Course Syllabus
Course: POLS 2200
Division: Social and Behavioral Science
Department: Social Science
Title: Introduction to Comparative Politics
Semester Approved: Spring 2021
Five-Year Review Semester: Summer 2026
End Semester: Fall 2026
Catalog Description: This course introduces students to the concepts and theories of comparative politics. Emphasis is placed on the historical, ideological, cultural, and ethnic practices and perspectives that have the greatest impact on political institutions and political behavior in countries of the world. Students will explore the attributes of highly developed democracies, totalitarian regimes, and authoritarianism by considering case studies in such countries as the United Kingdom, China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
General Education Requirements: Social and Behavioral Science (SS)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring
Credit/Time Requirement: Credit: 3; Lecture: 2; Lab: 0
Justification: We live in an interdependent world. The quality of democracy varies greatly among democratic countries and the threat of authoritarianism undermines world peace, financial stability, societal harmony, and cultural identities. Comparative politics is a core requirement for political science majors at all private and public four-year institutions in the state of Utah, and is considered a first- or second-year course. In order to transfer seamlessly and graduate on time, most political science majors will need to have comparative politics before they transfer from Snow College. In addition, comparative politics satisfies the state’s social science general education requirements at USHE institutions and at BYU as it addresses social institutions, structures, processes, diversity, culture, and history using established and accepted social science methodologies.
General Education Outcomes:
1: A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. Comparative politics is a subfield of political science that uses interdisciplinary social science methods to study the forces that shape political regimes. A student who completes Introduction to Comparative Politics will be able to explain social institutions such as regime types, political party structure, and the historical, cultural, and political influences of regime change and stability. Students will be evaluated using quizzes and examinations, formally written papers, presentations and/or projects.
2: A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Students will employ social science methods of cultural and political evaluation. By employing aspects of the scientific method that are appropriate for the social sciences, students will learn to investigate political systems, learn of the differences of political regimes as they relate to human experience, and learn to communicate their findings and share questions for further research in the established ways social scientists employ. They will produce visible products in written and/or presentation form as is typical of social science research.
3: A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. Students will be able to understand and describe how certain social and political forces impact political outcomes and lead to political stability or political unrest. They will be able to address these forces within proper historical and cultural constructs. Students will come to better understand racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the world and how accommodating diversity is central to political development and stability. Students will be assessed in these areas through appropriate quizzes and examinations, written assignments, and presentations and other appropriate projects.
4: A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Students in comparative politics will learn basic methods of social science as they study religious, historical, economic, and political goals and how these goals benefit and challenge traditional and post-industrial societies. By using comparative approaches to study non-U.S. regime types, students will come to know their own governments and political identities with greater clarity, and they will better appreciate the diversity and complexities of human problems throughout the world. Students will be assessed in this area through the use of appropriate examinations, quizzes, written assignments, presentations and/or other relevant projects.
General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes:
1: Students who successfully complete this course will be able to connect historical and cultural influences in the development of political structures. They will learn the impacts of religion, economics, and cultural practices as they relate to authoritarianism and democracy. Students will demonstrate mastery of these concepts through writing appropriate essays and/or research papers, presentations, and through a formal examination process. Students who successfully complete this course will be able to connect historical and cultural influences in the development of political structures. They will learn the impacts of religion, economics, and cultural practices as they relate to authoritarianism and democracy. Students will demonstrate mastery of these concepts through writing appropriate essays and/or research papers, presentations, and through a formal examination process.
2: Develop and communicate hypothetical explanations for individual human behavior within the large-scale historical or social context. Students who complete this course will know the differences and internal workings of totalitarian regimes, authoritarian regimes, democracies, monarchies, and regimes that do not fit conventional typologies. These regime types condition human behavior, both for the rulers and the ruled. Students will learn about regime formation and regime types and be able to explain how these regime types act as agents of political socialization in human behavior. Formal writing assignments, presentations, and exams in any combination can be used to measure student success in these areas.
3: Draw on the social and behavioral sciences to evaluate contemporary problems using social science research methodology. Students will be able to conduct basic research regarding authoritarian and democratic regimes. They will be able to hypothesize, research, write, and make formal presentations about regime development and regime breakdown. This will be measured by students conducting and writing about their research and/or by making formal presentations.
4: Describe and analytically compare social, political, economic, cultural, geographical, and historical settings and processes other than one’s own. Students who complete the course will be able to explain the influences of religion, culture, modernization, economics, geography, gender, racial and ethnic diversity, and history as it relates to political development. Through comparative case studies, they will be able to independently apply these methods to other countries that are not focuses of the course. Students will be tested and quizzed to measure their comparative abilities.
5: Explain and use the social-scientific method to test research questions and draw conclusions. Employing the social science method, students will learn how to gather information, formulate hypotheses, learn the limits of hypotheses in the social sciences because of the complexities of human nature, learn to research with attention to bias and competing sociological, political, economic, and historical influences, and learn to formally report their findings. The best method for measuring this is through research papers and formal essays that focus on specific elements of comparative politics.
6: Write effectively within the social science discipline, using correct disciplinary guidelines, to analyze, interpret, and communicate about social science phenomena. As stated above, the methods used in comparative politics teach students to write as a social scientist. Students learn the basic methods for writing research papers and essays in the social sciences. Comparative politics is interdisciplinary and incorporates methodologies used generally in the social sciences. Students will be evaluated on their own research and essay writings.
Content:
Because comparative politics considers diverse cultures and history of exploited populations, it will be of interest to students from all cultural backgrounds.
1-Why Social Scientists Compare.
2-What is Comparative Politics?
3-What is a State?
4-Religion and Culture in Politics.
5-Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Identity and Citizenship.
6-Economics.
7-Development and Underdevelopment.
8-Totalitarianism.
9-Authoritarian regimes.
10-Highly Developed Democracies.
11-Weak Democracies.
12-Monarchies and Mixed Regimes.
13-Political Unrest and Violence.
14-Breakdown of Regimes.
Key Performance Indicators:
Written Assignments 35 to 55%
Tests, Quizzes, Examinations 35 to 50%
Presentations, Projects, Other Related Assignments 10 to 25%
Representative Text and/or Supplies:
These two texts are standard texts used in comparative courses:
Comparative Politics Today by Karl J. Fields, Cornell University Press. Current edition.
Introduction to Comparative Politics by Peter F. Merkel, Westview Press. Current edition.
These three short books are examples of case studies used on comparative courses:
Evening Chats in Beijing by Perry Link, W.W. Norton.
Making Democracy Work by Robert Putnam, Princeton University Press. Current edition.
Politics in Mexico by Roderic Ai Camp, Oxford University Press. Current edition.
Pedagogy Statement:
This course utilizes accepted methodologies in social science research and investigation and the teaching and evaluation of student work pertaining to comparative politics. Because comparative politics considers diverse cultures and history of exploited populations, it will be of interest to students from all cultural backgrounds. Some students learn better from particular forms of evaluations that other forms of evaluation. For this reason, a variety of evaluation tools are employed in assigning student work including examination (quizzes and tests), formal writing assignments (essays and research papers), presentations, readings, and other appropriate academic tools.
Instructional Mediums:
Lecture
IVC
Online
Maximum Class Size: 35
Optimum Class Size: 25
