https://at-ceu.studyguide.timeedit.net/modules/UGST4019?type=COREThis course is designed for first-year B.A. students. It introduces fundamental concepts, theories and methods used in political science. Since students will have courses focusing exclusively on political institutions, political behavior and research methods, this course, while touching on these three topics, focuses on historical and social contexts of political phenomena, regime characteristics and regime change (democratization, autocratization), as well as global political phenomena such as nationalism, modernization, globalization and colonialism. Due to the limited number of meetings some important topics, e.g. religion, gender, race or ethnicity do not have separate classes dedicated to them, but they will be discussed throughout the course (e.g. civil rights movement is one of the case studies during week dedicated to contentious politics and social movements). The list of mandatory readings consists of selected chapters from three political science textbooks (Politics as a Science. A Prolegomenon by Philippe C. Schmitter and Marc Blecher, Foundations of Comparative Politics by Kenneth Newton and Jan W. van Deth and Politics by Andrew Heywood), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics and works written by seminal figures in the field of political science. The goal of such selection of readings is to acquaint students with fundamental concepts applied in political science and help them gradually develop the ability to comprehend academic publications.The meetings are held twice a week: on Monday and Thursday. The first meeting is designed as a 60-minute lecture, whereas the Thursday class is a 120-minutes seminar (two 60-minutes classes with a 10-minutes break in-between), i.e. will be mostly dedicated to in-class discussion. Each week is dedicated to one topic. You are expected to read the texts designated as mandatory that week before the Thursday session. The lectures are designed as a general introduction to the topic and the mandatory readings, as well as their positioning in the context of the whole course. The order of topics is not random - it is assumed the students will build on their knowledge as the course progresses.