How and why politics takes one form or another in different countries and at different points in time are questions of "political development." Revolutions, constitutions, party systems, different political identities, and different varieties of capitalism all represent the outcome of historical processes. How social scientists account for such historical outcomes, with examples from across the world, in particular Europe, the Americas (including the United States), and Asia. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS PO 357.