POLITICAL ELITES & LEADERSHIP

Transcription

1 Syllabus Spring 2012 POLITICAL ELITES & LEADERSHIP Départment Science Politique et Relations Internationales Université de Genève PRACTICAL INFORMATION Meeting Time: Thursday am Meeting Room: Uni-Mail M 5250 Instructor: Catherine E. De Vries Office: Uni-Mail, 4th floor, room 4266 Telephone: catherine.devries@unige.ch Office Hours: Tuesday am, or by appointment Course Website: COURSE DESCRIPTION This course ties onto and critically reflects upon two significant political trends of the past decades. First, scholars of political campaigning argue that we seem to be witnessing a so-called personalization of political life in which the attention of voters and journalists alike is increasingly geared towards the activities and characteristics of political leaders. Second, other scientific work suggests that the primacy of political elites is waning, that is to say due to processes of economic and political globalization politicians have increasing less control over policies and their outcomes. These two developments lead to different expectations about the importance of political leadership and the role of political elites in shaping political outcomes. This course will touch upon several key themes within the study of political elites and leadership, such as political ambition, recruitment, and ethics, to comprehend the role of political leadership within modern-day politics. Within the study of political behavior, academic work has almost exclusively focused on mass behavior and public opinion, while examinations of elite behavior and attitudes are far less frequent. In order to fill this lacuna, this course aims to bring together classic and contemporary work on political elites to provide a comprehensive account of the importance of political leadership within developed and consolidating democracies. In doing so, we will also reflect on the question if the lack of interest in elites among political scientists is justified, or should be remedied. The course covers a range of important topics within the study of elites. First, we will review key theoretical contributions concerning political elites and leadership starting with the seminal work of Dahl, Weber among others. Next, we turn turn our attention to political ambition, and examine which factors explain why people aspire political office. Thereafter, we examine the recruitment process to specifically explore the role of voters and parties as gatekeepers for political leadership and vehicles for career advancement. Third, we turn to the topic of ethics of political leadership, and examine a classical question within elite studies, namely does power corrupt? Finally, we inspect the linkages between political elites and voters by comparing and contrasting empirical evidence from developed and consolidating democracies around the globe. As might be expected for questions as broad and complex as these, while there is much we currently know, many debates are still open. The objective of this course is to weigh the available evidence both descriptive and inferential to arrive at the fullest possible understanding of the forces shaping elite behavior and political leadership. Although many examples will come from the United States and Europe, we will also aim to apply the different approaches to specific developments in consolidating democracies. COURSE REQUIREMENTS This course is a Master level reading and discussion seminar. All students are expected to have done the required reading before each seminar, and come to class with a willingness to critically reflect on the 1

2 readings. Since some of the readings may be fairly challenging at times, having multiple people contribute through class discussion and questions about difficult topics will help everyone s understanding of the material. Participating in class also demonstrates that you have done the reading. For these reasons, a grade for classroom participation will be given. Considering that we have 10 classes that will last two hours, everyone should have ample opportunity to participate. One absence during the semester upon prior notification via is granted. In this course there will be no final exam. Instead, grading is based on classroom participation (20 %), a presentation (30 %), and two response papers (50 %). The presentation should provide a short and concise summary (maximum of 15 minutes) of the week s readings, and should serve as a basis for in-class discussion. The two response papers are meant to survey and compare the readings of the week. These written assignments should highlight the central themes and points of disagreement in the literature, and pose any potentially important but unanswered questions. Students will sign up on the first day of class for the weeks in which they will prepare a presentation, or write a response paper. The response papers should be handed in via on the Monday afternoon (3 pm at the latest) after the class in which the readings were discussed. The response papers should be between 3,000 and 4,000 words in length, and should follow the usual formatting, and citation requirements of research papers. More information on the format of the presentation and response papers will be provided during the first week of the course. Students are expected to follow the honor code of the Universié de Genève at all times, particularly with respect to issues of honesty and attribution. Instances of suspected academic misconduct will be handled strictly in line with University policy (see Art. 63 of the Loi sur l Université). REQUIRED TEXTS In a field like political behavior generally and elite behavior specifically in which the topics addressed are broad, and thus defy easy summary, major contributions are, and will likely be made, in books. That is not to say that shorter academic journal articles are not important, we will read many of them, but we will also focus on several book chapters throughout this course. Articles and/or book chapter that are not available online are made available through the course website. In addition, we will read a variety of texts that are available online (see course website). Finally, please note that next to the required reading, the course schedule also entails some optional reading. These optional texts are listed to provide additional insight into the topics we address during the class, and will be crucial in preparing a presentation, or writing a response paper. 2

