Seminar Politics in the UK

England, United Kingdom, Britain, Great Britain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland all these terms mean something slightly different. Yet, they are often used interchangeably to denote the same political system. Add the astonishing fact that one country sends four national teams into the qualifications for European and World football championships and you can easily see that we are dealing with an intricate and interesting phenomenon. Just recall the legendary newspaper headline Fog over the channel continent isolated!' and you are beginning to realize that there is something different on the other side of the channel. Just how different it is, how it works (incidentally without a written constitution) and why it may not work so well anymore as in the past will be the general theme of our seminar. More precisely, we are dealing with the political institutions, the political and social forces that mould the political process and also with the peculiarities of the media system. Unlike in many other modern democracies, it is customary for the major newspapers to endorse' a political party at election time and many serious analysts maintain that Tony Blair would have never been Prime Minister without the support of the Sun' owned by the Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Last but not least, we will focus on the causes and consequences of the Brexit vote. In its aftermath, we could observe one of the strengths of the British political system, namely its capacity to ensure smooth leadership succession. Richard Heffernan, Colin Hay, Meg Russell, Philip Cowley, eds., 2016, Developments in British Politics 10,. Palgrave. • The Oxford Handbook of British Politics, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press (available online) Bemerkung Achtung: Das Seminar wird im Master Sowi dem neuen Themenmodul -Partizipation, Parteien und Parlamente- zugeordnet.   BA degree; regular active participation and a very good knowledge of spoken and written English are required. All written and oral work (including essays and exams) will be in English language. Leistungsnachweis AP: Oral presentation of essay theme and either essay (Hausarbeit) of 20 pages or oral exam (mündliche Prüfung); essays need to be submitted by the end of term (31 March 2016). No extensions will be granted; resubmission is not possible.   BN: Beteiligungsnachweis: Regular active participation is required. Oral presentation in class of sufficient quality (15 minutes) or several shorter presentations of independent research on selected topics.   Politische Kommunikation (Master, PO 2005) H AP: Oral presentation of essay theme and either essay (Hausarbeit) of 20 pages or oral exam (mündliche Prüfung); essays need to be submitted by the end of term (31 March 2016). No extensions will be granted; resubmission is not possible.   BN: Beteiligungsnachweis: Regular active participation is required. Oral presentation in class of sufficient quality (15 minutes) or several shorter presentations of independent research on selected topics.   Universität Düsseldorf WiSe 2016/17 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Poguntke Thomas