COMPARATIVE POLITICS

The first objective of the course is to investigate why some societies and their respective governments have managed to produce public goods and prosperity and others have not, and what accounts for these differences. Using some fundamental texts from the field of comparative politics, both theoretical and empirical, and canvassing contemporary indexes, the class discusses the different theories, which explain the performance of various political and constitutional regimes, and weighs the evidence in their favour. The second objective of this course is to understand how states acquire one or another set of such political institutions with a view to identifying theories of change grounded in the political economy of specific historical contexts. We also aim to understand how these individual trajectories converge or diverge in an interdependent world, and what the consequences are for the present and future world order. The empirical evidence is drawn from a variety of cases across the world, discussed in the comparative framework of their continent or income group, individually or in pairs (i.e., Russia and Ukraine, Estonia and Finland, Mexico and the United States, Italy and France, North and South Korea, Botswana and Zimbabwe). The third objective of the course is to make students familiar with the comparative method, both using a large number of countries -N- and just a few -n-, by using a variety of indicators (constitutional, sociological, economic, etc.) and the logic of inference at the basis of comparative research.

No prerequisites apply, although some background in political science, comparative politics or international relations might be helpful.

Knowledge and understanding By the end of the course, students will acquire: ● Capacity to compare states, nations, regimes and markets across the current world both as regime outputs and causes; ● Knowledge of the main indicators used in comparative politics and governance, and the ability to use them for political analysis; ● Knowledge of how democracies and autocracies, on the one hand, and how nation-states and empires, on the other, interact on the global stage. Applying knowledge and understanding Students will be able to apply the acquired knowledge in their future professional activities in several ways. In particular, they will be trained in: ● Collecting and engaging with relevant academic as well as non-academic literature and grasping the key content; ● Discussing topics and readings in class with the instructor and with colleagues; ● Summoning evidence to diagnose a country’s political regime and governance; ● Carrying out research (either academic or for professional purposes) on the content of the course, also applying the relevant methodologies of the discipline; ● Writing academic papers. Making judgements Due to the emphasis placed on re-elaboration and discussion of the readings, students will be able to: ● Understand and practice inferential analysis and evidence based on comparisons across cases; ● Develop knowledge of the main databases in comparative politics and the ability to work as a team; ● Thanks to the understanding of the course’s key topics and debates, develop an autonomous and critical judgement about current affairs from a comparative perspective. Communication skills During the course, students will be asked to contribute to the discussion as part of their permanent research group. Due to this, they will: ● Improve the control of course-related terminology in English, but at the same time be able to present complex content in an easily accessible form; ● Become acquainted with engaging in critical discussion in front of a larger audience, communicating questions or comments in a clear way to the rest of the class, thus stimulating a general debate; ● Learn from each other. Learning skills By the end of the course, students are expected to acquire the following skills: ● Capacity to autonomously carry out comparative research work on different topics related to the course; ● Ability to present the results of the research in oral and written form, particularly through academic papers; ● Capacity to engage with opposite arguments and to develop one’s own position in a well-organized and clear way based on facts or data; ● Capacity to compare complex phenomena and develop a broad perspective on assessing problems.

This course addresses the core themes, theories and methods within the field of comparative politics. Its focus is on comparative political development at a global level.

Lijphart, Arendt (2012). Patterns of Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press. (available via Perlego) King, G., Keohane, R. O. & Verba, S. (2021) Designing Social Inquiry Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. New edition. Princeton: Princeton University. (available via Perlego)

Once per week, initial on-site lecture followed by a discussion, totalling 90 minutes. Students should cover the assigned readings and be prepared to answer questions if quizzed – based on the readings and their knowledge of the political institutions of their own country. Once per week, on-site 90-minute seminar on comparative politics methodology, where workgroups are expected to deliver every week. Students will be assigned to groups to cover continents or regions. The contribution of every group to the seminar will be to present the indicator featured that week (in relation with the lecture) on their continent of study, retrieving the data, pasting it in a xls table and drawing a chart to highlight the regional average, the negative and positive outliers, and sharing it with the class, which would allow comparisons across countries and continents. Groups should meet at least twice outside class to coordinate their internal labor division until the end of the division and the final group assignment.

For attending students, the final grade is based on two graded components plus an optional bonus: 1) Continuous assessment (30% of the grade). All groups will survey a region assigned to them. Every week, each group gives a short, single-slide presentation on a specific indicator for their region — evaluating its performance, discussing the main research questions, how countries compare, and how the indicator relates to prosperity. These weekly presentations build cumulatively: by the end of the semester, each group will have compiled a database of 11 indicators and produced one integrated .xls database alongside one .ppt per session. Because the final task follows directly from the weekly work, students are strongly encouraged to prepare each presentation seriously rather than leave the work to the end. 2) Final individual exam (70% of the grade). 30 multiple-choice questions, including interpretation of simple charts. +) Participation bonus (up to 2 extra points). Participation is not the same as attendance, and does not affect the 30%/70% split above — it is a separate bonus added on top of your final numerical grade. It rewards the quality and consistency of your contribution to lectures and to group work: taking your turn presenting, engaging constructively in class discussion, and being reliable within your group. Group participation is assessed through a peer-evaluation survey in which group members rate each other's input, so that free-riding within a group is visible and does not go unrewarded relative to active contributors. Everybody must present at least once to be eligible. Attendance, by contrast, is tracked separately: you may miss up to 3 classes without any effect on your grade, but you may not skip your own group's presentation when your turn comes — doing so does affect your grade, independent of the participation bonus. Provided they have completed the continuous assessment, attending students may sign up for the end-of-year exam (component 2 above). You may only attend a single appello in the winter exam season, either the first or the second — if you're unhappy with your grade from the first, you cannot then sit the second. Attending students who reject their winter grade, or who did not sit any winter appello, may sign up for the third appello (retake session, May/June 2026) and may choose at that point whether to be treated as attending or non-attending. After the third appello, all students are considered non-attending. Non-attending students are assessed differently, through 3 components that together make up 100% of the grade: 1) Compile a database of 11 indicators based on the assignments on MyLuiss (section: Instructions for continuous assessment). For non-attending students, the countries analyzed are the Member States of the European Union. 2) Individual writing exercise. Answer the main comparative research question on the performance of countries in producing public goods within your assigned region (achievers, backsliders, average, explanatory factors) — maximum 8,000 words, inclusive of figures, exclusive of references. 3) Final individual exam. 30 multiple-choice questions.

No specific criteria, except the salience of the topic and the interest of the student.