Comparative Politics Seminar · Political Science
Great class, content and skills, a must for those interested in research in political science.
The characteristics of different electoral systems throughout the world -- factors that go into shaping them and the way that may affect politics in the country that they operate in.
Weekly readings-some were shorter than others-mostly social movement theory. Long research paper- anywhere from, in his words, 25-100 pages. Presentations go along with both the reading and the papers.
One 5-7 page policy memo, ideas for a question and data set (really short) for your term paper, followed by a paper proposal and then the final 20-30 page seminar term paper. Participation is somewhere in there too. You also will need to lead the discussion one week.
Manageable! Reading is divided up and more for interest rather than strictly necessary. One seminar paper 20-25 pages and a presentation. Grading is totally fair, just make sure you include lots of data in your seminar paper. I received an A for this class while only doing a few readings and doing an in depth research paper with lots of data to back up my claims
Six 2-3 pg papers on weekly readings. Take home midterm and final (difficult questions that made you think).
I learned a lot about immigrants voting behavior and general differences about voting behavior correlated with immigration.
EU politics: from European integration grand theories to specific policy fields (migration, environment, security, economy/single market, economy/monetary integration, etc)
Overview of electoral rules including first past the post/plurality, open and closed list proportional representation, mixed member systems, block and transferable vote, etc. Various handbook/textbook articles and contemporary political science scholarship on consequences, effects of electoral rules. Highly technical content
Mark (who requests you call him by his first name) is a great man. He realizes that juniors in the major (and seniors who have been abroad) rarely have a clue how to write a 40-ish page paper, and is prepared to guide you along the way. His office hours fill up quickly, but are always encouraging. I left them with an average of half a dozen new ideas scribbled down. Our seminar received emails from him at least once or twice each week, and they were not always seminar-related. He often took the time to encourage us to attend lectures, conferences, dinners, etc. He is probably one of the most approachable professors in the department. I'm not sure what a larger lectures would be like with him-he seems especially well-suited to smaller discussions, but certainly take a class with him when he is back from his sabbatical.