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Instructors: Dr. Dietmar Schirmer
Event type:
Seminar
Org-unit: Politics, Administration & International Relations
Displayed in timetable as:
Politics & Institut
Hours per week:
3
Credits:
6,0
Location:
Campus der Zeppelin Universität
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
5 | 30
Priority scheme: Standard-Priorisierung
Course content:
The course offers a systematic introduction into theory, methodology, and substantive topics of Comparative Politics.
In Political Science, comparative inquiry usually operates at the level of national political systems, but it can also be applied to other units of analysis (for instance, lower tier government in federal systems, or one and the same – set of – countries at different points in time). The basic idea is simple: Since political analysis at the political systems level cannot be done in a laboratory, and since experimental designs face problems of both ethics and practical execution, we turn to real-world cases instead, hoping that careful case selection should afford us research designs that allow for the controlled and systematic testing of hypotheses.
In class, we will discuss
- the theory of the comparative method;
- the strenghts and limitations of different formats of CP-studies, such as single case studies, paired comparisons, small-N, and large-N studies;
- some of the major debates in Comparative Politics (such as the one between proponents of context-sensitive regional studies vs. abstract, theory-driven, large-N research).
Further information about the exams:
presentation + take home exam
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