Description
This course compares and contrasts the political system in the US with political systems in other countries. It begins by exploring the democratic tradition in the US in comparison to a number of other established democracies. This first part of the course surveys the various forms of democracy, including direct compared to representative democracy and liberal compared to social democracy. It also examines the ways in which executive, legislative, judicial, and electoral institutions differ across democracies. The course then compares democracies to non-democracies. It introduces the concepts of totalitarianism and authoritarianism and surveys the various models of non-democratic rule, including personal, one-party, military, and theocratic rule, with reference to historical and contemporary cases. Lastly, the course evaluates the origins of democracy and authoritarianism from the perspective of different political science theories and assesses current democratic prospects in the world.
Grading Policy
Grades are based on three mid-term exams, each worth 30 percent of the final course grade, and 10 pop quizzes, comprising 10 percent of the final course grade. Up to five extra credit points are possible for regular participation in class discussions.
Texts
The following three books and one course packet are required for the course:
1. David Held, Models of Democracy, Third Edition, Stanford University Press, 2006.
2. Patrick O’Neil, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton, 2012.
3. Patrick O’Neil, et al., Cases in Comparative Politics, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton, 2012.
4. Course packet
Any supplementary readings will be posted on Blackboard.
