Challenges for Developing Democracies

Transcription

1 1 THIS IS A DRAFT SYLLABUS AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Challenges for Developing Democracies Prof. Mark Schneider mschnei1@swarthmore.edu COURSE DESCRIPTION Why do many new democracies suffer from poor governance and weak accountability? What are the central challenges facing developing democracies from India to Argentina to Ghana? Since World War II, the number of electoral democracies has increased dramatically with many new democracies being established in poorer, non-western countries with different histories of institutional and economic development than the European model. Watching the aftermath of regime change in Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the past decade reminds us of the difficulties of providing accountable democratic governance in countries where state and political institutions can be weak, corruption can be rampant, and inequalities in wealth and information pose challenges for voters to hold their governments accountable. This course examines the challenges developing democracies face to provide good governance to their people and considers strategies for addressing these problems. We begin the course considering the effects of weak party and state institutions. Then we move onto implications of weak institutions on outcomes including corruption, political manipulation of public policy, ethnic conflict, and democratic accountability. After spending a class session diagnosing these problems (or challenges), we examine research on methods to address these 1

2 2 problems in the subsequent session. The course readings will emphasize more consolidated developing democracies in Latin America, Asia, and Africa; however, we will discuss the lessons we can learn from these cases as we consider newer democracies through presentations. The class is a part lecture and part seminar with opportunities for discussion throughout. The goals of the course are as follows. First, the course is designed to encourage students to think critically about the course s overarching questions. The reading assignments are not particularly heavy, but students will be expected to have reflected carefully on all readings and on the broad themes they introduce. Second, the alternating problem and solutions organization of the course is designed to push you to think about how a conceptual understanding of the challenges we discuss can be employed to critically assess plausible solutions for these problems. Third, students will learn to connect theory to country cases through presentations that cover a course theme with attention to one country. By the end of the course, students will not only develop a vocabulary for understanding the range of difficult challenges for good governance in developing democracies but will be able to participate in debates over how to address them. COURSE REQUIREMENTS Your final grade will be based on the following components: 20% - Class Participation. Since this is an intensive seminar course, attendance is obligatory. An active role in discussions by everyone enrolled in the course is expected, as is the completion of the required readings before the session for which they are assigned. You are also strongly encouraged to follow the critical reading worksheet (included at the end of the syllabus) to help you focus your reading. If you miss any class, you will be required to write a 2-3 page make-up critical response paper based on the session s readings. Each student is permitted one unexcused absence (i.e. without a written note from a doctor or a dean). Additional unexcused absences will result in a deduction of half a letter grade on the participation grade. 15% - Country Case Study Presentations Each student will complete a presentation that applies a class session theme to a country case. The presentation should last minutes. I will 2

3 3 ask you to propose a country and class session by before the second class. You may choose among class sessions 5 to 11. me a specific research question and one or two specific theories that you think address the research question no more than 10 days before the date of your presentation. All students should discuss the presentation with me at least once no later than one week before the presentation. The goal of the presentation is to get you to think about the theoretical arguments addressed in a class session and to apply this to a country case. All presentations should do the following: address one or two theories from course or additional readings relevant to a country case for a particular problem we address in that class session; apply that theory through a case study of one country; analyze/diagnose the issue in context of that case. Presentations will be graded on their theoretical focus and on your ability to connect a theory-driven center to your case (i.e. connect theory to the real-world of domestic politics). 10% - Response Papers. You will write one 5-page response paper before the midterm. The response paper should not be a summary of readings. Instead, you will carefully explain the argument or concepts introduced in required readings, assess the relationship between theory and measurement, and contrast conceptual and methodological approaches across readings. I will ask students to sign up for class sessions on first come first serve at the second class meeting. Note: that you must pick a different class session for the response paper and presentation. 25% - Take-Home Mid-Term. Students will be required to write a take-home midterm consisting of short answer section and longer essay (7-8 pages) section. The essay prompts will be announced at the end of the 6th class. You will choose one essay prompt among two options. The essay will be due by and in hard copy at the beginning of the 8 th session. 30% - Take-Home Final. There will be a take-home final exam (8-10 pages) that focuses on the broad themes of the course. You will be asked to address one of two essay prompts. Final exam essay prompts will be handed out at final class meeting and due the day of the scheduled final exam, which is set by the registrar.. READINGS All the readings are available online and can be downloaded at the course's page at or at the web pages linked from the syllabus. This course requires you to carefully read all assigned readings before class. Generally, 4 articles or book excerpts are assigned each week. Make sure you not only understand the basic argument, but give yourself time to think critically about the reading before class so you will be prepared to participate in discussion. I also encourage you to complete the reading worksheet linked below for each reading. Recommended readings are a resource for those making presentations and are not required. 3

