POLS 6435 - Comparative Institutions

Meets with POLS 5400. Political institutions affect who wins and who loses, what kinds of policies are chosen, and crucial policy outcomes such as the health of an economy or the security of a nation. This course focuses on key questions about institutions. Out of what kind of interplay of interests, ideas, and practice do institutions emerge? How do political actors craft the rules in order to pursue their interests? Once created, what are the implications of particular institutions? how do they affect the distribution of benefits and costs or state effectiveness? Can institutions themselves change the nature of actors and their interests? Using rational-choice, historical institutionalists, and ideational approaches, we will examine particular institutions, such as electoral systems, types of executives, legislatures, federalism, administrative oversight, and parties.