Course Schedule
FCP: Foundations of Comparative Politics
| Week | Date | Topic | Readings | Slides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon, August 24 | Introduction | FCP ch.2-3 | Week 1 |
| 2 | Thu, August 27 | Methods: Causal Inference | Keele (2015) Dunning (2008) |
Week 2 |
| 2 | Mon, August 31 | Discussion Session | ||
| Thu, September 3 | No class (APSA Conference) | |||
| 3 | Mon, September 7 | The State | FCP ch.4 | Week 3 |
| 3 | Thu, September 10 | Discussion Session | Lee and Zhang (2017) | |
| 4 | Mon, September 14 | Democracy and Dictatorship: Economic Causes | FCP ch.5 | Week 4 |
| 4 | Thu, September 17 | Discussion Session | Dasgupta (2018) | |
| 5 | Mon, September 21 | Democratic Transitions | FCP ch.7 | |
| 5 | Thu, September 24 | Discussion Session | Basu et al. (2026) | |
| 6 | Mon, September 28 | Varieties of Dictatorship | FCP ch.8 | |
| 6 | Thu, October 1 | Discussion Session | Rozenas and Stukal (2019) | |
| 7 | Mon, October 5 | Parliamentary and Presidential Systems | FCP ch.10 | |
| 7 | Thu, October 8 | Discussion Session | Cervellati et al. (2024) | |
| Mon, October 12 | Midterm Review | |||
| Thu, October 15 | Midterm Exam | |||
| Academic travel | ||||
| Mon, November 2 | November break | |||
| 8 | Thu, November 5 | Electoral Systems | FCP ch.11 | |
| 8 | Mon, November 9 | Discussion Session | Eggers (2015) | |
| 9 | Thu, November 12 | Cleavages and Party Systems | FCP ch.12 | |
| 9 | Mon, November 16 | Discussion Session | McNamee (2019) | |
| 10 | Thu, November 19 | Veto Players | FCP ch.13 | |
| 10 | Mon, November 23 | Discussion Session | Keefer and Stasavage (2003) | |
| 11 | Thu, November 26 | Effects of Institutions | FCP ch.14 | |
| 11 | Mon, November 30 | Discussion Session | Samii (2013) | |
| Thu, December 3 | Final Exam Review | |||
| Mon, December 7 | Final Exam |
Bibliography
Basu, Chitralekha, Carles Boix, Sonia Giurumescu, and Paulo Serôdio. 2026. “Democratizing from Within: British Elites and the Expansion of the Franchise.” World Politics 78 (3): 555–601. https://doi.org/10.1353/wp.2026.a997118.
Cervellati, Matteo, Giorgio Gulino, and Paolo Roberti. 2024. “Random Votes to Parties and Policies in Coalition Governments.” Econometrica 92 (5): 1553–88. https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA20942.
Dasgupta, Aditya. 2018. “Technological Change and Political Turnover: The Democratizing Effects of the Green Revolution in India.” American Political Science Review 112 (4): 918–38. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305541800031X.
Dunning, Thad. 2008. “Improving Causal Inference: Strengths and Limitations of Natural Experiments.” Political Research Quarterly 61 (2): 282–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912907306470.
Eggers, Andrew C. 2015. “Proportionality and Turnout: Evidence from French Municipalities.” Comparative Political Studies 48 (2): 135–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414014534199.
Keefer, Philip, and David Stasavage. 2003. “The Limits of Delegation: Veto Players, Central Bank Independence, and the Credibility of Monetary Policy.” American Political Science Review 97 (3): 407–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055403000777.
Keele, Luke. 2015. “The Statistics of Causal Inference: A View from Political Methodology.” Political Analysis 23 (3): 313–35. https://doi.org/10.1093/pan/mpv007.
Lee, Melissa M, and Nan Zhang. 2017. “Legibility and the Informational Foundations of State Capacity.” The Journal of Politics 79 (1): 118–32. https://doi.org/10.1086/688053.
McNamee, Lachlan. 2019. “Indirect Colonial Rule and the Salience of Ethnicity.” World Development 122: 142–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.05.017.
Rozenas, Arturas, and Denis Stukal. 2019. “How Autocrats Manipulate Economic News: Evidence from Russia’s State-Controlled Television.” The Journal of Politics 81 (3): 982–96. https://doi.org/10.1086/703208.
Samii, Cyrus. 2013. “Perils or Promise of Ethnic Integration? Evidence from a Hard Case in Burundi.” American Political Science Review 107 (3): 558–73. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055413000282.