Teaching Comparative Political Behavior in the Era of Digital Activism

Abstract

As a contribution to the Teaching & Learning Symposium on Comparative Politics organized by APSA, this short article discusses the challenges in Introduction to Comparative Politics classes when comparative political behavior is examined. In the tradition of studying political participation, the discipline has witnessed the development of additional measures and modes of activism. It has become more complicated for instructors to explain the relevance of political participation in a democracy, when a multitude of concepts and measures (voting, protesting, or online political engagement) compete for the attention of citizens. Furthermore, measuring all modes of political activism for many countries has added to the problem. This contribution makes two recommendations about how to teach comparative political behavior in an era when undergraduates are exposed primarily to digital activism.

Keywords:

• Teaching
• comparative politics
• political behavior
• measures
• digital activism

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Laura Seay and Carolyn Holmes, the organizers of the APSA Teaching & Learning Symposium on Comparative Politics held at APSA Centennial Center in Washington, D.C. on June 3–5, 2019. The symposium gathered a group of comparative politics teachers and scholars to discuss the teaching of comparative politics today. Tanya Schwarz, Associate Director for Academic and Professional Development Programs at APSA was also indispensable for the success of the symposium.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francesca Vassallo

Francesca Vassallo is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern Maine, where she teaches Comparative Politics, Research Methods and European Politics. Her publications have focused on comparative political behavior, protest activism, French politics, European public opinion, and US-EU relations. In addition to publications like peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, she has served as a guest editor for special issues of German Politics and Society (2013) and PS: Political Science and Politics (2018). Her book France, Social Capital and Political Activism (Palgrave) came out in 2010. She has received a Europa Policy Lab Fellowship for 2018-2019 from the Australian National University’s Centre for European Studies and a 2018 Summer Institute Scholar Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has lectured and given presentations in her field of research at universities, public opinion forums and government agencies in many countries, from North America to Europe and Australia.