Thematic approaches to teaching autocracy

Austin S. Matthews

Chapter 3 in Teaching Autocracy and Autocratic Politics, 2026, pp 49-67 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Teaching entire fields of research can be a daunting task for instructors. Difficult choices must be made about not only the readings and assignments, but also the very structure of the course. Some instructors rely on deep qualitative cases to illustrate important concepts. Others provide thematic overviews of different subjects, teaching the fundamentals of these concepts and supporting them with quantitative and qualitative empirical research. In this chapter, I will discuss the thematic approach to teaching autocratic politics at the university level. I begin with a brief overview of some of the benefits and drawbacks of a thematic approach. I then provide a sample outline for a thematic course on autocracies for university teaching. Each unit description provides my thinking on its utility to the course and suggestions for topics that lend themselves to these themes.

Keywords: Thematic Teaching; Autocracy; Comparative Politics; Pedagogy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035353453
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035353460.00011 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24174_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().