Introducing Comparative Politics: Concepts and Cases in Context

Uncomfortable with a strictly thematic approach, or tired of a purely country-by-country organization for your comparative politics course? Teach the way you want to teach with this innovative hybrid book - fully accessible to students, easy to teach, and satisfying to professors who want to give students a real sense of the questions that drive research in the field. Organized thematically around important concepts in comparative politics - Who rules? What explains political behavior? Where and why? - the book integrates a set of extended case studies in eleven "core" countries. Serving as consistent geographic touchstones, the cases are set in chapters where they make the most sense substantively - not separated from theory or in a separate volume - and vividly illustrate issues in cross-national context. Features include: • Core country case studies: Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, India, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, the UK, the U.S., and, new to this edition, Mexico. • NEW! Methods in Context boxes that model how comparativists do their research and analysis. • In Context fact boxes that put eye-opening data into thematic context. • Where and Why? boxes that explore why certain political outcomes occur in some countries but not in others. • Country and Concept tables that display key indicators for core countries. Updates and revisions include: • recent elections around the world and the effects of the global financial crisis and its aftermath, • authoritarian versus totalitarian regimes, • ethnic violence, • racial politics and identity, • economic globalization, • executive-legislative institutions, and • the role of civil society in government.

Table of Contents:
PART I: A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING COMPARATIVE POLITICS Introduction The Big Issues Comparative Politics: What Is It? Why Study It? How to Study It? Three Key Questions in Comparative Politics Plan of the Book The Modern State Characteristics of the Modern State Historical Origins of Modern States Strong, Weak, and Failed States Case Studies of State Formation States and Citizens Regimes Regimes, Ideologies, and Citizens States and Identity The Debate over Identity Nations and Nationalism Ethnicity and Religion Race States and Markets The Market, Capitalism, and the State Key Economic Debates Globalization: A New World Order or Déjà Vu All Over Again? States and Markets around the World PART II: POLITICAL SYSTEMS AND HOW THEY WORK Governing Institutions in Democracies Institutions Institutions: Executives and Legislatures Comparing Executive-Legislative Institutions Judiciary Bureaucracy Federalism Institutions of Participation and Representation in Democracies Formal Institutions: The Electoral System Formal Institutions: Political Parties and Party Systems Civil Society Contexts Authoritarian Institutions Governing Institutions in Authoritarian Regimes Elections, Parties, and Civil Society in Authoritarian Regimes Regime Change The Military in Politics: Coups d’Etat Revolution Democratization PART III: ISSUES AND POLICIES Globalization, Economic Sovereignty, and Development Wealthy Countries: Globalization and Economic Sovereignty Development and Globalization Welfare, Health, and the Environment When Markets Fail “Welfare”: Social Policy in Comparative Perspective Health Care and Health Policy Environmental Problems and Policy Policies and Politics of Inclusion and Clashing Values The Debate over Inclusion and Group Rights Religion: Recognition, Autonomy, and the Secular State Gender: The Continuing Struggle for Equal Social Status, Representation, and Participation Glossary Index

About the Author :
Carol Ann Drogus is a retired Professor of Government at Hamilton College. She is a specialist on Brazil, religion, and women’s political participation. She taught introduction to comparative politics for more than fifteen years, as well as courses on Latin American politics, gender and politics, and women in Latin America. She has written two books and numerous articles on the political participation of women in religious movements in Brazil. Stephen Orvis is Professor of Government at Hamilton College. He is a specialist on sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya in particular), identity politics, democratic transitions, and the political economy of development. He has been teaching introduction to comparative politics for more than twenty-five years, as well as courses on African politics, nationalism and the politics of identity, political economy of development, and weak states. He has written a book and articles on agricultural development in Kenya, as well as several articles on civil society in Africa and Kenya and is currently doing research on political institutions in Africa.    

Review :
I have never seen such a positive reaction to a textbook from students, honestly. We have had a problem finding a suitable book for this course. The end of course critiques had been blistering on the subject of the text. Not this year! The strength of the Drogus and Orvis text is the integration of themes and case studies. This approach enhances the analytical qualities of instruction as the case studies are embedded in thematic coverage and provide a hands-on illustration of concepts and principles. The “Where and Why” feature is a very effective way of elaborating on a conceptual methodology that is a cornerstone of comparative analysis without belaboring students with a complex presentation of the comparative method.