Comparative Politics A

Module Code: POU22031

Module Name: Comparative Politics A 2024-25

ECTS Weighting: 5
Semester/Term Taught: Semester 1
Contact Hours: 22 hours lectures + fortnightly tutorials; 4 hours of tutorials
Module Personnel: Dr. Matthias Dilling
Module Pre-requisite: POU11011 & POU11012 Introduction to Political Science A & B or POU11021 & POU11022 Politics and Irish Society A & B
Module Co-Requisite: POU22032 Comparative Politics B

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Describe and outline issues, concepts, and empirical findings in the social-scientific study of comparative politics
Compare and contrast academic arguments that seek to explain differences in political outcomes across modern democracies
Critically examine and appraise theoretical insights and empirical evidence to investigate the effects of democracies’ structural and institutional differences, and
Formulate and defend answers to analytical problems around the nature, institutions, and actors of modern democratic states.

Module Learning Aims

This module aims to empower students to explain, examine, and appraise the foundations of the comparative politics of modern democratic states. It makes particular reference to studies in political science, their research designs and methodology, and the role of constitutional differences, institutional choices, and political actors in contemporary democracies.

Module Content

The module is an introduction to the study of comparative politics and provides an overview of some of the key theoretical frameworks, concepts, and analytical methods of this field of study. We study democratic political systems with a view to understanding and explaining their differences and similarities with respect to their political institutions, the behaviour of their key political actors, and their policymaking processes and performance.

The module examines the building blocks of the comparative approach and investigates the consequences of different political institutions, with a focus on established democracies. The module unfolds in three parts. Part I will focus on the constitutional variations across democracies (e.g. majoritarian and consensus democracies, presidential and parliamentary democracies). Part II will zoom in on some of the key institutions of democratic states (e.g. electoral systems, legislative procedures, executive power, majoritarian counterpowers). Part III will then examine some of the key actors in modern democratic politics (e.g. political parties, interest groups, the media) and end with a discussion of the future of democracy in light of recent trends of democratic backsliding.