Senior Capstone: Good Governance

Transcription

1 POL 400 Michael Clancy Fall 2012 Office: Hillyer 123b University of Hartford Hours: T/R, Tuesdays, 5-7:20 Phone: Hillyer 258 Senior Capstone: Good Governance The theme for this year s capstone seminar in Politics and Government is Good Governance. It is inspired by two things: First, nearly 25 years ago the World Bank first started to use the term, arguing it was a key determinant of country s development status and prospects. Put simply, countries with good governance (and good governments) tend to develop faster and more successfully than countries without it. In contrast, countries with bad governance were destined for underdevelopment, poverty and authoritarianism. Since then good governance has become a watchword for countries all across the globe. Second, in recent years distrust and unhappiness with government at all levels has skyrocketed. Internationally, nationally, and at the state and local level, people don t like government. Why is that? Why is government (and politicians who serve in it) seen as bad and what might it take to fix it? In this course we will investigate a number of different aspects of good governance: What exactly is it? How do we achieve it? How do we know it when we see it? Why is it important? What does good governance get us? We will use examples from the international, national and subnational levels in investigating these questions. In addition, because governance goes beyond formal government, we will examine other institutions under scrutiny, including corporations and universities. A Rell Center Course. The M. Jodi Rell Center for Public Service has recently been established at the University of Hartford. The mandate of the Center is to encourage integrity and responsible participation in government and public service. This course will address this mandate by examining the purposes of government and governance, their performance, and efforts at reform. It is the inaugural course at the University offered under the Rell Center.

2 Course Learning Objectives: As the culminating course for majors in the Department of Politics and Government (as well as for International Studies and Political Economy majors), this course will help tie together student's academic careers through encouraging students to integrate knowledge and skills they have acquired in other courses. Specifically students will work on reading for content, dissecting and analyzing arguments, and considering their policy implications. They will be asked to link theory with method, both in analyzing weekly readings, and through a semester research project. They will also continue to hone their research skills as well as those in writing in-depth research papers. Course Requirements: The class will meet in a seminar format. This means that students must attend class fully prepared and ready to discuss assigned readings. Each week students are required to carefully read all the assignments. They must post a response to those readings that will form the basis of class discussion. This response must be posted on the Blackboard Discussion Board each Monday. Students must also read their colleague s postings and respond to at least one. Students are also expected to fully participate in weekly discussion during the seminars. In addition they will formulate a research question and write a major research paper during the semester. The paper topic will link one or both class themes with an area of interest held by the student. Three books are required for this class and are available for purchase: Nolan McCarty, et al.: Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge: The MIT Press 2008 Michael Johnston, Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press 2005 Douglas J. Amy, Government is Good: An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution. Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing, Grading

3 All written work is to be submitted electronically as an attachment. Student grades will be determined in the following manner: Grade Item Due Date Percentage Weekly Reading Weekly/ Responses Mondays, 10 p.m. 25% Research Project Draft November 15 15% Final Paper December 11 35% Participation Weekly 25% Note: Late work will be penalized by 1/3 of one letter grade each day. Work handed in more than 10 days late will not be accepted and a grade of zero will be recorded. It will be next to impossible to pass this course with any grade of zero. Schedule Date 9/11 Introduction No Reading 9/18 The Problem with Government (1) Cockroft, Global Corruption: An Untamed Hydra, World Policy Journal, Spring 2010 Johnston, Syndromes of Corruption, chs. 1-5 New York Times, Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle New York Times, Even as It Hurts Mexican Economy, Bribery Is Taken in Stride Amy, Government is Good, pp /25 Government and Good Governance Guest: Dr. Catherine Borck Aristotle, The Politics, Book 3, excerpts Locke, Second Treatise on Government, excerpts Mill, Considerations on Representative Government,

4 excerpts Marx, The Communist Manifesto, excerpts Fukuyama, reading TBA 10/2 The Problem with Government (2) Johnston, chs. 6-7 Hood, The Blame Game, ch. 1 McCarty et al. Polarized America, ch. 1 The World Bank, What is Governance? 10/9 Measuring Government Performance New York Times, New Poll finds Deep Distrust of Government, October, 2011 McCarty et al. Polarized America, ch. 2 Millennium Challenge Corporation, Selection Criteria Transparency International, 2011 Annual Report, excerpts Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index, 2011 Richard Ledet, Correlates of Corruption, Public Integrity Spring 2011 Thomas, What do Worldwide Governance Indicators Measure? European Journal of Development Research /16 Explaining Bad Governance Krueger, The Political Economy of the Rent-Seeking Society McCarty, et al., Polarized America, chs. 3-4 Barnett, The UN Security Council, Indifference, and Genocide in Rwanda, Cultural Anthropology Amy, Government is Good, pp. 10/23 Consequences of Good and Bad Governance Michael Lewis, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, ch. 2 Joshi, Good Governance, State Capacity, and the Millennium Development Goals, Perspectives on Global Development and Technology Spring 2011 Goldsmith, Is Governance Reform a Catalyst for Development? Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions, April 2007

5 Amy, Government is Good, pp. 10/30 Efforts at Reform Auletta, The Dictator Index, The New Yorker, March Grindle, Good Enough Governance Revisited, Development Policy Review 2011 Bisoux, In Pursuit of Good Governance, BizEd 2004 Amy, pp. Center for American Progress, Doing What Works 11/6 Connecticut and Electoral Reform Guest: Dr. Bilal Sekou 11/13 Rethinking Government Guest: Dr. Doug Amy, Mount Holyoke College Readings: Government is Good, excerpts 11/20 Governing Complex Organizations: Universities Guest: Dr. Chuck Colarulli, Associate Provost Readings: TBA 11/27 Governing the Courts Guest: Dr. Jilda Aliotta 12/4 Governing Complex Organizations: Business Guest: Dr. Doug Eichar, Dept. of Sociology 12/11 Course Wrap-up Final Papers due 12/14 noon