STV2370 – Chaos politics? Theory Meets Reality in Comparative Politics

Why do people waste their vote across the world? Why do ethnic groups kill each other in some places and not others? Why does the same policy seem great in one place and fail miserably in another? Many of the political events and developments taking place in the world may seem strange, politics can seem chaotic and unpredictable.

Comparative politics offers a rich tradition of empirical and theoretical insights that can help us make sense of the political world. In this course, we will look at puzzles from real-world politics and seek explanations for them in the comparative politics literature. The goal is to understand more about why things happen the way they do, but also when and why theories are useful, and how they may need to be modified to become more useful.

Our areas of focus are voting behavior, protests and violence, and the effects of institutions and policies. The course is about theory and theory development in comparative politics, but it also has a strong empirical component. Examples are taken from across the world, with a focus on developing democracies.

Knowledge

You will:

• be familiar with central theories in comparative politics
• know empirical examples that both support and contradict these theories
• understand concepts related to theory development such a deterministic and probabilistic theories, assumptions, and scope conditions

Skills

You will:

• be able to think critically about theoretical explanations
• recognize assumptions in theoretical explanations
• understand empirical consequences of theoretical explanations
• know how to apply theories to new contexts
• be more confident in thinking about how theories can be modified
• be able to communicate academic knowledge in writing and orally

Competence

You will:

• improve your systematic and critical thinking
• gain experience in writing academic texts

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

This course is not available for single course students.

Lectures and seminars.

Compulsory activities:

This course has mandatory teaching and requires physical presence at seminars.

• Attend at least three of the five seminars
• Hand in and present a draft of your seminar paper
• Comment on other students' seminar papers
• Hand in your finalized seminar paper

The seminars are taught in English, and the papers handed in must be written in English.

See the rules for reassignment of seminar groups and the guidelines for compulsory activities.

Absence from compulsory activities:

If you are ill or have another valid reason for being absent from compulsory activities, your absence may be approved or the compulsory activity may be postponed.

• Report absence from or the need for a postponed deadline on a compulsory activity

Access to teaching:

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, and does not have to in order to retake the exam. If a student have only partially approved compulsory activities, they must complete those again to take a new exam, along with any other compulsory activities they haven't yet passed. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

Three hour school exam.

You must have passed the compulsory activities in order to sit the exam.

Previous exams.

• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Resitting an examination