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Political Parties

Code: 101072
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Political Science and Public Management OP 3
Political Science and Public Management OP 4
Contemporary History, Politics and Economics OP 3
Contemporary History, Politics and Economics OP 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Ernesto M Pascual Bueno
Email :
ernestomanuel.pascual@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

Our contract

By enrolling in this course, you and I have entered into a mutual contract.

I commit myself to preparing classes with dedication, showing enthusiasm for the subject, treating every student with fairness and respect, and listening to opinions expressed in a reasoned manner. I will be accessible through the channels established for the course and will make every reasonable effort to return corrected materials within a maximum period of two weeks, except in duly justified exceptional circumstances.

For your part, by enrolling in this course, you accept the following commitments:

  1. To attend all classes regularly.
  2. To participate actively by asking questions, taking part in debates, and respecting the intellectual work of the group.
  3. To read the assigned material before the corresponding sessions.
  4. To submit written assignments on time and through the established channels.
  5. To respect the rules governing the classroom, the Virtual Campus, and the assessment system.
  6. To contribute to making the classroom a space of concentration, listening, and shared work.

In order to guarantee this mutual commitment, it is essential that you read the course guide and submit it signed on the first day of class. The lecturer may acknowledge this prior reading within the attendance and participation component.


Formal prerequisites

It is recommended that students have previously taken the second-year course Political Behaviour and the third-year course Electoral Analysis.

It is also assumed that students have general knowledge of Political Science, Comparative Politics, political institutions, and the analysis of collective actors. The course requires the ability to read academic texts, interpret theoretical arguments, work with empirical information, and apply concepts to specific cases.


Recommendations

Students are advised to follow political current affairs regularly through a variety of media, both written and audiovisual, Spanish and international. The course works with real political parties, contemporary debates, electoral processes, institutional conflicts, and organisational dynamics that require students to remain well informed.

For optimal performance in the course, students are advised to have:

  1. Basic computer skills: word processing, presentations, Internet browsing, and documentary research.
  2. Basic command of the UAB Virtual Campus.
  3. The ability to consult databases, legislation, party statutes, public reports, and academic bibliography.
  4. An intermediate level of English that allows them to consult research, news, and specialised bibliography written in that language.
  5. A habit of critical reading and prior preparation for each session.


Observations

During classes, the use of electronic devices is not permitted, either for communication or for taking notes. Computers, tablets, and mobile phones must be set to silent mode and deposited, before the beginning of the session, in the space provided for that purpose. They may be collected at the end of the class.

The class is conceived as a unit of intellectual work. Once the session has begun, students may not freely enter and leave the classroom. If a student leaves the classroom during the session, they may not re-enter until the session has ended, except in cases of justified force majeure, medical reasons, disability, duly accredited need, or express indication by the lecturer. This rule is intended to preserve collective concentration, the energy created in the classroom, and to avoid the disruption caused by continuous movement during class.

Students must arrive in class having attended to their physical needs before the beginning of the session. If they think they may need water during class, they should bring it with them from the start.

Individual questions will not be answered at the end of classes. Questions must be raised during the session, when they can contribute to collective learning, or in the questions forum created for this purpose on the Virtual Campus. General queries about content, practical assignments, assessment, or the ordinary functioning of the course will not be answered by email either. The criterion is simple: if the answer may be useful to the group as a whole, the question must be asked in a shared space.

All oral and written activities must be carried out in Catalan or Spanish. No other languages will be accepted unless expressly authorised by the lecturer.

Objectives

The course introduces students to the analytical and empirical study of political parties, essential institutions for the functioning of contemporary democracies. Parties are not merely electoral organisations: they are structures of representation, elite selection, interest articulation, ideological production, social mobilisation, parliamentary organisation, and government formation.

The course moves beyond the classic merely descriptive or typological approach and adopts an explanatory framework to understand how parties emerge, how they are organised internally, how they compete with one another, how they relate to the state and society, and how they transform in response to processes such as electoral fragmentation, the professionalisation of politics, citizen disaffection, polarisation, digitalisation, and the emergence of new forms of leadership.

The perspective of the course is historical, institutional, organisational, sociological, ideological, and comparative. Drawing on classic concepts in Political Science and contemporary debates on democracy, representation, oligarchy, cartelisation, populism, party systems, and governability, students will learn to analyse specific parties and to understand their role within political systems.

The course pays specific attention to the Spanish case, but it is not limited to it. The aim is for students to be able to apply analytical tools to parties and party systems in different democratic contexts, as well as to identify the limits and problems that parties pose for the quality of democracy.

The objectives of the course are:

  1. To analyse political parties as central actors in representative democracies.
  2. To understand the historical origin, organisational evolution, and contemporary transformations of political parties.
  3. To identify the main party typologies and assess their analytical usefulness.
  4. To explain the internal organisation of parties, their formal structures, bureaucracy, leaderships, and mechanisms of participation.
  5. To compare ideological families, competition strategies, and forms of structuring the political space.
  6. To interpret the relationships between parties, the state, legislation, funding, and democratic control.
  7. To evaluate the role of parties in opposition, in government, and in the formation of coalitions.
  8. To apply theoretical concepts to empirical cases through practical exercises, documentary analysis, and coursework.


Learning outcomes

  1. Working in teams and networking, particularly in interdisciplinary conditions.
  2. Identifying sources of data and conducting bibliographic and documentary searches.
  3. Synthesizing and critically analysing information.
  4. Interpreting and applying English texts in an academic way.
  5. Arguing from different theoretical perspectives.
  6. Working by using quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in order to apply them to research processes.
  7. Using the main information and documentation techniques (ICT) as an essential tool for the analysis.
  8. Demonstrating good writing skills in different contexts.
  9. Showing a good capacity for transmitting information, distinguishing key messages for their different recipients.
  10. Realising effective oral presentations that are suited to the audience.
  11. Managing the available time in order to accomplish the established objectives and fulfil the intended task.
  12. Working autonomously.
  13. Managing the different theoretical contributions about actors and actor's networks, as well as the characteristics of collective action.
  14. Analysing the behaviour of the political actors, both individually and collectively (parties, interest groups, social movements, etc.).
  15. Identifying main actors of the political system, inspecting their interactions and assessing their behaviour in their environment and in the political system from a theoretical and practical perspective.
  16. Analysing the electoral processes, including campaigns, parties' electoral strategies, political scenarios and analysis and interpretation of electoral results.
  17. Explaining political, individual and collective attitudes and behaviours, as well as the education process and expression of political preferences.
  18. Identifying and distinguishing the functioning of the electoral processes.
  19. Assessing the contribution of movements like feminism, environmentalism or various identity movements.
  20. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  21. Demonstrate the capacity to continue working in the future autonomously gaining a deeper understanding of the knowledge acquired or embarking on new areas of knowledge.
  22. Present works in formats tailored to the needs and personal styles, both individual and small group.
  23. Identifying the social, economic and political structures of the contemporary world.
  24. Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
  25. Identifying sources of data and conducting bibliographic and documentary searches.
  26. Producing and preparing presentations of reports and intervention proposals.
  27. Designing data collection techniques, coordinating the information processing and meticulously applying hypothesis verification methods.
  28. Identifying and distinguishing the functioning of the electoral processes.
  29. Use different theoretical contributions on actors and networks of actors as well as the characteristics of collective action.
  30. Identify the main actors in the political system, examine their interactions and evaluate their behaviour in their environment and in the political system from a theoretical and applied perspective.

Contents


I. History and foundations of political parties

  1. What is a political party? Definition, functions, and differences with other political actors.
  2. History and evolution of political parties: from elite parties to modern organisations.
  3. Classification of political parties: typologies according to ideology, organisational structure, and electoral strategy.
  4. Political parties in democratic theory.
  5. Functions of political parties: traditional and contemporary.

This first block addresses the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the course. It begins by defining what a political party is and what distinguishes it from other collective actors, such as interest groups, social movements, electoral platforms, or civic associations. It then studies the historical evolution of political parties, from early elitist and parliamentary forms to mass parties, catch-all parties, cartel parties, movement-parties, and other contemporary forms.

