Los Angeles Mission College



Los Angeles Mission College

Political Science 002

Modern World Governments

Country Comparison Paper

This is a “Country Comparison” paper that will be written individually. In this 6-10 page paper you will choose two countries to analyze. You may select any two countries EXCEPT for the ten countries (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, China, India, Nigeria and Iran) we cover in this course and the United States. This is an evaluative research paper, which means first, you present facts and information and then evaluate and interpret them.

Your paper has three parts.

I. In the first portion of the paper you will compare and contrast these two states in terms of their

• population size,

• ethnic composition,

• level of economic development (developed, developing, undeveloped)

• regime type (democratic, authoritarian, totalitarian, theocratic)

• institutional design (federal, unitary, presidential, parliamentary)

• electoral rules,

• party system (including number of parties, ruling party and main opposition parties),

• major policy trends within that state (current political events in that country)

II. In the second part, you will provide an analysis of how

• The institutional designs (you can find world constitutions on ) and

• Political culture has impacted political outcomes in these countries. (chapters 5 and 6 provide you with the basic information you might need to write this part)

III. Comparing and Conclusion

• Which country do you think has the better institutional design and political culture that affects the outcome of political and social events and why?

• Conclusion of the two countries and where do you think both countries are going in terms of political development in the next decade.

Spend some time in your paper developing the logic of your argument. Spend the most time providing evidence for your argument. Think hard about what kind of evidence will best support your argument. Spend some time discussing the most prominent contending explanations.

Use facts. Avoid assertions.

You will need to do some independent research as none of our readings provide enough data to make a convincing argument that answers the above questions.

References: Please, refer to me if you have any questions about any references that you may consider while you research your topic question. Please, consider the following website for a wide array of choices to see for your issue research: L.A. Mission College Library of Databases:

CountryWatch: CountryWatch is an information provider for corporations, government agencies, universities, schools, libraries and individuals needing up-to-date news and information on each of the recognized countries of the world.

CountryWatch provides critical country-specific intelligence and data to over 4000 clients including public and private sector organizations with overseas operations and global interests. In addition, CountryWatch provides country information to large media audiences in various venues as part of its media strategy. It can be accessed through the L.A. Mission College Library of Databases at the above link.

Freedom House: Freedom House is a U.S.-based non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. They provide annual reports each year on every country in the world on the improvement and reduction of political rights and civil liberties. This is a great resource for contemporary comparison of your selected two countries.

You are not allowed to use Wikipedia at all. Wikipedia is not a professional research source and can be easily manipulated by editors seeking to push a political or social agenda.

Research Paper Guides: The L.A. Mission College library provides a variety research paper guides that can help you with your research paper writing and research. Here is the link:

You may also talk to me or contact me about any questions or concerns that you may have while doing your research and writing your paper.

Bibliography and Citations: Any information that you use that is not original and comes from a research resource; you must cite using either footnotes or endnotes. If you need help citing your sources, please come see me during my office hours or send me an e-mail I will be more than happy to help you. A website that can help you with citations and building together your bibliography is the following website: . BibMe is a website that is dedicated to helping students and professionals put together professional bibliographies and citations. This is a wonderful website that takes out just about all of the tedious work of building a bibliography and citations. Believe me, I used this site many times during graduate school.

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