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Welcome to the website of the Chair of Comparative Politics (Focus on Western Europe)

The comparison of Western governmental systems serves to demonstrate similar structural patterns, but also country-specific peculiarities of political orders. In accordance with the dedication of the chair, three overlapping regional focuses are set in teaching: The comparison of Western political systems, the German political system, and the political system of the European Union.

The thematic priorities encompass the functional logic of national and supranational systems (parliamentary and presidential democracies, federalism, etc.), political actors and (parliamentary and presidential democracies, federalism, etc.) and patterns of decision-making (parties, interest mediation, electoral systems, etc.) as well as political attitudes and policy content (political culture, social policy, etc.).

The research interests are comparative research on associations and parliamentarism as well as comparative analysis of political leadership and state performance.