Prepare a comparative table of seven major features of politics related to two different countries of your choosing (other than the United States)
Introduction to Comparative Politics, Dr. Tom Inglot, FALL 2021, online.
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT –
Please prepare your homework assignment according to the instructions listed below. The report should be saved in a Word document (singed with your full name in the file name), two pages in total, 12 point font, stapled, and with your name on top of the front page. It should also provide a list of sources used in your research (a minimum of 10 sources are required). Upload this homework under “Assignments” – “Comparative Research Exercise, POL 241.”You should treat this assignment seriously as a part of your course evaluation (participation grade) and a personalized handout that you will use later for your class presentation and discussions.
Prepare a comparative table of seven major features of politics related to two different countries of your choosing (other than the United States). Use the following example as a guide. Please select two countries of comparable size and avoid stark contrasts such as for example Malta and China or North Korea and Great Britain, and so on. You can use this document template for your homework but if you do so – delete my instructions (the same applies to the bibliography – do not copy the instructions or the highlighted text – this is for your information only).
Comparative feature (category)
COUNTRY A
COUNTRY B
Type of Government/Political System
Western liberal democracy
Non-western political system, non-democracy (dictatorship)
Chief executive
Prime Minister (Walter Roth)
President (Jacques Curtis)
Legislature (Parliament, Assembly)
Two houses of parliament
Lower House – Diet (local name) – 455 members, elected by the people.
Upper House – Senate- 100 members, not elected.
Single house of parliament – Lower house – not elected by the people and the seats are exclusively reserved for the party of the president.
Political Parties (list the major parties only – up to four in total).
Two major parties – Socialists and Rightists (Socialistas, Christian Front – local names).
One major party – Unity Party (Partia Unitad – local name). Other parties exist but they do not have real power.
Last elections
They held parliamentary elections, in June 2015, won by the Socialists. The country does not have presidential elections.
They held non-competitive presidential elections in May 2017, (won for the second time by the incumbent, president Jacques Curtis from the Unity Party).
Economic level
Developed country – GDP per capita – $ 45,000 PPP.
Middle-income, emerging economy, GDP per capita – $12,000 PPP.
A few distincitive features of political life or major political issues or challenges in recent years.
A major corruption scandal – led to the fall from power of many politicians of the Rightist Party.
President Jacques Curtis has been accused by political opposition of crushing independent media.
Using the American Political Science Association’s Style Manual (- author/date bibliographical format to prepare and attach a full list of sources (minimum of TEN) that you used to prepare this report. This should be done on a separate, second page, entitled “Bibliography.” If necessary, consult the library guide for this class and/or a reference librarian at the MSU library to help you format your sources correctly. See the example on the next page below.
(Please note that the list must be alphabetical – A-Z. Highlighted information is the explanation provided for your understanding only – do not copy or write this down in your own bibliography – notice that dates follow the author).
Bibiliography
(This is based on the APSA style — Chicago Manual, Author-date listing).
Alcock, Peter, and Gary Craig. 2009. International Social Policy: Welfare Regimes in the Developed World, 2nd edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Example of a book by two authors.
Altenstetter, Christa, and Reinhard Busse. 2005. “Health Care Reform in Germany: Patchwork Change Within Established Governance Structures.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 30 (1-2): 121–142. Journal Article by two authors.
Beer, Samuel H. 1998. “Welfare Reform: Revolution or Retrenchment?” Publius 28 (3): 9–15. Journal Article by one author.
Carrera, Percivil M, et al. 2008. “Health Care Financing Reforms in Germany: The Case for Rethinking the Evolutionary Approach to Reforms.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 33 (5): 979–1005. Journal Article by multiple authors, more than two.
Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. 2013. Health Insurance Market Reforms. https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Programs-and-Initiatives/Health-Insurance-Market-Reforms (accessed, January 10, 2021). Government Document from the Internet
Cohn, Jonathan. 2010. “How They Did It: The Inside Account of Health Care Reform’s Triumph.” The New Republic, June 10: 14-25. Magazine Article by one author.
Cuter, David, and Jonathan Gruber. 2001. “Health Policy in the Clinton Era: Once Bitten, Twice Shy.” American Economic Policy of the 1990s, June 27-31, http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/Conferences/economic_policy/CUTLER-GRUBER.pdf Article downloaded from the web by two authors.
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS.org). 2000. “PBS-Healthcare Crisis: Healthcare Timeline.” http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/history.htm (accessed, January 10, 2021) Web site
Starke, Peter. 2006. “The Politics of Welfare State Retrenchment: A Literature Review.” Social Policy & Administration 40 (1): 104–20. Journal Article by one author.
Slothuus, Rune. 2007. “Framing Deservingness to Win Support for Welfare State Retrenchment.” Scandinavian Political Studies 30 (3): 323–344. Journal Article by one author.
