Understanding Comparative Politics
An Inclusive Approach
- Lisa A. Baglione - Saint Joseph's University, USA
Comparative Politics
—Audie Klotz, Syracuse University
It’s time for a new approach to help students engage more fully with comparative politics.
By elevating all the components of identity as core elements of any political system, Lisa A. Baglione's Understanding Comparative Politics helps students better appreciate the lived realities of people around the world. The book puts issues of race, gender, ethnicity, and religion in context, encouraging students to think critically about world regions and individual countries through the lens of current issues like social justice movements and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the book, Baglione empowers students to be active learners in this sometimes-daunting subject by engaging them in important questions, grounding them in foundational concepts like geography, and helping them make personal connections.
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"Understanding Comparative Politics stands out among recent textbooks in comparative politics in its refined and inclusive 'hybrid' approach, which integrates an analytic understanding of enduring concepts in the field with empirical insights about a set of important countries, each discussed within their respective regional settings and historical contexts. Students will get to know about the world while also learning how to think comparatively about familiar topics in political science as well as oft-ignored issues like gender."
"Baglione speaks cogently to our current generation of college students, who came of age amidst resurgent racism and an unprecedented pandemic. Instead of concentrating only on countries or trumpeting the triumph of democracy, this innovative textbook sets the global context by highlighting core concepts across geographical regions and time periods. And by systematically incorporating intersectionality, Baglione offers a model for both pedagogy and research."
What I really like about this new volume is that it explicitly engages DEI issues: the issue of gender, for example, is particularly well-woven throughout all the chapters. Political science classes are highly informed by ongoing national headlines and national political discourses. Given this, DEI discussions have been central. I am glad that this book integrates them directly.
The book focuses on regional politics and important introductory concepts are explored within regions and case studies. Up-to-the-minute current events are included, and the treatment of gender and intersectionality is compelling and novel, without sounding high-minded and paternalistic or in any way sacrificing academic rigor.
It is written in an easy-to-follow style, the chapters are not too long, and the organization of the book is ideal for how I would like to teach this course: balancing abstract concepts, theories, and themes with specific examples from the real world.
The book does a good job of showing how intersectional issues permeate politics, which could be really useful for my students, who don't typically think of the world in these terms. The historical discussion is clear and engaging, and the examination of different approaches to ethnic conflict is accessible.
The use of unique and often marginalized regions and concepts is distinct. It is much less Euro-centric than many other Comparative texts on the market.
This book seems to have a rather innovative approach that really helps incorporate a more constructivist perspective by identifying the significance of gender, religion, and other societal attributes.
This text is a well-written and well-organized introduction for students of all majors to Comparative Politics.
This textbook provides comprehensive coverage of important country case studies but uses a new approach by focusing on intersectionality in terms of gender, race, class, etc.
