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2023/2024

Regional Policies and Administration

Code: 104259 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2503710 Geography, Environmental Management and Spatial Planning OB 3 1

Contact

Name:
Maria Asuncion Blanco Romero
Email:
asuncion.blanco@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.

Teachers

Antoni Ramon Riba

Prerequisites

Non specifically, just have a general idea of what is happening today. In other words, have a bit of a general background and minimally follow the news.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The objective of the course is to offer students an introduction and basic knowledge about the relations between politics and institutions, on the one hand, and territory, on the other.

The objectives of the subject consist of knowing the basic elements that make up local governments: normative principles, structures, actors and policy agenda to achieve the ability to analyze the reality of local government with a critical and well-founded vision, especially in Catalonia, but studying cases from Spain as a whole and from other countries of the European Union. It will try to propose and analyze future alternatives based on current debates.

The subject is closely related to "Urban policies: housing, neighborhoods and mobility". The knowledge and skills acquired are considered essential for the training and future professional performance of students. Hence, it has the character of a compulsory subject.


Competences

  • Introduce theoretical and applied aspects of the main regional, environmental and urban policies in professional practice.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Use the scientific and professional language of the social sciences.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse and critically evaluate the operation of the political institutions at different levels of government.
  2. Describe the main concepts in the area of study of relations between politics and society in Spain and Catalonia.
  3. Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  4. Use the scientific and professional language of the social sciences.

Content

Topic 1. Politics, power and territory

  • The question of power
  • Relational definition of power
  • The forms of power: economic, ideological, political
  • Politics as a form of power

Topic 2. The question of the State

  • Approaches to the study of the State
  • The State as an organization of political power
  • State functions
  • State, civil society and economic power
  • The State, groups and social actors

Topic 3. Multi-level government. The territorial organization of the State

  • The organization of the European Union
  • The territorial organization of the State
  • Local authorities in Catalonia
  • Organization and operation of local entities

Topic 4. Organización de los gobiernos locales en Cataluña

  • Organization of local governments in Catalonia. Provinces, counties and veguerias
  • Organization of local governments in Catalonia. Municipalities
  • Organization of local governments in Catalonia. Metropolitan Area and Charter of BCN Barcelona

Topic 5. Local resources and financing

  • Local tax and transfer system
  • The local Treasury in Catalonia
  • The municipal budget

Topic 6. Electoral systems

  • Electoral systems in Europe
  • Electoral systems of local entities in Catalonia

Topic 7. Governance and social cohesion

  • Design and provision of public services
  • Local government models: from government to governance
  • Social cohesion

Methodology

Guided activities: face-to-face sessions to explain the syllabus and for the revision in the classroom of the exercises carried out throughout the course.

Supervised activities: review of the exercises proposed as an evaluation tool and that will be available in the virtual platform of the subject.

Autonomous activities: everything that should be done on behalf of students in preparation for the subject. It includes the consultation of diverse material (articles, reports, etc.) available in the virtual platform of the subject, as well as specialized bibliography, both the most general and the one that incidentally is quoted. The teacher does not follow any manual, despite the existence of several excellent ones in the market. Any suitable material may be used, such as newspaper articles, press magazines, etc.

In this topic, a sexist use of language will not be allowed in students' oral and written contributions.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Public presentation of a paper 8 0.32 3
Seminars for the discussion of texts and cases. 10 0.4 1
Theoretical lectures 27 1.08 2, 4
Type: Supervised      
Tutorial: individual and group tutorials for support for the accomplishment of the work and monitoring of the work done in the subject. 5 0.2 2, 4
Type: Autonomous      
Comprehensive individual reading of texts. 23 0.92 1
Elaboration of the course paper and the seminar papers. 20 0.8 1, 3
Study of theoretical contents. 20 0.8 3

Assessment

This subject incorporate single assessment system that is explained at the end of this section.

The continuous evaluation of this subject is made up of the following evaluation activities:

- Final exam: 40% of the final grade.
- 2 Small seminar reports on readings and cases (in groups of 3-4 people): 30% of the final grade. In the first task, to obtain the mark, it will be necessary to include the certificate of the LIBRARY TRAINING MODULE, which will be reported at the beginning of the course.

- Preparation of one of the topics of the course (in groups of 3-4 people): 15%

- Oral presentation of the topic studied: 15%

The practical activities have an optional character (but they cannot be recovered if they have not been submitted).

