Pol 160  Politics of Major States

Course Guideline                                            Sample Syllabi

 

This is one of our basic courses, especially useful for majors, because upper level courses normally focus on regions or individual states.  This is the only “comprehensive” course and often guides students towards particular course choices at the upper level.  Everything they learn is new, unlike American Government where most have a smattering of knowledge.  Until 2003, this course was numbered 106.  

  This course is recommended for Education majors in broad field social studies at the secondary level (indeed they can no expect to pass the new competency test unless they have knowledge of other countries).   It is strongly suggested for  Business majors in Madison, but not on other campuses.  We have tried to interest more business faculty/students in the course;  to do so, we have  provided  more on economic/business policy, and/or have students research business etiquette abroad.  It is important to avoid scheduling Pol 160 opposite Bus 244 Intro to International business. 

Most of our testing is essay, calling for students to compare.  Some have utilized objective questions by country as minor quizzes.  Most of us require some type of written work beyond tests (see course guideline).   

Customarily we teach a wide array of states from modern democracies, socialist states, changing and less developed states.  Our preferences and background on states guide our text selection.  Because the course specifies states, we reluctantly dropped the topical Hauss text.  Students had difficulty fitting material to comprehend countries.   Some of our texts are:

 Roskin, Michael G., Countries and Concepts: An Introduction to Comparative Politics. Prentice Hall, current edition.  An extremely easy text without much depth,  interesting to read; students love it.  Plan on adding more substance in lecture.  You might want to get a copy in order to add spice from inserts to your lecture.  Minimal concepts.   Britain, France, Germany, Japan.  Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, Iran.  Note no military-run countries.

 Sodaro, Michael J.  Comparative Politics: Global Introduction.  McGraw Hill, current edition.  Long (365 pp) introductory section on concepts.  UK, France, Germany, Japan, Israel.  Russia, China, Mexico and Brazil, Nigeria and South Africa. 

 Kesselman, Krieger,& Joseph. Introduction to Comparative Politics: Political Challenges and Changing Agendas.  Houghten-Mifflin, current ed.  Introductory concepts – 25 pp.  Britain, France, Germany, Japan, India, US.  Brazil, Mexico, Russia.  China, Nigeria, Iran. 

 Almond, Gabriel A., G. Bingham Powell, Jr., Kaare Strom, Russell J. Dalton.  Comparative Politics Today: A World View, Addison Wesley Longman, current.  Introductory concepts =158 pp.  More sophisticated vocabulary and conceptual writing, but terms aren't used by country-study authors.    England, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, China, Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, India, Nigeria, US. 

 Mayer, Burnett, Ogden, Tuman.  Comparative Politics: Nations and Theories in a Changing World, current ed. Prentice Hall.  Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico.

Mahler, Gregory. Comparative Politics: An Institutional and Cross-National Approach,  current edition, PrenHall.  Lengthy concepts portion.  Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia,  Canada, Mexico, Nigeria.  

Theen, Rolf and Frank Wilson.  Comparative Politics: An Introduction to Seven Countries.  Current ed., Prentice Hall.  No introductory concepts.  Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, China, Nigeria. 

 Most of us use Christian Soe’s Annual Editions Comparative from Dushkin as a supplement.  It’s current and students enjoy learning about current issues.  Instructors manual offers an analytic form and suggests it be utilized for short writing assignments.  Requiring a certain number of assignments does test some of the intellectual abilities of students.  Early on, you may find students have difficulty finding main points, and never see any bias.  If you tweak the form, you might be able to compare early and late assignments for assessment of student learning. 

 Course Guideline: University of Wisconsin Colleges

 Pol 160: Politics of Major States    

  1.          Course Catalogue Description 

An examination of the domestic and foreign politics of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and selected other states compared to one another and to the USA.  Cultures, institutions, processes and trends toward “democratic” regimes and decentralized economic systems will be analyzed, as well examples of cooperation and conflict.  Vital course for intended majors in political or other social sciences.     

  1.      Course Credits and degree designation(s) 3 cr, SS  
  1.      Classroom hours and type of Instruction 3 hrs; LD  
  1.      Prerequisites:   None  
  1.      UW Colleges course proficiencies

  i)        Analyze, synthesize, evaluate and interpret information and ideas. (one from the "clear, logical thinking" category)

ii)       Distinguish knowledge, values, beliefs and opinions. (one from the "clear, logical thinking" category)

iii)     Write clearly, precisely, and in a well-organized manner

iv)     Develop a large and varied vocabulary (of concepts and terminology in political science appropriate to the course).    

  1.      Topics covered in Pol 160

a) Regime typologies, correlations or hypothesized causal factors; culture, etc. Basic concepts in Comparative.   Democracy:  what is it, how is it doing, will it become nearly universal in 21st century? 

b)      Comparative institutions: difference between parliamentary and presidential systems in general, along with variances within each type; comparison with  authoritarian/totalitarian regimes, civilian and/or military. Different types of judiciaries.

c)      Impact of ethnic, religious, racial, and class cleavages on political parties and party systems, and the effect of party systems on political systems.

d)      Different economic structures (command, mixed, capitalist) and different policies oriented towards economic growth and distribution.  Impact of Global economy on policy and politics. 

e)      Impact of historical events and culture on current politics

f)        Analysis of major parties, interest groups, structure of media, political participation patterns

g)      Policies adopted by different states to obtain economic growth, stability and order, welfare and health, etc.

 

  1.      Textbooks used in UWC
  1.   Supplements used in UWC
  1.   Other Teaching resources used (e.g. student manual, web resources, case studies)

·         Web links from instructor and text  

  1. Expectations of writing, research, use of technology

 

  1. Other requirements (field trips?)

I.                    Transfer recommendations:

Based on catalog descriptions of similar courses at other UW institutions (available on the web sites for those institutions), indicate the department recommendation (equivalent course name and number) for the transfer of the course to other UW institutions.

 

UW-Eau Claire  Pol 260

UW-Parkside  Pol 103

UW-Green Bay PS elective

UW-Platteville  Pol 2430

UW-La Crosse Pol 234

UW-River Falls  Pol 245

UW-Madison  Pol 106

UW-Stevens Point  Pol 160

UW-Milwaukee  Pol 106

UW-Stout Pol 270

UW-Oshkosh  PS Elective

UW-Superior Pol 101

 

UW-Whitewater Pol 255

 

Sample Syllabi

UWC-FOX George Waller syllabus (Almond text)

UWC-MTH Burger Spr 2002 (Kesselman text)

UW-Madison Leheny (Shively)

UW-MIL 106 Handelmann (Shively)

UW-StP  Pol 160 Brophy-Baermann (Sodaro)

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