PLS 950. Research Seminar in Comparative Politics: African Politics. Fall 2007

Transcription

1 PLS 950 Research Seminar in Comparative Politics: African Politics Fall 2007 Instructor: Class Hours: Michael Bratton Tuesdays, a.m p.m., 104 South Kedzie Hall Office Hours: Tuesdays, p.m., 323 South Kedzie Hall Objectives This course aims to help graduate students prepare for doctoral research in comparative politics, especially for fieldwork in Africa or the cross-national analysis of African data. Through intense reading and group discussion, students will become familiar with major analytic frameworks and debates in the analysis of contemporary African politics. We will review the best current work on topics like the state, ethnic conflict, informal politics, civil society, regime transitions, political institutions, and public attitudes. We will seek to distinguish the universal aspects of African politics, which makes political life in Africa susceptible to analysis using general theories, from distinctive features that require deep understandings of particular African histories, cultures and material conditions. Students will be given every opportunity to advance a personal research agenda by applying the course readings to their own dissertation topic. Requirements PLS 950 is a seminar, not a lecture course. It is based on reading, discussion and written research exercises. Students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning, in part through self-directed studies in the library and/or computer laboratory. Each participant must also consistently contribute to collective work of the seminar in a group setting. You will be rewarded for hard work and original thinking on the issues covered in the course. For grading purposes, the requirements are as follows: Grade Class Presentations of required reading materials 20% Review Article on selected literature (approx 15pp.) 30% Dissertation Assignment (research proposal or dissertation chapter) (approx. 20pp.) 50% Class Presentations. readings are indicated by asterisks on the attached reading list. A general reading for group discussion has a double asterisk (**). Selected readings that students will present in class have a single asterisk (*). Each class presenter will circulate a one-page written summary of the presentation to the seminar participants. Before coming to class, every student must have read all required items, and be prepared for discussion. Review Article. Students will summarize, evaluate and compare three books on one of the course themes. Books should be selected from the recommended (not required) section of the

2 reading list. Students who wish to include items of their own choosing should justify these selections to the instructor in advance. Dissertation Assignment. To meet this course requirement, students will submit a relevant component of their dissertation. If starting out, students will submit a research proposal; if well advanced, students will submit a dissertation chapter. The nature and scope of this requirement will be established with the instructor on the basis of individualized consultations during office hours. Schedule We will meet 13 times during the 15-week semester. To help your research and writing, the instructor will endeavor to give students a week off from class in the periods prior to assignment due dates. Thursday, October 11: Thursday, November 15: Thursday, December 6: Review Article due First draft of Dissertation Assignment due Final Draft of Dissertation Assignment due Readings Please purchase the following books: Jeffrey Herbst, States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000) Patrick Chabal and Jean-Pascal Daloz, Africa Works: Disorder as a Political Instrument (Oxford, James Currey, 1999) Michael Schatzberg, Political Legitimacy in Middle Africa, (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2001) Nicolas van de Walle, African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2001) Daniel Posner, Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005) Goran Hyden, African Politics in Comparative Perspective (New York, Cambridge University Press 2006) All titles are available at the MSU and Student Bookstores. Other required readings are contained in a coursepack, which will be provided by the instructor. Note: The reading list emphasizes book length studies, though it includes selected classic articles. To access the rest of the periodical literature, students are directed to the key area studies journals (Journal of Modern African Studies, African Affairs, African Studies Review) and to the leading journals of comparative politics (World Politics, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative and Commonwealth Politics, The Journal of Democracy, Democratization, and World Development).

3 READING LIST 1. State Formation ** Jeffrey Herbst, States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000), Introduction and Chs 1, 2, 3 and 5. * Catherine Boone, Political Topographies of the African State: Territorial Authority and Institutional Choice (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2003), Introduction and Ch. 2. * Goran Hyden, African Politics in Comparative Perspective (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2006), Ch 1 and Ch 3. Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1996), Ch. 1. Crawford Young, The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective (1996) Crawford Young, The Afterlife of the African Colonial State in The Afdrican Colonial State in Comparative Perspective (1994) John Lonsdale, "Political Accountability in African History", in Patrick Chabal, Political Domination in Africa (1986) David Laitin, Language Repertoires and State Construction in Africa (1992) Basil Davidson, The Black Man's Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State (1992) Evan Lieberman, Race and Regionalism in the Politics of Taxation in Brazil and South Africa (2003) Bratton, Michael and Eric Chang, State Building and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Forwards, Backwards or Together, Comparative Political Studies, 39, 9, 2006,

4 2. The Postcolonial State ** Robert Jackson and Carl Rosberg, Why Africa s Weak States Persist, World Politics 35 (1982), * Pierre Englebert, State Legitimacy and Development in Africa (Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 2000), Chs. 3, 5 and 6. * Robert Rotberg, The Failure and Collapse of Nation-States: Breakdown, Prevention, and Repair in When States Fail: Causes and Consequences (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2004), Ch. 1. Mark Biessinger and Crawford Young (eds.), Beyond State Crisis: Postcolonial Africa and Post- Soviet Eurasia in Comparative Perspective (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002) Richard Joseph (ed), State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa (1999). Leonardo Villalon and Phillip Huxtable (eds.), The African State at a Critical Juncture: Between Disintegration and Reconfiguration (Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 1998), Ch 1. William Zartmann, Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority (1995) John Dunn, West African States: Failure and Promise (1978) Thomas Callaghy, State and Society in Africa: Zaire in Comparative Perspective (1984) Jeffrey Herbst, State Politics in Zimbabwe (1990) Crawford Young, The End of the post-colonial State in Africa? Reflections on Changing African Political Dynamics African Affairs 103 (January 2004), Michael Bratton and Eldred Masunungure, Public Reactions to State Repression: Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe, African Affairs, 106 (January 2007). Brian Levy and Sahr Kpundeh (eds), Building State Capacity in Africa: New Approaches, Emerging Lessons (2004).

5 3. Sociocultural Context ** Michael Schatzberg, Political Legitimacy in Middle Africa, (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2001), Chs. 1, 2 and 5. * Frederic Schaffer, Democracy in Translation: Understanding Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture (New York, Cornell University Press, 1998), Ch. 2. * Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar, Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004), introduction and Ch. 5. Olufemi Vaughn (ed.), Tradition and Politics: Indigenous Political Structures in Africa (Trenton, N.J: Africa World Press, 2005). Goran Hyden, Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry (1980) Goran Hyden, No Shortcuts to Progress: African Development Management in Comparative Perspective (1983) Terence Ranger, "The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa" in Eric Hobsbawm and Ranger (eds.) The Invention of Tradition (1983) Allen Isaacman, "Peasants and Rural Social Protest in Africa", African Studies Review (1990) Norma Kriger, Zimbabwe's Guerrilla War: Peasant Voices (1992) Maxwell Owusu, Democracy in Africa: A View from the Village, Journal of Modern African Studies, 30 (1992), Adam Ashforth, Witchcraft, Violence and Democracy in South Africa (U. Chicago Press, 2005).

6 4. Ethnicity and Political Conflict ** Daniel Posner, Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa (New York, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2005), Chs, 1, 4 and 5. * David Laitin and James Fearon, Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War, American Political Science Review, 97, 1 (2003) * Jeremy Weinstein, Inside Rebellion: the Politics of Insurgent Violence (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2007), Introduction, Ch.1 and conclusion. Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (1976) Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (1982) Robert Bates, Modernization, Ethnic Competititon and the Rationality of Politics in Contemporary Africa in Rothchild and Olorunsola, State Versus Ethnic Claims (1983) Bruce Berman, Dockson Eyoh and Will Kymlicka, Ethnicity and Democracy in Africa (Oxford, James Currey, 2004). Rotimi Suberu, Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria (Washington D.C., U.S. Institute for Peace, 2001), Ch. 4. Eghose Osaghae, Ethnicity and Its Management in Africa: The Democratization Link (1994) Rene Lemarchand, Burundi: Ethnocide as Discourse and Practice (1994) Francis Deng, War of Visions: Conflict of Identities in the Sudan (1995) Richard Crook, Winning Coalitions and Ethno-Regional Politics: The Failure of the Opposition in the 1990 and 1995 Elections in Cote d Ivoire, African Affairs, 96 (1997), William Easterly and Ross Levine, Africa s Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112 (1997), Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, Greed and Grievance in Civil War, Center for the Study of African Economies Working Paper (2002) Daniel Posner, Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa, American Journal of Political Science, 48 (2004). Daniel Posner, The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi, American Political Science Review (2004).

