Comparative Politics Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This is an introductory course on comparative politics which centres on the study of political behaviour and the institutions of states. The course examines how democracies can be organized through the formation and development of pluralistic and participatory political institutions. This course aims to explain, compare, and critically contrast behavioural and institutional, procedural and substantive interactions, and institutional designs and outcomes, whilst developing an active appraisal of the difference between theoretical debate and their practice. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and case study analyses, students will understand and begin to apply the comparative method to the study of political phenomena. This course will also introduce, apply, and differentiate between qualitative and quantitative methods in Political Science, giving learners the opportunity to think critically about the inner workings of political systems, specifically focusing on how they are engaged in a variety of contexts and informed by the richness of both normative and empirical evidence.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students in their studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures and seminars

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150 hours

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessments are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

The assessments will require students to apply comparative politics methodologies to the analyses of behaviours, societies, institutions, and procedures across different democratic and divergent political systems, employing rich theoretical and empirical contextual evidence:

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Almond, G. and S. Verba. (1989), The civic culture: political attitudes and democracy in five nations, London: Sage.
• Clark, W.R., M. Golder and Nadenichek Golder, S. (2017), Principles of Comparative Politics, Third Edition, CQ Press (or subsequent editions)
• Lipset, S.M. and Rokkan, S. (eds) (1967), Party Systems and Voter Alignments: cross-national perspectives, Cambridge: The Free Press.

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below is used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Legitimacy and Constitutionalism
• Political Culture and Cultural Conflict
• Presidentialism and Parliamentarianism
• Cleavages and political representation
• Types of electoral systems