Jennifer Gandhi is Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Emory University.

Rubén Ruiz-Rufino is Lecturer in International Politics, Department of Political Economy, King's College London.

INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction PART I APPROACHES TO STUDYING INSTITUTIONS 2. The New Economic Institutionalism in Historical Perspective 3. Studying Institutions 4. Endogenous Change of Institutions 5. Formal and Informal Institutions 6. Equilibrium Analysis of Political Institutions 7. Using Field Experiments to Study Political Institutions PART II COMPARATIVE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS 8. Constitutions as Political Institutions 9. From Duverger to Rokkan and Back: Progress and Challenges in the Study of Electoral Systems 10. Parties and Party Systems11. Legislative Organization and Outcomes12. Executive-Legislative Relations 13. Coalition Formation and Policymaking in Parliamentary Democracies 14. Judicial Institutions 15. Federalism16. Bureaucracy 17. Election Administration, Election Observation, and Election Quality18. The Military's Role in Politics19. Authoritarian Institutions 20. Fiscal Institutions 21. Labour Market Institutions and Economic Performance 22. Domestic Politics and International Institutions: Cooperation, Sacrifice, and Change PART III THE EFFECTS OF COMPARATIVE INSTITUTIONS 23. Voting Behaviour and Political Institutions 24. Ethnicity and Elections 25. Political Mobilization and Institutions 26. Political Violence: An Institutional Approach 27. The Institutional Context of Transitional Justice 28. The Institutional Components of Political Corruption 29. Political Institutions and Economic Development