Integrating theories, methods, and country cases with an emphasis on application and analysis.

Combining a thematic organization with a variety of country-specific case studies, this is an engaging and accessible introduction to the basics of the comparative method and the context of the big questions in comparative politics today.

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David B. MacDonald is an associate professor in political science at the University of Guelph. His publications include Introduction to Politics (co-author, forthcoming 2012), The Bush Leadership, the Power of Ideas and the War on Terror (co-editor, forthcoming 2012), Identity Politics in the Age of Genocide (2008), and Thinking History (2009). His website is www.davidbmacdonald.com.

Mary-Michelle DeCoste is an associate professor of Italian studies at the University of Guelph, and in 2010 she held a Craig Hugh Smyth Visiting Fellowship at Villa I Tatti, Harvard University’s Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence, Italy. Publications include Hopeless Love: Boiardo, Ariosto, and Narratives of Queer Female Desire (2009), as well as articles in journals Quaderni d’Italianistica and Heliotropia and chapters in a number of edited books.

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"This is an excellent textbook with a very accessible style and integrated approach to introducing students to the basics in comparative politics." --Yuchao Zhu, University of Regina

"This comprehensive introduction to the field of comparative politics, while global in its outlook, is also tailored to the Canadian context through its use of both historical and contemporary Canadian examples throughout." --Jenny Peterson, University of British Columbia