CREDITS 3 ECTS - 32 Contact Hours
Why do some states deliver security and public services while others struggle? Why do democracies erode, parties collapse, or reforms backfire? In this course, you’ll learn how comparative politics tackles these kinds of questions by explaining political outcomes through careful comparison across countries, time, and cases.
We will work through four core modules: (1) states and regimes; (2) institutions; (3) parties, representation, and participation; (4) political economy and transnational governance. This course is designed around active, student-led learning rather than traditional lectures, which means that most of your work happens outside the classroom.
Before each session, you complete the readings and bring a mandatory one-page handwritten pre-class brief. It is your personal “toolkit” for the in-class work and something you may use again for the final exam. Our meetings are where you use that preparation to tackle real-world “missions”, practicing how comparative political scientists build explanations, weigh evidence, and justify choices.
Throughout the course, you will work in fixed groups formed in our first session. After each session, you will submit a short reflection on (1) what you found valuable, (2) how your group peers contributed, and (3) how your group performed overall. This helps you build stronger teamwork habits and helps me see how group dynamics develop over time - similar to how teams reflect on performance in professional project work.
This course format works best when you come prepared, making class time interactive and genuinely useful. I will provide structure, guidance, and feedback, but you are expected to take ownership of your learning - what you gain from the course depends on what you put in. Attendance of at least 75% is required for admission to the final exam.
- Teacher: Ieva Hofmane