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Political Behaviour

Code: 106190
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Contemporary History, Politics and Economics OB 3

Contact lecturer

Name :
Alina Vranceanu
Email :
alina.vranceanu@uab.cat

Group languages

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

Prerequisites

The student must have acquired the basic notions of Political Science prior to taking this course. The students must be able to read and understand English (a B2 level of English of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is recommended) and work easily with spreadsheets, in addition to having certain notions to be able to interpret statistical tables, graphs and maps.

Objectives

The course has three fundamental objectives:


- That students know the basic elements that define and characterize political and electoral behavior in democratic political systems.

- That students can use the theories and variables that explain how citizens think and act in the political field.

- That students know and can use the main data and methodologies available for the analysis of political behavior.

Learning outcomes

  1. Assessing the contribution of movements like feminism, environmentalism or various identity movements.
  2. Demonstrating good writing skills in different contexts.
  3. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  4. Communicating in your mother tongue or other language both in oral and written form by using specific terminology and techniques of Historiography.
  5. Developing the ability of historical analysis and synthesis.
  6. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  7. Work in teams respecting all points of view. Use the specific vocabulary of history correctly.
  8. 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.
  9. Present works in formats tailored to the needs and personal styles, both individual and small group.
  10. Properly using the specific vocabulary of History.
  11. Organising and planning the search of historical information.
  12. Using computing resources of the area of study of history.
  13. Identifying the social, economic and political structures of the contemporary world.
  14. Critically evaluate the impacts of globalisation in different areas: security, environment, human rights, migrations and peace.
  15. Working by using quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in order to apply them to research processes.
  16. Realising effective oral presentations that are suited to the audience.
  17. Synthesizing and critically analysing information.
  18. Managing the available time in order to accomplish the established objectives and fulfil the intended task.
  19. Working in teams and networking, particularly in interdisciplinary conditions.
  20. Arguing from different theoretical perspectives.
  21. Interpreting and applying English texts in an academic way.
  22. Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
  23. Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.
  24. Identifying sources of data and conducting bibliographic and documentary searches.
  25. Using the main information and documentation techniques (ICT) as an essential tool for the analysis.
  26. Relating elements and factors involved in the development of historical processes.
  27. Recognising diversity and multiculturalism.
  28. Recognising the historical processes that led to the contemporary society.
  29. Critically summarise the different historiographical explanation for the rise of political regimes in the Contemporary Era.
  30. Producing and preparing presentations of reports and intervention proposals.
  31. Working autonomously.
  32. Designing data collection techniques, coordinating the information processing and meticulously applying hypothesis verification methods.
  33. Explaining political, individual and collective attitudes and behaviours, as well as the education process and expression of political preferences.
  34. Identifying and distinguishing the functioning of the electoral processes.
  35. Use the working methods of the field of contemporary history.
  36. Use different theoretical contributions on actors and networks of actors as well as the characteristics of collective action.
  37. 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.
  38. Critically analysing and assessing the emergence of liberalism.
  39. Critically analysing and assessing the appearance of the inter-war fascisms and the reconstruction of the liberal democrat thought after WW II.
  40. Critically analysing and assessing the alternatives to liberalism.
  41. Arguing about the rebirth of republicanism.
  42. Arguing about the contrast between communitarianism and libertarianism.
  43. Describe the emergence of the State in the modern sense and explaining the theoretical contributions of Machiavelli, Bodino, Hobbes.
  44. Decribe and comment evaluatively on new proposals for demoliberal thought, such as its individualist basis or the neutrality of institutional designs.
  45. Explaining the impact of the emergence of Christianity on the political thought.
  46. Explaining the contribution of John Rawls and the distributive justice, and assessing its impact on the debate of contemporary politic theory.
  47. Explaining the several approaches of the socialist tradition, specially the 1917 breakup and the emergence of communism.
  48. Exposing key elements of political thought in the Graeco-Roman past: the individual and the community from Socrates to Aristotle.
  49. Identifying and connecting main contemporary political theories, interpreting classical and current political texts, and arguing from different theoretical positions.
  50. Managing contemporary political theories and understanding its analytical value in internal or international concrete cases.
  51. Showing a good capacity for transmitting information, distinguishing key messages for their different recipients.

Contents

The course content is divided into the following blocks. Further details related to each block will be provided in the course syllabus.

