Comparative Political Systems

Comparativepolitics covers a wide variety of topics and themes. The course starts with thedefinition of the comparative method giving special emphasis to conceptformation and historical and institutional approaches. The bulk of the courseis devoted to the theory of coalitions and the processes of governmentformation, functioning, termination. Through several in-depth analyses, thecourse will throw light on the way democratic regimes are governed. Electoralrules will receive special attention and their impact both on citizens’behavior and parties and the party system will be thoroughly examined.The types of Parliaments, their structuresand their role will be taken into consideration also in order to understand howthey affect the formation of governing coalitions. Hence the dynamics and thetransformation of those coalitions, with special attention to their more orless frequent rotation in office, will be explored and explained. The assetsand the liabilities of the different institutional arrangements will beevaluated. The final part of the course will be devoted to an assessment of thequality of the different democratic regimes and to the proposals for change.The overall picture likely to emerge is that of the existence of severalinstitutional solutions to the challenges and the problems of contemporarydemocracies.