This course will be an introduction to comparative politics around the world. Some of those countries to be studied have been and are expected to remain semi-permanent fixtures in the political discussion; China, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Africa, India, Iran, and Russia, for example. Others will be selected based on events at the time the course is taught. The Arab Spring, for example, will have been discussed. Elements of domestic politics that will be included will be political and democratic reform, voting rights, civil rights and liberties, party politics, and minority politics. Obviously all aspects cannot be considered over the course of one semester, therefore, issues that are relevant to the students when the course is taught will be incorporated into the syllabus. Because it is impossible to dig deep into several of these political systems in only one semester, by the end of the course students should have a basic understanding of the domestic politics of democratic process and authoritarian power around the world, and how politics, culture, religion, and the economy all play a part in shaping this process.