Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

Introduction to Comparative Politics (Online)

POLS 2200-30I

Course: POLS 2200-30I
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: PSCJ
CRN: 33608

Course Description

Introduction to basic concepts of political analysis and their application in comparing societies and their politics (Fall) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Registration Restriction(s): None General Education Category: Social and Behavioral Sciences

This course uses basic social and political science concepts and principles to provide an introductory survey of government institutions and political parties throughout the world, as well as theories that explain similarities and differences among countries. Students will be equipped to understand alternative electoral systems, parliamentary systems, the causes of political change, democratization, political culture, ideologies, and the development of economic and social policy. The course introduces examples from western democracies and developing countries. 

Instructor Information

Office Hours: MWF 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Additional Office Hours by appointment
Office: GC 406A 

Required Texts

Clark, William, Matt Golder & Sona Golder. Principles of Comparative Politics. 2018. 3rd Edition. Washington D.C. CQ Press. (CGG, hereafter).

Make note that we use the third edition of the textbook.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to: 

  • Utilize the methodological tools of political science to solve logic problems, employ simple game-theoretic models, and interpret regression results; 
  • Compare democracies and dictatorship, recognizing how authoritarian states transition to democracies; and 
  • Appraise the form and function of institutions present in democratic states. 

Course Requirements

Grading Policy


The final numeric grade will map to the final letter grade according to SUU's standard number to-letter grade conversion scheme. Final grades ending in .5 or higher are  automatically rounded up to the nearest whole percentage point.

A: 94-100
A-: 90-93
B+: 87-89
B: 84-86 
B-: 80-83 
C+: 77-79 
C: 74-76 
C-: 70-73  
D+: 67-69 
D: 64-66 
D-: 60-63
F: 0-59   

Final grades will be assessed through various measures of your performance in the course: 

Exam 1 (Midterm): 10% 

Exam 2 (Final): 10%

Weekly Quizzes 20% (4 at 5% each) 

Game Theory Problem Sets: 10% (2 at 5% each) 

News Paper Article Essays: 30% (3 at 10% each) 

Community Mapping Project: 20%


Exams

 
There will be two exams, both of which are equally weighted. They will be given on Canvas, and the due dates are scheduled in the syllabus. The format of each exam will be multiple-choice and will include any material covered since the last exam. A study guide will be provided in advance. Questions will be taken from the review sheets and weekly quizzes. 

Weekly Quizzes


There will be four weekly quizzes, all of which are equally weighted. They will be given on Canvas, and the dates are scheduled in the syllabus. The format of each quiz be multiple-choice and will include any material covered since the last quiz (or last exam). Questions will be taken from the study guides and readings.

Game Theory Problem Sets

Comparative politics utilizes a theoretical tool known as formal modeling, or "game theory", to develop theory and formalize arguments mathematically. Throughout the semester students will learn how to solve various game theoretic problems. To get practice solving these problems, students will complete two practice problem sets (5% each).

News Paper Article Essays


Students will write two (2) short essays based on a newspaper article of their choice (within given guidelines below), connecting the events of the article to course material. For each essay, students will find a recent (2025) news event/article (from a credible source – email me if you are unsure of a source) on a current event. The article must relate to major topics covered in the course (for example, an article covering a regime transition might relate to the course topics of Democracy, Autocracy, Electoral Systems, Social Cleavages, etc.). A rubric will be provided on Canvas.

Guidelines:
  • Articles should come from unbiased and reliable sources. Use the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart (LINK) to ensure your article comes from an unbiased (between -5 and 5 on the Political Bias scale, or X axis) and a reliable (40 or higher on the News Value and Reliability scale, or Y axis) source. 
  • Articles must be published within the current calendar year (2025).
  • Avoid opinion/op-ed pieces. If you are unsure your article meets the criteria, email me.
  • Avoid filler material. DO NOT USE BLOCK QUOTES FROM THE ARTICLES OR READINGS. Direct quotes should be no longer than 2 sentences, MAXIMUM .
  • Headings should only include your name. Do not include course/section/instructor information.
  • Essays MUST connect back to course material in clear, concise, and insightful ways.
  • News articles must be focused on places/events outside of the United States. The U.S. may be mentioned in the article, but should not be the subject of the article.
    • For example: if the article discusses a new trade deal that the U.S. has brokered with another country, the article must focus on the impacts, negotiations, and economy of the non-U.S. state featured in the article.


Formatting guidelines for the essays are as follows:
  • Essays must be 3 pages (no less), excluding works cited/bibliography
  • Do NOT include a title page. the title of the essay must only be one line long
  • Double-spaced
  • 12-point font
  • Times New Roman font
  • 1-inch margins
  • Delivered via Word Doc format (.doc or .docx). PDF's, links to Google Docs, or other formats will not be accepted.
  • Works cited page, with a full citation of the article and textbook chapters referenced (minimum of two citations). This is NOT included in your page count.
  • Appropriate spelling, grammar, punctuation, and professionalism in the text. Points will be marked down for errors, so be sure to proofread.


Community Mapping Project

 
This project will have students explore communities in a comparative context through the lenses of institutions and issue areas. There are two parts to this assignment. Students should choose a local community outside the United States, such as a city, town, municipality, or neighborhood, that meets the following criteria: 
  •  Any region in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, Oceania.
  • It can be a capital city (e.g., Nairobi, Warsaw, Bogotá) or a smaller urban or rural area (e.g., Chiang Mai, Medellín, Accra). 
  • Your community must be researchable in a language you can read. Smaller or more remote communities may have sparse information available in English.
    • Ensure you can access local government sites, NGO/INGO sites.
  • The community must have clearly identifiable political and cultural institutions.

