This course examines how scholars and analysts identify, measure, and interpret political risk in comparative political contexts. Political risk (uncertainty in governance, institutions, and political decisions) once associated with least developed countries, but is now a regular feature of global politics. In fact, political risk is now associated just as often with some of the wealthiest and advanced economies of the world. Sudden wars, reshaping of global world order, regime changes, lack of institutional trust in domestic as well as international institutions all require scholars of comparative politics to pay attention to the often neglected, but growing, subfield of political risk analysis. Our discussions in this course will center around uncertainty created by political institutions, governance failures, and shifts in public legitimacy that may affect political stability, policy outcomes, and economic environments. Drawing on comparative politics, and law and society scholarship, the course explores key risk factors such as regime type, economic performance, judicial independence, public trust in institutions, and political legitimacy. Using case studies from Pakistan and comparative global contexts, students analyze how political scientists use surveys, governance indicators, and institutional data to evaluate political trends, including protest movements, institutional breakdown, and regime instability.
