Comparative Politics
Module Code: PO2650
Module Name: Comparative Politics
- ECTS Weighting: 10
- Semester/Term Taught: Michaelmas + Hilary Term
- Contact Hours: 44 hours lectures + fortnighly tutorials; 9 hours of tutorials
- Module Personnel: Lecturer - Paul Kenny (2012-2013)
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- Describe and assess the study of comparative politics in a systematic, social-scientific way
- Examine key issues in comparative politics
- Identify interesting research questions in comparative politics
- Evaluate the usefulness of various theoretical approaches to address research questions
- Describe a variety of political systems around the world
- Explain how democratic and non-democratic regimes emerge and survive
- Explain what happens when peaceful democratic politics fails
- Evaluate the power of national states in the era of globalization and Europeanization
Module Learning Aims
Aims: This module aims to build students’ understanding of the basics of comparative politics, research methodology and argumentation in political science.
Module Content
The course is an introduction to the study of comparative politics. We will be studying both developing and developed countries, democratic and authoritarian regimes as well as countries that are in the midst of political and economic transitions. There are no prerequisites for taking the class. Some of the questions that will be addressed in the class include: What are the causes of democratization? Why are some states more corrupt than others? Why is civil war so prevalent in Africa? Are presidential systems less stable than parliamentary ones? Why do citizens vote the way they do?
The first half of the course deals with the origins of political order and how politics functions under democracy especially in the West. In the second term, we’ll then look at non-democratic forms of politics, asking why authoritarian regimes persist and whether corruption undermines democracy. We’ll also examine what happens when peaceful politics breaks down and people resort to protest and even terrorism. We’ll end with a discussion of whether the nation state remains the most appropriate focus for the study of comparative politics.
Recommended Reading List
Boix, Carles, and Susan Carol Stokes (eds.) (2007) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Caramani, Daniele (ed.) (2011) Comparative Politics, Oxford: Oxford University PressAssessment Details
Tutorial participation: 10%; Essay 1: 10%; Essay 2: 10%
1 x 3 hour final exam 70%