7 5. Informal Politics ** Patrick Chabal and Jean-Pascal Daloz, Africa Works: Disorder as a Political Instrument (Oxford, James Currey, 1999), Chs. 1, 6, 7, 8, 9. * Bratton and van de Walle, Neopatrimonial Rule in Africa, Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective (New York, Cambridge University Press, 1996), Ch. 2. * Goran Hyden, African Politics in Comparative Perspective (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2006) Chs. 4 and 5 Robert Jackson and Carl Rosberg, Personal Rule in Black Africa (1982) Samuel Decalo, Coups and Army Rule in Africa (1990) Jean-Francois Bayart, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly (199 Angelique Haugerud, The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya (1995) Richard Joseph, Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic (1988) Paul Nugent, Big Men, Small Boys, and Politics in Ghana: Power, Ideology and the Burden of History (1995). William Reno, Corruption and State Politics in Sierra Leone (1995) Jean Francois Bayart, Stephen Ellis, and Beatrice Hibou, The Criminalization of the State in Africa (1999) Nicolas van de Walle, Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss? The Evolution of Political Clientelism in Africa, in Herbert Kitschelt and Steven I Wilkinson, Patrons, Clients and Policies: Patterns of democratic Accountability and Political Competition (Cambridge, 2007). Michael Bratton, Formal versus Informal Institutions in Africa, Journal of Democracy, 18, 3, July 2007

8 6. Political Economy (Micro) ** Aili Mari Tripp, Changing the Rules: The Politics of Liberalization and the Urban Informal Economy in Tanzania (Berkely, University of California Press, 1997), Ch. 6. * Robert Bates, Markets and States in Tropical Africa: The Political Basis of Agricultural Policies (1981), Chs. 2 and 3. * Clark Gibson, Politicians and Poachers: The Political Economy of Wildlife Policy in Africa (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), Ch. 2. Michael Bratton, "The Comrades and the Countryside: The Politics of Agricultural Policy in Zimbabwe", World Politics (1988) Bates, Robert, Beyond the Miracle of the Market: The Political Economy of Agrarian Development in Kenya (1987) Catherine Boone, Merchant Capital and the Roots of State Power in Senegal (1992) Firmin-Sellars, Catherine, The Transformation of Property Rights in the Gold Coast: An Empirical Analysis Applying Rational Choice Theory (1996) Stein, Howard, and Ernest Wilson, "Robert Bates, Rational Choice and the Political Economy of Development in Africa", World Development 21, 6 (1993): Bruce Berman and Colin Leys, African Capitalists and African Development (1994) Karen Hansem and Mariken Vaa, Reconsidering Informality: Perspectives from Urban Africa (2004)

9 7. Political Economy (Macro) ** Nicolas van de Walle, African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2001), Introduction, Chs 1, 2 and 4. * Thandika Mkandawire and Charles Soludo, Our Continent, Our Future: African Perspectives on Structural Adjustment (Trenton NJ, Africa World Press, 1999), Ch. 3 * Herbst, The Coin of the African Realm, States and Power in Africa, Ch. 7 Goran Hyden, African Politics in Comparative Perspective (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2006), Chs. 6, 7, 10 William Easterly, The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (2001) Benno Ndulu and Nicolas van de Walle, "Africa's Economic Renewal: From Consensus to Strategy" in Agenda for Africa's Economic Renewal (1996) Thomas Callaghy and John Ravenhill, Hemmed In: Responses to Africa's Economic Decline (1993) (esp. Chs. 1 and 2) Sandbrook, Richard, The Politics of Africa's Economic Recovery (1993) The World Bank, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead (1994) David Leonard and Scott Strauss, Africa s Stalled Development: International Causes and Cures (2003) Marcel Fafchamps, Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Theory and Evidence (2004) Mushtaq H. Khan, Markets, States and Democracy: Patron-Client Networks and the Case for democracy in Developing Countries, Democratization (2005)

