Comparative politics covers a wide variety of topics and themes. The course starts with the definition of the comparative method giving special emphasis to concept formation and historical and institutional approaches. The bulk of the course is devoted to the theory of coalitions and the processes of government formation, functioning, termination. Through several in-depth analyses, the course will throw light on the way democratic regimes are governed. Electoral rules will receive special attention and their impact both on citizens’ behavior and parties and the party system will be thoroughly examined.
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The types of Parliaments, their structures and their role will be taken into consideration also in order to understand how they affect the formation of governing coalitions. Hence the dynamics and the transformation of those coalitions, with special attention to their more or less frequent rotation in office, will be explored and explained. The assets and the liabilities of the different institutional arrangements will be evaluated. The final part of the course will be devoted to an assessment of the quality of the different democratic regimes and to the proposals for change. The overall picture likely to emerge is that of the existence of several institutional solutions to the challenges and the problems of contemporary democracies.
Syllabus
Introduction to comparative politics
Module 1
This module presents an initial first exploration of the field of “Comparative Politics”. You will be introduced to comparative politics and the comparative method, and you will understand the nature and components of a political system, and the challenges relating to authorities, recruitment, selection and circulation.
Political regimes
Module 2
This module presents one of the three components of the political system: political regimes. You will be introduced to the four types of political regimes, and learn more about parliamentarism, presidentialism and semi-presidentialism.
Party Systems and Electoral Systems
Module 3
This module presents what a party system is and what electoral systems are.You will learn about the classification of party systems, and about the universe of elections. You will then navigate the different types of electoral systems, by analyzing the most basic features of any electoral system from a comparative perspective.
Autocracy and Democracy
Module 4
This module presents and differentiates authoritarian and democratic regimes. You will delve into these two kinds of political regimes, and learn more about authoritarianism, democratization processes, and types of democracies.
