Category III

Political Science Courses for Undergraduate Programme of study

with Political Science as one of the Core Disciplines
(B.A. Programmes with Political Science as non-Major or Minor discipline)

DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC CORE COURSE (DSC-4A): Comparative Government and Politics

CREDIT DISTRIBUTION, ELIGIBILITY AND PRE-REQUISITES OF THE

COURSE
Course title Credits Credit distribution of the Eligibility Pre-
& Code course criteria requisite
Lecture Tutorial Practical/ of the
Practice course
(if any)
Comparative 4 3 1 - NA NA
Government
and Politics
MDSC-4A

Learning Objectives
The purpose of this course is to equip students to understand government and politics though a
comparative perspective. The course aims at familiarising students with the manner in which
comparison is used as a method to understand the historical transformations in governmental
forms, regime types, and political systems. It also hopes to make students understand the different
modalities through which power circulates and resides in society and the distinct mechanisms
through which consent is elicited from the people. The course is expected to bring to the students
a thorough understanding of the historical contexts in which political systems and institutional
structures take distinct forms and acquire features that distinguish them. The course hopes to bring
out the specificities of these forms not just through historical signposts but also across different
political cultures in the global North and South.

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of the course, students would demonstrate:
An in-depth understanding of nature and scope of comparative politics.
Knowledge of regime forms as distinct from classification of political systems
Knowledge of various kinds of electoral systems and party systems across countries
An understanding of the manner in which power exists in society
Analytical capacity to engage with contemporary debates on welfare, populism, and
authoritarianism.

SYLLABUS OF MDSC-4A

UNIT – I (7 Hours)
The nature, scope and methods of comparative political analysis

UNIT – II (8 Hours)
Classifications of political systems
(a) Parliamentary and Presidential
(b) Federal and Unitary

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UNIT – III (7 Hours)
Electoral Systems
First past the post, Proportional representation and Mixed systems

UNIT – IV (8 Hours)
Party Systems
Single-party, bi-party and multi-party systems

UNIT – V (7 Hours)
Structures of Power in Society
Classical elitist theory, power elites, pluralism and theory of ruling class

UNIT – VI (8 Hours)
Comparing Regimes
Democratic, Authoritarian, Welfare, Populism and Security Regimes

Essential/recommended readings
The nature, scope and methods of comparative political analysis
Bara, J. (2009) ‘Methods for Comparative Analysis’, in Bara, J. & Pennington, M. (eds.)
Comparative Politics. New Delhi: Sage, pp. 40-65.
Blondel, J. (1996) ‘Then and Now: Comparative Politics’, Political Studies. Vol. 47, Issue 1,
pp.152-160
Caramani, D. (2008) ‘Introduction to Comparative Politics’, in Caramani, D. (ed.) Comparative
Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-23.
Mohanty, M. (1975) ‘Comparative Political Theory and Third World Sensitivity’, in Teaching
Politics. Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 22-38.
Chandhoke, N. (1996) ‘Limits of Comparative Political Analysis’, Economic and Political
Weekly. vol. 31, No. 4, (January 27), pp. PE 2-PE8.
Classifications of political systems
Hague, R. and Harrop, M. McCormick J. (2016) Comparative Government and Politics: An
Introduction. (Tenth Edition). London: Palgrave McMillan. Ch11. Sub-national government.
Newton, K. and Deth, Jan W. V. (2010) Presidential and Parliamentary Government (Ch 5) in
Foundations of Comparative Politics: Democracies of the Modern World. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Patrick H O'Neil, Karl J Fields and Don Share, (2018 Edition), Models of Democracy:
Parliamentary, Presidential and Semi-Presidential System, Essentials of Comparative Politics
with Cases, pp. 150-156.
Robbins, J. W. (2011) ‘Presidentialism Verses Parliamentarism’, in Ishiyama, J. T. and
Marijke,21st Century Political Science: A Reference Book. Los Angeles: Sage.
Saxena, Rekha (2011). Introduction. In R. Saxena (Ed.), Varieties of Federal Governance:
Major Contemporary Models (pp. xiii-xl), Foundations Book.
Electoral Systems