Part 1 of your Community Mapping Project asks you to create a Google map of a community as you define it with: (1) at least 7 major landmarks and institutions and (2) at least 7 important institutions and organizations at work in a political issue area of your choosing. Your map will include a minimum of 2 sentences caption and photo/graphic/video for each location you map along with a 1 sentence credit or explanation for each photo/graphic/video. This portion of the project is worth 10% of the final grade.

For Part 2, you will write a descriptive narrative of your community (250 words), an identification of major debates and controversies related to your chosen issue area (250 words), and a reflective discussion of the assets in your chosen community as well as links to the course material (250 words). Showcase the evidence you have found in your research of government websites, NGO/INGO websites, and reputable news media articles. This portion of the project is worth 10% of the final grade (Part 1 + Part 2 = 20% of the final grade).

Further instructions will be given on Canvas. 

Assignment Due Dates

All assignments, quizzes, and exams in this course are due on Sunday nights (11:59pm). I schedule it this way to give students the maximum amount of time possible to complete readings, quizzes, and assignments throughout the week at your own pace and according to your own schedule. HOWEVER this means that in most weeks, multiple assignments will be due at the same time. Students are responsible for planning ahead to ensure that all assignments are completed by the deadlines listed in the syllabus. In other words, you should not wait until Sunday to START the assignments/readings/exams for a particular week, and instead should pace yourself throughout the week.

Course Outline

This schedule is the tentative plan for the course. Depending upon progress, topics may shift in a given week. However, exam dates will not be moved. 

 

Week 1: Oct 15-19

  • Introduction and syllabus review 
  • What is comparative politics? READ: CGG Preface, Ch. 1.
  • What is science?  READ: CGG Ch. 2. 

Week 2: Oct 20-26

  • What is politics? Intro to game theory READ: CGG Ch. 3 (skim pp. 56-65). 
  • What is the state? READ: CGG Ch. 4
  • Measuring democracy and dictatorship. READ: CGG Ch. 5, pp (skim pp. 162-169). 
  • Quiz 1 due Sunday, Oct 26 at 11:59pm
  • News Paper Article Essay 1 due Sunday, Oct 26 at 11:59pm

Week 3: Oct 27-Nov 2

  • Economic explanations for democracy and dictatorship. READ: CGG Ch. 6.
  • Cultural explanations for democracy and dictatorship. READ: CGG Ch. 7.
  • Quiz 2 due Sunday, Nov 2 at 11:59pm
  • Game Theory Problem Set 1 Due Sunday, Nov 2 at 11:59pm

Week 4: Nov 3-9 

  • Transitions to democracy. READ: CGG Ch. 8.
  • Democracy or dictatorship - does it make a difference? READ: CGG Ch. 9. 
  • Varieties of dictatorship. READ: CGG Ch. 10.
  • Exam 1 due Sunday, Nov 9 at 11:59pm.
  • Community Mapping Project Part 1 Due Sunday, Nov 9 at 11:59pm.

Week 5: Nov 10-16 

  • Problems with group decision making. READ: CGG Ch. 11. 
  • Parliamentary, presidential, and mixed regimes. READ: CGG Ch. 12. 
  • Quiz 3 due Sunday, Nov 16 at 11:59pm
  • News Paper Article Essay 2 due Sunday, Nov 16 at 11:59pm

Week 6: Nov 17-23 

  • Elections and electoral systems. READ: CGG Ch. 13. 
  • Social cleavages and party systems. READ: CGG Ch. 14.
  • Quiz 4 due Sunday, Nov 23 at 11:59pm 
  • Game Theory Problem Set 2 Due Sunday, Nov 23 at 11:59pm.

Week 7: Nov 24-30 THANKSGIVING BREAK

  • No assignments due (consider working on Community Mapping Project Part 2)

Week 8: Dec 1-7

  • Representation. CGG Ch. 16, pp. 701-726.
  • Exam 2 due Sunday, Dec 7 at 11:59pm
  • Community Mapping Project Part 2 due Sunday, Dec 7 at 11:59pm.

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

 A late penalty of 10% per day late will be assessed for missing deadlines associated with the News Paper Article Essays, Community Mapping Project and Game Theory Problem Sets.

Late Quizzes and Exams will not be accepted, as answers will be made available after the assignments close.

The Late Policy takes effect after the 11:59pm deadline. Meaning a 12:00am submission will count as 1 day late.

Attendance Policy

This course is fully delivered asynchronously, meaning there are no specified times that the student is expected to view the videos. Students are responsible for planning ahead by checking the syllabus for upcoming readings and assignments. Students are responsible for all assigned readings. Therefore, it is imperative that students complete all readings and integrate them into the course assignments as applicable. The assignment deadlines are "hard" deadlines, so plan your week accordingly. 

Syllabus Change Policy

Except for changes that substantially affect implementation of the evaluation (grading) statement, this syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice. 

Class Policies

Students are responsible for planning ahead by checking the syllabus for upcoming readings and assignments. Students are responsible for all assigned readings. Therefore, it is imperative that students complete all readings and integrate them into the course as applicable.

Students are responsible for checking rubrics for formatting requirements prior to submission. If assignment files are illegible, corrupted, uploaded to the wrong location, blank, or are "wrong versions", they will be treated as late and the Late Policy will apply. To avoid issues, be sure to review your assignments after submission. Links to externally stored files (e.g. GoogleDocs) will not be accepted.

AI Policy

This course assumes that work submitted for a grade by students – all process work, drafts, brainstorming artifacts, final works – will be generated by the students themselves, working individually or in groups as directed by class assignment instructions. This policy indicates the following constitute violations of academic honesty: a student has another person/entity do the work of any substantive portion of a graded assignment for them, which includes purchasing work from a company, hiring a person or company to complete an assignment or exam, and/or using generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT). 

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.