Introductions+&+Comparisons

= = = = =Comparisons and comparative politics--why bother?=
 * Learning about others--area studies
 * The comparative method: explaining political outcomes more generally
 * Policy learning and transfer
 * Learning more about ourselves: understanding
 * Problem agenda-setting (how well are we doing?)

=Student impressions of Europe?=

=What is Europe? Where does it begin? Where does it end? What does it look like?=

=The Exceptional US? How different is Europe?=
 * Socialist parties
 * Welfare state
 * Unionization
 * Paternalism
 * Class matters
 * Spirituality (see comparative data on religiosity, for example this [|2006 Harris/FT poll])

=Who's better off???=
 * OECD data
 * Nationmaster.com
 * Other sources of comparative info

= = =Explaining difference: a 'clean' slate for European settlers?=
 * Absence of feudalism
 * Relative early affluence
 * Disintegrative force of immigration
 * The frontier as safety valve
 * American sectarianism
 * Racial heterogeneity