Political Science Travel Study for 2008

Buckingham Palace

Political Science Travel Study for 2008
Provisional Schedule and Readings

Welcome to the UCLA Department of Political Science Western Europe travel-study Program. Students who enroll in this program will have the opportunity to visit four European countries: England, Belgium, Netherlands and France. The purpose of the trip will be to study the political institutions of the countries in order to better understand their interactions and foreign policies. To respond to growing student interest, we have arranged for two sections of this program.

Section 1 will be co-taught by Professors Michael Lofchie and Barry O'Neill of UCLA. The program will begin with an orientation meeting at our hotel in London, England at 7:00 pm on Wednesday evening June 18th. Our program will conclude with a final examination, in Paris, France on Sunday, July 13th. The purpose of this unusual schedule is to permit students to take full advantage of France's national holiday, Bastille Day, which this year falls on Monday, July 14th. Students who choose to remain after the final examination in order to attend various holiday events will be permitted to remain in our hotel through check-out time on Tuesday, July 15th.

Section 2 of Political Science Travel Study will be taught by Professor Professors Richard Anderson and Brian Walker of UCLA. Section 2 will follow the same itinerary as Section 1, but will begin and end approximately 10 days later. For detailed information about Section 2, students should visit the following URL.

http://www.summer.ucla.edu/travel/PoliSci-WesternEurope/overview.htm

The Section 1 travel-study program offers credit for two courses. Students will receive credit for one 4-unit course in comparative government (Political Science 169) and one 4-unit course in international relations (Political Science 139). [Students enrolled in Section II, will receive credit for one 4-unit course in political theory (Political Science 119) and one course in international relations (Political Science 139).]

All students may also enroll for an individual study Political Science 199 for up to 4 units. The topics for the individual studies research projects are generally worked out during the course of the trip in consultation with one of the instructors. Since this option would gives the student a possible total of 12 upper division academic units, many students regard it as a highly desirable aspect of the travel-study program.

For full information about this program, as well as the many other UCLA travel study opportunities, please visit the UCLA Summer Sessions web site, which is www.summer.ucla.edu/travel.

Section 1 Syllabus: Comparative Government

Political Science 169.
This course will be taught by Professor Lofchie.

Special Notes.

Class Readings. I do not require any readings for this class. The final examination, which will be held on Sunday, July 13th will be based on materials that are covered in our lecture/discussions and in our group outings to such places as NATO, the Belgian town of Bruges and the Netherlands National Assembly. Although the readings listed below are not required, students may find that it is helpful to refer to these readings in preparing for the final examination. All of these readings are available "on line" and students therefore are not expected to purchase any specific readings materials for the class.

Travel Guides. In place of required course readings, I would strongly suggest that students avail themselves of the opportunity to purchase travel guides for each of the major cities and/or countries we visit. These are London, England; Brussels, Belgium; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Paris, France. The best travel guides contain valuable historical, cultural and political information, often in readable and succinct prose as well as vital information about the most interesting places to visit and how to get there. The best approach is to pay a visit to a bookstore that has a large travel section. Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks and Borders are book stores that normally stock fairly large travel sections. It's a good idea to spend some time perusing the available choices, making your selection on the basis of the usual criteria; namely, quality and price. A good travel guide is an excellent investment and can contribute greatly to enhancing the quality of your trip. Indeed, you may find that you use your travel guide for years after your initial visit.

Laptop Computers. In the past we have discouraged the use of laptop computers as these represent one more piece of luggage to be carted around from country to country. In addition, there is always the risk of misplacing your laptop or having it stolen. Keeping these cautions in mind, we do now encourage students to bring along a laptop computer. All of the hotels we stay in now provide free internet connections, which are extremely useful for students who wish to peruse the class readings as well as for travel information about such things as train and airline schedules for those who might wish to do supplemental travel. A laptop computer would, of course, also permit you easy access to your e-mail and some students have also begun to use internet technology to make phone calls, using such services as Skype.

Course Syllabus

Houses of Parliament

1. The British Political System (June 18th to June 25th*)

During the first week of our travel study class (approximately June 1 to June 28), we will cover the British political system. Among the topics we will consider are the following: British parliamentary institutions and how they contribute to a powerful executive; British political culture, and the British party system including elections.

Core Reading: British Political Institutions

Michael Roskin, "Part I, Great Britain." (2007). This is the chapter on Britain of his widely used textbook, Countries and Concepts: Politics, Geography, Culture.