The first goals for this course are substantive and thus concentrate on the material of comparative politics itself.

Countries. We will concentrate on three types of countries and a selection of individual states, including: industrialized democracies (Great Britain, France, Germany, and Japan), current and former communist regimes (Russia and China), and the third world (India, Iraq, Nigeria, and Mexico).

Concepts. You will have a hard time remembering any of the facts and figures let alone begin reaching your own general conclusions about politics which you can use long after this course ends unless you focus as well on the key concepts and theories we will consider, such as democracy, the state, legitimacy, liberalization, or globalization

Citizenship. Most of you will not go into careers in which what you know about comparative politics will figure heavily. However, you will all be called on to use what you learn in this course as citizens during the rest of your lives. So, perhaps the most important goal of the course for the long run is to whet your appetite so that you stay informed on whatever issues dominate political life in the years to come.

I also have three pedagogical goals for which the emphasis is less on what you learn but how you do it.

Communication. Whatever you do professionally, you will have to communicate with others orally, on paper, and, increasingly electronically. Here, we will concentrate on improving your writing skills, especially in analysis or explanation.

Critical Thinking You also cannot write or speak effectively about analytical questions and controversial subjects unless you ask two sets of questions which we lump together as critical thinking. First, how or why is something the case? Second, what should we do about it?

The Internet. The three years I've spend in England have seen a boom in the use of telecommunications in general and the Internet in particular, which academics are just beginning to tap. In almost any profession you enter now, using the Internet effectively will be an important skill if not a job requirement. It has also become an indispensable tool for keeping up with what happens in political life around the world. Therefore, we will spend some time developing all your internet skills, including those of you who are better at using it than I am!