Formation/Cours

This course aims to educate students on the functioning of political systems and processes, introduce important theories of comparative politics and offer students insights into the ways important societal developments affect politics. Moreover, this course will teach and encourage students to critically reflect on social and political trends, as well as render them able to independently analyse political developments and events.

On completion of this course, students should be able to explain (amongst others): – Understand the notion of power and its role throughout politics
– Why regime analysis is a key aspect of comparative politics
– How institutional stability and political legitimation interact

– How different institutional designs can affect governance

– What is meant by political culture and how it influences institutional behaviour
– How presidential systems differ in key respects from parliamentary ones
– The relationship between elective and non-elective dimensions of the democratic state – How political parties shape politics

This course will introduce the discipline of comparative politics as an object of study to students, through the presentation and discussion of key concepts, questions and themes. The sessions will move from general questions regarding the nature and scope of comparative politics, through an exploration of political institutions as central constructs of politics, into a consideration of the relationships between various political actors at play in politics. This includes comparing different political systems and regimes, the role of elites and masses, the importance of political and electoral institutions, governance and governing and the relationship between democracy and representation. The course will pay particular attention to different countries and historical periods, so as to give students grounding in the core theories of comparative politics beyond a single-country setting and through the development of a comparative lens.