The block helps students understand why political parties have historically been necessary to articulate representation, organise electoral competition, select elites, and structure the relationship between citizens and institutions. It also introduces the normative debate on the role of parties in democracy: whether they are indispensable instruments of representation or whether, at the same time, they may produce oligarchisation, organisational closure, and distance from society.


II. Organisation and internal structure

  1. Formal party structure: aims, objectives, bodies, and organisational levels.
  2. The party as a bureaucracy.
  3. Membership and participation: members, supporters, and activists.
  4. Party leadership: selection of leaders and candidates.
  5. Internal democracy: currents, factions, and deliberative processes.

The second block focuses on the party as an organisation. It studies party statutes, internal bodies, territorial distribution, hierarchies, decision-making mechanisms, and formal and informal rules. The party will be analysed as a political bureaucracy, but also as an organisation shaped by incentives, internal careers, leaderships, membership, factions, currents, and tensions between participation and effectiveness.

Students will work with real cases and party documents in order to understand how internal rules condition internal democracy, candidate selection, the relationship between leadership and grassroots members, and organisational adaptability. This block connects directly with debates on primaries, hyper-leadership, professionalisation, weak membership, digital parties, and the crisis of political intermediation.


III. Ideology and competition

  1. Ideological families and party groups.
  2. Ideological competition and the structuring of political space.
  3. Competition strategies: moderation, polarisation, electoral niches, and issue ownership.
  4. Parties, campaigns, and electoral behaviour.
  5. Party systems, cleavages, and the transformation of political conflict.

The third block analyses the ideological and competitive dimension of political parties. It studies the main party families in contemporary democracies and the way in which they structure political space. The course will pay attention to left-right competition, territorial, cultural, and identity-based dimensions, and the emergence of new political conflicts.

The block also allows students to analyse competition strategies: moves towards the centre, polarisation, electoral segmentation, issue ownership, competition for specific niches, and adaptation to new competitors. These tools will be applied to Spanish and European cases, with particular attention to fragmentation, electoral volatility, and the reconfiguration of party systems.


IV. Party and state

  1. The phases of the relationship between parties and the state: from hostility to constitutionalisation.
  2. Party law and the limits of pluralism.
  3. Party funding: models, transparency, and control.
  4. Parties, legality, accountability, and democratic quality.

The fourth block studies the relationship between political parties and the state. It reviews the historical evolution from initial distrust towards parties to their constitutional and legal recognition as central actors in representative democracy. The legal regulation of parties, their rights, duties, and limits will be analysed, as well as the normative problems raised by the banning or outlawing of political parties.

The block also focuses on party funding, its comparative models, and problems of transparency, institutional dependence, corruption, control, and accountability. The aim is for students to understand that parties are not only social or electoral actors, but also organisations deeply connected to the state and its resources.


V. Institutional dynamics: opposition and government

  1. The party in electoral competition.
  2. The party in opposition.
  3. The party in government.
  4. Coalition formation, discipline, and governability.
  5. The Spanish party system: evolution, fragmentation, territorialisation, and blocs.

The fifth block addresses parties in their everyday institutional functioning. It studies the role of the party in opposition, in parliamentary scrutiny, in the construction of political alternatives, and in holding government to account. It also analyses the party in government: discipline, coordination, negotiation, coalitions, portfolio allocation, stability, and governability.

The block concludes with a specific application to the Spanish party system. Its evolution, the transformations brought about by electoral fragmentation, the territorialisation of political conflict, the emergence of new actors, and the formation of parliamentary blocs will be studied. This part makes it possible to integrate the previous contents and prepare both the coursework and the final examination.


Indicative sequencing by sessions

The following plan is offered as guidance to adjust the contents to the first semester of the 2026/2027 academic year. According to the Faculty’s academic calendar, ordinary teaching activity for the first semester runs from 14 September to 11 December 2026. The period for recovering classes in the first semester is scheduled between 14 and 22 December 2026, and the period for assessment and reassessment activities runs from 7 to 29 January 2027.

