The seminar examines major issues in the study of elections and
party systems in a comparative context.   The topic concerns one of
the principal themes in the study of political science, as evident
in the preponderance of works on elections and parties in the
discipline’s top journals and monographs.   We will read some of the
foundational literature in the field (e.g. Duverger, Lipset and
Rokkan, Sartori), “contemporary” classics (e.g. Cox, Lijphart,
Taagepera and Shugart,) and current cutting edge research (e.g.
Boix, Mainwaring, Norris).  The seminar’s content includes
literature relevant to both established democracies and
democratizing states.

The topics covered in the course begin with a look at the
institutional design of electoral systems and the origins of
political parties, move on to consider such issues as strategic
voting, electoral behavior, parties as organizations, electoral
volatility, and conclude with questions of parties and
representation, and elections and the quality of democracy.

Seminar requirements include meaningful participation in class
discussion, brief written analyses of assigned readings, a research
paper, and presentation of the paper to the seminar.