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School of Politics and International Relations · ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
What is Comparative Politics? Why do some countries democratize while others remain undemocratic? How do political actors, institutions and processes that structure politics change across social and cultural settings? What are the effects of different electoral systems on political representation and inclusion? What theories and approaches can help us make sense of the variation in the way political governments are organized around the world? Comparison is one of the main approaches in political science. This course introduces key concepts, theories, and empirical methodologies in comparative politics. Major themes include patterns and differences between political regimes, the causes of democratization, democratic practices, governments and parliaments, levels of government, public policies, political cultures, minority groups, political participation, and behavior. The course will compare cases from Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Latin America to equip students with the knowledge and skills in when to compare, how to compare, what to compare, and how to use comparison for explaining and understanding political processes, causes, and effects.
Quizzes (4 quizzes 5% each)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Empirical analysis (max 1500 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Participation
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Final paper (max 2000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 36 hours of contact over 12 weeks: 24 hours of lectures and 12 hours of tutorials, and b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing
- Boix, C., & Stokes, S. C. (Eds.). (2007). The Oxford handbook of comparative politics. Oxford University Press - Putnam, R. D. (1994). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press. - Norris, P (2011). Democratic deficit: Critical citizens revisited. Cambridge University Press - Croissant, A. and Tomini, eds. (2024). The Routledge Handbook of Autocratization. Taylor & Francis. - Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2012). Why nations fail?: the origins of power, prosperity, and poverty.