History, politics and institutions

The course aims at providing the basic knowledge about historical background of the most important political institutions. It will focus on relations between history, politics and development of state institutions, with special concentration on European experiences. During the classes following issues will be addressed: importance of history in analysis of political reality, institutionalism as an approach in political science, historical development of parliaments and political parties, monarchy vs republic, emergence of modern bureaucracy, the first freedom of information act as a foundation for transparency, clientelism as informal political institution, historical relations between political culture and institutions