Representative democracy is virtually unthinkable without voters, elections and political parties. Citizens' decisions are aggregated at elections; electoral systems translate these decisions into legislative seats. Competition between parties in electoral, parliamentary and governing arenas generates much of the business and high drama at the heart of representative politics. This course focuses on how voters make decisions; how those decisions are translated into seats; and how political parties interact with voters and with each other to produce public policy. Before enrolling in this course, successful completion of an introductory statistics course is strongly recommended. (Comparative)