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Principles of Comparative Politics (International Student Edition)
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Principles of Comparative Politics (International Student Edition)

Third Edition

Other Titles in:
Comparative Politics

June 2017 | 888 pages | CQ Press
Principles of Comparative Politics offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to comparative inquiry, research, and scholarship. In this thoroughly revised Third Edition, students now have an even better guide to cross-national comparison and why it matters. The new edition retains a focus on the enduring questions with which scholars grapple, the issues about which consensus has started to emerge, and the tools comparativists use to get at the complex problems in the field.

Updates to this edition include a new intuitive take on statistical analyses and a clearer explanation of how to interpret regression results; a thoroughly-revised chapter on culture and democracy that includes a more extensive discussion of cultural modernization theory and a new overview of survey methods for addressing sensitive topics; and a revised chapter on dictatorships that incorporates a principal-agent framework for understanding authoritarian institutions. Examples from the gender and politics literature have been incorporated into various chapters, and empirical examples and data on various types of institutions have been updated. The authors have thoughtfully streamlined chapters to better focus attention on key topics.

Explore online resources: https://edge.sagepub.com/principlescp3e
 
Part I. What Is Comparative Politics?
 
Chapter 1. Introduction
Overview of the Book

 
The Approach Taken in This Book

 
Key Concepts

 
 
Chapter 2. What Is Science?
Introduction

 
What Is Science?

 
The Scientific Method

 
An Introduction to Logic

 
Myths about Science

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 3. What Is Politics?
The Exit, Voice, and Loyalty Game

 
Solving the Exit, Voice, and Loyalty Game

 
Evaluating the Exit, Voice, and Loyalty Game

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Preparation for the Problems

 
Problems

 
 
Part II. The Modern State: Democracy or Dictatorship?
 
Chapter 4. The Origins of the Modern State
What Is a State?

 
Somalia and Syria: Two Failed States

 
The Contractarian View of the State

 
The Predatory View of the State

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Preparation for the Problems

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 5. Democracy and Dictatorship: Conceptualization and Measurement
Democracy and Dictatorship in Historical Perspective

 
Classifying Democracies and Dictatorships

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 6. The Economic Determinants of Democracy and Dictatorship
Classic Modernization Theory

 
A Variant of Modernization Theory

 
Some More Empirical Evidence

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Appendix: An Intuitive Take on Statistical Analyses

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 7. Cultural Determinants of Democracy and Dictatorship
Classical Cultural Arguments: Mill and Montesquieu

 
Does Democracy Require a Civic Culture?

 
Religion and Democracy

 
Experiments and Culture

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 8. Democratic Transitions
Bottom-Up Transitions to Democracy

 
Top-Down Transitions to Democracy

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 9. Democracy or Dictatorship: Does it Make a Difference?
The Effect of Regime Type on Economic Growth

 
The Effect of Regime Type on Government Performance

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Part III. Varieties of Democracy and Dictatorship
 
Chapter 10. Varieties of Dictatorship
A Common Typology of Authoritarian Regimes

 
The Two Fundamental Problems of Authoritarian Rule

 
Selectorate Theory

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 11. Problems with Group Decision Making
Problems with Group Decision Making

 
Arrow’s Theorem

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
APPENDIX: STABILITY IN TWO-DIMENSIONAL MAJORITY-RULE VOTING

 
 
Chapter 12. Parliamentary, Presidential, and Semi-Presidential Democracies
Classifying Democracies

 
Making and Breaking Governments in Parliamentary Democracies

 
Making and Breaking Governments in Presidential Democracies

 
Making and Breaking Governments in Semi-Presidential Democracies

 
A Unifying Framework: Principal-Agent and Delegation Problems

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 13. Elections and Electoral Systems
Elections and Electoral Integrity

 
Electoral Systems

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 14. Social Cleavages and Party Systems
Political Parties: What Are They, and What Do They Do?

 
Party Systems

 
Where Do Parties Come From?

 
Types of Parties: Social Cleavages and Political Identity Formation

 
Number of Parties: Duverger’s Theory

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Chapter 15. Institutional Veto Players
Federalism

 
Bicameralism

 
Constitutionalism

 
Veto Players

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 
 
Part IV. Varieties of Democracy and Political Outcomes
 
Chapter 16. Consequences of Democratic Institutions
Majoritarian or Consensus Democracy?

 
The Effect of Political Institutions on Fiscal Policy

 
Electoral Laws, Federalism, and Ethnic Conflict

 
Presidentialism and Democratic Survival

 
Conclusion

 
Key Concepts

 
Problems

 

Supplements

I am adjunct teaching this course and the main course leader used the book last year and recommended that I do the same. The book is very useful and we follow closely with narrative of the book and its themes. This provides the students who are faced with the subject for the first time with some degree of security. I am happy with the text and would use it again.

Dr Guy Burton
Department of International Affairs, Vesalius College
February 18, 2022

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