Comparative Politics specialists at UCI come from a tradition in which the Department divided its faculty and courses into "macro" and "micro" politics. Consequently, our specializations (and course offerings) tend to group into macro issues, such as institutions and regimes (e.g., "Regime Change in East Asia," "Migration in Western Europe," and "The State in Comparative Perspective") and micro-oriented courses (such as "Political Culture," "Political Participation" and "Elections"). Faculty substantive specializations include voting behavior, new social movements, environmental politics, migration, health policy, law & society, welfare and poverty, minority politics, comparative public policy, comparative electoral systems and comparative legislative configurations. 

Faculty tend to have regional in addition to country specializations, and work closely with graduate students to train them to turn out publishable papers.  Students routinely attend conferences, publish with faculty, and spend time abroad doing research.

Faculty  employ a diverse range of methodologies, including advanced quantitative methods (game theory, econometrics, rational choice) as well as a range of qualitative approaches (survey research, historical institutionalism, comparative political economy, etc.).

Faculty include:

Emiriti include: