Anecdotal analysis of different countries’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic has often pitted major autocracies like China against large democracies like the United States. This common media narrative typically notes how China has been more successful in curbing COVID-19, whereas the United States has struggled to mount an effective federal response to the pandemic. This comparison has led some academics to investigate whether autocracies (or dictatorships) are better at handling crises like COVID-19 than are democracies.

Regime Type and COVID-19 Response

Autocratization—sometimes known as de-democratization—is the process wherein a country’s political system becomes increasingly autocratic (or decreasingly democratic). Autocratization can occur suddenly with severe drops in the quality of a country’s democracy (such as through a dictator seizing power in a coup), or it can occur gradually (such as through the process of democratic erosion).

Autocratization

Topics that scholars of comparative politics study include:
- How different governments respond to emergencies (such as Covid-19)
- Processes of democratic erosion
- How dictators rise to power, keep power, and lose power
- Democratization movements in different countries
- Party systems
- Electoral systems

And much, much more.

Wesleyan University

The study and comparison of political systems around the world, particularly of countries other than one’s own.

Comparative Politics

The following concepts are essential for understanding other concepts in comparative politics:
- The distinction between nations, states, and nation-states
- The difference between sovereignty, authority, and legitimacy
- The definition of a regime and the definition of different regime types

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