  Recent developments in the spectropolarimetric study of compact objects,
specifically black holes (stellar and massive) and neutron stars are reviewed.
The lectures are organized around five topics: disks, jets, outflows, neutron
stars and black holes. They emphasize physical mechanisms and are intended to
bridge the gap between the fundamentals of polarimetry and the phenomenology of
observed cosmic sources of polarized radiation, as covered by the other
lecturers. There has been considerable recent progress in spectropolarimetry
from radio through optical frequencies and this is producing some unique
diagnostics of the physical conditions around compact objects. It is argued
that there is a great need to develop a correspondingly sensitive polarimetric
capability at ultraviolet through gamma-ray energies.