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Evans, Jocelyn A.J. (2009) ‘Electoral Systems’, in Bara, J. and Pennington, M. (eds.)
Comparative Politics. New Delhi: Sage, pp. 93-119.
Downs, W. M. (2011) ‘Electoral Systems in Comparative Perspectives’, in Ishiyama, J. T. And
Breuning, M. (eds.) 21st Century Political Science: A Reference Book. Los Angeles: Sage,
pp.159-167.
Party Systems
Caramani, D. (2020) ‘Party Systems’, in Caramani, D. (ed.) Comparative Politics. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, Ch.13, pp. 231-251.
Choudhary, Sunil K. (2018), Theorizing Parties and Party Systems, in The Changing Face of
Parties and Party Systems, A Study of Israel and India, Palgrave Macmillan.
Cole, A. (2011) ‘Comparative Political Parties: Systems and Organizations’, in Ishiyama, J.T.
and Breuning, M. (eds.) 21st Century Political Science: A Reference Book. Los Angeles:
Sage,pp. 150-158.
Heywood, Andrew (2013) Parties and Party System, in Andrew Heywood, Politics (Fourth
Edition), Palgrave.
Structures of Power in Society
Parry, Geraint. (1986) Political Elites, George Allen & Unwin, London.
Comparing Regimes
Hague, R. and Harrop, M. McCormick J. (2016) Ch 3- Democratic Rule and Ch.4- Authoritarian
Rule. In Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction. (Tenth Edition). London:
Palgrave McMillan.
Heyword, Andrew (2013) Governments, Systems and Regimes, in Andrew Heywood, Politics
(Fourth Edition), Palgrave.
Anibal Perez Linan. (2020) ‘Democracracies’, in Caramani, D. (ed.) Comparative Politics.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, Ch.5, pp. 86-102.
Lindstaedt N. (2020) Authoritarian Regimes, in D Caramani (ed.), Comparative Politics, Oxford
University Press, Ch 6. Pp.103-115
Mudde Cas and Kaltwasser Cristóbal Rovira (2017), What is Populism (Ch 1), Populism
around the world (Ch 2) in Populism: A Very Short Introduction, OUP.
Webb, E. (2011) ‘Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism’, in Ishiyama, J. T. and Breuning, M.
(eds.) 21st Century Political Science: A Reference Book. Los Angeles: Sage, pp. 249-257.
Busch, Andreas (2015), The Changing Architecture of the National Security State’, in Stephan
Leibfried, Evelyn Huber, Mattew Large, Jonah D. Levy and John D. Stephens (eds.), The
Oxford Handbook of Transformations of State, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Garland, David (2016), Ch 1, 6, 7 in The Welfare State: A Very Short Introduction, OUP.
Kesselman, M. (2007) The Politics of Globalization. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, pp.
330- 339.
Aldrich,Richard J. (2009) The Security State, in Matthew Flinders, Andrew Gamble, Colin
Hay, and Michael Kenny (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of British Politics, OUP.
Rosenzweig, Paul, (2016), Lecture 1- Security, Liberty, or Neither, and Lecture 4-
Surveillance in America, in: The Surveillance State, Big Data, Freedom, and You, Course
Guidebook, Teaching Company.
Mabee, B. (2009). The ‘Security State’ and the Evolution of Security Provision. in: The
Globalization of Security. New Security Challenges Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London.

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Additional Readings:
Bara, J & Pennington, M. (eds.). (2009) Comparative Politics. New Delhi: Sage.
Caramani, D. (ed.). (2008) Comparative Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hague, R. and Harrop, M. (2010) Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction.
(EightEdition). London: Palgrave McMillan.
Ishiyama, J.T. and Breuning, M. (eds.). (2011) 21st Century Political Science: A Reference
Book. Los Angeles: Sage.
Newton, K. and Deth, Jan W. V. (2010) Foundations of Comparative Politics: Democracies of
the Modern World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Neil, P. (2009) Essentials of Comparative Politics. (Third Edition). New York: WW. Norton&
Company, Inc.
Roy Macridis: The Study of Comparative Government, Random House 1966/‘The modern
Political Regimes: Patterns and Institutions’, 1986.

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the

Examination Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.

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