CIEE Global Institute - Madrid

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1 CIEE Global Institute - Madrid Course name: European Comparative Political Systems Course number: (GI) POLI 3002 MASP Programs offering course: Open Campus Open Campus Track: International Relations and Political Science Track Language of instruction: English U.S. semester credits: 3 Contact hours: 45 Term: Fall 2018 Course Description This course examines the political systems of various European nation-states. Focus is placed on the main political cleavages in each, such as class, ideology, ethnicity, and religion, and how these divisions have influenced the political playing field. Additional topics include nationalism, citizenship, party structures, corporatism, the welfare state, and electoral politics. A special focus will be recent symptomatic challenges to European democracy. As we compare the features of these different democratic systems in detail and relate them to their historical and cultural context, we will focus on three major challenges common to all of these democracies: the decreasing level of participation, especially regarding voter turnout; the decline of large political parties, which raises the question of who, in future, is going to mediate between the citizens interests and those of the state; and the perception that the major decisions in democratic countries are increasingly made outside the purview of democratic institutions. Learning Objectives By completing this course, students will be able to: Identify the differences between parliamentary and presidential democracies and explain how these differences translate into a specific landscape of political parties and patterns of 1

2 governance. Become conversant with the wider historical and social contexts that have brought forth different variants of democratic systems. Identify common problems of, and challenges to, European democracies and discuss these at the level of democratic theory. Understand the most important positions in the recurrent debate about the crisis of democracy. Debate and think creatively about proposals for reforming liberal democracy in Spain and elsewhere. Communicate with legislators, activists, and political scientists that are part of the course to hone one s questioning techniques and other interview skills. Course Prerequisites None Methods of Instruction The course will consist of introductory lectures by the professor, followed by Q&As, and class discussions based on the lectures and assigned readings. Group work sessions in which students prepare for in-class panel discussions or draft opinion statements will allow students to improve their presentation and debate skills. The learning process will also be enhanced by discussion meetings with representatives of different players in the public sphere, among them NGOs, political scientists, and professional politicians. Assessment and Final Grade Evaluation will be based on conceptual clarity, self-critical skills, and the ability to relate disparate 2

3 concepts, but equally to creative thinking and original critique. The final grade will be made up of the following components: Midterm Exam 20% Final Exam 20% Research Paper 20% Oral presentation 20% Class participation 20% TOTAL: 100% Course Requirements Midterm and Final Exams The purpose of the exams is to allow students to demonstrate, and verify for themselves, that they have understood the main arguments / positions discussed in class and demonstrate their ability for creative thinking by evaluating and further developing them. Exams usually consist of short-essay questions that refer to the assigned readings as well as to class debates and excursion topics. Research Project Each student is required to write a research paper. Topics may be historical, theoretical, or empirical. Materials prepared in connection with the interviews and debate meetings (see under Class Participation) may be expanded into a research paper. The instructor offers suggestions, advice, and monitoring if desired. 3

4 Oral Presentation The in-class presentation will be delivered by the students in groups of no more than three students. Each will choose a topic from a set of options which the instructor will give to the students on the first day of class. The presentation should be in PowerPoint format. Class Participation Participation is valued as meaningful contribution in the digital and tangible classroom, utilizing the resources and materials presented to students as part of the course. Meaningful contribution requires students to be prepared in advance of each class session and to have regular attendance. Students must clearly demonstrate they have engaged with the materials as directed, for example, through classroom discussions, online discussion boards, peer-to-peer feedback (after presentations), interaction with guest speakers, and attentiveness on co-curricular and outside-ofclassroom activities. Attendance Policy Regular class attendance is required throughout the program, and all unexcused absences will result in a lower participation grade for any affected CIEE course. Due to the intensive schedules for Open Campus and Short Term programs, unexcused absences that constitute more than 10% of the total course will result in a written warning. Students who transfer from one CIEE class to another during the add/drop period will not be considered absent from the first session(s) of their new class, provided they were marked present for the first session(s) of their original class. Otherwise, the absence(s) from the original class carry over to the new class and count against the grade in that class. For CIEE classes, excessively tardy (over 15 minutes late) students must be marked absent. Attendance policies also apply to any required co-curricular class excursion or event, as well as 4