4 4 Critical Reading Here is some advice on critical reading and creating reading worksheets from Professor Kanchan Chandra at NYU (see page 5). I suggest going through the worksheet at the bottom as you go through the assigned readings. TOPICS AND READING LISTS 1. Democracy in the Developing World (1/23) What are the broad challenges developing democracies faced in contrast to developed democracies? Students will get an overview of the issues we will cover in the course. We will also have a discussion about how to evaluate a theory that will be important as we begin course readings. Finally, we will begin the substance of the course with a discussion on definitions of democracy, measures of democracy, and the role of free and fair elections. Robert Dahl Polyarchy. New Haven: Yale University Press: Chapter 1. Collier, David and Steven Levitsky Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research. World Politics, 49 (3) Democratic Consolidation We will engage debates on democratic consolidation and consider examples in the developing world. Lipset, Seymour Martin Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy. American Political Science Review, 53 (1): Przeworski, Adam and Fernando Limongi, Modernization: Theories and Facts, World Politics, 49 (2): Linz, Juan and Alfred Stepan Toward Consolidated Democracies. Journal of Democracy, 7 (2) Varshney, Ashutosh Why Democracy Survives. Journal of Democracy, 9 (3), [SKIM] Van de Walle, Nicholas Africa s Range of Regimes. Journal of Democracy. 13 (2)

5 5 3. Institutions: Elections and Electoral Governance Mozaffar, Shaheen and Andreas Schedler The Comparative Study of Electoral Governance Introduction. International Political Science Review, 23(1) Lehoucq, Fabrice Electoral Fraud: Causes, Types, and Consequences. Annual Revue of Political Science, 6: Sridharan, E. and Milan Vaishnav. Election Commission of India. Presented at the Conference on Building an Indian State in the 21 st Century. Hartlyn, Johnathan, Jennifer McCoy and Thomas Mustillo Electoral Governance Matters Explaining the Quality of Elections in Contemporary Latin America. Comparative Political Studies, 41 (1), Institutions: State Capacity In this session, we will discuss state institutions in developing democracies and the impact that problems of state capacity can have of good governance. Tilly, Charles War-Making and State-Making as Organized Crime. In Peter Evans, Dietrich. Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol (Eds). Bringing the State Back In. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Herbst, Jeffrey States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton: Princeton University Press: Chapter 1. Evans, Peter Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation (Princeton: Princeton University Press) Chapter 3. Krishna, Anirudh Gaining Access to Public Services and the Democratic State in India: Institutions in the Middle. Studies in Comparative International Development, 46 (1) Berenschot, Ward Everyday Mediation: The Politics of Public Service Delivery in Gujarat, India. Development and Change, 41(5) Vaishnav, Milan and Devesh Kapur. Strengthening India s Rule of Law. Mint (27 May 2014). Available at: 5

6 6 5. Institutions: Parties In this session, we will examine the nature of parties in developing democracies and the types of linkages parties in these contexts have with their voters. Mainwaring, Scott and Timothy Scully (Eds) Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America. Introduction. Levitsky, Steven "An Organized Disorganization': Informal Organization and the Persistence of Local Party Structures in Argentine Peronism." Journal of Latin American Studies 33 (1) Chandra, Kanchan The Transformation of Ethnic Politics in India: The Decline of the Congress Party and the Rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party. Journal of Asian Studies, 59(1): Hawkins, Kirk Populism in Venezuela: The Rise of Chavismo. Third World Quarterly, 24 (6) Downs, Anthony An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper Collins Press: 3-14; 21-35; and Pradeep Chhibber, Francesca Refsum Jensenius and Pavithra Suryanarayan Party Organization and Party Proliferation in India. Party Politics, Party Politics 20 (4) Corruption In this session, we will discuss theory and qualitative and quantitative examples of corruption. We also discuss efforts to combat corruption. Olken, Benjamin and Rohini Pande Corruption in Developing Countries (No. w17398). National Bureau of Economic Research. Olivier de Sardan, J.P A Moral Economy of Corruption in Africa? Journal of Modern African Studies, 37 (1) Bertrand, Marianne, Simeon Djankov, Rema Hanna, and Sendil Mullainathan Corruption in Driving Licensing Process in Delhi. Economic and Political Weekly, TBD. 6

