About this Research Line

The research line of Political science encompasses a range of topics that address the institutional, economic, and communicative dimensions of political processes, providing insights into how political systems function, how policy decisions are made, and how they affect individuals and societies in the contemporary global world. In particular, the specific areas of this research line are: comparative public policy analysis, comparative analysis of democracies, comparative politics, political economy, European studies and political communication. These areas are addressed within the PhD programme through different types of theoretical approaches and research methods that characterise contemporary political science.

Essential bibliography:

Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. & Robinson, J.A. (2005). Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth. In P. Aghion & S. N. Durlauf (eds.), Handbook of Economic Growth (Vol. 1). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Baccaro, L. & Pontusson, J. (2016). Rethinking Comparative Political Economy: The Growth Model Perspective. Politics & Society 44(2): 175–207.

Hall, P.A. & Soskice, D.W. (eds.). (2001). Varieties of capitalism: the institutional foundations of comparative advantage. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

Hall, P.A. & Taylor, R.C. (1996). Political science and the three new institutionalisms. Political studies 44(5): 936–957.

Hirschman a. o. (1970), Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, Cambridge: Harvard University Press

Achen, Christopher, and Larry Bartels. Democracy for realists: Why elections do not produce responsive government. Princeton University Press, 2017.

Lafont, Cristina. Democracy without shortcuts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.