Home
Courses
Political Science and International Relations
Comparative Politics

Comparative Politics

Code	17786
Year	2
Semester	S2
ECTS Credits	6
Workload	OT(15H)/TP(45H)
Scientific area	Ciência Política
Entry requirements	n/a
Learning outcomes	This course unit seeks to develop students' critical thinking skills and has the following main objectives: (1) To understand the relevance of using Comparative Politics as a methodological tool; (2) To learn how to conduct comparative research in Political Science; (3) To learn about the various methods applied to research in Comparative Politics; (4) Know how to identify which method (or methods) to use in comparative research in Political Science.
Syllabus	Module 0: Introduction to the Course Unit 0.1 Presentation of the Course Unit 0.2 Practical work in science communication Module 1: Comparative Politics as a Method 1.1 What is Comparative Politics? 1.2 Case Studies and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) 1.3 Comparison using statistical methods 1.4 Comparison using experimental methods Module 2: Comparative Politics in Practice 2.1 Subnational studies 2.2 Parties and party systems 2.3 Ethics, integrity and corruption 2.4 Voting and elections 2.5 Political polarisation 2.6 Immigration Presentations of practical science communication work General review of content Final Test
Main Bibliography	Boix, C., & Stokes, S. C. (Eds.). (2007). The Oxford handbook of comparative politics. Oxford University Press. Box-Steffensmeier, J. M., Brady, H. E., & Collier, D. (Eds.). (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology. Oxford University Press. Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219–245. Gerring, J. (2007). Case study research: principles and practices. Cambridge University Press. Lijphart, A. (1971). Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method. American Political Science Review, 65(3), 682–693. McDermott, R. (2002). Experimental Methods in Political Science. Annual Review of Political Science, 5(1), 31–61. Nina, S. R., Silveira, P., Terrenas, J., & Reis, L. (Eds.). (2024). Manual de Métodos de Investigação em Ciência Política. Almedina. Sartori, G., & Morlino, L. (1994). La Comparación en las Ciencias Sociales. Alianza Editorial. Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: design and methods. Sage.
Language	Portuguese. Tutorial support is available in English.