Comparative Politics (POL103)

This course introduces students to the key concepts and theories of comparative politics. The general topics covered range from concepts of the state to main political institutions of both democratic regimes and dictatorships. The adopted approach uses modern tools of political analysis that provide methodological basis for successfully studying comparative politics and other subjects related to political science and economics.

This course aims at providing the analytical framework for studying the workings of specific political institutions. Therefore, students will be provided with modern theoretical framework for doing research in comparative politics, will learn to apply their skills in practice and have rigorous understanding of main concepts of politics.

• Understand and define scientific method and scientific study of politics.
• Define and use the main analytic concepts of comparative politics and political analysis, solve game-theoretic problems, apply theoretical models to actual cases.
• Define the concepts of state and politics, understand basic elements of political processes.
• Understand the structure of different political regimes and their workings and institutions, their main distinctions and similarities.
• Define and analyze the impact of economic and cultural factors on political processes and policies.
• Understand and analyze issues of collective decision making, social choice theory, principle-agent problem and their implications for democratic politics.
• Explain and evaluate the influence of political institutions on economic policy, economic performance and business environment.
• Compare the political systems of different countries and present the findings in a written output.