Adapted from the groundbreaking bestseller Principles of Comparative Politics, Third Edition, Foundations of Comparative Politics presents a scientific approach to the rich world of comparative inquiry, research, and scholarship, providing students with a guide to cross-national comparison and why it matters to them. This condensed, accessible format introduces students to the key questions in comparative politics, using brief insights from tools such as decision, social choice, and game theory to help them understand clearly why some explanations for political phenomena are stronger than others.

Adapted from the groundbreaking Principles of Comparative Politics, now in its third edition, Foundations of Comparative Politics presents a scientific approach to the rich world of comparative inquiry, research, and scholarship, providing students a guide to cross-national comparison and why it matters to them. Foundations introduces students to the key questions in comparative politics using tools such as decision, social choice, and game theory to help them understand clearly why some explanations for political phenomena are stronger than others. The core material of Principles has been condensed by almost 40% into a briefer, more accessible format that not only resonates with students but also allows instructors to more easily cover all material in a single semester. Fourteen chapters have been updated and pared down to present only the most necessary information enhanced with plentiful visual features and connections to real-world examples.

This new edition has been thoroughly updated to include an intuitive take on statistical analyses and a clearer explanation of how to interpret regression results. There is a revised chapter on culture and democracy that includes a more extensive discussion of cultural modernization theory and a new overview of survey methods for addressing sensitive topics. Examples from the gender and politics literature have been incorporated into various chapters, and empirical examples and data on various types of institutions have been updated.