The sequencing is based on the assumption of two weekly sessions, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, between 15 September and 10 December 2026. No teaching is scheduled for Tuesday 8 December, as it is a public holiday. Sessions that fully or partially coincide with institutional activities may be transformed into directed activities through the Virtual Campus or recovered within the official class recovery period.


Session
1 Tue. 15 September Course presentation. Teaching contract. What does a course on political parties study? Signing of the course guide and explanation of the assessment system
2 Thu. 17 September What is a political party? Definition, minimum features, and differences with other actors Initial debate with current examples
3 Tue. 22 September Historical origin of parties: elite parties, mass parties, and the transformation of representation Guided reading
4 Thu. 24 September Party typologies: notables, mass parties, cadre parties, catch-all parties, cartel parties, movement-parties, and business-firm parties Practical exercise 1
5 Tue. 29 September Parties in democratic theory: representation, intermediation, and legitimacy Session subject to La Comunitària if it coincides with the timetable
6 Thu. 1 October Classical and contemporary functions of political parties Closing of block I
7 Tue. 6 October Formal party structure: aims, bodies, territorial levels, and statutory rules Beginning of statutory analysis
8 Thu. 8 October The party as a bureaucratic organisation Applied case
9 Tue. 13 October Membership, affiliates, supporters, and activists Discussion on the crisis of membership
10 Thu. 15 October Leadership and candidate selection Proposal of coursework topic
11 Tue. 20 October Internal democracy, factions, currents, and deliberation Practical exercise 2
12 Thu. 22 October Comparative organisational models: Spain, Western Europe, and new political formations Closing of block II
13 Tue. 27 October Ideological families and party groups Comparative ideological map
14 Thu. 29 October Ideological competition and the structuring of political space Application to Spanish and European cases
15 Tue. 3 November Competition strategies: moderation, polarisation, issue ownership, and electoral niches Current affairs debate
16 Thu. 5 November Parties, campaigns, and electoral behaviour Practical exercise 3. Session subject to the campus activity slot if it coincides with the timetable
17 Tue. 10 November Party systems, cleavages, and the transformation of political conflict Transition towards party-state relations
18 Thu. 12 November From hostility to constitutionalisation: parties and the state Submission of the coursework outline
19 Tue. 17 November Legal regulation of parties. Party law and the limits of pluralism Applied case
20 Thu. 19 November Party funding: models, transparency, control, and corruption Practical exercise 4
21 Tue. 24 November Parties in opposition: parliamentary scrutiny, accountability, and government alternative Guided discussion
22 Thu. 26 November Parties in government: coalition formation, discipline, and governability Comparative case
23 Tue. 1 December The Spanish party system: evolution, fragmentation, territorialisation, and blocs Practical exercise 5
24 Thu. 3 December Coursework workshop: hypothesis, structure, sources, and argumentative defence Collective tutorial
25 Thu. 10 December Course closure. Systematic review of contents. Preparation for the final examination Final submission of coursework





Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Use of acquired concepts 7 0.28 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27
Study and presentation of results 75 3 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 20, 21, 22, 25
Acquisition and development of basic knowledge guided by the professor 60 2.4 3, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 29, 30

The course’s study and learning methodology will use a range of instruments aimed at achieving a deep analytical understanding of political parties as key institutions of the democratic system.

Teaching will combine lectures, critical discussion of readings, analysis of party statutes and documents, case studies, and practical exercises linked to each thematic block. Each block will include conceptual exposition, empirical application, and an assessable or preparatory practical activity.

Lectures will provide the necessary conceptual and theoretical framework. Seminars and debates will serve to apply concepts to real cases and current problems. Practical sessions will allow students to work with primary and secondary documentation: party statutes, legislation, programmes, institutional reports, electoral results, and academic literature.

Students’ autonomous work will be essential. The course is not simply about attending class, but about preparing readings, searching for information, developing one’s own arguments, writing exercises, and progressively building the coursework assignment.