5 to Internship, Service Learning, or required field placement. Students who miss class for personal travel, including unforeseen delays that arise as a result of personal travel, will be marked as absent and unexcused. No make-up or re-sit opportunity will be provided. Attendance policies also apply to any required class excursion, with the exception that some class excursions cannot accommodate any tardiness, and students risk being marked as absent if they fail to be present at the appointed time. Unexcused absences will lead to the following penalties: Percentage of Total Course Hours Missed Equivalent Number of Open Campus Semester classes Minimum Penalty Up to 10% 1 content classes, or up to 2 language classes Participation graded as per class requirements 10 20% 2 content classes, or 3-4 language classes Participation graded as per class requirements; written warning More than 20% 3 content classes, or 5 language classes Automatic course failure, and possible expulsion Weekly Schedule 5

6 List your schedule of classes below for the full term, including orientation, holidays and scheduled program trips. Ask the Resident Director for program dates before scheduling classes. If there are required course related co-curricular activities in addition to regularly scheduled classes, be sure to indicate that these are required. These can be listed by course session or by week. Ensure that all exams, assignments, and readings are also included on the dates they are due. Week 1 Introduction to Spanish Government Class 1:1 The course begins with an overview of governmental institutions, constitutional politics, and policy making within the Spanish polity: How does a parliamentary system differ from a presidential one, and what are the costs and benefits that come with each system? What is the historical genesis of the Spanish parliamentary democracy? What is the relationship between political system and civil society? What are general and specific challenges of the future? Heywood (2013), Ch. 12: Governments, Systems and Regimes : Magone (2009), Ch. 3: The core Spanish institutions : Gunter et al. (2004), Ch. 2: Spanish Exceptionalism: The Ab- sence of a Tradition of Democratic Stability Week 2 Ideologies Old and New: Keeping One s Bearings in the World of Political Dispute Class 2:1 As we look at the Spanish party system, we will seize the opportunity to refresh our knowledge of the dominant political ideologies in Europe from the 19t h century to the present, a crucial foundation for understanding the political cleavages and electoral dynamics in Spain and other countries. Heywood (2013), Ch. 2, Political Ideas and Ideologies : 27 55, and Ch. 6, Political 6

7 Economy and Globalization : Magone (2009), Ch. 4: Political Parties and Elections : Topical articles analyzing the two Spanish national elections in Proposals (abstracts) for research paper due Class 2:2 Guided tour of the Congreso de los Diputados or the Senado Week 3 Class 3:1 The Transformation of European Politics In this week we will widen our perspective more systematically by looking at the evolution of democratic societies in Europe as a whole. How have age-old cleavages (Church State, rural urban, ethnic linguistic, workers employers) transformed into stable party systems? How has the postmodernization of society affected European politics in recent decades? Heywood, Politics, Ch. 3: Politics and the State, Magone (2011), Contemporary European Politics, Ch. 3: The Transformation of European Politics : Class 3:2 Furthermore, we will determine how theories of political development and theories of the state help us explain both the evident appeal of democracy as well as phenomena of decay. Fukuyama (2014), Political Order Political Decay, Ch. 1, Intro- duction : 3 19, and Ch. 2, What is Political Development? : Midterm exam Week 4 The Leftist Tradition of Europe 7

