Comparative National Systems Spring semester, 2009 Tuesdays 2:15-4:15 Rome 203 This course, a SAIS core course, is a graduate-level introduction to comparative politics, focusing on the major institutions of modern liberal democracy and the political cultures in which they are embedded. Much of the emphasis will be on how institutions work and differ in established democracies, and in particular how those of the United States are exceptional and differ in many respects from those of other developed countries. The course will however also deal with issues of developing, post-communist, and transitional societies, and with broad functional issues cutting across the politics of nations around the world. Comparative politics is not just a matter of knowing something about more than one country or region of the world; it is the study of institutions, political culture, public policies, and development using as broad a base of experience from different societies as possible. Understanding causality in politics poses special problems because the underlying phenomena are inherently complex, and it is not possible to run controlled experiments in which some variables can be held constant. Comparative politics seeks to get around this problem by using data from a variety of similarly-situated societies, seeking relationships that vary systematically between countries, statically and over time. You cannot understand any given society, including your own, unless you understand how it differs from others. This is especially true of the United States, which differs from virtually all other developed democracies in a number of important ways. Students who would like to audit the course and then take the comparative politics core exam are welcome to do so. Auditors are required to keep up with the readings and to participate fully in class discussions. The core exam will be offered in December and again in January. Course syllabus Course web site: https://sakai.jhu.edu/portal | 
