Current Debates in Comparative Politics - Softcover

Dickovick, J. Tyler; Eastwood, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0190855029 ISBN 13: 9780190855024

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Designed for introductory courses, Current Debates in Comparative Politics, Second Edition, presents forty-three readings drawn from major magazines and newspapers including: The Economist, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and The New Statesman. Addressing theoretical, methodological, and practical issues, the selections include scholarly readings that introduce students to key debates in the field along with more informal readings that help students to engage with the material and see how it relates to their daily lives.

An excellent stand-alone text, Current Debates in Comparative Politics, Second Edition, is also a perfect companion to the editors' textbook, Comparative Politics: Integrating Theories, Methods, and Cases, Second Edition (OUP, 2016), as its selections are organized thematically into sixteen sections that correspond to the chapters in the text. Each section includes a short introductory essay and discussion questions that guide students in their reading.

About this title

About the Author

J. Tyler Dickovick is Grigsby Term Associate Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University.

Jonathan Eastwood is the Laurent Boetsch Term Professor of Sociology at Washington and Lee University.

Review

"I think the comparative advantage of the book is that it purposefully engages non-scholarly texts. It is looking for that 'real-world' aspect to comparative politics."
--Harold Orndorff III, Daytona State College

"The three major advantages of Current Debates in Comparative Politics, Second Edition, are the text's readability, the succinct chapters, and, by and large, the very good breadth in terms of coverage."
--George K. Kieh, University of West Georgia

"I like the 'current' part of the book, as the articles are mostly new, and of the older articles, they are mostly popular. The book provides a good stepping stone for debate and discussion in my courses, after my students work through the tougher readings in the field. In short, I'd describe it as an informative and fun comparative current events text, ripe for debate."
--Joshua Dix, University of Georgia

In an introductory course, few students can be expected to know much about the politics of foreign countries, and thus instructors cannot presume any prior knowledge. Thus, I understand why textbook authors include chapters on individual countries, or include boxes within chapters that highlight individual countries.The strength of the Dickovick and Eastwood text is that it does help to bring these country examples in to elaborate on concepts taught in lecture. Moreover, because many of the articles are quite recent, students may still be able to follow or remember the developments they describe. As I have continued to teach this course, I have abandoned traditional textbooks because they do not seem to appeal to students. A text like this one helps me to assign readings without having to compile them myself.
--Ani Sarkissian, Michigan State University

"This is a solid comparative politics companion reader. It covers some topics, like ethnic conflict, much better than many other texts out there and many of the institutional discussions are much more developed than in similar readers."
--Susan K. Glover, American University

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0190855029
• ISBN 13: 9780190855024
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 192