Module Description

Never before has the world witnessed such a high proportion of democracies. But what makes them emerge? How do democracies sustain themselves? What makes some countries such persistent dictatorships? These questions have attracted a huge body of literature in Comparative Politics and make for fascinating empirical research projects. This module will provide you with the statistical tools necessary for such investigations, and thus allow you not only to interpret and critique existing studies in this field, but also to research these questions yourself. With no prior knowledge in statistical analysis necessary, we will use real world data sets and explore the aforementioned questions through the methods of linear and logistic regression, as well as survival analysis. The assessment will be conducted in the form of a research project. The module will be taught in a 2h combined lecture / seminar slot.