Understanding Comparative Politics

Lisa A. Baglione is a Professor and the Chair of the Political Science Department at Saint Joseph′s University. Her major fields of study are International Relations and Comparative Politics. Dr. Baglione has published works exploring contemporary Russian foreign policy, post-settlement peacebuilding, the arms control decision-making process in the United States, the Soviet Union, and Russia, and the research-paper writing process, and has co-authored articles on the transformation of the Russian polity and economy in the early post-communist period. Currently, she is researching conflict transformation in the twenty-first century and contemporary Russian center-periphery relations. At Saint Joseph′s, Dr. Baglione teaches courses in which she developed the ideas, advice, and techniques offered in this work.

Chapter 1: Getting Started: Inclusivity and Building a Foundation with Concepts and Data
Chapter 2: Understanding Democracy: Definition, Institutions, Ideas, and Norms
Chapter 3: Taking a Look at Europe
Chapter 4: Politics in the U.K.: How Did British Politics Go from Staid to Unstable?
Chapter 5: Overview of Communism: Revolution, Political Institutions, Political Economy and Political Culture
Chapter 6: Taking a Look: Post-Soviet States
Chapter 7: Politics in Russia: Why Is Authoritarianism So Seemingly Stable Despite Earlier Hopes for Democratic Change?
Chapter 8: Taking a Look: East, Southeast, and South (ESEA) Asia
Chapter 9: Politics in China: How Can Such Economic Success Exist with Political Repression?
Chapter 10: Overview of the Global South: Experiences with Globalization
Chapter 11: Taking a Look at Latin America
Chapter 12: Politics in Mexico: How Can Democratization Proceed with Such Inequality, Corruption, and Violence?
Chapter 13: Taking a Look at the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Chapter 14: Politics in Egypt: Why & How the “Arab Spring” Became the Egyptian Winter
Chapter 15: Taking a Look at Sub-Saharan Africa
Chapter 16: Politics in Nigeria: Why Can’t the Giant of Africa Awake?
Chapter 17: Concluding Your Studies: What You’ve Learned from a Data-Intensive, Interactive, Concept-Focused, and Inclusive Approach to Comparative Politics