POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Bachelor	TR-NQF-HE: Level 6	QF-EHEA: First Cycle	EQF-LLL: Level 6

Course Introduction and Application Information

Course Code	Course Name	Semester	Theoretical	Practical	Credit	ECTS
POL3322	Electoral Behavior	Fall	3	0	3	6

This catalog is for information purposes. Course status is determined by the relevant department at the beginning of semester.

Basic information

Language of instruction:	English
Type of course:	Departmental Elective
Course Level:	Bachelor’s Degree (First Cycle)
Mode of Delivery:	Face to face
Course Coordinator :	Prof. Dr. YILMAZ ESMER
Course Lecturer(s):	Prof. Dr. YILMAZ ESMER
Course Objectives:	This course is designed to familiarize students with basic approaches to explaining voting behavior. Students will be asked to read and understand representative scholars and literature starting with the early days of the subdiscipline of electoral behavior.

Learning Outcomes

The students who have succeeded in this course;
Upon successful completion of this course, students are expected to gain a good grasp of:
-Approaches to rationality/irrationality
-Rational versus Emotional Voter
-The economic voter
-Effects of class, ethnicity, religion and similar sociological attributes and identity on voting behavior
-Importance of party affiliation: its roots and significance
-The relative importance of facts vs perceptions on voting decisions and election outcomes
-Effects of political and particularly affective polarization on voting behavior

Course Content

The course will start with a review of the three schools that date back to the 1940s and 1950s and, in a way, still define the field: the sociological school, the economic school, and the psychological school (also called the socio-psychological school). The approaches proposed by each one of these three schools will be discussed in detail with the help of readings from the main representatives of these schools.

An important topic of discussion will be the on-going disagreement between the proponents of the so-called “rational voter” versus the “emotional voter.” A thorough understanding of this debate will serve as the basis for the lectures and discussion of the three schools mentioned above.

In addition to the three “classical” schools, time will be reserved to review the recent findings of the genetic-neurological approaches to voting behavior.

Finally, we will turn our attention to the “Turkish voter” and try to explain the factors that motivate Turkish voters’ political and ideological preferences.

The teaching methods of the course include "Case Study Analysis, Discussion, Lecture, and Reading."

Weekly Detailed Course Contents

Week	Subject	Related Preparation
1)	Introduction
2)	A short history of voting studies starting with the “Columbia school.”	Evans, ch. 2
3)	Main approaches to the study of voting behavior	Required reading: • Lau, Richard R., and Redlawsk, David P., How Voters Decide. Chapter 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
4)	Rational vs emotional voter	Required reading: • Bartels, Larry M., “The Irrational Electorate” in The Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 2008, pp. 44-50.
5)	Rational vs emotional voter	Required reading: • Bartels, Larry M., “The Irrational Electorate” in The Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 2008, pp. 44-50.
6)	Economy as the main determinant of voting behavior	Required reading: • Brug, van der Wouter, Eijk, Cees van der and Franklin, Mark, The Economy and the Vote, Chapter 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
7)	Economy as the main determinant of voting behavior	Required reading: • Brug, van der Wouter, Eijk, Cees van der and Franklin, Mark, The Economy and the Vote, Chapter 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
8)	MIDTERM EXAM
9)	Sociological approaches to the study of voting behavior	Evans, Jocelyn A. C., Voters and Voting: an introduction. Chapter 3, London: Sage Publications, 2004.
10)	Socio-psychological approaches to the study of voting behavior	Required readings: • Harrop, Martin and Miller, William, L., Elections and Voters, Chapter 6, London: The MacMillan Press, 1987.
11)	Religion, religiosity and the voter	Required reading: • Esmer, Yılmaz and Pettersson, Thorleif “The Effects of Religion and Religiosity on Voting Behavior” in Dalton, Russell J. and Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
12)	Experimental approaches to the study of voting behavior	Required reading: • Blais, Andre, et. al. eds., Voting Experiments, Introduction, Switzerland: Springer, 2016.
13)	Genetics, neuroscience and voting	Required readings: • “Can Your Genes Predict Whether You’ll Be a Conservative or a Liberal?” Avi Tuschman, The Atlantic, October 24, 2013.
14)	The Turkish Voter	Required readings: • Esmer “At the ballot box: determinants of voting behavior” in Sayari and Esmer, ch.5 and Esmer, Karadon and Baykal “Urban myths versus realities” in Canan-Sokullu, pp. 43-62.

Sources

Course Notes / Textbooks:

Bartels, Larry M., “The Irrational Electorate” in The Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 2008, pp. 44-50.
Blais, Andre, et. al. eds., Voting Experiments, Switzerland: Springer, 2016.
Brug, van der Wouter, Eijk, Cees van der and Franklin, Mark, The Economy and the Vote, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Canan-Sokullu, Ebru, ed., Turkey in Transition: Politics, society and foreign policy. Berlin: Peter Lang 2020
Çarkoğlu, Ali and Kalaycıoğlu, Ersin, Turkish Democracy Today, London: Tauris, 2007.
Esmer, Yılmaz and Pettersson, Thorleif “The Effects of Religion and Religiosity on Voting Behavior” in Dalton, Russell J. and Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Evans, Jocelyn A. C., Voters and Voting: an introduction. London: Sage Publications, 2004.
Friedman, Jeffrey, ed., The Rational Choice Controversy, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
Harrop, Martin and Miller, William, L., Elections and Voters, London: The MacMillan Press, 1987.
Lau, Richard R., and Redlawsk, David P., How Voters Decide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Sayarı, Sabri and Esmer, Yılmaz, eds., Politics, Parties and Elections in Turkey, New York: Lynne Rienner, 2002.
Schnur, Dan in Neuman, W. Russell et. al. eds., The Affect Effect, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007, ch. 15.

References:

Evaluation System

Semester Requirements	Number of Activities	Level of Contribution
Midterms	1	% 40
Final	1	% 60
Total		% 100
PERCENTAGE OF SEMESTER WORK		% 40
PERCENTAGE OF FINAL WORK		% 60
Total		% 100

ECTS / Workload Table

Activities	Number of Activities	Workload
Course Hours	13	39
Study Hours Out of Class	13	105
Midterms	1	2
Final	1	2
Total Workload		148

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

No Effect	1 Lowest	2 Low	3 Average	4 High	5 Highest

	Program Outcomes	Level of Contribution
1)	Grasp basic theoretical and conceptual knowledge about the field and relations between them at the level of practice.	5
2)	Possess basic knowledge about the causes and effects of political transformations in societies.	5
3)	Possess knowledge about quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods in social and behavioral sciences.	3
4)	Recognize historical patterns while evaluating contemporary political and social developments.	5
5)	Demonstrate interdisciplinary and critical approach while analyzing, synthesizing and forecasting domestic and foreign policy.	5
6)	Conduct studies in the field professionally, both independently or as a team member.	4
7)	Possess consciousness about lifelong learning based on Research & Development.	4
8)	Communicate with peers both orally and in writing, by using a foreign language at least at a level of European Language Portfolio B1 General Level and the necessary informatics and communication technologies.	5
9)	Apply field-related knowledge and competences into career advancement, projects for sustainable development goals, and social responsibility initiatives.	4
10)	Possess the habit to monitor domestic and foreign policy agenda as well as international developments.	5
11)	Possess competence to interpret the new political actors, theories and concepts in a global era.	5
12)	Evaluate the legal and ethical implications of advanced technologies on politics.	4