Introducing Comparative Politics: Concepts and Cases in Context - Softcover

Orvis, Stephen Walter; Drogus, Carol Ann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 145224152X ISBN 13: 9781452241524

Publisher: CQ Press, 2014

Synopsis

Organized thematically around important questions in comparative politics―Who rules? What explains political behavior? Where and why?―Introducing Comparative Politics integrates a set of extended case studies of 11 core countries into the narrative. Serving as touchstones, the cases are set in chapters where they make the most sense topically―not separated from theory or in a separate volume―and vividly illustrate issues in cross-national context. The book’s hybrid organization allows you to teach the way you want to teach and gives students a more accurate sense of comparative study.

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen Orvis is Professor of Government at Hamilton College. He is a specialist on sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya in particular), identity politics, democratic transitions, and the political economy of development. He has been teaching introduction to comparative politics for more than twenty-five years, as well as courses on African politics, nationalism and the politics of identity, political economy of development, and weak states. He has written a book and articles on agricultural development in Kenya, as well as several articles on civil society in Africa and Kenya and is currently doing research on political institutions in Africa.

 

 

Review:

"The presentation of core concepts is written in a clear, concise, and lively fashion that hooks the reader and doesn’t overload with technical detail, while setting out most of the ideas I try to cover in my course. In general, the Orvis and Drogus text covers a wide range of country cases that are well selected for examining the themes and issues under discussion and is written in an engaging style that holds the reader’s attention while covering concepts and explanations that are often quite sophisticated."

Author: Stephen P. Mumme

"The hybrid approach is the primary reason I picked this book. Given my thematic approach, generic case studies that don’t directly relate to a particular comparison or theme aren’t very useful, so I appreciate the balance between thematic and case elements in the Orvis and Drogus text. My students have responded much more positively to this book than the previous offering. I think they find the writing level to be an attainable challenge." 

Author: John Hulsey

"The content of the case studies is excellent. Students easily grow bored with lengthy chapters on specific cases, but the thematic approach to the cases in the Orvis and Drogus text is much more interesting to my students."

Author: M. Casey Kane Love

About this edition

• Publisher: CQ Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 145224152X
• ISBN 13: 9781452241524
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 768