ASPO 22A10 - Comparative Politics

Comparative Politics is at the core of contemporary political science. It develops research questions, methods, and results essential to our understanding of political institutions, political behaviours and ideologies, the different regimes formation and transformations, and the way they interact with the domestic and global economy. The course will review key concepts in Comparative politics (state, democracy, contentious politics, transnationalism, etc) and will introduce the students to the different methods and approaches used in comparative analysis, including the implications of different scales of analysis (global, regional, national, local, or individual) The course introduces the different usages of comparison in political analysis, focusing on fundamental texts that we will confront with the Asian context. When politics is considered, what are the common characteristics and what are the singularities in the region? Do theories developed from other cases apply to Asia? What are the differences within Asia, and how to explain them?

Lectures & Seminars

To validate the course, the student is expected to pass the following assignments:

• A written mid-term exam (1/3 of the final note).
• Seminar assignments (2/3 of the final note):

Seminar Assignments:

30% – A 20-minute Group Presentation on a reading material.

20% – Research proposal for final paper (including an annotated bibliography) and short presentation of the proposal (10m)

30% – Final Research Paper

20% – Presence and Participation in class. An online discussion group will be created to facilitate exchanges of views, as well as articles and other resources, outside the classroom. Each week, students will be expected to submit a short commentary (following a ‘tweet’ format, no more than 150 signs), or a GIF, about the week’s reading on this online platform before each lecture (Sunday night to the latest). These tweets will be used in class as a basis for discussion. Part of the participation grade will based on the students’ submissions.