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Comparative Politics
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Comparative Politics
Mapping Institutions, Power, and Legitimacy



January 2025 | 370 pages | CQ Press
"This book takes a new and interesting approach to introduce students to the foundations of comparative politics."
--Marni Berg, Colorado State University


Comparative Politics: Mapping 
Institutions, Power, and Legitimacy
 introduces students to the foundations of comparative politics while using mapping and data analysis to encourage them to think critically about ever-changing global relationships. Author Eric Langenbacher examines the key concepts of power and legitimacy through a variety of viewpoints, emphasizing the choices institutions make and why they make them. As students explore themes through world geography and data-based cases, they learn to reevaluate traditional ideas about national and other political borders and better assess the performance of political institutions.

 
Introduction: Maps, Power, and Legitimacy
The Politics and Power of Mapping

 
Power, Politics, and Legitimacy

 
Political Science and its Subfields

 
 
The State and Its Functions
Defining the State

 
Max Weber on the Role of Ideas, and Legitimacy

 
Why Did the European State Dominate

 
 
Modern Political Development
States and Rationalization

 
The Demands of the State and Disenchantment of the World

 
Dynamics of Demands and Legitimacy

 
Visualizing Political Development

 
 
The Nation and Ideologies
Defining Nations

 
The Formation of Nations

 
New Concepts of the Nation

 
Modern Ideologies

 
 
Regime Types
Traditional Regimes and Contemporary Monarchies

 
Modern Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes

 
Other Almost-Totalitarian Regime Types

 
Democratic Regimes

 
 
Democracy and Civil Society
The Global Spread of Democratic Regimes

 
Definitions of Democracy and their Ambiguities

 
What Does "Rule by the People" Mean?

 
Polyarchy and Democratization

 
Transitions to Democracy

 
Civil Society

 
 
Cleavages and Political Parties
What is a Cleavage?

 
Defining Political Parties

 
The Evolution of Political Parties

 
 
Structuring Institutions I: Federal and Unitary States, Governing Functions, and Executive Choice
Unitary and Federal States

 
Definitions of Federalism

 
Forms of Governance and Executive Choice

 
Consequences, Advantages, and Disadvantages of Executive Choices

 
 
Structuring Institutions II: Legal Systems, Legislatures, and Electoral Systems
Laws and Justice

 
Legislatures

 
The Power of Legislature Then and Now

 
Electoral Systems: Competing Visions of Representation

 
 
Consequences of Institutional Choices: Party Systems and Types of Governments
Consequences of Electoral System Choices

 
Describing Party Systems

 
Parties, Party Systems, and Governments

 
Varieties of Non-democratic Governments

 
 
The Challenge and Promise of Political Development Today
Economic Modernization

 
Modernization Theory

 
Modern Development Revisited

 
Structuring Modern Political Systems

 
Assessing Overall Quality and Performance of Modern Political Systems

 
Demands and Legitimacy in the Twenty-first Century

 
 
Appendices: Comparative Analysis Through Case Studies and Data
 
Appendix A: Seat Allocation, Measures of Proportionality, and the Cases of Spain, Poland, and Turkey
 
Appendix B: The Effective Number of Parties and the Cases of the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and New Zealand
 
Appendix C: The Power Index and the Cases of Sweden and Mexico
 
Appendix D: Volatility and the Case of Canada
 
Appendix E: Comparative Institutional Performance

Supplements

Instructor Site

Instructor Resource Site 
Online resources included with this text 
 
The online resources for your text are available via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site, which offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides. 
 
For additional information, custom options, or to request a personalized walkthrough of these resources, please contact your sales representative

This book successfully introduces a new reader to core theories and concepts of comparative politics, all the while interweaving timely and illustrative case studies. It is also thoroughly accessible and creative, enabling a wide coverage of topics from the largest and most complex of institutions (states and regimes) to the most local of interactions (civil society). The case for educating students in comparative politics has never been stronger, and I look forward to using this text in my class.

Sara Wallace Goodman
University of California, Irvine

Mapping Comparative Politics does a fantastic job of making sense of our complex world, while introducing a varied toolkit for comparative analysis. The generation of students in our classrooms today are highly visual thinkers and Langenbacher brilliantly uses a variety of maps to help them understand dynamics of power, politics and legitimacy from different perspectives. With its truly global outlook and lots of engaging examples, this book makes teaching comparative politics both systematic and fun.

Jenny Wustenberg
Nottingham Trent University
Review

This concise, well-written textbook covers a broad range of comparative politics concepts in an accessible manner. The author's use of maps helps students visualize how theoretical concepts play out in a real-world context.

Louise K. Davidson-Schmich
University of Miami
Review

This book takes a new and interesting approach to introduce students to the foundations of comparative politics.

Marni Berg
Colorado State University
Review
Key features

KEY FEATURES:

  • Thematic, historical approach uses the master narrative of political development to explore at how the concepts of power and legitimacy play out among world countries and institutions.
  • Focus on mapping helps students understand both geography and the geopolitical issues surrounding borders and other political delineations.
  • "A Closer Look" boxes dive deeper into issues and examples in the main text.
  • Appendices with data-focused cases help instructors guide students to a deeper understanding of the quantitative side of comparative politics.
  • Learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter tied to chapter sections offer clear goals and structure for both students and instructors.

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