This is an introductory level graduate course at the crossroads of international relations, comparative politics and area studies. Its aim is to introduce students of international relations to the tools and concepts commonly used in the latter two fields and to promote interdisciplinary cross-pollination. Accordingly, the first half of the course begins with a discussion fo the relationship between international realations, comparative politics, and area studies and after a brief overview of the benefits of comparative analysis, moves on to weekly discussions of themes commonly studied by scholars of comparative politics such as the modern state and political institutions, democracy and authoritarianism, revolutions and social movements and national and ethnic identity and conflict. The second half of the course uses the area studies framework and treats regions as individual subjects of study. Through the course, students are encouraged to explore their thematic and regional interests and borrow tools, concepts and theories developed in one scholarly field or geographical region to understand others.