At the successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1	Define the key terms in Comparative Politics
2	Discuss the political history, institutions, political cultures, political parties, interest groups, political issues, cleavages, and the major political conflicts of various contemporary political systems
3	Compare and contrast major aspects of democratic and non-democratic political systems
4	Compare and contrast economic challenges facing developed and developing states
5	Debate the role of a state in economic development
6	Participate in group discussions about contested concepts with confidence and with tolerance for other points of view
7	Navigate the large amounts of research material available in this subject through both traditional academic sources and through the use of information technology
8	Demonstrate career readiness and leadership skills appropriate for beginning professional practice, including lifelong learning skills characterised by academic rigour, self-direction and intellectual independence

The Course Reader is available online only.

In the past, this course used the text by Gabriel Almond, G. Bingham Powell, Russell J. Dalton and Kaare Strom (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View. There should be numerous second-hand copies of this textbook if you wish to go beyond the Course Reader.

Recommended academic readings are also made available on Myuni.

Internet Resources

General Reference Texts
Clanchy, J and Ballard, B. Essay Writing for Students [Barr-Smith Library electronic resource]
Bell, J. Doing your Research Project: A Guide for First- Time Researchers in Education and Social Science (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1993).
The Chambers English Dictionary (Edinburgh: W & R Chambers (many editions))
Fowler, H.W., The New Fowler’s Modem English Usage (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
Gowers, E. The Complete Plain Words (London: Penguin, 1973).
Manser, M.H. Bloomsbury Guide to Better English (London: Bloomsbury, 1994).
The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Plotnik, A. The Elements of Editing: A Modem Guide for Editors and Journalists (New York: Macmillan, 1982).
Strunk, W., Jr & E.B. White The Elements of Style (New York: Macmillan, 1979).
Turabian, K.L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations, (Chicago: Chicago U., 1967). (More recent edition available)
Viet, R. Research: The Students’ Guide (New York: Macmillan, 1990).

Politics Reference Texts
Adams, I. Political Ideology Today (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993).
Bogdanor, V. (ed.) The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Institutions (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987).
Dictionary of Government and Politics, 2nd Ed. (Teddington: Peter Collin Publishing, 1997).
Evans, G. & J. Newnham The Dictionary of World Politics: A Reference Guide to Concepts, Ideas and Institutions (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992).
Geuss, R. History and Illusion in Politics (Cambridge: CUP, 2001).
Hadjor, K.B. The Penguin Dictionary of Third World Terms (London: Penguin, 1993).
Kymlicka, W. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990).
Light, M. & J. Groom (eds) International Relations: A Handbook of Current Theory (London: Pinter, 1985).
Miller, D. (ed.) The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987).
Paxton, J. (ed.) The Statesman’s Year-Book (London: Macmillan, 1964).
Phillips, H. & C. Rielly Key Concepts in Politics (Melbourne: Nelson, 1982).
Piano, J.C. & R. Olton (eds) International Relations Dictionary, 4th Ed. (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1988).
Ridd, M.A. Dictionary of Modem Political Ideologies (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987).
Van Evera, S. Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997).
Weldon, T.D. The Vocabulary of Politics (London: Pelican, 1953).
Year Book of International Organizations, 3 Vols (Munich, New York, London and Paris: K.G. Sauer, 1990-1).

Internet Resources
Comparative Politics: practice tests
http://www.appracticeexams.com/ap-comparative-government 
Comparative Politics, Working Papers at Yale University:
https://leitner.yale.edu/working-papers 
Columbia University Resource Site:
https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/dssc.html 
Electoral systems: https://www.ifes.org/ 
Foreign Government Resources: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~graceyor/govdocs/foreignnew.html 
Governments on the WWW: http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/ 
Poly-Cy Guide to Internet Resources for Political Science: http://crl.du.ac.in/Publication/E-Resources%20in%20Public%20Domain-Final/Political%20Science/Bird%27s%20Eye%20View/Websites/Internet%20Resources%20for%20Political%20Science.htm 

Country Study Sites

BBC Country Profiles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/country_profiles/default.stm 
CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/ 
Economist Country Briefings: https://www.economist.com/briefings 
Human Development Reports: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/ 
Library of Congress Country Studies: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html 
The National Bureau of Asian Research: http://www.nbr.org/ 
Political Database of the Americas: http://pdba.georgetown.edu/ 
Profiles of Countries and Regions: http://www.imf.org/external/country/Index.htm 

A Selection of Comparative Politics Journals:

African Studies Quarterly
Asian Survey
Comparative Politics
Comparative Political Studies
Development
Problems of Post-communism
Third World Quarterly
Journals in area studies (Routledge): http://www.tandf.co.uk/libsite/productinfo/journals/onlinecollections/politics/ 
Cambridge series in comparative politics (books): https://www.cambridge.org/core/series/cambridge-studies-in-comparative-politics/C2F2ED993B592AAA0F256C7C2C0AD8B3

The POLI 1104 MyUni site contains announcements, copies of many course materials such as lecture notes, lecture recordings, assigned and recommended readings, a discussion forum, and links to useful web sites. You should check this site regularly.

Lectures are to follow a face-to-face format, unless the pandemic forces us to move them to Zoom. Whether delivered face-to-face or via Zoom all lectures will be recorded and lecture recordings immediately posted online. Some tutorials (SGDs) will be held online, while some in-class.

1 x 3-hour lectures per week	24 hours per semester
1 x 1-hour tutorial per week	24 hours per semester
2 hours tutorial preparation per week	24 hours per semester
3 hours assignment preparation per week	36 hours per semester
2 hours reading per week	24 hours per semester
2 hours research per week	24 hours per semester
TOTAL WORKLOAD	156 hours per semester

Schedule

Week 1	What is Comparative Politics? Methods in Comparative Politics
Week 2	States and nations Key concepts in Comparative Politics
Week 3	The United States: political history and political system
Week 4	The United States: domestic contests China: political history
Week 5	China: political system and domestic contests
Week 6	Comparing the USA and China The European Union: history of European integration
Week 7	The EU: political institutions and processes; contemporary challenges
Week 8	India: political history and political system
Week 9	India: domestic contests Comparing the EU and India
Week 10	Japan: political history and political system
Week 11	Japan: domestic contests Russia: political history and political system
Week 12	Russia: domestic contests Comparing Japan and Russia

Assessment Task	Task Type	Weighting
Online tests	Formative and Summative	50%
Take-home exam	Summative	50%

Online tests: students are expected to complete weekly online tests, as well as mid-term and final online tests.
Take-home exam: students will sit a two-hour open-book exam at home in mid-June.

For details regarding submission guidelines, please refer to the Course Guide.