Comparative Politics

3 units

This course introduces the student to the fundamentals of cross-national research, study, and understanding. Comparative politics is the study of the domestic politics of other countries. Comparative political study is important because domestic politics shapes what goes on within a given country and shapes how that country's citizens and leaders interact with other countries. Comparative study is challenging because it requires both factual and theoretical knowledge about the world's political systems and how and why they function. Without a strong background in the factual information and the theoretical frameworks around which we can begin to explain and predict political decisions, we cannot understand the world. This lack of understanding impedes effective decision making at the local, regional, national and international scales. In this course, we will study the dominant structures within which politics occurs and examine how those structures shape political choices.