The Virtual Campus will be the ordinary space for academic communication, submission of activities, publication of materials, announcements, and the questions forum. Questions of general interest must be raised in class or in the questions forum. Email is reserved for administrative, institutional, or personal matters that cannot be dealt with in a shared space.

When a session fully or partially coincides with institutional activities of the University or the Faculty, the lecturer may replace it with a directed activity on the Virtual Campus or recover it within the official class recovery period.

Fifteen minutes of one class will be reserved, within the calendar established by the centre or the degree programme, for students to complete the surveys evaluating the lecturer’s performance and the course.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
essays 20% 3.5 0.14 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Attendance and participation 10% 1 0.04 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 23, 30
Final Exam 30% 1.5 0.06 3, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 28, 29, 30
Continuous evaluation exercises 40% 2 0.08 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

The assessment of this course consists of the following components:

  1. Attendance and participation. In addition to regular attendance, particular value will be placed on the attitude of students who are able to relate the concepts and approaches of the course to current political and social issues. Participation must be relevant, respectful, and aimed at building shared knowledge.
  2. Five practical exercises. These will consist of applied cases based on the theory studied. They may include analysis of party statutes, party classification, the study of internal democracy, analysis of ideological competition, funding, legal regulation, party systems, or government formation.
  3. Coursework assignment. The student will prepare a paper on a topic agreed with the lecturer. The paper must demonstrate analytical ability, use of sources, argumentative structure, and application of the concepts of the course.
  4. Final examination. The final examination will consist of four short questions, worth 1.5 points each, and one essay question, worth 4 points.

Specific assessment conditions:

  1. The date of the examination will be the one set by the Faculty. Under no circumstances will individual examinations be held. Erasmus students who purchase return tickets for a date before the final examination and therefore do not sit it will be considered as not having appeared.
  2. In order to pass the course, students must obtain a passing grade in the final examination.
  3. All submissions must be made through the Virtual Campus, in the specific space provided for this purpose. Any submission made after the deadline or through a channel other than the one indicated will be considered not submitted.
  4. Once the assessment activities completed by the student exceed 30% of the total course grade, the student may no longer request to be considered as not having appeared.
  5. All oral and written activities must be carried out in Catalan or Spanish. No other language will be accepted unless expressly authorised by the lecturer.
  6. During tests or assessable activities, teaching staff may require students to identify themselves. Students must prove their identity by means of their student card, national identity document, foreigner identification number, or passport.
  7. Grade reviews will be carried out according to the procedure and deadline indicated on the Virtual Campus after each assessable activity. Requests for review must be reasoned and refer to the assessment criteria of the activity.
  8. Attendance requires effective presence in the classroom. Entering and leaving the classroom during the session without justified cause is not compatible with attendance. If a student leaves the classroom, they may not re-enter until the following session, except in cases of justified force majeure, medical reasons, disability, duly accredited need, or express indication by the lecturer.
  9. Questions about assessment, practical exercises, or course content must be raised in class or in the questions forum. Queries whose answer may be useful to the whole group will not be answered by email.


Indicative calendar for continuous assessment

ActivityIndicative date
Practical exercise 1 24 September
Proposal of coursework topic 15 October
Practical exercise 2 20 October
Practical exercise 3 5 November, or an alternative date if it coincides with the campus activity slot
Coursework outline 12 November
Practical exercise 4 19 November
Practical exercise 5 1 December
Final submission of coursework 10 December
Final examination Official assessment period: January 2027


Plagiarism, originality, and use of artificial intelligence

In accordance with academic regulations, any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment activity will be graded as 0. If several irregularities occur in assessment activities within the same course, the final grade for the course will be 0.

Academic irregularities include, among others:

  1. Total or partial plagiarism.
  2. Reuse of one’s own or others’ work submitted in previous years without express authorisation.
  3. Copying from websites, books, articles, reports, notes, or materials without proper citation.
  4. Manipulation of data, sources, or references.
  5. Submission of work produced by third parties.
  6. Use of unauthorised tools or materials in tests or assessable activities.
  7. Undeclared, misleading, or substantive use of generative artificial intelligence technologies.

