Comparative politics

Teacher(s)

Vanderborght Yannick;

Language

French

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

The main aim of this course is to give an extensive overview of some of the key issues in contemporary comparative politics. This will be done through a focus on two core questions, that may form our main thread during the whole term (subject to change): - why do some states become democratic, and not others? - why are some democracies stable, and other unstable or fragile ? At the end of the term, students should be able to apply theories in comparative democratization studies to concrete contemporary cases.

Content

The course will start with a short reflection on the relevance of comparison in social sciences in general, and in political science in particular, with a review of the history of the comparative method. It will then focus primarily on one of the major issues of comparative politics: democratic transitions. The main sections of the course will be as follows (subject to change) :
- how can we measure and compare democratic achievements ?
- is economic development a prerequisite for democracy ?
- does democracy foster economic development ?
- are multicultural democracies more fragile and unstable than others ?
- does democracy imply a strict separation of Church and State ?
Through the careful examination of some of these questions, as well as other questions to be determined, we will attempt to show the crucial contribution of the comparative method to the analysis of contemporary political phenomena.

Teaching methods

Lecture with Powerpoint presentation. The active participation of students is most welcome. A course syllabus is made available at the start of the second term. While it contains an outline and brief summaries of the topics covered, much of the theoretical discussion and case study examples will not be included. Attendance at course is therefore strongly recommended.

Furthermore, students are required to read a book (or several articles) in comparative politics. Each year, a new list of readings is selected by the lecturer, and is part of the material to be studied for the exam.

Evaluation methods

The exam is written and consists of one or more questions on the required readings and several questions on the course material itself (authors, theories, historical facts, etc.). For detailed information on exam procedures and sample questions, students will check the exam procedures posted on Moodle.

Bibliography

Outre les lectures obligatoires (portefeuille de lectures ou ouvrage), de nombreuses références bibliographiques sont reprises dans le syllabus, pour information seulement.

Faculty or entity

ESPB