10 8. Regimes and Transitions ** Bratton and van de Walle, Democratic Experiments in Africa, Introduction, Chs. 3 and 6 * E. Gyimah-Boadi, Democratic Reform in Africa: The Quality of Progress (Boulder, Co., Lynne Rienner, 2004), Ch. 1. * Andreas Schedler, Electoral Authoritarianism: The Dynamics of Unfree Competition (Boulder, Co., Lynne Rienner, 2006), Ch. 1 and 13. Larry Diamond and Mark Plattner (eds.), Democracy in Africa (2002) Stephen Ndegwa, A Decade of Democracy in Africa (2002) Claude Ake, Democracy and Development in Africa (1996) John Wiseman, Democracy and Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (1995) John Clark and David Gardiniers (eds) Political Liberalization in Francophone Africa (1997) Julius Inhonvbere and John Mulum Mbaku, Multiparty Democracy and Political Change: Constraints to Democracy in Africa (1998). Richard Sklar, "Democracy in Africa", African Studies Review (1983) Johnson, R.W. and Lawrence Schlemmer, Launching Democracy in South Africa: The First Open Elections, 1994 (1995). Elisabeth Jean Wood, Forging Democracy from Below in South Africa and El Salvador (2003) Timothy Sisk, Democratization in South Africa: The Elusive Social Contract (1995) Clark Gibson, Beyond Waves and Ripples: Democracy and Political Change in Africa in the 1990s Annual Review of Political Science 5 (2002). Marina Ottaway, Democracy Challenged: The Rise Of Semi-Authoritarianism (Washington D.C., Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2003) Introduction, Ch.4. Leonardo Villalon and Peter von Doepp (eds.), The Fate of Africa s Democratic Experiments: Elites and Institutions (Indiana University Press, 2005). Eva Bellin, The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Exceptionalism in Comparative Perspective (includes North Africa), Comparative Politics, January 2004, Michael Ross, Does Oil Hinder Democracy? World Politics, 53 (April 2001),

11 9. Formal Political Institutions ** Andrew Reynolds, Electoral Systems and Democratization in Southern Africa (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999), Introduction and ch. 7. *Timothy Sisk and Andrew Reynolds (eds.), Elections and Conflict Management in Africa (Washington D.C., U.S. Institute for Peace, 1998), Chs. 3 and 4 * Joel Barkan et al, Emerging Legislatures: Institutions of Horizontal Accountability in Brian Levy and Sahr Kpundeh, Building State Capacity in Africa (Washngton : World Bank Institute, 2004). Zolberg, Aristide, "The Structure of Political Conflict in the New States of Tropical Africa", American Political Science Review, 62 (1969). Ruth Collier, "Parties, Coups and Authoritarian Rule: Patterns of Political Change in Tropical Africa", Comparative Political Studies (1978) Donald Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa: Constitutional Engineering in a Divided Society (1991) Widner, Jennifer, The Rise of a Party State in Kenya: From Harambee! to Nyayo! (1992) Widner, Jennifer, "Political Reform in Anglophone and Francophone African Countries" in Economic Change and Political Liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa (1994) Michelle Kuenzi and Gina Lambright, Party Systems and the Consolidation of Democracy in Sub- Saharan Africa s Electoral Regimes, Party Politics (2003). van de Walle, Nicolas, Presidentialism and Clientelism in Africa s Emerging Party Systems, Journal of Modern African Studies, 41 (2003). Mohammed Salih and Per Nordlund, Political Partcies in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty Democracy (Stockholm, International IDEA, 2007). Carrie Manning, Assessing African Party Systems after the Third Wave, Party Politics, 11, 6 (2005)

