Comparative Politics 2751-IP-S2-1-CP
This course develops systematic comparison as a core strategy of inference in political science. It introduces major comparative traditions, including institutionalism, political economy, historical sociology, and cultural approaches. Students examine regime types and trajectories of democratisation, autocratization, and hybrid governance. The course analyses electoral systems, party competition, and representation as mechanisms linking society to policy. It studies state capacity, bureaucracy, corruption, and public goods provision as determinants of legitimacy and performance. Attention is given to identity politics, nationalism, and ethnic conflict as sources of mobilisation and violence. Students learn comparative research designs, such as the most-similar and most-different strategies. The course trains students to interpret cross-national indicators critically, including issues of measurement error and concept stretching. Empirical case studies across regions illustrate how contextual conditions theory and causal claims. By the end, students can build and defend comparative explanations using disciplined concepts and evidence.
Total student workload
Learning outcomes - knowledge
Course coordinators
Expository teaching methods
- description
- participatory lecture
Exploratory teaching methods
- practical
- seminar
- case study
- WebQuest
- presentation of a paper
Online teaching methods
Assessment criteria
Assessment methods:
- written exam (test in English) (60%) at the end of semester based on the content of the lectures.
Required readings will be assigned for each class.
- a presentation on a selected subject approved by the instructor (20%)
- class participation (20%) – regular and punctual class attendance is mandatory for all students.
The following criteria are adopted:
0%-59% = fail
60%-69% = satisfactory
70%-74% = satisfactory plus
75%-84% = good
85%-89% = good plus
90%-100% = very good
Bibliography
Caramani, D. (Ed.). (2020). Comparative politics (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Hague, R., Harrop, M., & McCormick, J. (2022). Comparative government and politics: An introduction (12th ed.). Red Globe Press.
Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A. (2010). Competitive authoritarianism: Hybrid regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge University Press.
Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Crown.
Linz, J. J. (2000). Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Lijphart, A. (2012). Patterns of democracy: Government forms and performance in thirty-six countries (2nd ed.). Yale University Press.
Newton, K., & van Deth, J. W. (2021). Foundations of comparative politics: Democracies of the modern world (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Norris, P. (2011). Democratic deficit: Critical citizens revisited. Cambridge University Press.
O’Neil, P. H. (2021). Essentials of comparative politics (7th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
Ragin, C. C. (2014). The comparative method: Moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies. University of California Press.
Sartori, G. (1991). Comparing and miscomparing. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 3(3), 243–257. https://doi.org/10.1177/0951692891003003001
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: