Comparative Government

Course overview

This course is an introduction to comparative government, a sub‐field in political science. Comparative government is the study of politics within countries. Specifically, the course is a comparative study of the constitutional principles, governmental institutions, and political problems of selected governments abroad. 

Comparative politics focuses on politics “as they are,” not as they “should be.” Comparativists employ the comparative method, the act of implicit and explicit comparing and contrasting of political institutions and processes, to attempt to better explain why politics occurs the way it does. In this class, we will use real life comparative cases to explore broad topics such as the state, nationalism, immigration policies, development, revolution, and regime types and transitions.

Course Format

For Fall 2026 semester, Comparative Government (POLS2) will be taught as a hybrid class. The course is a 16-week format class that begins on August 31st. The in person meetings will be on Wednesdays. 

Important Dates

You can find other important dates on the Admissions and Records Important Dates webpage.

Course Textbook

We will use a new Open Education Resource (OER) for POLS2. This is a zero cost textbook that you will access through our Canvas course!