Requirements for evaluation (1st call):

To obtain a minimum grade of 5 in the written test, in order to average with the other parts of the assessment. In case of not fulfilling this requirement, this note cannot be compensated with another and it will be submitted to the recovery process.

There is no obligation of a minimum score in the practical activities and the one obtained will be added to the others for the final grade of the subject. This means that they cannot be done, with the risk, however, that after the rest of the notes are not enough to pass the subject. Keep in mind that the optionality of the practices has a "price": they will be delivered within the established period (to be announced at the beginning of the course) and when it has finished they will not be admitted (except in the case of students accepted for single assessment).

Requirements for recovery:

Failure to complete the written test will mean that the student must submit to the recovery. That is, in spite of the "mathematical" possibility that the student passes having delivered the practices and attended all the classroom sessions, it will not be so without such proof.

In case that the minimum grade required in the written test is not obtained, the affected person will need to submit to therecovery. The rest of the notes will be saved for the final grade.

As for the practical activities, only the recovery (or improvement ofgrade) of one will be accepted, as long as it has been deliveredwithin the established term throughout the semester  (except in the case of students accepted for single assessment). That is to say, in the case of practices, re-evaluation does not imply being able to deliver one that has not been done before.

On the other hand, no other "alternative" evaluation mechanism is foreseen (presentation of a paper, reading reviews, etc.).

The oral presentation cannot be re-evaluated or recovered.

According to UAB regulations, in order to participate in the recovery process, a minimum grade in the average of the subject must have been obtained. This rating will equal or exceed 3.5. (These conditions are adapted to the regulations on the evaluation of the UAB in Article 112. The recovery http://www.uab.cat/doc/Modificacio_normativa_academica_CG120717).

Consideration of "Not Evaluable"

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.

Plagiarism

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject. Let's remember thata "copy" is considered a work that reproduces all or most of the work of one or the other company / a. "Plagiarism" is the fact of presenting all or part of a text of an author as its own, withoutmentioning the sources, be on paper or in digital format. See UAB documentation on "plagiarism" at: http://wuster.uab.es/web_argumenta_obert/unit_20/sot_2_01.html.

Procedure for Reviewing Grades Awarded

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

SINGLE ASSESSMENT

The single assessment does not imply any change in relation to the teaching model nor is it related to face-to-face, students can continue attending class as usual. Assumes a single assessment date but not a single assessment activity.

Thus, those students who have requested the single evaluation system within the established period (September 18 to October 6) will have to take the following individual evaluation: 

- Final exam (40% of the final mark). To be done on the same day and time as the rest of the group. The date will be reported in the program for the beginning of the course.

- 2 practices on readings and cases (30% of the final mark). In the first practice, to obtain the mark, it will be necessary to include the certificate of completion of the LIBRARY TRAINING MODULE, which will be reported at the beginning of the course. These practices will be delivered the same day as the written exam. The practical activities are optional (but they cannot be recovered if they have not been presented, read the explanations above).

- Preparation of one of the topics of the course proposed at the beginning of the course following the same indications of the continuous evaluation (15%). The delivery of the written document will be the same day of the exam by the means established.

- Oral presentation of the topic worked on (15%) in video format, of aduration equivalent to the class presentation of the rest of the students (approx. 5 minutes).

 As in the continuous evaluation, the conditions to be able to be re-evaluated, explained in the general part of this section, will be maintained.


Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
2 Seminar papers about readings and cases 30% 20 0.8 1, 3
Course topic preparation 15% 10 0.4 1, 2, 3, 4
Final exam 40% 2 0.08 2, 4
Oral presentation course topic 15% 5 0.2 3, 4

Bibliography

This subject does not follow any specific manual. The bibliography will be specified during the course, through Moodle, according to topics and social and editorial news.

 

Basic bibliographical references:

Baños, Pedro. (2017). Así se domina el mundo. Desvelando las claves del poder mundial. Ariel Editorial

Bobbio, Norberto. (1985). Estado, Gobierno y sociedad. Por una teoría general de la política. CAP.

