Foundations of Comparative Politics

by William Roberts Clark, Matt Golder, Sona N. Golder

Overview

Adapted from the groundbreaking bestseller Principles of Comparative Politics, Fourth Edition!

Foundations of Comparative Politics, Second Edition presents a scientific approach to the rich world of comparative inquiry, research, and scholarship, providing a guide to cross-national comparison and why it matters. This condensed, more accessible format introduces students to the key questions in comparative politics, using brief insights from tools such as decision, social choice, and game theory to help them understand clearly why some explanations for political phenomena are stronger than others.

William Roberts Clark, Matt Golder, and Sona Nadenichek Golder concentrate on describing the core features of regimes and institutions and on analyzing how these fundamental attributes drive variation in the economic and political outcomes we care about most. This approach—constructing and testing theories on political phenomena over basic memorization of country-specific facts—more closely replicates what comparative scholars do to explain, rather than describe. Current examples that show the application of theory help students develop invaluable real-world skills in critical thinking and empirical analysis that they will carry with them long after the course is over.

Included with this title:

LMS Cartridge: Import this title’s instructor resources into your school’s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don′t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Select the Resources tab on this page to learn more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781071844366
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	07/26/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	528
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

William Roberts Clark is head of the Department of Political Science at Texas A&M University and a fellow at the Institute for the Study of Religion at Baylor University. He is the author of Capitalism, Not Globalism, and his articles have appeared in American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Political Analysis, and European Union Politics, among other journals. He has been teaching at a wide variety of public and private schools (William Paterson College, Rutgers University, Georgia Tech, Princeton, New York University, and the University of Michigan) for more than three decades.
Matt Golder was previously assistant professor of political science at Florida State University. He is the author of articles which have appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, and Political Analysis among other journals. He has taught classes on comparative politics, advanced industrialized democracies, quantitative methods, and European politics at the University of Iowa, Florida State University, and the University of Essex.
Sona Nadenichek Golder was previously assistant professor of political science at Florida State University. She is the author of The Logic of Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation, and has published articles in the British Journal of Political Science, Electoral Studies, and European Union Politics. She teaches courses on European politics, democracies and dictatorships, comparative institutions, game theory, and comparative politics at Florida State University and was a Mentor-in-Residence for the 2007 Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models Summer Program at UCLA .

Table of Contents

Part I: What is Comparative Politics?
Chapter 1: Introduction
Political Ideology
Overview of the Book
Chapter 2: What is Science?
What Is Science?
The Scientific Method
An Introduction to Logic
Myths About Science
Conclusion
Chapter 3: What is Politics?
The Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (EVL) Theory of Politics
What Happens in the EVL Theory?
Insights From the EVL Theory
Conclusion
Part II: The Modern State: Democracy or Dictatorship?
Chapter 4: The Origins of the Modern State
What Is the State?
The Social Contract View of the State
The Predatory View of the State
Conclusion
Chapter 5: The Economic Determinants of Democracy and Dictatorship
Early Democracy vs Modern Democracy
A Brief Overview of Modernization Theory
Income and Democracy
Modernization Theory and Democracy: A Closer Look
The Conditionality of Modernization Theory
Inequality and Democracy
Conclusion
Chapter 6: The Cultural Determinants of Democracy and Dictatorship
Does Democracy Require a Civic Culture?
Are Some Religions Incompatible With Democracy?
Theorizing About Culture
Conclusion
Chapter 7: Democratic Transitions
Bottom-Up Transitions to Democracy
Top-Down Transitions to Democracy
Conclusion
Part III: Varieties of Democracy and Dictatorship
Chapter 8: Varieties of Dictatorship
A Common Typology of Authoritarian Regimes
The Two Fundamental Problems of Authoritarian Rule
Selectorate Theory
Conclusion
Chapter 9: Problems with Group Decision Making
Problems With Group Decision Making
Arrow’s Theorem
Conclusion
Chapter 10: Parliamentary, Presidential, and Semi-Presidential Democracies
Classifying Democracies
Governments in Parliamentary Democracies
Governments in Presidential Democracies
Governments in Semi-Presidential Democracies
Conclusion
Chapter 11: Elections and Electoral Systems
Elections and Electoral Integrity
Electoral Systems
Legislative Electoral System Choice
Conclusion
Chapter 12: Social Cleavages and Party Systems
Party Systems
Where Do Parties Come From?
Types of Political Parties and Social Cleavages
Number of Parties: Duverger’s Theory
Party Competition
Conclusion
Chapter 13: Institutional Veto Players
Federalism
Bicameralism
Constitutionalism
Veto Players
Conclusion
Part IV: Varieties of Democracy and Political Outcomes
Chapter 14: 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