What is Comparative Politics?

After taking this class I think I have a pretty good idea of what comparative politics is. It is a method of comparing other countries to find out what combinations of policies result in sucess. Comparing and contrasting the strengths and weaknesses of each country help determine what makes the countries successful and what makes them fail. In a nutshell, we are trying to find out the perfect formula for proseperity. In that way, comparative politics is like anything else in life, you are trying to find the best recipe for success. We learn from our experiences and other people’s experiences and try to either follow them, or not based on their previous decisions and outcomes. The study of comparative politics answers these questions: “How can we make this country better? What is causing this country to fail? Why is this country so successful?” Obviously it is more complex then this synopsis and these questions, but this is what I would tell someone who was interested in exactly what comparative politics is. The thing that I enjoy about the study is that there is no restriction on what variables you can isolate to prove your theories and facts right. There are many different reasons that influence what the status of a country is and we are all trying to find out what the answer is. The most important question though is this: What are we going to do to help make the world a better place ?