The course will be divided into three sections, corresponding to three major pillars of the study of political behaviour: elections, public opinion, and political identities. The three sections and ten themes, however, should be treated as highly inter-related rather than artificially divided. Themes include: citizens and politics: the democratic link, political psychology and the study of political behaviour; Electoral Behaviour: an overview; Alignments, Realignments, and De-alignments in contemporary Europe; Electoral Instability, Split-Ticket Voting, and Political Cynicism; Extreme right politics; Electoral Behaviour: Applied micro-level analysis; The media, public opinion, and political participation: introduction to the processes of political communication; Economic situation and public opinion: overview on electoral political economy; Public opinion and European integration; Transforming regional, national, and European identities; Political behaviour, political identities, and institutional answers: the social contract and the 'ultimate' democratic link.