In this course, restricted, instrumental, and transparent use of generative artificial intelligence is permitted. AI may be used as an auxiliary tool, but it may not replace the student’s intellectual work or generate the substantive content of assessable activities.

Uses permitted without specific declaration

The use of AI tools is permitted for instrumental and non-substantive functions, such as:

  1. Spelling and grammar correction.
  2. Minor improvement of the linguistic clarity of a text previously written by the student.
  3. Auxiliary translation of short excerpts to facilitate the understanding of texts.
  4. Initial organisation of tasks, calendars, or checklists.
  5. Preliminary search for general concepts, provided that the final information is checked against reliable academic or documentary sources.

Uses permitted with mandatory declaration

Any use of AI that has influenced the work process must be declared in a final note to the activity when it affects aspects such as:

  1. Initial development of ideas.
  2. Assistance in structuring an outline.
  3. Reformulation of a paragraph previously written by the student.
  4. Suggestions of possible sources, concepts, or lines of research.
  5. General review of formal coherence.

In these cases, the student must include a brief declaration of AI use at the end of the paper or exercise, indicating the tool used, the purpose of its use, and which parts of the process were affected.

Declaration model:

“I used [name of the tool] for [specific purpose: linguistic revision, initial organisation of ideas, structural suggestions, etc.]. The final content, argumentation, sources, and conclusions are my own responsibility.”

Prohibited uses

The following uses are prohibited:

  1. Presenting as one’s own a text generated wholly or partially by AI.
  2. Using AI to write complete answers to exercises, papers, or tests.
  3. Generating the central argument of the paper through AI.
  4. Creating citations, bibliography, data, examples, or references that have not been verified.
  5. Replacing the reading of compulsory texts with automatically generated summaries.
  6. Using AI during examinations or in-person tests, unless expressly authorised.
  7. Concealing relevant use of AI when it has intervened in the preparation of an activity.
  8. Using AI to avoid the personal work of reading, analysis, comparison, and argumentation required by the course.

The lecturer may ask the student for oral or documentary explanations about the process of preparing a paper or exercise when there are reasonable indications of improper use of AI. The inability to justify the content submitted, explain its argumentation, identify the sources used, or defend the decisions made may be considered an indication of academic irregularity.

Originality does not consist solely in not copying. It consists in reading, understanding, selecting sources, arguing with one’s own judgement, citing correctly, and assuming intellectual responsibility for the work submitted.


Reassessment

In order to take part in reassessment, students must have previously been assessed in a set of activities whose weight is equivalent to at least two thirds of the total course grade.

In order to take part in the reassessment process, students must have obtained a minimum average grade of 3.5 in the course.

Reassessment will consist of a reassessment examination with the same characteristics as the final examination of the course and, where appropriate, the submission or revision of those recoverable activities indicated by the lecturer. Reassessment does not replace the ordinary work carried out during the semester, nor does it allow students to obtain through this route the assessment of in-person participation developed throughout the course.

Ordinary attendance and participation during the semester are not recoverable, since they form part of the in-person and continuous dynamics of the course.

Reassessment will take place within the official period established by the Faculty for first-semester assessment and reassessment activities.


Single assessment

In my experience, this course cannot be properly followed on a non-attendance basis. The methodology used —which combines lectures, practical exercises, case discussion, analysis of materials, and continuous monitoring of the student’s work— means that the contents of the course cannot be sufficiently covered by a single textbook or properly prepared outside the ordinary dynamics of the course.

Before opting for this type of assessment, students should take into account a relevant fact: in the three academic years in which this modality has been offered, no student has managed to pass the course through single assessment, and only one was able to sit the reassessment examination.

Nevertheless, if the student decides to proceed with this option, the single assessment will consist of a final test including the same examination taken by students under continuous assessment, together with additional questions on the practical exercises, seminars, readings, and applied contents worked on throughout the course. This test will represent 100% of the final grade.

In order to be eligible for reassessment, the student must obtain a minimum grade of 4.0 in the single assessment test. The reassessment examination will be of the same type as the final examination.

Bibliography

The works included in this bibliography have been selected as basic and complementary readings for the study of political parties, party systems, party organisation, and recent transformations in political representation.

