Comparative Government - Concepts, Methods, and Institutions

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 4
• Convenor: Barry Maydom
• Tutor: Dale Mineshima-Lowe
• Assessment: a 1500-word essay (90%) and 250-word seminar log (10%)

This module introduces you to the comparative study of political institutions and systems. It focuses on a number of states from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, including large and small, rich and poor countries, democracies, one-party systems and theocratic states, monarchies and republics, unitary and federal systems.

Subjects covered include constitutions, legislatures, executives, the judiciary, and bureaucracy.

Indicative module syllabus

• Key concepts (e.g. state, comparative approaches, democratic rule, authoritarian rule)
• Key institutions (e.g. executives, legislatures, judiciaries - courts and constitutions, bureaucracies)

By the end of this module, you will:

• be familiar with the role of major governmental institutions and their relationship to each other
• have a broad understanding of the diversity of political systems
• be able to produce comparative analysis and critically analyse comparative case studies
• have further developed research skills, making use of a wide range of sources of information on government and politics
• be familiar with academic literature and debates about comparative government and politics
• have fairly detailed knowledge of government and politics in several countries
• have developed communication skills - both written and oral - in presenting ideas and analysis of contemporary governments.