POL4: Comparative Politics

Paper Coordinator: Dr Pieter van Houten

This is a broadly focused paper aiming to give students an understanding of the key actors and dynamics that make up the contemporary politics of states. The paper is organised into two parts: regional case studies (taught in Michaelmas term) and a module on general themes in comparative politics themes (taught in Lent term).

Each regional case study module consists of a comparison between two countries. The modules provide both a detailed focus on some aspects of the domestic politics of these countries and an introduction to the politics of the region they are situated in. Students choose two of these case study modules.

Modules that will be provided in 2025-26:

The lectures in the general comparative politics module in Lent term will focus on themes such as state formation, nationalism, political regimes, development, welfare and social policy, environmental policy, and the management of plural societies. For each of these themes, it will explore conceptual issues, possible explanations for observed patterns over time and across countries, and illustrative examples, Students are encouraged to think about how the cases they studied in the first part of the paper apply to these general themes.

Overall, the course emphasises both the conceptual and empirical sides of comparative political studies. Assessment for this course is exam-based, with a three-hour exam at the end of the year.

Download the full paper guide (Download PDF)