POL 1010

Chris Longman

The European Union- integration

Intergovernmental or Supranational

TUTORIAL 8 – Systems of government in western Europe: France, Germany and Spain

Discussion topics:

1. What sort of president is the French president? How do the powers of the office holder differ from equivalents in the UK and USA?
2. Is it true to say that the French legislature is weak? If so what does this mean?
3. What are the differences between the French, German and Spanish forms of decentralisation?
4. Are France, Germany and Spain archetypal ‘nation states’?

Reading list:

H,H &B – passim

Peter Calvert (2002) Comparative politics;  passim

Keating, Michael (1999) The politics of modern Europe the State and political authority in the major democracies; Edward Elgar

France – library – books in classmark 320.0944

Eg: Elgie, Robert (2003) Political institutions in Contemporary France; OUP

Germany – library – books in classmark  320.0943

Eg: Schmidt, Manfred (2003) Political institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany; OUP

Spain – library – books in classmark 320.0946

Eg: Gibbons, John (1999) Spanish Politics Today; MUP

LINKS

 There is a useful article in the UN Development pages at:

http://magnet.undp.org/docs/parliaments/governing%20system.htm

This is part of an interesting series of discussion papers on parliaments and democracy at http://magnet.undp.org/docs/parliaments

The Concept paper on "Legislatures and good Governance" is particularly useful. [Link may not work because of length and complexity of URL.]

EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS ON-LINE

http://europa.eu.int/abc/governments/index_en.html

FREEDOM NETWORK'S GUIDE TO EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS

http://www.freedomnet.org/eurogovt.html

THE KEELE GUIDE TO EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS

[STATE BY STATE INFORMATION]

http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/eubase.htm

BUBL CATALOGUE OF SELECTED INTERNET RESOURCES: 320.9

POLITICAL SITUATION AND CONDITIONS: EUROPE

http://link.bubl.ac.uk/europe

POLITICAL RESOURCES ON THE NET:

http://www.politicalresources.net

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