Introducing Comparative Politics: Concepts and Cases in ContextHave you been tempted to teach your intro course thematically, but are afraid that your students will be unable to see how concepts relate to actual countries? Yet sticking with a country by-country approach means never being able to fully address the questions that really engage comparativists. But that has its drawbacks as well. Is there an ideal middle ground between the current text approaches to the field? Carol Ann Drogus and Stephen Orvis, a Latin Americanist and an Africanist by training, offer an innovative hybrid approach to the field. The book is organized thematically around important concepts in comparative politics; in turn, each chapter is framed by the questions of who rules?, what motivates political behavior?, and where and why? Then, within each chapter, the authors have integrated a set of extended case studies based on a selection of ten core countries. Serving as consistent geographic touchstones, students get to know these countries as they accumulate conceptual knowledge.
The cases are placed in chapters where they make the most sense substantively not separated from theory or in a separate volume and vividly illustrate issues in cross-national context. For more on Introducing Comparative Politics, including pedagogy, student and instructor ancillaries, and the table of contents, click here. Contending Perspectives in Comparative Politics: A ReaderIn addition to a well-chosen set of classic readings, Contending Perspectives also offers students access to cutting-edge research. By framing chapters around a central question in the field, the editors are able to show students how scholars approach inquiry with different perspectives, producing controversy and consensus in interesting and instructive ways. With these selections, students see work with data, theory, and analysis at its best and set in proper context not pieces chosen just for their currency or for pages of colorful detail. Chapter introductions and selection headnotes offer important background and critical thinking questions. For more on Contending Perspectives, including the table of contents, click here.