17 October 2020 11:34
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Knowledge and Understanding
• Learn some of the characteristics of major institutional forms common in
modern states, such as varieties of democracies, electoral systems, legislatures,
and executives, as well as the main features of democracies and non-
democracies.
• Develop a critical awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of these
institutional forms.
• Develop an awareness and familiarity with substantive material in comparative
politics which uses quantitative methods.
Intellectual Skills
• Learn some of the basic research tools of political studies, such as conceptual
analysis, comparison over time and space, casual explanation (i.e. what
happens), and normative evaluation (i.e. whether what happens is good or
bad)
• Analyze political institutions, procedures and behavior across a number of
different democratic and non-democratic countries
Practical skills
• Practice skills of verbal argumentation and persuasion
• Demonstrate the ability to manage own time to meet multiple deadlines and
complete a sustained period of work
Transferable Skills
• Develop the ability to communicate ideas in writing and verbally.
• Develop the ability to critically evaluate both theoretical arguments and
empirical evidence.
Personal qualities
• Engage in critical self-reflection and an awareness of other alternative points of
view
Course Structure
First-Half: Democracy and Dictatorship
Topic 1 to 5
- Comparative Politics in Practice
- Democracy and the State
- Determinants of Democracy and Dictatorship
- Types of Dictatorship
- Democratic Transition
You will be asked to apply knowledge in the report due on MONDAY 23rd
Lecture 1 - Intro to Comparative Politics Page 1