7 7 Bussell, Jenifer Typologies of Corruption: A Pragmatic Approach. Forthcoming in Paul Lagunes and Susan Rose Ackerman, Eds. Greed, Corruption and the Modern State: Essays in Political Economy. Mcmillan, John, and Pablo Zoido "How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(4): Oldenburg, Philip "Middlemen in Third-World corruption: Implications of an Indian Case." World Politics, 39 (4) Sukhtankar, Sandip and Milan Vaishnav Corruption in India: Bridging Academic Evidence and Policy Options. India Policy Forum. Olken, Benjamin and Patrick Barron The Simple Economics of Extortion: Evidence from Trucking in Aceh, Journal of Political Economy, 117.3: Khan, Mushtaq Patron-Client Networks and the Economic Effects of Corruption in Asia, European Journal of Development Research 10.1 (June): Rose-Ackerman, Susan Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences and Reform. New York: Cambridge University Press. 7. Anti-Corruption Strategies and Anti-Corruption Movements In this class, we will discuss and critically assess reforms designed to reduce corruption. Olken, Benjamin Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia. Journal of Political Economy, 115 (2), Jenkins, Rob and Annie Marie Goetz Accounts and Accountability: Theoretical Implications of the Right-to-Information Movement in India. Third World Quarterly, 20 (3), Peisakhin, Leonoid and Paul Pinto Is Transparency an Effective Anti Corruption Strategy? Evidence from a Field Experiment in India. Regulation & Governance, 4(3), Bussell, Jennifer Corruption and Reform in India: Public Services in the Digital Age (Cambridge: Cambridge Press): Chapter 8: Do Reforms Affect the Quality of Services? Muralidharan, Karthik Lessons from Andhra Pradesh: Building State Capacities for Welfare. Mint (3/12/2014). <available at: Andhra-Pradesh-building-state-capacities-for-w.html> 7

8 8 Claudio Ferraz and Federico Finan Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effects of Brazil s Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123.2: Clientelism I: Theory and Practice In this session, we will discuss theory behind political parties efforts to distribute government benefits in order to increase or maintain political support. We also will discuss what this looks like on the ground. Kitschelt, Herbert and Steven Wilkinson Citizen-Politician Linkages: An Introduction in Herbert Kitschelt and Steven Wilkinson eds. Patrons, Clients, and Policies. New York: Cambridge University Press: Chapter 1. Brusco, Valeria, Marcelo Nazareno and Susan Stokes Vote Buying in Argentina. Latin American Research Review, 39 (2): Auyero, Javier The Logic of Clientelism in Argentina: An Ethnographic Account. Latin American Research Review, 35 (3): Calvo, Ernesto, and Maria Victoria Murillo "When Parties Meet Voters Assessing Political Linkages Through Partisan Networks and Distributive Expectations in Argentina and Chile." Comparative Political Studies 46 (7) Schneider, Mark Can Benefits be Tied to the Vote? The Hindu Business Line. <Published: 13 January 2014>. Available at: Recommended Reading(s) Zarazaga, Rodrigo Brokers Beyond Clientelism: A New Perspective Through the Argentine Case. Latin American Politics and Society, 56 (3), Wilkinson, Steven Explaining Changing Patterns of Party-Voters Linkages in India. In Patrons, Clients, and Politics: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition, edited by Herbert Kitschelt and Steven I. Wilkinson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Szwarcberg, Mariela Uncertainty, Political Clientelism, and Voter Turnout in Latin America. Comparative Politics, 45(1)

