Subfields
Comparative Politics
Subfield Coordinator: M. Steven Fish
Berkeley has a longstanding tradition of distinction in comparative politics. Members of the department’s comparative politics faculty are widely recognized as national and international leaders, and the department’s strengths have grown in recent years.
Coverage of substantive themes, methodological approaches, and geographic expertise is extremely broad. Comparative political economy, political regimes and regime change, political parties and organizations, and social mobilization are the subject of great interest among faculty and graduate students. Some comparative faculty and graduate students rely largely upon formal theory in their work. Some are highly proficient in quantitative methods, while others use case studies and qualitative methods. Many faculty and graduate students use multi-method approaches. The faculty emphasizes rigor of method—whether applied in formal, statistical, or qualitative work. All graduate students in comparative politics are expected to achieve proficiency in all methods prevalent in the field.
The faculty and graduate student population is diverse; no single theoretical orientation or methodology enjoys status as orthodoxy. Generally speaking, Berkeley comparativists pursue “big” questions that have broad implications for political life and public policy as well as social science. Such questions include when and why Chinese peasants resist unjust authority; why the Chinese economy has grown so rapidly and what other countries can learn from it; how transformations in the global economy are reshaping the welfare state in advanced industrialized countries; how economic structures and resource flows mold state and market institutions in the Middle East; why economic liberalization has proved difficult in Japan and how it may yet come about; why democracy is failing in Russia while working in Indonesia; why opposition forces succeed in forging electoral alliances in some African polities but not others; how party systems influence the provision of public goods across the Indian states; and how labor organizations are responding to transformations in economic policy in Latin America.
Directory
| Name | Research Interests | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Christopher Ansell |
Western Europe, France, Organization Theory, Public Administration, Social Network Analysis | 510 642-2263 cansell@berkeley.edu |
| Leonardo Arriola |
Democratization, Political Violence, Ethnic Politics, Sub-Saharan Africa | 510-642-5310 larriola@berkeley.edu |
| Henry Brady |
Electoral Politics & Political Participation, Management Information Systems, Program Evaluation, Social Welfare Policy | 510 642-5116 hbrady@berkeley.edu |
| George Breslauer |
Russia, Political Leadership | 510 642-1961 bresl@berkeley.edu |
| Kiren Aziz Chaudhry |
Political Economy, Middle East/North Africa, Identity Politics, Trauma Theory, South Asia | 510 541 1602 chaudhry@berkeley.edu |
| Pradeep Chhibber |
Party Systems, South Asia, Electoral Politics, India | 510 642-8739 chhibber@berkeley.edu |
| David Collier |
Democracy and Authoritarianism, Latin America, Concept Analysis, Qualitative Methods, Multi-Method Research, Comparative Politics | 510 642-8168 dcollier@berkeley.edu |
| Ruth Berins Collier |
Latin America, Comparative Politics, Political Regimes, Democratization, Labor | 510 643-8019 rcollier@berkeley.edu |
| Jyotirindra Das Gupta |
510 642-4656 jyoti@berkeley.edu |
|
| Giuseppe Di Palma |
Western Europe, Italy, Democratization | 510 642-4649 dipalmag@berkeley.edu |
| Lowell Dittmer |
East Asia, China | 510 642-4674 dittmer@berkeley.edu |
| Barry Eichengreen |
Comparative Economics, International Economics | 510 642-2772 eichengr@econ.berkeley.edu |
| M. Steven Fish |
Legislatures, Political Regimes, Regime Change, Religion and Politics, Eurasia | 510 643-1943 sfish@berkeley.edu |
| A. James Gregor |
Fascism | ajgregor@berkeley.edu |
| Andrew Janos |
Eastern Europe, World Systems Theory, Ethnic Conflict | 510 642-4676 ajanos@berkeley.edu |
| Hong Yung Lee |
East Asia, China, Korea, State and Economy | 510 642-5826 hongyung@socrates.berkeley.edu |
| Jonah Levy |
Political Economy, Western Europe, France, Globalization | 510 642-4686 jlevy@berkeley.edu |
| Peter Lorentzen |
China, Political Economy, Development, Authoritarianism, Mathematical Modeling, Game Theory | 510 642-4684 lorentzen@berkeley.edu |
| Kevin O'Brien |
China, Social Movements, Comparative Legislatures, Local Elections, Political Reform | 510 642-4689 kobrien@berkeley.edu |
| T.J. Pempel |
Japan, Asian Regionalism, Political Economy | 510 642-4688 pempel@berkeley.edu |
| Alison Post |
Comparative Political Economy, Environmental Policy, Regulation, Urban Politics and Policy | 510 642-1434 aepost@berkeley.edu |
| Robert Price |
Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, Democratization, Politics of Identity | 510 642-1049 rprice@berkeley.edu |
| Gerard Roland |
Comparative Economics, Economic Liberalization, Legislatures, Electoral Rules | 510 642-4321 groland@econ.berkeley.edu |
| David Vogel |
Environmental Politics and Policy, Business and Politics, Business Policy, Regulation | 510 642-5294 vogel@haas.berkeley.edu |
| Steven Vogel |
Japan, Political Economy | 510 642-4658 svogel@berkeley.edu |
| Margaret Weir |
Metropolitan Politics, Social Policy, Comparative Welfare State, Public Policy, Political Sociology | 510 643-1602 mweir@berkeley.edu |
| Jason Wittenberg |
Eastern Europe & the post-Soviet region, quantitative analysis, religion and politics, electoral analysis, ethnic conflict | 510 642-8407 witty@berkeley.edu |
| J. Nicholas Ziegler |
Politics and Science, Ideologies, Comparative Political Economy, Europe, Germany | 510 642-4533 nziegler@berkeley.edu |
| Darren Zook |
Asia & Oceania, International Law, Human Rights | 510 643-3186 zookeeper@berkeley.edu |
| John Zysman |
Western Europe, France, Political Economy, State and Economy, Politics and Technology | 510 642-3067 zysman@berkeley.edu |