PLTC122

In this course, students consider the principal theories and methods for studying comparative politics. What is the State and how did it come about? What characterizes a democratic regime and how is it different from a non-democratic regime? How and why do some regimes become authoritarian and why do some regimes undergo successful democratic transition? What have been the primary approaches to economic development and its relationship to political development? How do countries approach redistributive economic policy? What is the role of identity in global politics? How and why do people mobilize and when does mobilization result in revolution or political violence?