Introduction to Comparative Politics

The course is organized around empirical questions that reflect both interesting phenomena and puzzles that call for explanation. Throughout the course, we explore the key analytical frameworks in comparative politics which constitute political systems and shape outcomes in our everyday lives—the state, social structure, interests, identities, and institutions. Topics include modern states, political regimes, origins of democracy and dictatorship, political parties, interest groups, representation, participation, resistance, revolutions, nationalism, ethnic/religious conflicts as well as the issues of institutional designs (parliamentarism vs. presidentialism, consensual vs. majoritarian democracy, federalism and decentralization). By the end of the course, the student will have acquired a broad perspective of the field of comparative politics and some basic analytical frameworks to examine a wide range of political and social phenomena.

Offered by the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Sophia University.