These materials may be consulted, depending on the case, in physical or digital format through the bibliographic resources of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. When a work is not directly available in the UAB libraries, students may request it through the consortium loan services among Catalan universities or, where appropriate, through interlibrary loan. In this way, the proposed bibliography is accessible through different channels and makes it possible to combine classic textbooks, comparative studies, and recent contributions on changes in contemporary political parties.


Aldrich, J. H. (2012). ¿Por qué los partidos políticos? Una segunda mirada. Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.

Barberà, O., Sandri, G., Correa, P., & Rodríguez-Teruel, J. (Eds.). (2021). Digital parties: The challenges of online organisation and participation. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78668-7

Carter, N., Keith, D., Sindre, G. M., & Vasilopoulou, S. (Eds.). (2023). The Routledge handbook of political parties. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429263859

Casal Bértoa, F. A., & Enyedi, Z. (2021). Party system closure: Party alliances, government alternatives, and democracy in Europe. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198823605.001.0001

Cross, W. P., & Blais, A. (2012). Politics at the centre: The selection and removal of party leaders in the Anglo parliamentary democracies. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199596720.001.0001

Duverger, M. (1957). Los partidos políticos (J. Campos & E. González Pedrero, Trans.). Fondo de Cultura Económica. (Original work published 1951)

Gunther, R., Montero, J. R., & Botella, J. (2004). Democracy in modern Spain. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300161861

Hopkin, J. (2001). Bringing the members back in? Democratizing candidate selection in Britain and Spain. Party Politics, 7(3), 343–361. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068801007003005

Katz, R. S., & Crotty, W. J. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of party politics. SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848608047

Katz, R. S., & Mair, P. (1995). Changing models of party organization and party democracy: The emergence of the cartel party. Party Politics, 1(1), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068895001001001

Michels, R. (1991). Los partidos políticos: Un estudio sociológico de las tendencias oligárquicas de la democracia moderna. Amorrortu. (Original work published 1911)

Montero, J. R., Gunther, R., & Linz, J. J. (Eds.). (2007). Partidos políticos: Viejos conceptos y nuevos retos. Trotta.

Muro, D., & Lago, I. (Eds.). (2020). The Oxford handbook of Spanish politics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198826934.001.0001

Panebianco, A. (1990). Modelos de partido: Organización y poder en los partidos políticos (M. Trinidad, Trans.). Alianza Editorial. (Original work published 1982)

Poguntke, T., & Hofmeister, W. (Eds.). (2024). Political parties and the crisis of democracy: Organization, resilience, and reform. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198888734.001.0001

Poguntke, T., & Webb, P. (Eds.). (2005). The presidentialization of politics: A comparative study of modern democracies. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199252017.001.0001

Sartori, G. (2005). Partidos y sistemas de partidos (F. Santos Fontenla, Trans.). Alianza Editorial. (Original work published 1976)

Scarrow, S. E. (2015). Beyond party members: Changing approaches to partisan mobilization. Oxford University Press.

von Beyme, K. (1986). Los partidos políticos en las democracias occidentales. Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. (Original work published 1982)

Ware, A. (2004). Partidos políticos y sistemas de partidos. Istmo. (Original work published 1996)

Software

For the ordinary follow-up of the course, the resources of the UAB Virtual Campus and basic office software tools will be used.

Recommended software and resources:

  1. UAB Virtual Campus.
  2. Word processor compatible with standard academic formats.
  3. Spreadsheet software, preferably Excel or equivalent, for basic data processing.
  4. Stata, R, SPSS, or other analytical software, only when students wish to develop more advanced empirical analyses in their coursework.
  5. Zotero, Mendeley, or another bibliographic manager to organise references and citations.
  6. Electoral databases, legislation, party statutes, institutional reports, and bibliographic resources available through the UAB Library.

No specialised software is mandatory to pass the course, apart from the ordinary use of the Virtual Campus and basic academic writing tools.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 51 Spanish first semester afternoon
(PAUL) Classroom practices 51 Spanish first semester afternoon