Principles of Comparative Politics

Chapter 1. Comparative Political Analysis: An Introduction

Chapter 2. Constitutions and Ideologies

Chapter 3. Legislative Institutions

Chapter 4. Executive Institutions

Chapter 5. Judicial Institutions

Chapter 6. Political Behavior and the Political Environment

Chapter 7. Pluralism, Parties, Interest Groups, and Movements

Chapter 8. Public Policy

Chapter 9. The British Political System

Chapter 10. The French Political System

Chapter 11. The German Political System

Chapter 12. The Canadian Political System

Chapter 13. The Russian Political System

Chapter 14. The Chinese Political System

Chapter 15. The Mexican Political System

Chapter 16. The Kenyan Political System

• Emphasizes an institutional approach to get students started right away with identifying, classifying, and comparing political structures and their impact on real-world politics.
• Dedicates a full chapter to how political scientists do comparative analysis. (ex. Ch. 1)
• Includes thematic chapters that offer a cross-national look at the fundamental structures and behaviors of political institutions. (ex. Ch. 2)
• Provides country studies on Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Russia, China, Mexico, and Kenya that offer detailed explorations of how these fundamental structures and behaviors work. (ex. p. v)
• Integrates pedagogical features in every chapter to reinforce students’ understanding of key concepts and to encourage critical thinking.
  • Learning outcomes to help students focus on each chapter’s key lessons. (ex. p. 2)
  • Key terms highlighted in the text, listed at the end of each chapter, and defined in an end-of-book glossary. (ex. p. 21)
  • Discussion questions to review the chapter and prepare for classroom discussion. (ex. p. 21)
  • Annotated suggested readings to further explore comparative politics.(ex. p. 21)
  • Photos, figures, and tables to visualize and quantify key concepts. (ex. p. 54)
  • For every country study, a map and country data. (ex. p. 264)
• MySearchLab. For over 10 years, instructors and students have reported achieving better results and better grades when a Pearson MyLab has been integrated into the course. MySearchLab provides engaging experiences that personalize learning, and comes from a trusted partner with educational expertise and a deep commitment to helping students and instructors achieve their goals. A wide range of writing, grammar and research tools and access to a variety of academic journals, census data, Associated Press newsfeeds, and discipline-specific readings help you hone your writing and research skills. To order MySearchLab with the print text, use ISBN 0-205-23158-6.
• Passport. Choose the resources you want from MyPoliSciLab and put links to them into your course management system. If there is assessment associated with those resources, it also can be uploaded, allowing the results to feed directly into your course management system’s gradebook. With MyPoliSciLab assets like videos, mapping exercises, Financial Times newsfeeds, current events quizzes, politics blog, and much more, Passport is available for any Pearson political science book. To order Passport with the print text, use ISBN 0-205-23157-8.

Greg Mahler is Professor of Politics and Academic Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Earlham College.

Expert Reviews

“Alone among textbooks on comparative politics, Greg Mahler’s Principles of Comparative Politics combines a sweeping and up-to-date overview of the field with incisive and detailed studies of eight themes and eight countries. It’s an ideal introductory text, giving students both theoretical context and country-specific understanding.” —Ronald Rogowski, University of California-Los Angeles

“Clearly written and intelligently organized, Mahler offers students a comprehensive and well-informed overview of the structures, institutions, and actors that organize political life in countries around the world. This is a perfect text for introductory courses in comparative politics!” —Mark Tessler, University of Michigan

“This is the quintessential introduction to comparative politics. It provides a sophisticated foundation of institutional analysis, respects historical influences, and above all, carefully focuses on the key mechanisms that drive politics in the contemporary world.” — Gerhard Peters, Citrus College

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