SSC 251 Foundations of Comparative Politics

Content

Foundations of Comparative Politics provides students with an overview of the key concepts, theories and issues to analyze and compare political systems. This is done through an analysis of the functioning of Western democracies using the research tools of 'mainstream' political science: empirical research either of a qualitative or quantitative nature that seeks to describe and/or explain political phenomena. The course provides an overview and analysis of the core structures and institutions of Western democracies by examining the position of the state and studying its internal structures and functioning.

Students will each ‘adopt’ a country that they will analyze throughout the course by means of various assignments as well as by writing a research note that examines Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone thesis. The guiding question for the research note is to what extent the media and watching TV in particular can be blamed for producing political apathy and distrust. Students will answer these questions for their country on the basis of an empirical analysis of data from the European Social Survey.

Instructor

Dr. Herman Lelieveldt

Track

Political Science

Period

Fall / 2011

Course Material

• Kenneth Newton & Jan W. van Deth. Foundations of Comparative Politics. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• Putnam, R.D., R. Leonardi, and R. Nanetti. Making Democracy Work. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

Additional Prerequisites

Any 100 level social science course (so it is possible to enroll in this course without having taken SSC 151 Introduction to Political Theory).

Required for

This course is required in order to take the following course:

• SSC 352 European Union Politics

This course is an alternative requirement for the following courses:

• SSC 259 International Relations: Immigration and Asylum
• SSC 331 Faces of the State: A View from Anthropology
• SSC 354 Security in the Post-Cold War Era
• SSC 356 Public Policy Analysis