This course introduces the main theoretical approaches and analytical tools used in the field of comparative politics and democratization. While the systematic comparison of political processes and outcomes across different units—mostly across countries—is the core feature of comparative political analysis, the field explores a wide range of political phenomena, navigates broad geography, comprises contrasting research schools, adopts diverse conceptual and methodological tools, and proposes competing explanations for substantive political questions. The central aim of this course is to familiarize students with the major theoretical and methodological debates in comparative politics, while primarily focusing on the topics of political institutions, democracy, democratization, and autocracies. Throughout the course, we will mainly concentrate on recent political events and adopt a broad geographic scope, studying both advanced industrial societies and developing countries.

The main topics of the course are: 

• The comparative analysis of political institutions (the institutional configuration of democratic regimes, executives and legislatures)

• The comparative study of electoral systems)

• The causes and consequences of democratization 

• The study of authoritarian regimes, their survival, and possible transitions to democracy.

A key component of this course is the active participation of students. In addition to attending lectures, students will participate in six practical sessions. 

This course will be taught face-to-face in the classroom. Under all circumstances, the course depends very much on the active participation of the students. This requires everyone to do the assigned readings and come to the classroom with at least two questions prepared for further discussion. These questions may be related to the application of the theoretical framework to an empirical problem (historical or contemporary), an inconsistency within the theoretical approach or further issues related to the topic we cover that week.

Evaluación

1. Attendance and participation in practical sessions: 40%

Practical sessions include the delivery of in-class activities, presentations, and papers. Further details of this part are available in the program of practical sessions.

2. Presentation of weekly readings and leading the class discussion: 10%

Each class meeting will have a group of presenters who will take turns in briefly presenting that week’s reading assignment and leading class discussion in light of the key questions. The presenters will have to apply the content of the reading to a recent empirical case: How do the readings help understand contemporary politics? The presentations are going to be very brief and students will have about 15 minutes.

3. In-class short quiz: 10%

There will be one in-class quiz that will be based on reading assignments, lecture slides, and class discussions. This will include short answer questions, concept definitions, and fill-in-the-blank questions. The quiz will be handed at the end of session 6.

4. Final exam: 40 %

There will be an in-class final exam. Details of the final exam will be discussed in class.

 

Competencias, resultados de aprendizaje y actividades formativas (PDF)