Department of Politics and Public Administration

University of Konstanz
Prof. Dr. Nils B. Weidmann

Lecture: Introduction to Comparative Politics

Semester: Summer 2019
Time: Thursdays 8:15 - 9:45
Room: R 712

The lecture provides a comprehensive introduction to the field of comparative politics. It introduces students
to the central questions in comparative politics, the underlying theoretical approaches as well as the analytical
tools to study them. Some of the core topics are democratic and non-democratic political institutions and
regimes; regime change; political participation and collective action; political violence; political
communication, and redistribution. The readings consist primarily of textbook chapters, but also include
selected academic articles.

1. Learning objectives
§ overview of the field of comparative politics
§ become familiar with some of its core research questions
§ understand the most important concepts, theories and analytical approaches

2. Evaluation
In order to successfully complete the course, students need to (i) regularly attend the weekly lectures and
tutorials, and (ii) pass a written exam (90 minutes) in the last week of the course (July 26, 2019).

3. Readings
The readings for this lecture consist of chapters from introductory textbooks on Comparative Politics, as well
as several academic articles. We use the following textbooks:
§ Caramani, Daniele. 2017. Comparative Politics. 4th edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
§ Hague, Rod, and Martin Harrop. 2013. Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction. 9th
revised edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
§ Samuels, David J. 2013. Comparative Politics. New York: Pearson.

Most of the readings are distributed via the ILIAS module for this course. Here is the direct link to all materials:
https://ilias.uni-konstanz.de/ilias/goto_ilias_uni_crs_859383.html. The password for joining is: `Bodensee’.

4. Classroom Response System

We use Pingo to collect and interactively display student feedback during class. To participate in a classroom
survey, simply go to https://pingo.coactum.de/ and enter the survey ID announced in class.

5. Class Schedule
2019-04-17 (Week 1): Introduction

2019-04-25 (Week 2): Doing Comparative Politics

§ Samuels, Chapter 1.
§ Hague and Harrop, Chapter 19.
§ Lichbach, Mark I. and Alan S. Zuckerman. 1997. “Research Traditions and Theory in Comparative
Politics: An Introduction from Comparative Politics“ in Lichbach, Mark I. and Alan S. Zuckerman
Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure. pp. 3-8.
§ King, Gary, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba. 1994. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in
Qualitative Research. pp. 3-12.

2019-05-02 (Week 3): The State

§ Samuels, Chapter 2.
§ Caramani, Chapter 4.
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 § Krasner, Stephen D. 2001. “Sovereignty.” Foreign Policy January/February. pp. 20-29.
2019-05-09 (Week 4): Democratic Political Regimes (I)
§ Samuels, Chapter 3.
§ Caramani, Chapter 5.
§ Schmitter, Phillipe C. and Terry Lynn Karl. 1991. “What Democracy is … and is not.” Journal of
Democracy (summer), pp. 67-73.

2019-05-16 (Week 5): Democratic Political Regimes (II)

§ Samuels, Chapter 3.
§ Caramani, Chapter 13.
§ Clark, William, Matt Golder and Sona Golder. 2013. Principles of Comparative Politics, 2nd ed. p. 718-
727.
§ Lijphart, Arend. 1999. Patterns of Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 9-47

2019-05-23 (Week 6): Non-democratic Regimes and Regime Change

§ Samuels, Chapters 4 and 5.
§ Levitsky, Steven and Lucan A. Way. 2002. “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.” Journal of
Democracy 13 (2), pp. 51-65

2017-06-06 (Week 7): Collective Action

§ Samuels, Chapter 9.
§ Caramani, Chapter 16.
§ Olson, Mancur. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, pp. 1-3.

2017-06-13 (Week 8): Political Violence

§ Samuels, Chapter 10.
§ Skocpol, Theda. 1976. “France, Russia, China: A Structural Analysis of Social Revolutions.” Comparative
Studies in Society and History 18(02):175–210.
§ Kuran, Timur. 1991. “Now out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of
1989.” World Politics 44:7–48.
§ Fearon, James D. and David D. Laitin. 2003. “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War.” American Political
Science Review 97(1):75–90.

2017-06-27 (Week 9): Political Communication

§ Caramani, Chapter 19.
§ Hague and Harrop, Chapter 7.
§ Diamond, Larry. 2010. “Liberation Technology.” Journal of Democracy 21(3):69–83.
§ Boas, Taylor. 2006. Weaving the Authoritarian Web: The Control of Internet Use in Nondemocratic
Regimes. In How Revolutionary Was the Digital Revolution? National Responses, Market Transitions,
and Global Technology, ed. John Zysman & Abraham Newman. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

2017-07-04 (Week 10): Trial Exam

2017-07-11 (Week 11): Development

§ Samuels, Chapter 11.
§ Collier, Paul and Jan Willem Gunning. 1999. “Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?” The Journal of Economic
Perspectives 13(3):3–22.

2017-07-18 (Week 12): Redistribution

§ Samuels, Chapter 12.
§ Iversen, Torben and David Soskice. 2006. „Electoral Institutions and the Politics of Coalitions: Why
Some Countries Redistribute More than Others”. American Political Science Review 100 (2): 165-181

2017-07-26 (Week 13): Exam (90min).14:15 in Room A600.

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