8 Class 4:1 The fourth week will be devoted to a political tradition largely absent in the USA but of major significance in most of Europe including Spain, namely that of socialism and communism. Reading assignments and lectures will trace an arc from the emergence of socialism and Marxism as a reaction to the plight of the workers in the 19t h century, to the apogee of the welfare state after the Second World War and the demise of state-sponsored communism in the 1990s. Marx (2014 [1848]), The Communist Manifesto Eley (2002), 3 61, Smith (2012), Judt (2005), Ch. XI: The Social Democratic Moment, Class 4:2 Visit to the political think tank Fundación Alternativas and meeting with a member of the academic staff Oral presentations Week 5 Class 5:1 Populism Is European Democracy in Crisis? While Spain, unlike countries like France, Great Britain, the Netherlands or Germany, has not witnessed the rise of right-wing extremist populism, the Spanish democracy has recently been shaken by a severe decline of traditional catch-all parties, left-wing populism, and a resulting increase in political instability. Our analysis of the situation in Spain will lead us to comparisons with crises of democracy in other EU countries, among them France, Great Britain, Hungary and Poland. Müller (2016), Iglesias (2015), several excerpts Alonso and Kaltwasser (2015) Various newspaper articles on the current political 8

9 situation in Spain Research paper due Class 5:2 Visit to the headquarters of Podemos and meeting with a representative Week 6 Reforming and Strengthening Democracy: Experiments in Theory and Practice Class 6:1 After learning about various symptoms of a crisis of democracy and the dangers of populist movements, we will devote the last week of the course to reform proposals that are being discussed in academic circles and beyond under the rubric deliberative democracy. Elster 1998, Deliberative Democracy: Dryzek 2010, Foundations and Frontiers of Deliberative Governance: 1 30 Class 6:2 Finally, we will look at one concrete reform experiment undertaken in Belgium, namely the G1000 platform for democratic innovation. G1000. The manifesto. Spinelli & Van Reybrouck 2011 Final exam Readings Aguilar, Paloma. Memory and Amnesia: The Role of the Spanish Civil War in the Transition to Democracy. New York: Berghahn, Sonia Alonso, Sonia and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Spain: No Country for the Populist Radical 9

10 Right? South European Society and Politics. Vol. 20, Iss. 1, Derenne, Benoît et al. G1000 Manifesto. Eurozine Dryzek, John S. Deliberative Democracy and beyond: Liberals, critics and contestations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Dryzek, John S. Foundations and Frontiers of Deliberative Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Elster, Jon, ed. Deliberative Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Eley, Geoff. Forging Democracy: The History of the Left in Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Encarnación, Omar G. Spanish Politics: Democracy after Dictatorship. New York: Poltiy, Fishman, Robert M. Democracy s Voices: Social Ties and the Quality of Public Life in Spain. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, Fukuyama, Francis. Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, Grönlund, Kimmo, Bächtiger, André, and Maija Setäla, eds. Deliberative Mini-Publics: Involving Citizens in the Democratic Process. Colchester: ECPR Press, Gunther, Richard, Montero, José Ramón, and Joan Botella. Democracy in Modern Spain. New Haven: Yale University Press, Hancock, Donald M. Politics in Europe. 6t h ed. Thousand Oaks: CQ Press, Heywood, Andrew. Politics. 4th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Iglesias, Pablo. Politics in a Time of Crisis: Podemos and the Future of Democracy in Europe. London: Verso, Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe after New York: Penguin, Magone, José M. Contemporary European Politics: A Comparative Introduction. London and New York: Routledge, Magone, José M. Contemporary Spanish Politics. London: Routledge, Martí, José Luis, and Philip Pettit. A Political Philosophy in Public Life: Civic Republicanism in 10

11 Zapatero's Spain. New York: Princeton University Press, Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New ed. New York: International Publishers Co., 2014 [1848]. Müller, Jan-Werner, What is Populism? Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Pierson, Christopher, Castels, Francis G., and Ingela K. Naumann, The Welfare State Reader. 3r d ed. Cambridge: Polity Press, Rosenberg, Shawn W., ed. Deliberation, Participation, and Democracy: Can the people govern? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Smith, Rand W. Enemy Brother: Socialists and Communists in France, Italy and Spain. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, Van Reybrouck. Against Elections: The Case for Democracy. London: Random House UK, Vincent, Mary. Spain, : People and State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Online resources Journal of Democracy South European Society and Politics Open Democracy The Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University: Eurozine (a netmagazine that publishes outstanding articles from more than 80 associated journals partnered in the network by the same name): G1000 Platform for democratic innovation: 11