Essentials of Comparative Politics with Cases

AP® Comparative Government’s most trusted teaching tool.

Written by AP® summer institute leaders and content experts, Essentials of Comparative Politics with Cases gives students a seamless introduction to the concepts and case studies they need to know and gives instructors the tools to teach the way they want. The new Eighth AP® Edition is designed specifically for the AP® course, with built-in practice and resources crafted by leading AP® teachers. Valued for its consistent framework for making comparisons and its clear and contemporary coverage, Essentials of Comparative Politics with Cases is AP® Comparative Government’s most trusted teaching tool.

New to the Eighth AP® Edition:

• NEW AP® Comparative Government Skills Handbook gives a foundation for self-guided study and introduces students to the AP® course’s big ideas and disciplinary practices
• NEW AP® Multiple-Choice questions in every concept chapter are assignable and auto graded in the Norton Illumine Ebook
• NEW Check Your Understanding questions connect to the book’s core objectives and motivate students to self-assess
• NEW Dynamic Data Figures are assignable and self-grading, challenging students to make sense of trends illustrated by data
• NEW coverage of the methods used by comparativists to answer contemporary questions in the discipline
• The updated AP® Test Bank features nearly 1,200 questions, including over 450 AP®-style questions
• The updated AP® Course-Planning and Pacing Guide includes lessons, activities, assessments, and suggestions for teaching by theme or by country

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Patrick H. O’Neil is Professor of Politics and Government at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University. Professor O’Neil’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of authoritarianism and democratization. His past research focused on eastern Europe, and his current research deals with the Middle East, particularly Iran. His publications include Revolution from Within: The Hungarian Socialist Worker’s Party “Reform Circles” and the Collapse of Communism and Communicating Democracy: The Media and Political Transitions (editor).

Suzanne Bailey has been teaching AP® Government and Politics since 1989. She currently teaches AP® Comparative and U.S. Government and Politics, along with AP® Micro and Macroeconomics at Virgil I. Grissom High School in Huntsville, Alabama. She has been participating in the AP® Reading since 2000 and has previously served as the College Board Adviser for AP Comparative Government and Politics.

Andrew Conneen has taught both the AP® Comparative Government and AP® U.S. Government courses for more than 25 years at Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, IL. For nearly 15 years, Mr. Conneen scored AP® Comparative exams as a table reader and leader in the College Board's exam scoring process. He also worked as co-chair of the College Board's AP® Comparative Government test development committee and on the College Board's team that developed the AP® Comparative Government course description in 2019.

James Wehrli is a teacher of economics and political science at the American School of Paris, where he also serves on the school’s Work Council, the Comité Social et Economique. He has taught at the high school and college levels in New York, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. As an AP® Consultant he has conducted workshops in the United States and abroad for AP® U.S. Government and Politics, AP® Comparative Government and Politics, AP® Microeconomics, and AP® Macroeconomics. He has been an AP® Table Leader and served on the Test Development Committee, during which time he was also the College Board Advisor for AP® Comparative Government and Politics. He holds a PhD and MA in political science, and an MA and BA in economics, all from Binghamton University. In addition to writing and editing several publications for the College Board, he has also been the editor and author of a variety of AP® review books and teachers’ guides.