This comparative politics lecture aims at familiarizing students with the methods and objectives of comparison in the field of political science to help them grasp the contemporary world of politics in all its diversity. It will insist on the fundamental objects of political science in a comparative perspective: states, regimes, institutions, electoral systems, political divisions, social movements, behaviors or votes. Examples will mainly be focused on Western democracies as well as countries of the MENA region. In order to break with a static view of comparative socio-political contexts, the course will be open to analyzing political change and breaks, whether they take the form of revolutions, crises or renewal of the political order. It will aim at developing students' analytical skills in comprehending current political events, public opinion, new social movements and current electoral dynamics from a comparative perspective. Each session of the course will draw on theoretical concepts and link them to empirical findings using comparative, time-series survey data.
Vincent MARTIGNY,Paul MORIN,Melis AKDAG
Cours magistral et conférences
English
No prerequisites are required for this class.
Autumn 2024-2025
Grades will be determined by the weighted average of a) one midterm written exam; b) a take home end of term research essay, and other exams taken in the seminar attached to this lecture course (50% of the final grade), including a) one group presentation b) one analysis of an academic article. Active oral participation in class is rewarded with up to 10% in the final class average.
Late essays receive a grade penalty of 3% for every 24 hours of delay.
Class 1: Methods and theories of comparative politics
Class 2: Political cultures and political orientations
Class 3: Postmaterialism and the support for Democracy
Class 4: Categorization of the political order & political change in questions (crisis, revolution, transition)
Class 5: Political participation: Conventional modes of participation and the new protest movements
Class 6: The social basis of politics
Class 7: Midterm
Class 8: The context and meaning of Left-Right orientations
Class 9: Partisanship party politics: are party attachments in decline?
Class 10: Globalization and the changing of party system and voters
Class 11: Identity politics, nationalism and national identities
Class 12: Europe as a new source of political cleavages
Conclusion: A global society based on distrust?
Dalton, Russell J., Citizen Politics: Public opinion and political parties in advanced industrialized democracies, CQ Press, 2008.