POLITICS & POLICY I (PO5030)

This course provides an introduction to basic concepts, methodologies, and empirical studies in comparative politics. As a subfield of political science, comparative politics is generally understood as the study of political processes and structures of all possible kinds from the vantage point of international comparison, sometimes for the mere fact of covering a country or region other than one’s own (so-called “area studies”). A few substantive themes that have traditionally preoccupied political comparativists: development, democratization, regime change, etc. will be addressed in the introductory part of this course. The second part is on the origins, development, and functions of the modern state, forms of interest representation and state-society relations, and on how different political regime forms condition different political and policy-making dynamics. In the third part we review some key contemporary challenges to political systems around the world: the “constitutionalization” of politics, globalization, regionalization, and transnationalization.