You are here

Introducing Comparative Politics
Share

Introducing Comparative Politics
The Essentials

Second Edition

Other Titles in:
Comparative Politics

December 2019 | 424 pages | CQ Press
Introducing Comparative Politics: The Essentials is focused on core concepts and the big picture questions in comparative politics—Who rules? What explains political behavior? Where and why? Stephen Orvis and Carol Ann Drogus demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of commonly debated theories, structures, and beliefs and push students to apply their understanding.

While detailed case studies can go in-depth on specific countries and political systems, this book distills its country material into the narrative, increasing global awareness, current-event literacy, and critical-thinking skills. Adapted from the authors’ Introducing Comparative Politics, Fifth EditionThe Essentials version offers the same framework for understanding comparative politics in a briefer format, allowing you to teach the course the way you want to teach it. 

 
World Map
 
Preface
 
About the Authors
 
PART I. A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING COMPARATIVE POLITICS
 
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
Comparative Politics: What Is It? Why Study It? How to Study It?

 
Three Key Questions in Comparative Politics

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 2: The Modern State
Characteristics of the Modern State

 
Historical Origins of Modern States

 
Strong, Weak, and Failed States

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 3: States, Citizens, and Regimes
Citizens and Civil Society

 
Regimes, Ideologies, and Citizens

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 4: States and Identity
Understanding Identity

 
The Policy Debate

 
Nations, Nationalism, and Immigration

 
Ethnicity

 
Race

 
Social Class

 
Religion: Recognition, Autonomy, and the Secular State

 
Gender and Sexual Orientation: The Continuing Struggle for Recognition, Social Status, and Representation

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
PART II. POLITICAL SYSTEMS AND HOW THEY WORK
 
CHAPTER 5: Governing Institutions in Democracies
Executives and Legislatures

 
Comparing Executive–Legislative Institutions

 
Judiciary

 
Bureaucracy

 
Federalism

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 6: Institutions of Participation and Representation in Democracies
The Electoral System

 
Formal Institutions: Political Parties and Party Systems

 
Civil Society

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 7: Contentious Politics: Social Movements, Political Violence, and Revolution
Framing Contentious Politics

 
Political Violence

 
Revolution

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 8: Authoritarian Institutions
Trends in Authoritarian Rule

 
The Dictator’s Dilemma: Governing Authoritarian Regimes

 
Elections, Parties, and Legislatures

 
Clientelism and Civil Society

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 9: Regime Change
Trends in Regime Change

 
Regime Change: Transitions to Democracy

 
Regime Change: Transitions to Authoritarian Rule

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
PART III. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND POLICY
 
CHAPTER 10: Political Economy of Wealth
The Market, Capitalism, and the State

 
Key Economic Debates

 
Types of Capitalist Economies

 
Globalization: A New World Order, or Déjà Vu All Over Again?

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 11: Political Economy of Development
What Is “Development”?

 
Development and Globalization

 
The Development Debate

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources For Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
CHAPTER 12: Public Policies When Markets Fail: Welfare, Health, and the Environment
“Welfare”: Social Policy in Comparative Perspective

 
Health Care and Health Policy

 
Environmental Problems and Policy

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Works Cited

 
Resources for Further Study

 
Web Resources

 
 
Glossary
 
Index

Supplements

Student Resources

edge.sagepub.com/orvisessentials2e

 

The open-access Student Study Site makes it easy for students to maximize their study time, anywhere, anytime. It offers flashcards that strengthen understanding of key terms and concepts, as well as learning objectives that reinforce the most important material.

Instructor Resources
edge.sagepub.com/orvisessentials2e


For additional information, custom options, or to request a personalized walkthrough of these resources, please contact your sales representative.


LMS cartridge included with this title for use in Blackboard, Canvas, Brightspace by Desire2Learn (D2L), and Moodle

The LMS cartridge makes it easy to import this title’s instructor resources into your learning management system (LMS). These resources include:

  • Test banks
  • Editable chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides
  • Sample course syllabi
  • Lecture notes
  • All tables and figures from the textbook 
Don’t use an LMS platform?

You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site.

“This text presents a well-structured overview of critical themes in comparative politics in a very relevant and engaging format, and at a price that our students can afford. [Introducing Comparative Politics: The Essentials is a] thematically strong comparative political overview that is affordable for students."

Michael Wuthrich
University of Kansas

“[The text] provides all the basics for comparative politics and leaves no stones unturned.”

Sharmini Nair
Colorado State University

Cleaner presentation of material than prior Pearson text (by Samuels)

Kathleen Dowley
Poli Sci Int'L Rltns Dept, Suny College At New Paltz
March 24, 2022