The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the nature and variety of contemporary political regimes. Students will learn how to classify democratic and authoritarian states and to use comparative politics theories to explain the nature and workings of these different regimes. Through analysis of individual country case studies, students will gain insight into how the historic development of states, contemporary institutional arrangements, and state-society relations affect political outcomes in different democratic and authoritarian systems.

Lectures: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 9-10am, 11am-12pm
Tutorials: Offered various days / times during the week.

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Take home short answer exercise (35%)
Final course essay (55%)
Tutorial Performance (10%)

The course will help students to identify the defining characteristics of contemporary democratic and authoritarian regimes. Students will critically engage with key theoretical approaches of comparative politics and apply these theories to country case studies to evaluate how state formation, institutions, state-society relations, and the international system affect political outcomes in different countries. Finally, students will learn about different levels of comparative analysis, such as a single case, two cases, or large numbers of cases to better understand common research approaches and designs in comparative politics. 

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

■ demonstrate in-depth knowledge of key theoretical approaches in comparative politics and to engage critically with them in written work and tutorial discussion groups.

■ identify the defining characteristics of democratic, hybrid and authoritarian regimes and be able to distinguish between these regime types as well as variations within them.

■ demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the country case studies covered in the course and be able to compare and to contrast them.

■ assess in written work and tutorial discussion how state formation, contemporary political institutions, and state-society relations influence political outcomes in different countries.

■ recognise the importance of case study analysis and comparison when studying politics and be able to utilise single case studies and the comparative method to evaluate political outcomes.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment