn from the information. The slides should be uploaded to NTU COOL before the class of your scheduled presentation.
Reading comments and questions. Beginning in the third week, each group is responsible for posting comments and questions, either in English or Chinese, on one of the weekly assigned readings through the discussion section on NTU COOL. The deadline is 17:00 on Thursday. Please limit your postings to six lines of text. You should address at least one following in your comments: (1) What is the author’s research question, and why is it important? (2) What is the author’s argument? (3) Is the argument convincing and why? (4) Does the evidence provided by the author support the argument and why? Your questions can be specific to the reading (e.g., theories, methods, and evidence) or about a broader issue related to the reading. You will be assigned a group if you have not signed up for one by March 3.
Discussion sections. Discussion sections begin in the third week of class. The teaching fellows will conduct the discussion both in English and Mandarin. The weekly discussion sections offer an opportunity to ask questions and discuss topics covered in lectures and the assigned readings. We will structure the meeting according to the questions posted on NTU COOL the day before. Each group is expected to have read other groups’ postings and actively participate in the discussion. |
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Student Workload (expected study time outside of class per week) |
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Office Hours |
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References |
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Designated reading |
There are no required books for purchase. Three books from which relatively long sections have been assigned have been placed on reserve. These are Clark, Golder, and Golder, Foundations of Comparative Politics; Shively, Power and Choice: An Introduction to Political Science; Garner, Ferdinand, and Lawson, Introduction to Politics. Book chapters from other books, and journal articles, are available on NTU COOL.
The Course Reserves section is located on the first floor of the Koo Chen-Fu Memorial Library. |
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Grading |
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No. |
Item |
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Explanations for the conditions |
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1. |
Exploration paper |
40% |
On the essays, we view A- as a grade that represents a sound, solid, commendable job that fulfills the assignment; the paper gives a clear, structured, and reasonable presentation of whatever it sets out to do. The grade goes below A- when the argument is unclear, necessary parts are missing, the research is thin, the paper is disorganized, or the presentation is otherwise flawed. It goes above A- if the paper is in some way distinguished, original, incredibly thoughtful, especially persuasive, exceptionally informative, and so on. |
2. |
Class presentation |
20% |
On class presentation, your grade will be based on the richness and organization of your empirical findings as well as the clarity of your argument. |
3. |
Reading comments and questions |
20% |
On reading comments and questions, your grade will be based on your knowledge of the material and on your understanding of how this knowledge applies to related political issues. |
4. |
Discussion |
20% |
The participation grade will be based on attendance and the quality of participation in section discussions. |
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