INTRO TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS

This course provides a broad overview of the comparative politics subfield by focusing on critical substantive questions about the world today. The course is organized around four questions: 1. Why can only some people depend upon the state to enforce order? 2. Why are some countries more democratic than others? 3. What different institutional forms does democratic government take? 4. Are some institutions more likely than others to produce significant social outcomes such as representation, accountability, redistribution, and democratic stability? Because the study of comparative politics requires knowledge of specific cases, we will focus on eight countries: China, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, and the United Kingdom. This course will prepare students for higher-level courses in political science in two ways. First, it will teach students to make and evaluate arguments about politics. Second, it will make students aware of to the methods political scientists use in their research.