There are now 193 sovereign states in the world. Contrary to many assumptions (or hopes), hardly any of these have developed into a liberal democratic model; instead, there is still great variation in national political regimes. In this new edition, Alan Siaroff provides a comprehensive and current assessment of the world’s political systems. He does so primarily by outlining and contrasting the aspects of four different regime types—liberal democracies, electoral democracies, semi-liberal autocracies, and closed autocracies—and classifying all 193 countries within this typology. Empirical explanations answer the question of why countries tend to be in one regime type rather than another.

This revised and expanded edition includes a new chapter summarizing the institutional variations in democracies along two dimensions: supermajority rule versus simple majority rule, and localism versus centralism. This chapter situates decentralized systems like the United States and "Westminster" democracies, like the United Kingdom, in a full comparative context. The new edition provides complete data updates, including one new sovereign state (Montenegro), and dozens of changes to national regime categories, levels of civil-military relations, and types of electoral systems; it also uses new variables such as the level of national internet usage. 

Comments: 

"Alan Siaroff's Comparing Political Regimes is an original take on introducing comparative politics. Instead of the typical disparate mixture of themes and/or countries, Siaroff offers a unified, systematic and comprehensive analysis of regime dynamics and origins. His focus on political regimes allows him to address important topics like theories of democracy, regime change and consolidation, varieties of democracy and autocracy, and political institutions (such as party and electoral systems). The text is clear, thoughtful and well-written, and contains a wealth of data including many excellent original tables and figures." - Peter Kingstone, University of Connecticut 

"This expanded and updated second edition of Comparing Political Regimes is an important contribution to the literature on how to study and teach comparative politics. Siaroff continues to bridge the gap between data-rich empirical and qualitative/typological approaches by encouraging students and professors alike to think about political phenomena in terms of significant variables. The clarity and precision of Siaroff's writing make this text an ideal teaching tool for studying the science of comparative politics." - Csaba Nikolenyi, Concordia University

Alan Siaroff received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University and is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Lethbridge. He has published widely in various scholarly journals in Europe and North America.

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Acknowledgements

List of Tables and Figures

1. Introduction 
2. Development and Political Development  
3. Electoral Democracies, Liberal Democracies, and Autocracies 
4. The Military in Politics 
5. Factors Conducive to Democracy 
6. Institutional Variations of Democracies 
7. Electoral Systems and Party Systems in Democracies
8. Overall Centralization versus Decentralization in Democracies
9. Varieties of Autocracies: Totalitarianism, Sultanism, and Authoritarianism
10. Democratic Transitions, Consolidations, and Breakdowns 
11. Postscript: Democracies and Autocracies in the Future

Glossary of Selected Key Terms

Recommended Sources for Further Research

Bibliography

Index

Reviews

Let us know what you think. Please login (left side bar) or register to add your review.