Political Institutions

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

The electoral institutions that link voters to the government they elect profoundly affect the incentives that politicians encounter. For example, some systems encourage elected officials to appeal to broad constituencies while others motivate them to satisfy the interests of only narrow segments of their population. Moreover, political systems that work well in relatively homogeneous societies can have catastrophic effects in countries that have deep social cleavages. The purpose of this course is for you to learn how political institutions connect voters to the governments they elect and the incentives these systems create for citizens and politicians. Understanding these links is central for comprehending how democracies function, and why variations exist among democracies. In the course we will examine what these institutions are, the differences between these institutions in democracies and non-democracies, institutional variation within democracies, and why countries choose different types of democratic institutions.