The course aims at providing a structured knowledge of the conflicts, actors, institutions, and processes that affect the electoral dynamics and the social and individual mechanisms that structure political attitudes and voting behaviour. As a result, the course aims at another important goal: forming students provided with an autonomous capacity of understanding the contemporary political dynamics. Besides a theoretical knowledge, the course is strongly oriented at empirical analysis, based on a direct connection with the activity of the CISE (Italian Centre for Electoral Studies) and includes activities based on data analysis.

Knowledge and understanding: students will develop a structured knowledge of the conflicts, actors, institutions, and processes that affect the electoral dynamics and the social and individual mechanisms that structure political attitudes and voting behaviour. Applying knowledge and understanding: students will be provided the tools to be critical, competent and informed users of electoral analysis and public opinion and electoral polls. Making judgements: students will be able to autonomously understand the contemporary political dynamics. Communication skills: through in-class presentations of empirical scientific articles, students will learn how to convey data and other empirical evidence to an audience, both possessing technical skills or not. Learning skills: the student will be able to write articles and research reports that use data, and conduct research on political parties, party systems, public opinion and vote choices.

The course analyzes the conflicts, actors, institutions, and processes that influence electoral dynamics and the social and individual mechanisms of political opinion formation and voting choices. It does so through a review of international (including Italian) literature, with a comparative perspective focusing on Western Europe from the post-war period to the present. All theoretical perspectives are supported by data and examples drawn from empirical analyses and are discussed interactively with students, referring to Italy or other European countries. The course is divided into three parts. The first part is dedicated to citizens. It examines the relationship between citizens and politics, the role of cognitive mobilization, the sociology of voting (social and political identities), and traditional dimensions of conflict. The second part addresses contemporary challenges with a particular focus on the transnational conflict of "integration versus demarcation". Finally, the third part of the course examines the increasing role of political supply and competition strategies. It explores spatial models of party competition, competence and credibility factors (valence issues), and the growing significance of specific issues in electoral campaigns. It also delves into the theory of issue yield and the ICCP (Issue Competition Comparative Project), which seeks to measure the impact of issues and new conflicts on electoral behavior in Western Europe.

The course is not based on a textbook but, in each week of the course, students are required to study scientific articles and book chapters (in Italian or English) provided by the instructors.

Lectures; presentation and discussion of empirical research. Presentations by the students of scientific articles and original data analyses on datasets provided by the instructors.

ndividual in-class presentation of a scientific article (20%); Group in-class presentation of an original data analysis (20%). Midterm written exam (30%); Final written exam (30%). Attendance is mandatory. Students who do not take part in the presentations (individual or group) and the midterm exam will be required to take an oral exam covering the entire course syllabus.

30/30 grade. Positive assessment of the thesis project.