Political Economy - classes
Spring semester 2025/2026
2nd year & exchange students, Wednesdays, 9.45-11.20am, room A002
Course given by: Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska
Course schedule
| 18/02 | Introductory meeting - organization of the course |
| 25/02 | Methodological and technical remarks on preparing presentations. Organization of the course contd. |
| 4/03 | Topic #1: Alexia Caballero Comment #1: Comment #2: Comment #3: Comment #4: |
| 11/03 | No class |
| 18/03 |
Topic #2: Jara Sanchez Gonzales
Comment #1: Alexia Caballero Comment #2: Emma Gandarias Comment #3: Jose Padilla Mayorga Comment #4: Paula Pindjakova |
| 25/03 | No class |
| 1/04 | Topic #3: Emma Gandarias Comment #1: Nguyen Tra My Comment #2: Andreia Vaz Conde Comment #3: Comment #4: |
| 15/04 | Topic #4: Nguyen Tra My Comment #1: Sandra Lagos Gonzales Comment #2: Emma Gandarias Comment #3: Paula Pindjakova Comment #4: Jaron Bosler |
| 22/04 | Topic #5: Alejandro Rubio Sanchez, Andreia Vaz Conde Comment #1: Alexia Caballero Comment #2: Iuliia Kuminova Comment #3: Nguyen Tra My Comment #4: |
| 29/04 | Topic #6: Sandra Lagos Gonzales Comment #1: Francisca Ferreira Ramos Comment #2: Jara Sanchez Gonzales Comment #3: Jose Padilla Mayorga Comment #4: Carlo Ferruccio |
| 6/05 | Topic #7: Carlo Ferruccio, Zhang Zihe Comment #1: Sangra Lagos Gonzales Comment #2: Jara Sanchez Gonzales Comment #3: Iuliia Kuminova Comment #4: Alejandro Rubio Sanchez |
| 13/05 | No class |
| 20/05 | Topic #9: Jose Padilla Mayorga Comment #1: Francisca Ferreira Ramos Comment #2: Zihe Zhang Comment #3: Alejandro Rubio Sanchez Comment #4: Andreia Vaz Conde |
| 27/05 | Topic #10: Iuliia Kuminova, Paula Pindjakova Comment #1: Carlo Ferruccio Comment #2: Jaron Bosler Comment #3: Comment #4: |
| 3/06 | Topic #8: Francisca Ferreira Ramos, Jaron Bosler Comment #1: Zihe Zhang Comment #2: Comment #3: Comment #4: |
Results
Partial results will be available here (last updated .../2026).
Rules for passing the course
1. The course is composed of a lecture and classes (ćwiczenia). In order to be allowed to participate in the exam you are required to obtain a positive grade from classes (beforehand). The final grade for "Political Economy" is composed of the scores from the exam (60 points) and classes (40 points). Altogether you can obtain 100 points.
2. The maximum score from classes is 40 points. It is composed of the following elements:
a) presentation in class: 0-16 points
Presentations are prepared in two-person teams (in exceptional cases, based on the instructor's decision, the presentation may be prepared individually). The topics of the presentations are distributed during the first one/two classes. The presentation by each team should take 40-45 minutes. Interactive presentations are particularly encouraged. Together with elements involving various forms of interaction, they may take up to 60 minutes. Each member of the team must deliver part of the presentation and these parts should be (nearly) equal. Each presenter is assessed separately for the presenting method, the remaining parts of the assessment are common for both presenters. You may not repeat ('retake') a presentation. The presentation (slides in 'pdf' format) must be sent by e-mail to the course instructor at least 1 day before the class, when it is scheduled until 8pm. Each initiated day (24h) of delay in sending the presentation results in lowering the total score for the presentation by 1 point, e.g. in the case of a presentation obtaining 10 points which was submitted during the 3rd day (24h) from the submission date, 3 points are substracted from the obtained score and the final result is 10 - 3 = 7 points). Assessment of the presentation encompasses:
- assessment of the merits:
- Does the presentation refer to the topic? (1 point)
- Is there a hypothesis or research questions stated / what kind? (2 points)
- Does the introduction attract attention and provides an overview of the arguments? (2 points)
- Are the arguments presented clearly/logically? (2 points)
- Are author's original thoughts presented? (2 points)
- Is additional literature (at least 2 additional scientific sources) included / what kind? (includes correctness of quotes and references - please use the "author (year)" notation in your presentation and include a list of references at the end of it) (2 points)
- Do the conclusions contain a summary of the main inferences? (1 point)
- assessment of the presentation:
- Slides: clear, neat, readable, etc. (2 pointa)
- Presenting method: voice, body language (visual contact, gesticulation) (2 points)
b) comments and active participation in class: 0-12 points
Each student may present 2 comments regarding the readings from the reading list (0-3 points each). Comments need not be prepared in writing but must be presented in class orally. Each student can present only one comment per class and only when they are not having their presentation. The maximum number of comments (prepared by different persons) per topic is 4. It is not allowed to retake a presentation of a comment.
The deadline for selecting comments is 4/03/2026. Please submit your preferences by e-mail.
Points for active participation in class (0-6 points) can be received for participating in discussion during classes (0-1 points per class). If there are less than 9 classes with presentations during the semester, a relevant multiplier is used to calculate the final active participation scores.
c) short tests: 0-12 points
Short tests regarding the readings discussed in class will be organized every week (5 minutes at the beginning of each class). Each test will consist of 1 question relating to the reading scheduled for that class. For each test you may receive 0-1 point. It is not possible to retake short tests. In order to pass the classes it is necessary to obtain at least 50% of the total points for short tests during the entire semester. If there are less than 12 short tests organized during the semester, a multiplier is used so that the maximum total score for short tests is 12 points.
3. There will be only one retake of classes and it will be organized during the retake exam period (in September). It will take the form of a written pre-exam (kolokwium) and include open questions based on all readings from the reading list. For the pre-exam you can receive 0-30 points. All points received earlier are cancelled, excluding points for comments and active participation in class.
4. Presence in class is obligatory. Only two absences are allowed without written proof of medical leave (each additional absence, which is not justified in a formal manner, results in lowering the final score by 2 points). Absence on the day of your presentation results in 0 points for the presentation. The same regards comments.
Grading scale:
| 0 - 20 points | 2 |
| >20 - 24 points | 3 |
| >24 - 27 points | 3+ |
| >27 - 31 points | 4 |
| >31 - 34 points | 4+ |
| >34 - 40 points | 5 |
