Comparative Politics A

Module Code: POU22031

Module Name: Comparative Politics A 2022-23

ECTS Weighting: 5
Semester/Term Taught: Semester 1 (see note above)
Contact Hours: 22 hours lectures + fortnightly tutorials; 4 hours of tutorials
Module Personnel: Lecturer - TBA
Module Prerequisite: either POU11012 Introduction to Political Science or POU11022 Politics and Irish Society
Module Co-Requisite: POU22032 Comparative Politics B

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 the comparative politics of industrialized democracies
Identify interesting research questions in comparative politics
Explain the importance of institutional design and the consequences of various institutional choices

Module Learning Aims

This module aims to build students’ understanding of the basics of comparative politics, research methodology and argumentation in political science, with particular reference to industrialized, advanced democracies.

Module Content

The module is an introduction to the study of comparative politics and provides an overview of some of the key theoretical frameworks, concepts, and analytical methods of this field of study. We study democratic political systems with a view to understanding and explaining their differences and similarities with respect to their political institutions, the behaviour of their key political actors, and their policymaking processes and performance.

The module examines the building blocks of the comparative approach. We describe, explain and examine the consequences of different political institutions, with a focus on established democracies, including executive-legislative relations, electoral systems, and strong judiciaries.