12 10. Elections and Participation ** Staffan Lindberg, Democracy and Elections in Africa (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), Chs 1 and 4. * Michael Bratton, Robert Mattes and E-Gyimah-Boadi, Predicting Political Participation in Public Opinion, Democracy, and Market Reform in Africa (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005), Ch. 12 * Leonard Wantchekon, Clientelism and Voting Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin, World Politics, 2003 Ruth Collier, Elections in Authoritarian Regimes in Regimes in Tropical Africa: Changing forms of Supremacy, (1982). Naomi Chazan, African Voters at the Polls: A Re-examination of the Role of Elections in Politics, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 16 (1979), Joel Barkan, The Electoral Process and Peasant-State Relations in Kenya, in Fred Hayward, Elections in Independent Africa (1987), Michael Cowen and Liisa Laakso, Multi-Party Elections in Africa (New York, Palgrave, 2002) Ch. 1. Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich and Bernard Thibaut (eds.), Elections in Africa: A Data Handbook (New York, Oxford University Press, 1999), Ch. 1 John Daniel, Roger Southall and Morris Szeftel (eds) Voting for Democracy: Watershed Elections in Contenporary Anglophone Africa (1999). Michael Bratton, Second Elections in Africa, Journal of Democracy (1998) Staffan Lindberg, Its Our Time to Chop : Do Elections in Africa Feed Neopatrimonialism rather than Counteract It? Democratization 10 (2003), Daniel Posner and David Simon, Economic Conditions and Incumbent Support in Africa s New Democracies: Evidence from Zambia, Comparative Political Studies, 35 (2002) Karen Ferree, The Microfoundations of Ethnic Voting: evidence from South Africa Afrobarometer Working Paper, No 40 (2004) Steven Block, Political Business Cycles, Democratization, and Economic Reform: The Case of Africa, Journal of Development Economics 67 (2002).

13 11. Civil Society ** Lillian Trager, Yoruba Hometowns: Community, Identity and Development in Nigeria (Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 2001), Ch 10. * Chabal and Daloz, The Illusions of Civil Society, Africa Works, Ch. 2 * Jeffrey Herbst, The Politics of Migration and Citizenship, States and Power in Africa, Ch. 8. Peter Ekeh, Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 17 (1975), John Harbeson, Donald Rothchild and Naomi Chazan (eds.) Civil Society and the State in Africa (1994). Nelson Kasfir, Civil Society and Democracy in Africa (1998). Celestin Monga, "Civil Society and Democratization in Francophone Africa", Journal of Modern African Studies 33, 3 (1995): Villalon, Leo, Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal (1995) (intro, Chs 1 and 7) Mamdani, Mahmood, "A Critique of the State-Civil Society Paradigm in Africanist Studies" in Mamdani and Ernest Wamba-dia-Wamba, African Studies in Social Movements and Democracy (1995). Lanegran, Kimberly, "South Africa's Civic Association Movement: ANC's Ally or Society's Watchdog? Shifting Social Movement-Political Party Relations", African Studies Review (1995). Brautigam, Deborah, Lisa Rakner and S. Taylor, Business associations and Growth Coalitions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Journal of Modern African Studies, 40 (2002), Goran Hyden, Michael Leslie and Folu Ogundimu, Media and Democracy in Africa (New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Publishers, 2002)

14 12. Public Attitudes and Values ** Bratton, Mattes and Gyimah Boadi, Public Opinion, Democracy, and Market Reform in Africa (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005), Chs. 3 and 11. * James Gibson and Amanda Gouws, Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa: Experiments in Democratic Persuasion (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2003), Ch. 3 * Ben Eiffert. Edward Miguel and Daniel Posner, Political Sources of Ethnic Identification in Africa, paper from a conference on The Micro-Foundations of Mass Politics in Africa, Afrobarometer Network, Where is Africa Going? Views From Below: A Compendium of Trends in Public Opinion in 12 African Countries, " Afrobarometer Working Paper No. 34 (2006) Margaret Peil, Nigerian Politics: the People s View (1976) Patrick Ollawa, Participatory Democracy in Zambia: The Political Economy of National Development (1979) Craig Charney, Voices of a New Democracy: African Expectations in the New South Africa, Centre for Policy Studies (Johannesburg), Research Report No. 38 (1995). R.W. Johnson and Lawrence Schlemmer, The Condition of Democracy in Southern Africa, Helen Suzman Foundation (1998) Marina Ottaway, Democracy and Constituencies in the Arab World, Carnegie Papers No (2004). Afrobarometer Working Papers ( ) at Afrobarometer conference papers (2007) at