Comparative Politics 2019, Part 2

In addition to creating new writing prompts for my comparative politics course this year, I have re-arranged the order in which students encounter different topics. Last year’s version of the course was sequenced as follows:

  • Methods
  • Theory
  • State and Nation
  • Democracy
  • Authoritarianism
  • Political Transitions
  • Political Economy
  • Resistance, Rebellion, and Revolution
  • Gerhkania simulation

This time around the sequence is:

  • Theory
  • Nation and State
  • Democracy
  • Methods
  • Authoritarianism
  • Political Transitions
  • Resistance, Rebellion, and Revolution
  • Political Economy
  • Gerkhania simulation

Why the change? Last year I found myself explicating about research methods used in comparative politics before students had any significant exposure to what actually gets compared. Instead of encountering puzzling real-world situations that might have excited their curiosity, they had to fixate on the mechanics of doing a most similar systems design or a qualitative comparative analysis.

This year these assignments won’t begin until the second third of the semester. I won’t have to rush through my material on methods, and I will have more opportunities in class to ask students “What kind of research design might allow us to compare these cases in a way that allows us satisfactorily answer the question?”  

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