Teaching Comparative

Comparative case studies

From Chicago, while waiting for a plane, here are some special spring break ideas.

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Will Obasanjo arrange to stay in power after his term ends? Will Putin? Are similar news reports from the two countries the result of similar back room politics or the result of similar suspicions held by reporters?

Perhaps your students could evaluate the evidence for each of those suppositions.

From the Guardian (UK):

Putin Ally Seeks Longer Term for Leader

"Friday March 30, 2007 3:01 PM

"Russia's upper house speaker called Friday for constitutional changes that would allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in office beyond 2008 - a proposal that was quickly rejected by the Kremlin..."

An earlier article offered details on the upper house speaker:

From the Guardian (UK):

Putin Opposes Changing Constitution


"Friday March 30, 2007 11:16 AM

"Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the upper house of parliament...The proposal may be an effort by [Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the upper house of parliament]... to demonstrate loyalty to Putin. Mironov leads a new political party that will rely on Kremlin support in December parliamentary elections. He has previously urged Putin to stay in the job...

"Putin has suggested that he would step down but would seek to ensure a smooth transition by throwing his weight behind a favored candidate. The Kremlin appears to be grooming two potential successors, First Deputy Prime Ministers Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov."

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If that comparative case study isn't attractive, how about an example of what Dr. Timothy C. Lim describes as a "within case" study -- comparing one subject over time.

You could ask your students to evaluate the comparative methods used by NBC reporter Jim Maceda. The online headline of his report is Putin’s ‘sovereign democracy’ looks familiar.

The lead paragraph is, "Vladimir Putin's Russia, in many ways, looks and feels like a new Soviet Union. The Russian president, who once praised democratic reform, now rules, some Russian experts say, like an old party chairman — crushing all opposition, cracking down on anti-government protests, even appointing mayors and regional governors."

Five video clips from the broadcast version of this report is available at the MSNBC news site.

Using Dr. Lim's critiques of Michael Moore's comparative study in Bowling for Columbine and John Stossel's comparative report on educational systems as guides, you could ask students to evaluate Maceda's comparative study of the Soviet Union and Putin's Russian regime.

You can download the introduction to Dr. Lim's book, Doing Comparative Politics from the publisher's web site for a description of his approach to the Michael Moore case.

posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:38 AM