GOVT 1313 - Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics

(SBA-AS)

Spring, summer. 4 credits.

C. Anderson.

This course will introduce students to comparative politics—the study of the political institutions and processes of countries around the world. Emphasis is on how to make meaningful comparisons between systems in different countries. The course will cover conditions for and workings of democracy, with an emphasis on how different kinds of democracies work. Course will provide a framework for comparison, and students will choose specific countries to compare. The United States will be considered in comparative perspective. Important topics to be covered include the vibrancy of democracy, the centrality of political and electoral institutions, the possibility of revolution, and the power of ethnicity.