3 COURSE SCHEDULE & READINGS Session 1: February 23 Introduction: The Study of Political Elites Hermann, Margaret G., et al. (2001) Who Leads Matters. International Studies Review. 3: None. Session 2: March 1 Theory & Concepts: Political Elites Dahl, Robert A. (1961/2005) Who Governs?. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 1-8/ Mills, C. Wright (1956/2000) The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 3-29/ Eggers, Andrew C. (2010) The Partisan Revolving Door. Working Paper, see course website on dokeos. Session 3: March 8 Theory & Concepts: Political Leadership Weber, Max (1947) The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. New York: Oxford University Press, pp / / / Lasswell, Harold D. (1948) Power and Personality. New York: Viking Press, pp. 7-19/20-38/ Session 4: March 15 Political Ambition I: Who Leads? Fox, Richard & Jennifer L. Lawless (2001) To Run or Not To Run for Office: Explaining Nascent Political Ambition. American Journal of Political Science. 49: Moore, Robert G. (2005) Religion, Race and Gender Differences in Political Ambition. Politics & Gender. 1: Bruter, Michael & Sarah Harrison (2009) Tomorrow s Leaders? Understanding the Involvement of Young Party Members in Six European Democracies. Comparative Political Studies 42: Session 5: March 22 3

4 Session 6: March 29 Political Ambition II: Types of Leaders Payne, James L. et al. (1984) The Motivation of Politicians. Chicago: Nelson Hall, pp. 1-18/ Winter, David G. (1998) A Motivational Analysis of the Clinton First Term and the 1996 Presidential Campaign. Leadership Quarterly 9: Barber, James (1992) The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House. (3rd edition) Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Session 7: April 5 Recruitment I: How Do Voters Choose Their Leaders? Jackman, Simon & Lynn Vavreck (2010) Primary Politics: Race, Gender, and Age in the 2008 Democratic Primary. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Policy 20: Terkildsen, Nayda (1993) When White Voters Evaluate Black Candidates: The Processing Implications of Candidate Skin Color, Prejudice, and Self-Monitoring. American Journal of Political Science 37: Mansbridge, Jane (1999) Should Black Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent Yes. Journal of Politics 61: Session 8: April 12 Session 9: April 19 Session 10: April 26 Recruitment I: How Do Parties Constrain Their Leaders? Schumacher, Gijs, Catherine De Vries & Barbara Vis (2012) Why Political Parties Change Their Positions: Environmental Incentives & Party Organization, Working Paper, see course website on dokeos. Trager, Robert F. & Lynn Vavreck (2011) The Political Costs of Crisis Bargaining: Presidential Rhetoric and the Role of Party. American Journal of Political Science. 55(3): Strom, Kaare (1990) A Behavioral Theory of Competitive Political Parties. American Journal of Political Science. 34:

5 Session 11: May 3 Ethics of Political Leadership: Does Power Corrupt? Eggers, Andrew C. & Jens Hainmueller (2009) MPs For Sale? Returns to Office in Postwar British Politics. American Political Science Review. 103: Kipnis, David (1972) Does Power Corrupt? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 24: Eggers, Andrew C. & Jens Hainmueller (2011) Political Capital: Corporate Connections and Stock Investments in the U.S. Congress, , Working Paper, see course website on dokeos. Session 12: May 11 Session 12: May 17 Session 14: May 24 Leading the Masses? Linkages Between Voters & Elites Merolla, Jennifer & Elizabeth Zechmeister (2011) The Nature, Determinants, and Consequences of Chavez s Charisma: Evidence from a Study of Venezuelan Public Opinion. Comparative Political Studies. 44: Van der Pas, Daphne, Catherine E. De Vries & Wouter van der Brug (2012) A Leader Without a Party: Exploring the Relationship Between Geert Wilders Leadership Performance in the Media and His Electoral Success. Forthcoming in Party Politics, see course website on dokeos. Steenbergen, Marco R., Erica E. Edwards & Catherine E. De Vries (2007) Who is Cueing Whom? Mass-Elite Linkages and the Future of European Integration. European Union Politics (8)1: