Spring 2027

Introduction to Comparative Politics

Introduction to Comparative Politics covering comparative analysis of political institutions, processes, and outcomes at the national level, including how governments work and power is organized.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Aili Tripp3.0/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Nils Ringe

The class was not easy, but students found it manageable if they attended lectures, paid attention, and completed the readings.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Learn about some basic theoretical and methodological problems in the study of politics (concepts, theories, issues).

  • Learn about the “real” world and how to explain it.

  • Identify interesting questions about politics in different countries.

  • Identify differences and similarities, and what both tell us about what we are studying.

  • Understand and compare different forms of democratic and non-democratic rule.

  • Become familiar with the language of political science.

  • Apply the concepts of political science to analyze (and evaluate) political events in a variety of settings.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Not open to students with credit forPOLI SCI 182

    • students with credit forPOLI SCI 182
    not eligible with
POLISCI 120 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Not eligible with
    • students with credit forPOLI SCI 182

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.56/5 from 25 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.83 GPA, 92.9% A/AB (n=141 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

AILI MARI TRIPP is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NADAV SHELEF is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NILS RINGE is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RIKHIL BHAVNANI is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STEVEN BROOKE is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1260
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 210
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 210
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 210
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 210
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 210
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 210

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Nils Ringe

Past students described the course as passionate and clear, with useful real-life examples that helped explain concepts.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.62 GPA, 81.0% A/AB (n=105 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.83 GPA, 92.9% A/AB (n=141 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.37 GPA, 74.3% A/AB (n=144 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Nils Ringe

The class was not easy, but students found it manageable if they attended lectures, paid attention, and completed the readings.

Past student reviews · Nils Ringe

Instructors provided clear answers to questions in class and were described as very nice and passionate about the field.

Topics

  • Political institutions, processes, and outcomes
  • Government operations and power dynamics
  • Citizen participation and political interests
  • Key concepts, theories, methods, and issues in political science
  • Forms of democratic and non-democratic rule

Skills

  • Systematic comparative analysis of politics across countries
  • Understanding government functions and power organization
  • Analyzing citizen participation and interest pursuit
  • Mastery of political science terminology and language

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

7 earlier forecasts · 0.23 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
POLISCI 120 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Comparative Politics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:778:015860",
    "course_id": "POLISCI 120",
    "course_uid": "course_0a1fb69f6aa31e633df90ce2",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "015860",
    "source_subject_id": "778",
    "title": "Introduction to Comparative Politics",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "1252faba59fafbca8e1bb65380d5204a104c40726680d9aecf53d2f5cb1d5f03",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}