The Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, Norway defines comparative politics as the systematic study of political institutions, organisations, processes and behaviour from local to international levels, the main interest being a comparison of political systems.

 As the understanding of international and comparative politics is essential to increasing the comprehension of national political systems, it is this branch of political science that was developed in Bergen. Although all political science research contains a degree of comparison, it has nevertheless tended to focus on the study of one nation only and the idea of Comparative Politics is therefore to expand the scope of analysis. 

 The courses at Bergen University provide a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the differences and the similarities among political systems. The founder of the Department, Professor Stein Rokkan, believed in understanding Europe and region-specific comparisons as a first step towards developing more global paradigms and universal models of political development and modernisation. Continuing to follow the ideas of Professor Rokkan, current research includes the study of political relations in Latin-America, South-Africa, South-East-Asia and China. Having extended its network to Central and Eastern Europe, the Department of Comparative Politics will in coming years address sub-regions of  Europe, the former Soviet Union and the United States.

Contact Details 

Address:

Department of Comparative Politics

University of Bergen (UIB)

P.O: Box 7800

Christies gate 15

N-5020 Bergen

NORWAY 

Tel.:

+ 47 55 58 21 75

Fax.:

+ 47 55  58 94 25

E-mail:

per.selle@rokkan.uib.no

Web-page:

http://www.rokkansenteret.uib.no/

About Per Selle

from University of Bergen  

Per Selle is Professor of Comparative Politics and Senior Researcher at the Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Studies, at the University of Bergen in Norway. His research interests include voluntary organizations, environmental movements, political culture, party organizations and democratic theory. He has been in charge (jointly with Håkon Lorentzen) of the Norwegian part of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Non-Profit Sector Project (CNP) and a member of the leading group of the Norwegian Power and Democracy Project .

Per Selle has in recent years co-authored articles on cultural myths, volunteering and social capital, as well as comparative perspectives of civil society, participation and governance in relation to social capital. Moreover, he has written about membership and democracy.

About Dag Wollebæk 

from University of Bergen

 Dag Wollebæek is Ph. D.-student of comparative politics. He has conducted research on voluntary associations for several years, with particular emphasis on their importance for democracy, social integration and the formation of social capita. Dag Wollebæk has received the 2003 ARNOVA (Association for Research on Non-profit Organizations and Voluntary Action) award for an outstanding article in the Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (with Per Selle).

 He has written about civil society and voluntary associations in relation to democracy, participation, membership, women’s rights, the labour market, social capital and its formation among others. In recent years, Dag Wollebæk has contributed to a report on the voluntary sector in Norway, to a publication on the values of volunteering and one on social capital formation.