Course Overview

This course is aimed at providing students with systematic understandings of comparative politics and ability to conduct their own research in this field. To this end, students read and critically assess previous research in the area of comparative political institution, comparative political behavior, comparative political economy, and/or political methodology.

Learning Achievement

- Application of Knowledge: Students will learn what scientific inquiry and political science are all about.
- Communication Skill: Students will become able to explain key concepts in Comparative Politics.
- Internationality: Students will learn difference in political system and behavior across countries.
- Research Skill: Students will learn how to critically evaluate previous studies and incorporate their insights into their own research.
- Expert Knowledge: Students will form basis for the study of comparative politics. More specifically, they will learn key concepts in the study of comparative political behavior.

Competence

汎用コンピテンスのうち「知の活用力」「コミュニケーション能力」「国際性」に関連する。専門コンピテンスのうち「研究力」「専門知識」に関連する。

Students will form building blocks for the study of comparative politics by acquiring major concepts and theories that scholars use in this field of research. Students will also learn how scholars have tackled with important, but unanswered questions in this research area (General Competence: Application of Knowledge and Internationality. Expert Competence: Research Skill and Expert Knowledge). Through classroom discussions, students will learn how to effectively communicate their ideas to others (General Competence: Communication Skill).

Course prerequisites

None

Grading Philosophy

Weekly talking points: 30%
Presentation: 30%
In-class discussion: 40%

Course schedule

Course Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Information, predispositions, and opinion
Chapter 3: How citizens acquire information and convert it into public opinion
Chapter 4: Coming to terms with response instability
Chapter 5: Making it up as you go along
Chapter 6: The mainstream and polarization effects
Chapter 7: Basic processes of "attitude change"
Chapter 8: Tests of the one-message model
Chapter 9: Two-sided information flows
Chapter 10: Information flow and electoral choice
Chapter 11: Evaluating the model and looking toward future research

Course type

Class Exercises

Online Course Requirement

Instructor

Seki Katsunori

Other information

None

Site for Inquiry

Link to the syllabus provided by the university