Organized thematically around important questions in comparative politics--who rules? what explains political behavior? where and why?--Introducing Comparative Politics, Fifth Edition, integrates a set of extended case studies of 11 countries that vividly illustrate issues in cross-national context. Serving as touchstones, the cases are placed within the chapters where they make the most sense --not separated from the theory or in a separate volume--helping students make connections between the two earlier in the semester. The book's hybrid organization gives students a more holistic view of comparative politics.

Stephen Orvis is Professor of Government at Hamilton College. He is a specialist on sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya in particular), identity politics, democratic transitions, and the political economy of development. He has been teaching introduction to comparative politics for more than twenty-five years, as well as courses on African politics, nationalism and the politics of identity, political economy of development, and weak states. He has written a book and articles on agricultural development in Kenya, as well as several articles on civil society in Africa and Kenya, and is currently doing research on political institutions in Africa.