Comparative Politics: A Cross-National Analysis of Selected Countries, Lab Reports of Comparative Law and Politics

Download Comparative Politics: A Cross-National Analysis of Selected Countries and more Lab Reports Comparative Law and Politics in PDF only on Docsity! WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER COLLEGE BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE DIVISION GENERAL COURSE OUTLINE PSC 250 Comparative Politics (3-0) 3 Course Course Course Title Lec-Lab Credit Prefix Number Hours COURSE DESCRIPTION Explores the politics of selected countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and/or the Middle East. Examines economics, social and political patterns and problems in different nations. TOPICAL OUTLINE I. Introduction and a Framework for Studying Comparative Politics II. Examination of Western and Non-Western Countries with respect to political parties, political culture, governing institutions, and policies III. Review and Overview METHOD OF PRESENTATION 1. Lecture 2. Films 3. Required texts 4. Articles 5. Class discussions and simulations 6. Guest lecturers STUDENT OUTCOMES (The student should . . . ) 1. Explain and compare the significant types of political systems existing in the world today and describe a real life example of each. 2. Critique newspaper articles and apply them to concepts from the text. 3. Investigate and explain the politics and economy of one major county in depth. 4. Compare and analyze elements of the political and economic systems of one country to that of another. 5. Compare and evaluate the politics of different countries by placing them on a continuum between democracy and authoritarian rule. METHOD OF EVALUATION 1. Written and oral journal article reviews 2. Annotated scrapbooks of newspaper articles 3. Class simulation 4. Country background reports 5. Written and oral exams on assigned readings TEXTBOOKS Dunn. American Government in Comparative Perspective, 2nd ed. Allyn & Bacon Mahler, Gregory S., Comparative Politics: An Institutional and Cross-National Approach, 4th ed, Prentice Hall, 2002. Prepared by: Bobby Summers Fall, 2006