TYPE OF COURSE UNIT	Compulsory Course
LEVEL OF COURSE UNIT	Bachelor's Degree
YEAR OF STUDY	3
SEMESTER	Fifth Term (Fall)
NUMBER OF ECTS CREDITS ALLOCATED	5
NAME OF LECTURER(S)	Assistant Professor Nazlı Şenses Özcan
LEARNING OUTCOMES OF THE COURSE UNIT	At the end of this course, the students; 1) learn the field of comparative politics. 2) have knowledge about different political systems. 3) gain the capability to carry out comparative analysis in political science. 4) develop the capacity to draw the links between historical processes and the current political systems.
MODE OF DELIVERY	Face to face
PRE-REQUISITES OF THE COURSE	No
RECOMMENDED OPTIONAL PROGRAMME COMPONENT	No recommended optional programme components.
COURSE DEFINITION	This course aims to introduce students to Comparative Politics, a sub-field of Political Science. The comparative method will be studied and adopted throughout the course, emphasizing its importance for political science. Having this in mind, the course is structured into three parts: In the first part, basic principles of comparative method will be introduced and discussed. In the rest of the course, comparative method is employed to understand democracies and non-democracies. The overall goal is to understand how political regimes are compared within and across each other. As well as investigating various dimensions of comparison, the course will also use specific case studies in order to concretize both various regime types and to operationalize comparative method across various units of analysis. Therefore, countries are selected from the categories of established democracies, mixed regimes and non-democratic countries. The similarities and differences of these countries will be emphasized. At the end of the semester, students will have information about how to employ comparative method, what is its importance for political science, and a select group of countries and the political processes in these countries. **OYS password: 3072023**
COURSE CONTENTS	WEEK TOPICS 1st Week A general introduction and course logistics (Reading: Kesselman, Krieger Joseph, chapter 1) 2nd Week A general introduction and course logistics (Reading: Kesselman, Krieger Joseph, chapter 1) 3rd Week A Note on Methodology (Readings: Lijphart, A. (1971) `Comparative politics and the comparative method?, American Political Science Review, 682- 693. , Sartori, G. (1991) `Comparing and Miscomparing?, Journal of Theoretical Politics 3(3): 243-257.) 4th Week Dimensions used in Comparisons of Democracies (Reading: Lijphart (Patterns of Democracy), chapters 1,2,3 & 4,7) 5th Week Dimensions used in Comparisons of Democracies (Reading: Lijphart (Patterns of Democracy), chapters 1,2,3 & 4,7) 6th Week Case Studies on Democracies: UK and USA (Readings: Kesselman, Krieger, Joseph, chapters 2 & 8) 7th Week Case Studies on Democracies: UK and USA (Readings: Kesselman, Krieger, Joseph, chapters 2 & 8) 8th Week MIDTERM EXAM 9th Week Dimensions used in understanding authoritarianism and mixed regimes. (Readings: Karl, Terry and Phillippe Schmitter (1991), ?What Democracy Is ... and Is Not?, in Journal of Democracy 2(3): 75? 88. , Levitsky, Steven and Lucan Way (2002), "Elections Without Democracy: The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism", in Journal of Democracy, 13(2):51-65. , Cheibub, Jose, Jennifer Gandhi, James Vreeland. 2010. ?Democracy and Dictatorship Revisited?. Public Choice, 143 (1-2): 67-101.) 10th Week Dimensions used in understanding authoritarianism and mixed regimes. (Readings: Karl, Terry and Phillippe Schmitter (1991), ?What Democracy Is ... and Is Not?, in Journal of Democracy 2(3): 75? 88. , Levitsky, Steven and Lucan Way (2002), "Elections Without Democracy: The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism", in Journal of Democracy, 13(2):51-65. , Cheibub, Jose, Jennifer Gandhi, James Vreeland. 2010. ?Democracy and Dictatorship Revisited?. Public Choice, 143 (1-2): 67-101.) 11th Week Case Studies on authoritarianism and mixed regimes: Brazil, China, Iran (Readings: Kesselman, Krieger, Joseph, chapters 9 & 14 & 15) 12th Week Case Studies on authoritarianism and mixed regimes: Brazil, China, Iran (Readings: Kesselman, Krieger, Joseph, chapters 9 & 14 & 15) 13th Week Case Studies on authoritarianism and mixed regimes: Brazil, China, Iran (Readings: Kesselman, Krieger, Joseph, chapters 9 & 14 & 15) 14th Week A general conclusion (Reading: Lijphart (Patterns of Democracy), Chapter 17)
RECOMENDED OR REQUIRED READING	Course books - Kesselman, Mark; Krieger, Joel; Joseph, William A. 2019 (8th Edition). Introduction to Comparative Politics: Political Challenges and Changing Agendas. Boston: Cengage Learning - Lijphart, Arend. 1999. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press
PLANNED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND TEACHING METHODS	Lecture
ASSESSMENT METHODS AND CRITERIA	Quantity Percentage(%) Mid-term 1 40 Quiz 1 15 Total(%) 55 Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%) 55 Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%) 45 Total(%) 100
ECTS WORKLOAD	Activities Number Hours Workload Midterm exam 1 1,25 1,25 Preparation for Quiz 2 4 8 Individual or group work 14 4 56 Preparation for Final exam 1 24 24 Course hours 14 3 42 Preparation for Midterm exam 1 18 18 Laboratory (including preparation) Final exam 1 1,5 1,5 Homework Total Workload 150,75 Total Workload / 30 5,02 ECTS Credits of the Course 5
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION	English
WORK PLACEMENT(S)	No