Comparative Politics

Comparison is the most typical way to understand political phenomena. Regardless of the specific approach used, it aims at a non-idiographic knowledge of these phenomena, and therefore at the formulation, verification and control of specific research hypotheses.
Specifically, comparative politics aims at the joint analysis of institutional arrangements, transformation dynamics and functioning of political systems. This analysis can proceed through the systematic comparison of individual aspects in different countries - that is, forms of states and governments, electoral and party systems, parliaments, etc. - as well as through the juxtaposition of national cases examined in their entirety.
The course aims to promote knowledge and understanding of the different types of political regimes and of the functioning of advanced democracies, as well as to provide analytical concepts and tools to consciously compare political institutions and processes.
The students will acquire an independent ability to read the main features of a political system, including through the use and application of some indicators and quantitative indices employed in comparative politics. He/she will be able to critically reflect on the links between the various institutions of established democracies, to trace the data relating to the characteristics of these institutions, and to set a research question in terms of relationships between variables, as well as to consciously outline a strategy to respond to such question. Through the course and class discussions, the student will learn to consciously and correctly use the empirical evidence in order to make judgments.
The first part of the course will introduce the main themes and tools of comparative politics. In the second part, individual national cases will be examined in depth. In this second part, students will have a possibility to give individual presentations in class on specific topics, aimed at allowing the speaker as well as fellow students a deeper, more aware, autonomous and debated understading of key issues, as well as directly practicing different expressive abilities, including the preparation of a presentation through digital tools, its exposition and communication to fellow students, and a guided discussion on the main issues raised by topic and its presentation.

At the end of the course, the student will have acquired both methodological skills and substantive knowledge.
On the methodological level, learning concerns the knowledge and understanding of what the comparative method is and what it is used for, as well as of its various possible applications in the study of political institutions and processes. These tools can subsequently be useful and usable so as to fully grasp the investigative strategies, the meaning and implications of various types of analysis that the student will be faced with, as well as in starting to use them directly to carry out analysis work or own research, in the political sphere but not only.
The possibility of making oral presentations in the classroom, in addition, will allow students to become familiar with the digital tools typically used for these purposes and to directly experience a situation in which they are required to prepare and communicate specific contents in front of an audience.
On the level of substantive knowledge, the student will have acquired knowledge and understanding of the main institutional structures and political processes of advanced democracies (i.e. forms of states and governments, electoral systems, party systems, parliaments, etc.), both in broad and comparative terms as well as, for those cases that examined and discussed in more depth, in terms of individual national systems and paths.
The level of learning - that is, if and what has been learned by the student, with respect to the expected learning outcomes - will be verified and evaluated by means of one or more written tests aimed at assesing acquired knowledge and tools as well as analytical skills.