9 9 Van de Walle, Nicolas. "Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss? The Evolution of Political Clientelism in Africa." Patrons, Clients and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition (2007): Clientelism II: Moving from Clientelism to Programmatic Politics? In this session, we will discuss work that explains transitions from clientelistic politics to programmatic politics. Stokes, Susan What Killed Vote Buying in Britain and the United States? In Stokes, Susan C., et al. Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism: The Puzzle of Distributive Politics. Cambridge University Press. Weitz-Shapiro, Rebecca What Wins Votes: Why Some Politicians Opt Out of Clientelism. American Journal of Political Science, 56 (3) Hagopian, Frances, Carlos Gervasoni and Juan Andres Moraes From Patronage to Program: The Emergence of Party-Oriented Legislators in Brazil. Comparative Political Studies, 42 (3) Sugiyama, Natasha and Wendy Hunter Whither Clientelism? Good Governance and Brazil's Bolsa Família Program. Comparative Politics, 46 (1) Keefer, Phillip and Stuti Khemani Radio's Impact on Preferences for Patronage Benefits. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Grzymala-Busse A Rebuilding Leviathan: Party Competition and State Exploitation in Post-Communist Democracies. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. 10. Ethnic Competition and Ethnic Conflict In this session, we will discuss the impact that ethnic competition has on democracies in ethnically divided societies. Posner, Daniel N The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi. American Political Science Review, 98(4): Chandra, Kanchan. Counting Heads. In Herbert Kitschelt and Steven Wilkinson (Eds). Patrons, Clients, and Policies. New York: Cambridge University Press: chapter 4. Pepinsky, Thomas, R.William Liddle and Saiful Mujani Testing Islam s Political Advantage: Evidence from Indonesia. 9

10 10 Wilkinson, Steven Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Communal Riots in India. Chapters 1 and 5. Horowitz, Donald Ethnic Groups in Conflict Berkeley: University of California Press). Chap 7. Varshney, Ashutosh. "Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Rationality." Perspective on Politics, 1 (1) Strategies for Reducing Ethnic Exclusion and Conflict In this session, we will critically discuss methods for reducing ethnic conflict and marginalization. Lijphart, Arend Constitutional Design for Divided Societies. Journal of Democracy 15, (2) Chandra, Kanchan "Ethnic Parties and Democratic Stability." Perspectives on Politics, 3(2) Cehajic, S., Brown, R, and Castano, E Forgive and Forget? Antecedents and Consequences of Intergroup Forgiveness in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Political Psychology, 29(3), Chauchard, Simon Can the Experience of Political Power by a Member of a Stigmatized Group Change the Nature of Day-to-day Interpersonal Relations? Evidence from Rural India. FINAL EXAM ESSAY PROMPTS WILL BE HANDED OUT IN CLASS. 12. Information and Accountability In this class, we will discuss the role of information in improving service provision and electoral accountability. Banerjee, Abhijit, et al "Do Informed Voters Make Better Choices? Experimental evidence from urban India." Unpublished manuscript. Poverty Action Lab. org/node/2764. Lieberman, Evan, Daniel Posner, and Lily Tsai Does Information Lead to More Active Citizenship? Evidence from an Education Intervention in Rural Kenya. MIT Manuscript. Gottlieb, Jessica Greater Expectations: A Field Experiment to Improve Accountability in Mali. AJPS, forthcoming. 10

11 11 Björkman, Martina, and Jakob Svensson "Power to the People: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment on Community-Based Monitoring in Uganda." The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124 (2) Berliner, Daniel and Aaron Erlich Competing for Transparency: Political Competition and Institutional Reform in Mexican States. American Political Science Review, 109(01) Nooruddin, Man, and Pradeep Chhibber "Unstable Politics: Fiscal Space and Electoral Volatility in the Indian States." Comparative Political Studies, 41(8) Paler, Laura Keeping the Public Purse: An Experiment in Windfalls, Taxes, and the Incentives to Restrain Government. American Political Science Review, 107 (04), Governance In this class we will discuss theory and interventions to encourage improvements in education and health outcomes. Chaudhury, Nazmul; Hammer, Jeffrey; Kremer, Michael; Muralidharan, Karthik; Rogers, F. Halsey Missing in Action: Teacher and Health Worker Absence in Developing Countries. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1) Gauri, Varun and Evan Lieberman Boundary Institutions and HIV/AIDS Policy in Brazil and South Africa. Studies in comparative international development, 41(3), Dreze, Jean and Amartya Sen An Uncertain Glory. Princeton: Princeton University Press: Chapter 7: Poverty and Social Support. Christopher Blattman and Paul Niehaus Show Them the Money: Why Giving Cash Helps Alleviate Poverty, Foreign Affairs, 93.3 (May/June). Banerjee, Abhijhit, Ester Duflo, and R Glennerster, R Putting a Band Aid on a Corpse: Incentives for Nurses in the Indian Public Health Care System. Journal of the European Economic Association, 6 (2 3), Audio: Planet Money Episode 494: What Happens When You Just Give Money to Poor People? National Public Radio, available at when-youjust-give-money-to-poor-people 14. Foreign Aid 11

12 12 William Easterly The White Man s Burden: Why the West s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. New York: Penguin Press, chs. 1 ( Planners Versus Searchers ) and 2 ( The Legend of the Big Push ) Ferguson, James and Larry Lohmann The Anti-Politics Machine: 'Development' and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho, The Ecologist 24(5): Barnett, Michael N. and Martha Finnemore The Politics, Power, and Pathologies of International Organizations. International Organization, 53(4): Scott, James M. and Carie A. Steele Sponsoring Democracy: The United States and Democracy Aid to the Developing World, , International Studies Quarterly 55(1): Pritchett, Lant and Michael Woolcock When the Solution Is the Problem: Arraying the Disarray in Development, World Development, 32(2)

13 13 Reading Skills: As you manage the reading for this and other graduate courses, you are likely to find, if you have not already, that there is no correlation between effort and outcome. It is entirely possible to spend several hours reading something without getting it. And it is equally possible to spend less than a half-hour reading something else and getting to the heart of the argument. You will have to devise for yourselves ways to read efficiently. These are some devices that may help: 1. Figure out what the heart of an argument is before you read deeply: skim, read the abstracts, the jacket blurbs, often short reviews published elsewhere. When you know where the center of gravity is, you read more efficiently. 2. Read actively: do not simply soak up the reading for what the author wants to tell you, but approach it with questions, and try to answer them for yourself as you make your way through. 3. Use other peoples skills: you do not have to do all the work yourself. It is not cheating if you talk through the argument with someone else before or after you delve in, or look at reviews for explication, or form reading groups where you can discuss the argument with each other. 4. Write in order to read. The response papers for this class and the (non-graded) worksheet attached should help. 5. Use diagrams if necessary: often, the structure of an argument can be most clearly expressed if you draw it, using arrows and lines, than by trying to understand it in words. 6. Organize your notes in a way that makes retention and information retrieval possible: you could use index cards, annotated bibliographies, database programmes like Filemaker Pro etc. These rules may be obvious to some and not to others. Basically do whatever works for you. But be self-conscious about the reading process as a skill that has to be learned and not necessarily as an ability that either comes naturally or does not. 13

14 14 Reading Worksheet For each book, chapter, or article assigned in this course, you should fill out the following (nongraded) worksheet. Many of these points can be addressed in a sentence or two (e.g. Questions 1 and 2; in some cases answers will not need even to be full sentences (e.g., Question ); and in some cases the answers may overlap. These worksheets should be retained: they will be useful for future reference. 1. State the central question that the reading addresses. 2. State the central argument(s) defended in the paper in response to this question. 3. What type of reasoning or evidence is used to support these arguments? If it is an analytical paper, what is the logic that undergirds the argument? If an empirical paper, what type of data is employed? Are there other data sources that you think might be more appropriate? 4. Do you find the claims of the reading convincing? What do you see as the main gaps that need to be filled? 5. Why (if at all) is the reading interesting? 6. Do you agree with the main claims? What are your hesitations? (This may simply involve restatement of previous points.) 7. Identify one or two implicit premises or background assumptions in the paper that you think are especially controversial or objectionable. 8. In light of your answers to the previous questions, write an abstract for the article of no more than 100 words. (Feel free to repeat formulations given in response to earlier questions.) 9. When you have done this for individual readings, take some time to think about the various readings you have been assigned in relation to each other. See if you can write or imagine a summary table for all the readings taken together which compares and contrasts them. 14