Fernández Durán, Ramón & González Reyes, Luis. (2018). En la espiral de la energía. Libros en Acción. Ecologistas en Acción. https://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/wp-content/uploads/adjuntos-spip/pdf/en-la-espiral-de-la-energia_vol-1.pdf

Méndez, Ricardo. (2011). El orden geopolítico durante el periodo de Guerra Fría, capítol 1 en El nuevo mapa geopolítico del mundo. Tirant Lo Blanch

Vallès, Jose M. & Martí i Puig, Salvador. (2020). Ciencia política. Un manual. Ariel Editorial

 

Complementary bibliographical references:

Bertrana, Xavier (2014). Els Governs locals de l’Europa Occidental: una aproximació tipològica. Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Geografia, [en línia] p. 125-41, https://raco.cat/index.php/TreballsSCGeografia/article/view/289364

Blanco, Ismael & Gomà, Ricard. (2002). Gobiernos locales y redes participativas. Barcelona: Ariel.

Blanco, Ismael & Gomà, Ricard. (2016). El municipalisme del bé comú. Barcelona: Icària.

Blanco, Ismael & Gomà, Ricard. , Subirats, J. (2018). "El nuevo municipalismo. Derecho a la ciudad y comunes urbanos", Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas, 20: 14-28.

Blanco, Ismael & Nel·lo, Oriol. (Eds.) (2018). Barrios y Crisis. Crisis económica, segregación urbana e innovación social  en Cataluña. València: Ed. Tirant.

Blanco, Ismael; Salazar, Yunailis & Bianchi, Iolanda. (2019). "Urban governance and political change under a radical left government. The case of Barcelona", Journal of Urban Affairs. Published online.

Blasco Julià, Jaume (2009). Guia pràctica 1 – Com iniciar una avaluació: oportunitat, viabilitat i preguntes d’avaluació. Institut Català d’Avaluació de Polítiques pübliques, 44p.

Brugué, Joaquim & Gomà, Ricard. (Coord.) (1998). Gobiernos Locales y Políticas Públicas. Barcelona: Ariel. pp. 15-35.

Brugué, Joaquim & Vallès, Josep M. (2005). "New-Style Councils, New-Style Councillors: From Local Government to Local Governance"; Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions , Vol. 18, No.2, pp. 197-226. (Versió en castellà també disponible).

Carroué, Laurant & Boissière, Aurélie. (2018). Atlas de la mondialisation. Une seule Terre, des mondes. Edit. Autrement

Chandler, Jim. (2010). "A Rationale for Local Government"; Local Government Studies, 36:1, pp. 5-20.

Del Pino, Eloísa & Rubio, María Josefa. (Coord.) (2013). Los Estados del Bienestar en la encrucijada. Políticas sociales en perspectiva comparada. Madrid: Tecnos. Cap. 1.

DIPUTACIÓ DE BARCELONA (2018). Suport per a l’elaboració del catàleg de serveis municipals. Servei d’assistència a l’organització municipal, 23p. https://www.diba.cat/documents/192458/228032110/1a_sessio_Cataleg_de_Serveis_curs+2018.pdf/d9e6c318-16c4-49c3-b416-32f7c0da9d52

Donat, Carles. (2017) "Els set reptes dels nous plans i polítiques localsd'habitatge", a DDAA, Repensar la metropoli: noves claus per a un projecte col·lectiu. Barcelona: IERMB-AMB.

Flint, C. & Taylor, P.J. (2018). Political Geography. World-economy, natio-state and locality. Seventh edition. Routledge.

Generalitat de Catalunya (2016). El Sector públic local a Catalunya. http://economia.gencat.cat/web/.content/70_corporacions_locals/arxius/Informe-sector-public-local-2016.pdf

Observatorio Metropolitano (2014). La apuesta municipalista. La democracia empieza por lo cercano. Madrid: Traficantes de sueños. Cap. 3.

Ubasart, Gemma & Bonet, Jordi. (2010). Guia de Govern Local. Barcelona: Icaria Editorial, Biblioteca derecursos veïnals. Disponible a: http://auditoriabdn.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/guia-de-govern-local-catalc3a0.pdf

Wollmann, Hellmut. (2004). "Local Government Reforms in Great Britain, Sweden, Germany and France: Between. Multi-Function and Single-Purpose Organisations"; Local Government Studies, Vol.30, No.4, pp. 639-665.

 

DECRET LEGISLATIU 2/2003, de 28 d'abril, pel qual s'aprova el Text refós de la Llei municipal i de règim local de Catalunya (2021).


Software

None in particular except the usual office tools and Teams in case of online connections.