IS 230 - Comparative Politics

Lecture Hours: 3
Lab Hours: 0
Credit Hours: 3

This introduction to the field of Comparative Politics has two main objectives. The first is to provide a foundation of basic empirical knowledge about political institutions and processes in select key countries: Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, China, India, Iran, and Mexico. The second, more open-ended, objective is to engage some of the “big questions” and themes in world politics that engage scholars, political leaders, and (ideally) educated citizens: How and why did modern nation-states emerge in the West? How do the legacies of colonialism and socialism influence political and economic development elsewhere? What are the conditions most conducive to liberal democracy and market capitalism-and do they always go together?