Teaching Plan Information

1. Course details

1.1. Content area

Local government and politics

1.2. Course nature

Optional

1.3. Course level

Grado (EQF/MECU 6)

1.4. Year of study

2 and 4 and 3

1.5. Semester

Second semester

1.6. ECTS Credit allotment

6.0

1.7. Language of instruction

English

1.8. Prerequisites

Having spoken and written fluency in English. The classes will be taught in English. All class materials will be in English. Oral and written presentations will be in English.

1.9. Recommendations

-

1.10. Minimum attendance requirement

Attendance to class is mandatory (lectures, seminars and the tutorial session)

1.11. Subject coordinator/s

Maria Carmen Navarro Gomez

1.12. Coordinator of other university

-

1.13. Competences and learning outcomes

1.13.1. Competences

1. general competences:

-G1. Students must be able to develop an analytical view of reality, using the basic theoretical assumptions, methods and techniques of the discipline.

-G2. Students must be able to express and transmit clearly and adequately complex ideas, problems and solutions, both orally and in writing, to a specialized and non-specialized audience, using the tools provided by the social sciences.

´-G3. Students must be able to search, select, analyze and synthesize relevant information, working with documental evidence; and thus to be able to formulate judgments based on real facts from the perspective of a personal reflection. This includes becoming familiar with new technologies applied to knowledge and communication.

-G.4. Students must learn to apply their theoretical knowledge to their work in a professional manner as a requisite for their future professional development, both at the national and the international level.

1.13.2. Learning outcomes

-

1.13.3. Course objectives

-

1.14. Course contents

This course provides an overview of local government and politics and on how local democracies work. It explores the structures, functions, and politics of the government tier closer to citizens, and examines their relations with upper levels of governments. It will give students the foundational knowledge to understand many of the most important issues facing local governments nowadays. In analysing the different topics, the course will refer mainly to local governments in European countries.

Skills it will develop: gaining fluency in vocabulary on local government; getting knowledge on institutions, tasks and responsibilities of local government in Europe; recognizing national differences in decentralization processes and in forms of government; understanding the strengths and limitations local governments encounter in facing collective problems.

1. Introduction: the what and why of local democracy

2. Local autonomy. Central local relations and typologies of vertical power relations
3. Institutions, tasks and finances of local governments.
4. City leadership: mayors, councillors and top administrators
5. The directly elected mayors
6. The politics of urban governance
7. The policies of urban governance
8. Challenges and reforms: size, functional and territorial reforms, innovation, citizens’ participation

1.15. Course bibliography

The readings assigned for the preparation of the final exam and for the activities will be uploaded in the moodle site of the course.

The list below is orientative.

• Denters B. & Rose L.E. (eds.) (2005) Comparing Local Governance. Trends and Developments. Palgrave Macmillan (cap. 1 pp
• Hambleton, R. & Sweeting, D. (2014) "Innovation in urban political leadership. Reflections on the introduction of a directly-elected mayor in Bristol, UK." Public Money & Management 34.5: 315-322
• Heinelt, H., & Hlepas, N. K. (2006). Typologies of local government systems. In The European Mayor (pp. 21-42). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
• Kersting, N., & Vetter, A. (Eds.). (2013). Reforming Local Government in Europe: Closing the gap between democracy and efficiency (Vol. 4). Springer Science & Business Media
• Magnier, A. (2004). Between Institutional Learning and Re‐legitimization: Italian Mayors in the Unending Reform. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28(1), 166-182.
• Moreno, A.M. (ed.) (2012) Local Government in the Member States if the European Union Madrid: INAP
• Mouritzen, P. E., & Svara, J. H. (2002). Leadership at the Apex: Politicians and administrators in Western local governments. University of Pittsburgh Pre.
• Pierre, J. (2011). The politics of urban governance. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Sharpe, L. J. (1970). Theories and values of local government. Political studies, 18(2), 153-174
• Sellers, J & Lidstrom, A. (2007) Sellers, J. M., & Lidström, A. (2007). Decentralization, local government, and the welfare state. Governance, 20(4), 609-632.
• Verhelst, T., Reynaert, H., & Steyvers, K. (2013). Political recruitment and career development of local councillors in Europe. In Local Councillors in Europe (pp. 27-49). Wiesbaden: Springer
• Slack, E. (2000). The Property Tax-in Theory and Practice. Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, Munk School of Global Affairs
• Swianiewicz, P. (2010). If territorial fragmentation is a problem, is amalgamation a solution? An East European Perspective. Local Government Studies, 36(2), 183-203.Vetter, A., & Kersting, N. (2003). Democracy versus efficiency? Comparing local government reforms across Europe. In Reforming local government in Europe (pp. 11-28). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

Wollmann, H. (2014) “The directly-elected mayor in the German Länder, introduction, implementation and impact” Public Money and Management, 34, 5, 331-337

2. Teaching-and-learning methodologies and student workload

2.1. Contact hours

2.2. List of training activities

3. Evaluation procedures and weight of components in the final grade

3.1. Regular assessment

Students are expected to write and present a final paper. The topic will be assigned during the fourth week of the semester.

The final grade will be the result of weekly work in seminars (50%) and the final paper (50%).

To pass the course (5 or above), students will have to get a minimum mark of 3 in the activities during the semester (weekly work + participation in class) and a minimum mark of 4 in the final paper.

3.1.1. List of evaluation activities

3.2. Resit

Students who have completed 80% of the weekly assignments (with a minimum grade of 3) but failed the course, will have to improve the final paper in order to pass.

c. Students who do not pass and take the course in the following year(s) keep the grade of the seminars and do not have to repeat these activities

3.2.1. List of evaluation activities

4. Proposed workplan

A detailed schedule of the course will be published at least two weeks before the beginning of the class in moodle.