This course provides a broad overview of the comparative politics subfield by focusing on substantive questions about the world today. Students will use their knowledge of these concepts to help understand past and current developments in a variety of geographical settings, including developing countries. The course invites students to grapple with ideas central to political structures around the world. For example, the state’s role enforcing order, the differences between autocracies and democracies and the institutional forms of democratic governments. Students will consider how some institutions are more likely than others to produce desirable social outcomes such as accountability, redistribution and political stability.
Semester
Special Rotation