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.

Assessment For attending students, the final grade is based on three graded components plus an optional bonus: Continuous assessment (30%). Each group surveys an assigned region. Every week, each group gives a short, single-slide presentation on a specific indicator for its region, evaluating its performance, discussing the main research questions, how countries compare and how the indicator relates to prosperity. Over the semester, each group progressively compiles a database of 11 indicators (submitted as part of the final exam) and produces one .ppt per session. This 30% grades the quality and consistency of the weekly presentations and group work. Since the database component of the final exam follows directly from this work, students are strongly encouraged to prepare each presentation seriously. Final individual exam (70%), in two parts: Database (30%): each group uploads its completed .xls database, with all 11 indicators for its region, on the day of the exam. Quiz (40%): 30 multiple-choice questions, including interpretation of simple charts. +) Participation bonus (up to 2 extra points), added to the final grade. Participation is not the same as attendance: it rewards the quality and consistency of each student's contribution to lectures and group work (presenting in turn, engaging constructively in discussion, being reliable within the group). Group participation is assessed through a peer-evaluation survey, so that free-riding is visible and not rewarded. Everybody must present at least once to be eligible. Attendance is recorded at every lecture and seminar, separately from participation. Repeated absences will be taken into account in the final grade, with their impact assessed by the instructor case by case. Attending students who have completed the continuous assessment may sit only one appello in the winter session, either the first or the second. May/June retake session. Students who, in the winter session, do not sit the exam, fail it or withdraw from it lose attending status. They must sit the May/June retake exam, which covers 100% of the course content and is assessed as for non-attending students; the continuous assessment is not carried over. After this session, all students are considered non-attending. Non-attending students are assessed through 3 components making up 100% of the grade: A database of 11 indicators based on the assignments on MyLuiss (section: Instructions for continuous assessment), covering the EU Member States. An individual paper answering the main comparative research question on the performance of countries in producing public goods within the assigned region (achievers, backsliders, average, explanatory factors); max 8,000 words, including figures, excluding references. A final exam of 30 multiple-choice questions.

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