Students will learn:
To introduce basic concepts, theories and approaches of Comparative Politics.
To apply these to current events, using critical thinking skills.
To analyze the major characteristics of regime types and the respective formal and informal institutions.
To understand the sources of disparity in levels of modernization, development, and underdevelopment in States by examining the roles of various geographic, historical, political, economic, institutional, and social factors.
To apply a cross-national approach to studying political behavior such as political participation, electoral politics, and political violence.
To have students develop an understanding of the analytical tools used to explain political stability and change.

I have taught comparative politics for several years to university undergraduate students. I know how to navigate sensitive topics in a way that allows for robust but respectful discussion.

提供的家庭作業
There will be weekly reading assignments, generally just one chapter of the textbook. 
1 - 2 每週課外時間
提供的評估
There will be two in-class quizzes, two in-class one-page papers, and one final exam. I will provide a letter grade as well as a one-page written report. 
提供的成績

We will be using one textbook -- Patrick O'Neil's Essentials of Comparative Politics, which is readily available online. Learners may use any edition of the text beginning with the 5th.

Since we will also be doing comparisons, we will be using a wide variety of online thematical databases, like the World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/), Freedom House (https://freedomhouse.org/), Transparency International (https://www.transparency.org/en), etc.
Note: Learners can access these databases on their own but I will be demonstrating navigation of the sites via screensharing.