Prof Torun Dewan

This course is available on the MSc in Political Science and Political Economy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

The course is designed primarily for students on the PSPE Msc with the relevant training in quantitaive methods and some game theory. It will also be available to students form other programmes with the relevant skill, space permitting.

The course is for students on the Msc Political Science and Political Economy and students fulfilling the core requirements of the programme --completion of GV4C8 and GV481--will be eligible. Other students can be accepted if they have similar quantitative skills as a student having completed the first term of the PSPE programme and space permitting.

Strøm (2000) argues that  the conceptual essence of Parliamentary government is a “historical evolution” – an accident of 19th century Britain that spread to other parts of the world. Recent analytical political science has shed light on Britain’s political development and how its institutions function, using game theretic modeling, rational choce naratives, and quantitative data. The course covers this literature and takes an analytical approach to topics such as: the historical development of British institutions and Imperial governance;  the emergence and impact of Government-vs-Opposition;  the historical development of the British party system;  the causes and consequence of franchise extension;  the Cabinet and its conventions; and the composition of the Executive and Parliament over time. 

15 hours of lectures and 20 hours of seminars in the LT. 1 hour and 30 minutes of lectures in the ST.

One summative piece of work of 1500 words to be handed in at the end of reading week.

• Cox, G. (1987) The Efficient Secret, Cambridge University Press
• Berlinski, S., Dewan, T, and Dowding K. (2012) Accounting for Ministers: Scandal and Survival in British Government 1945-2007, Cambridge University Press
• Mclean, I (2002) Rational Choice and British Politics: An Analysis of Rhetoric from and Manipulation from Peel to Blair, Oxford University Press
• Schonhardt-Bailey, C (2006)  From the Corn Laws to Free Trade: Interests, Ideas and Institutions in Historical Perspective, MIT Press

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the summer exam period.

Two hour exam where students will answer 2 from 8 questions.

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