This course provides MPA students with foundational skills in two critical and related areas: (1) analyzing how political considerations affect policy choices; and (2) writing about policy issues for political audiences. The first half of the course presents a series of conceptual frameworks, looking at how public institutions respond to…

After a long period of democratic expansion in much of the developing world, in recent years political observers have increasingly started to worry about democratic backsliding. While this trend started over a decade ago in places like Russia or Turkey, it has recently spread to several new EU members (especially Hungary and Poland). After…

This course introduces students to the study of comparative politics, which is defined as the study of domestic politics in both developing and advanced industrial countries. Course topics include the relationship between capitalism, democracy, and economic development; the implications of political institutional choices (such as electoral…

This course focuses on the two most important facets of the post-communist transition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: the political transition towards democracy (or new kinds of authoritarianism) and the economic transition towards capitalism. We briefly discuss the pre-communist and communist background, including a quick…