Comparative Politics

Eric Langenbacher is a Teaching Professor and Director of the Honors Program in the Department of Government, Georgetown University. Langenbacher studied in Canada before completing his PhD in Georgetown's Government Department in 2002. He has also taught at Washington College, George Washington University. and the Universidad Nacional de General San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has given talks across the world in places such as Austria, Spain, Germany, the UK, China, and Qatar. He was selected Faculty Member of the Year by the School of Foreign Service in 2009 and was awarded a Fulbright grant in 1999-2000 and the Hopper Memorial Fellowship at Georgetown in 2000-2001. Recent publications include The German Polity, 11th edition (co-authored with David Conradt, 2017), The Merkel Republic: An Appraisal (2015), and Dynamics of Memory and Identity in Contemporary Europe (co-edited with Ruth Wittlinger and Bill Niven (paperback 2015). Langenbacher has planned and run dozens of short programs for groups from abroad, as well as for the U.S. Departments of State and Defense on a variety of topics pertaining to American and comparative politics, business, culture, and public policy. He is also Managing Editor of German Politics and Society, which is housed in Georgetown's BMW Center for German and European Studies.

This book successfully introduces a new reader to core theories and concepts of comparative politics, all the while interweaving timely and illustrative case studies. It is also thoroughly accessible and creative, enabling a wide coverage of topics from the largest and most complex of institutions (states and regimes) to the most local of interactions (civil society). The case for educating students in comparative politics has never been stronger, and I look forward to using this text in my class.--Sara Wallace Goodman (10/7/2024 12:00:00 AM) This book takes a new and interesting approach to introduce students to the foundations of comparative politics.--Marni Berg "Review" (9/27/2023 12:00:00 AM) This concise, well-written textbook covers a broad range of comparative politics concepts in an accessible manner. The author's use of maps helps students visualize how theoretical concepts play out in a real-world context.--Louise K. Davidson-Schmich "Review" (9/17/2023 12:00:00 AM) Mapping Comparative Politics does a fantastic job of making sense of our complex world, while introducing a varied toolkit for comparative analysis. The generation of students in our classrooms today are highly visual thinkers and Langenbacher brilliantly uses a variety of maps to help them understand dynamics of power, politics and legitimacy from different perspectives. With its truly global outlook and lots of engaging examples, this book makes teaching comparative politics both systematic and fun.--Jenny Wustenberg "Review" (10/4/2024 12:00:00 AM)