Comparative Politics and Global Issues
What you'll learn
- Learn a comprehensive understanding of the Rule of Law and its impact on politics on a global basis.
- Differentiate between scientific laws and theories, inductive and deductive thinking, and define explanatory, exploratory, and descriptive research.
- Differentiate between positivist, antipositivist and postpositivist methods.
- Understand and be able to discuss basic social science methods and to apply them to analyzing world governments and global issues.
- Differentiate between Mill’s “Method of Agreement” and “Direct Method of Difference.”
- Comprehend and be able to debate the development of the modern nation-state system and its current forms.
- Define and describe democracy and to know the causes of democratization.
- Understand the development of government structures and institutions
- Compare and contrast different political ideologies, systems, and nation-states.
- Articulately discuss as well as analyze political behavior.
- identify and explain various comparative methodologies used to compare various political systems.
Requirements
- Students will benefit from a quiet, well-lighted place to study with an ergonomically comfortable chair, writing area, and a computer with reliable internet access.
- Students should have a soundcard and speakers in order to fully access this course
Description
This course is an introduction to comparative politics and concentrates on the public sphere of politics and relationships on a global basis that are formed by the search for or possession of that which yields power.
This course will compare types of government and political systems and include the rudimentary theories of social science, comparisons of political theories, and approaches and the character of the state.
There will be assessments of authoritarian, totalitarian, and democratic forms of the state. The course will address the concepts of democracy and democratization and the institutional features of government and governance.
This course will address variables which shape outcomes in global politics, in ideology and government policy processes.
The first unit will address The Rule of Law with comparatives between parts of Europe, the United States of America, and a large part of Asia. To the extent applicable, the Rule of Law will be addressed in the remaining lectures.
This course is designed to not only address a comparison of politics globally, but to examine the periphery of political issues which result in global conflicts.
This course addresses the United Nations and its charge of bringing about positive change in the 21st century. With respect to the United Nations, we will learn its current role of focusing on globalization at a time when people want to be free from want, free of fear, and desire the assurance that current generations will weather these challenges and other global problems and that future generations will enjoy a sustainable world.
Politics
Politics locally is the establishing of policies. Globally is has a different connotation. The word politics comes from the Greek word “politikos" which means, “relating to citizens" and is the practice of influencing people on a worldwide, local, or even for small group to one person alone. More particularly, it is the attaining and often retaining positions in governance and control among humans or in a state. Furthermore, politics is the application and distribution of power and resources and the interstitial relationship between communities.
A host of strategies are used in politics, including the influencing of others to adopt and support certain preferred political views, tradeoffs with political allies or subjects, and, as noted above, designing laws, and using force, including violence against antagonists.
As will be shown, the history of politics' roots is traceable to ancient times, with influential works to include Aristotle's Politics and the writings of Confucius.
Politics will always be with us and should, in the ideal, lead to commitment between all governments and their citizens. Enter then the United Nations, which we will discuss and that has its own internal politics with which to deal.
Who this course is for:
- This course is designed for the student who wishes to understand and intelligently discuss politicals in the context of global issues. The course is intentionally written in a manner that citizens of any country can understand and appreciate its content. In sum, it is not written from a purely "Americentric" perspective. This course will also complement students who are taking similar courses in other learning institutions.
Instructor
- 4.0 Instructor Rating
- 30 Reviews
- 210 Students
- 1 Course
Now “quasi-retired”, Mr. John A. Rose has spent his entire working career helping people.
As owner and President of John A. Rose Consulting, his education, life, and experience allow a unique perspective to his work as a former agent in law enforcement, as a Licensed Chief Executive Officer of three charitable health and human service agencies serving dependent children and senior citizens.
Mr. Rose is Past President of an association of executives of charitable agencies in North America. He has been a Department Chair for a local college’s Criminal Justice Department, and currently occupies his time writing instructional modules for various online higher education institutions, has just finished a Fiction novel entitled "Payback!", and serves as an adjunct instructor in higher education.
Mr. Rose received his Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration both from the University of California at Los Angeles.
He is a veteran of the United States Army having served as a Criminal Investigator in the 6th Military Police Group, CID Detachment.
Mr. Rose has busied himself in the local political and educational arenas serving on various boards such as the YMCA, having been elected to a public school board, and serving on ad hoc study committees for his community.
Mr. Rose has been married 48 years to Cheryl and they have two adult children and three grandchildren.
Mr. Rose has two favorite sayings:
- “Don’t build a fire under students, build a fire in students”, and,
- “I keep my day job to afford my teaching habit”.