1. History of theoretical approaches to understand electoral behavior

2. The explanation of the vote: who votes what and why. Political participation. Elections

3. Formation and change of political attitudes and preferences. Values and emotions. Socialization

4. Public attitudes and new issues. Political culture and democratic values

5. Parties and schemes of political competition

6. Ideology and polarization

7. Other determinants of political behavior


Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Seminars and practical classes 16.5 0.66 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 33, 34, 36, 37
Tutorials 17.5 0.7 4, 6, 8, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37
Mandatory readings related to practices or debates 30 1.2 4, 9, 15, 16, 17, 21, 23, 30, 31
Lectures 33 1.32 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 33, 34, 36, 37
Study of the contents explained in class 30 1.2 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37
Evaluation 3.5 0.14 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 33, 34, 36, 37, 50, 51

The course consists of two types of sessions: lectures and practical seminars.

  1. Lectures, in which the teaching staff presents the theoretical content in interaction with the students.
  2. Practical seminars, consisting of discussion and presentation of readings and application exercises.


It is expected that all students read the assigned readings for each seminar and participate actively.

During the independent activities, the students will have to prepare the materials corresponding to each session, prepare the works that will be evaluated and prepare the contents of the exam.

In both oral and written expressions, special care will be taken in the non-sexist use of language, both by the teaching staff and the students.

Note: 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.


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
Mid-term exam 30 1.5 0.06 2, 6, 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 51
Final exam 40 1.5 0.06 2, 6, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 51
Seminar participation and assessment 30 16.5 0.66 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51

The evaluation for this course is as follows:


Continuous assessment

  • Mid-term exam: 30% of the final grade
  • Seminar evaluation: 30% of the final grade
  • Final exam: 40% of the final grade


Important considerations:

The schedule of sessions, activities and exams will be made public during the first days of class.

The final exam will take place at the end of the semester. During the first day of the course, the teaching staff will inform the students of the date of the final exam and the deadline for each of the pieces of evidence.

Students who have failed the assessment with a grade of at least 3.5 and taken tests equivalent to two-thirds of their grade will have the opportunity to participate in a make-up activity on the date determined by the Faculty. Under no circumstances may students undertake recovery to raise their grade. The content and date of the make-up activity / retake exam will be communicated by the professor at the beginning of the course.



Single assessment

Students opting for this evaluation mode will be required to complete the following assessments on the same day at the end of the semester, which will coincide with the day set by the teaching staff for the final exam and which will be made public in sufficient advance.

  • Final exam (based on the course content discussed in its entirety): 40% of the final grade
  • Practical/applied exercise (related to seminars content): 30% of the final grade
  • Writing a critical commentary (1 page) on a randomly selected text from a predefined list by the teaching team: 30% of the final grade


Students who have failed the single assessment with a grade of at least 3.5 and taken tests equivalent to two-thirds of their grade will have the opportunity to participate in a make-up activity on the date determined by the Faculty. Under no circumstances may students undertake recovery to raise their grade. The same assessment method as the recovery method for those opting for continuous assessment will be used. To opt for the recovery, the student must have submitted all the requested assignments.



Other important considerations:

The detailed schedule of the course will be carried out on the first day of class. At the beginning of the course, the teaching team will also inform about the dates of the continuous and single assessments.

Students will be graded with a numeric grade ranging from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best grade.

The lecturers will provide further details and information about the evaluation process during the presentation of the module.

On carrying out each evaluation activity, the lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Exams where there have been irregularities (e.g.plagiarism, unauthorized use of AI, etc.) cannot be retaken.

Erasmus and exchange students who request to advance an exam must present a document from their home university justifying their request.

For this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively in support tasks, such as bibliographic or information searches, text correction or translations. The student must clearly identify which parts have been generated with this technology, specify the tools used and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The lack of transparency in the use of AI in this assessable activity will be considered a lack of academic honesty and lead to a total penalty in the grade of the activity (grade 0), or greater sanctions in serious cases.



Bibliography

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Anduiza, Eva (1999) ¿Individuos o sistemas?: las razones de la abstención en Europa Occidental Madrid Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas Siglo XXI

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Arzheimer, Kai, Evans, Jocelyn & Lewis-Beck, Michael S. (2017). The Sage Handbook of Electoral Behaviour. London: Sage.

Astudillo, Javier & Rodon, Toni. (2013). “El comportamiento electoral del votante en la mediana y las «paradojas» de la competición política española / The Electoral Behaviour of the Median Voter and the ‘Paradoxes’ of Spanish Political Competition”. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 144: 3-21. https://doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.144.3

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Bartomeus, Oriol (2019). El terremoto silencioso. CIS

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Software

Excel. SPPS i QGIS optional

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 50 English first semester afternoon
(PAUL) Classroom practices 50 English first semester morning-mixed