COMPARATIVE POLITICS Degree Course in WORLD POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Teacher: Prof. Stefano Procacci 2017-2018 1 st semester (Fall 2017) Course description: The course explores the basic principles of comparative analysis as a method for empirical research and theory building in political science, focusing on the intellectual process of concept formation, classification, elaboration of typologies and frameworks for the study of the world s political systems. It will provide an overview of the progress of comparative studies through the different theoretical approaches adopted in this field and will offer a close examination of the most important issues of contemporary research: democracy, authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, party system and interest groups, participation and mass mobilization, political culture, state/society relationships, civilizational and religious identity. It will explain differences as well as similarities among countries according to the variation in political institutions and processes, economic and social structures, and civil-military relations. Moreover, it will ask how these domestic features respectively influence foreign policy and how international politics influences both the constitutional and process features of political systems. Case-studies belonging to different regional areas of the international system will be offered in order to substantiate the above concepts and frameworks. Course structure: Lectures 20h; seminars 20h Contents: Week 1 (05/10-06/10) Introduction: what is Comparative Politics : Landman, Issue and Methods in Comparative Politics, Routledge, 2008, chs. 1-2. Newton - Van Deth, Foundations of Comparative Politics, Cambridge [etc.], 2010, Introduction, pp. 1-10 and Postscript: how and what to compare, pp. 400-415. Aristotle, Politics, III, 6-8; IV 3-7. Richter, «Comparative Political Analysis in Montesquieu and Tocqueville», Comparative Politics, 1, 2, 1969. Tocqueville, Selection from The Old Regime and the French Revolution, in Bendix (ed.), State and Society, pp. 200-215. 1
Week 2 (12/10-13/10) Modernization and state/society relationship : Huntington, «Political Modernization: America vs. Europe», World Politics, XVIII, 3, 1966. Bendix, Nation-building and Citizenship, University of California Press, 1977, pp. 39-57; 66-127; 404-434, Almond, Political Systems and Political Change, in Bendix (ed.), State and Society, University of California Press, 1973, pp. 28-42. Moore, The social origins of dictatorship and democracy, p. 413-52. Bendix, Nation-building and Citizenship, University of California Press, 1977, pp. 212-255 ( A comparison of Japan and Germany ). Week 3 (19/10-20/10) The classification of political systems (1): democratic regimes Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, in Dahl, Shapiro (eds.), The democracy sourcebook, The MIT Press, 2003. Lijphart, Patterns of democracy, New Haven: CT, 1999, pp. 1-42. [Is it possible to measure democracy?] R. Dahl, Polyarchal Democracy, in Dahl, Shapiro (eds.), The democracy sourcebook, The MIT Press, 2003. Schmitter - Karl, «What democracy is and is not», Journal of Democracy,2, 3,1991. Week 4 (26/10-27/10) Democratization and economic development : Lipset, «Some social requisites of democracy», American Political Science Review, 53, 1, 1959. Huber, Rueschemeyer, Stephens, The Impact of Economic Development on Democracy, in Dahl, Shapiro (eds.), The democracy sourcebook, The MIT Press, 2003. Landman, Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics, Routledge, 2008, chs. 6 and 9. Przeworski, Democracy and the Market: Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America, in Dahl, Shapiro (eds.), The democracy sourcebook, The MIT Press, 2003. 2
Przeworski-Alvarez-Cheibub-Limongi, Economic Development and Political Regimes, in Dahl, Shapiro (eds.), The democracy sourcebook, The MIT Press, 2003. Week 5 (02/11-03/11) The classification of political systems (2): democratic and non-democratic regimes Hague - Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics, Palgrave, 2004, ch. 4. Wintrobe, «Dictatorship: Analytical Approaches», in Boix - Stokes (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, Oxford [etc.], ch. 16. Levitsky - Way, «The Rise Of Competitive Authoritarianism», Journal of Democracy, Volume 13, Number 2, April 2002 Diamond L.J., «The Democratic Rollback. The Resurgence of the Predatory State», Foreign Affairs, March/April 2008. Weber, Economy and Society, University of California Press, 1978, chs. XI ( Bureacracy, pp. 956-965; 971-989), XII ( Patriarchalism and Patrimonialism, pp. 1006-1044), XIV ( Charisma and its Transformations, pp. 1111-1148). Diamond, L.J., «Thinking About Hybrid Regimes», Journal of Democracy, Volume 13, Number 2, April 2002, pp. 21-35 Week 6 (9/11-10/11) Political parties and party systems Lectures Boix, The Emergence of Parties and Party Systems, in The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, ch. 21. Lipset, Party systems and the representation of social groups, in Bendix, State and society. Rose - Urwin, «Persistence and change in western party systems since 1945», Political Studies, 18, 3, 1970 Gross, D.A., Siegelmann, L., «Comparing Party Systems: A Multidimensional Approach», Comparative Politics, 16, 4, 1984. Sartori G. Parties and party systems, ECPR Press, 2005, ch. 5, 6, 7. Mainwaring S., «Party Systems in the third wave», Journal of Democracy 9, 3, 1998. Karvonen L. - Anckar C., «Party Systems and Democratization: A Comparative Study of the Third Word», Democratization, 9, 3, 2002. Lewis, P.G., «Party systems in post-communist Central Europe: Patterns of stability and consolidation», Democratization, 13, 4, 2006. 3
Dalton R.J., «The Quantity and the Quality of Party Systems. Party System Polarization, Its Measurement, and Its Consequences», Comparative Political Studies, 41, 7, 2008. Week 7 (16/11-17/11) Political culture and civil society Lectures Hague-Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics, ch. 6. Almond - Verba, The Civic Culture, Sage Publications, 1989, chs. 1, 12, 13. Putnam et al., Making Democracy Work, Princeton University Press, 1993, ch. 6. Putnam et al., Making Democracy Work, Princeton University Press, 1993, ch. 5. Putnam, «Civic Disengagement in Contemporary America», Government and Opposition, 36, 2, 2001. Przeworski, Cheibub, Limongi, Culture and Democracy, in Dahl, Shapiro (eds.), The democracy sourcebook, The MIT Press, 2003. Week 8 (23/11-24/11) The political influence of religion Norris and Inglehart, Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide, Cambridge [etc.], 2004, chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Haynes (ed.), Religion and politics in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Routledge, 2009, chs. 1, 7, 8. Haynes, Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics, Routledge, 2008, chs. 5, 6. Stepan A., «Religion, Democracy, and the "Twin Tolerations"», Journal of Democracy, 11, 4, 2000. Stepan A. Linz J., «Democratization theory and the Arab Spring», Journal of Democracy Volume 24, Number 2 April 2013 Kang, D. C., «Why was there no religious war in premodern East Asia?», European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 20(4), 2014, pp. 965 986 4
Week 9 (30/11-01/12) Political comparison in regional perspective: theories and cases Huntington, Democracy s third wave, in Dahl, Shapiro (eds.), The democracy sourcebook, The MIT Press, 2003. Magstadt, Nations and Governments. Comparative Politics in Regional Perspective, Wadsworth, 2011, chs. 1, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Huntington, «The Clash of Civilizations», Foreign Affairs, 1993. Simmons et al., «The International Diffusion of Liberalism», International Organization, 60, Fall 2006. [Case studies: Africa, India, Russia, Latin America, the Middle East] Diamond L.J., «Why Are There No Arab Democracies?», Journal of Democracy, 21, 1, 2010. Rutherford B. K., «Hybrid Regimes and Arab Democracy», Princeton University Press, 2013 Hale H. E., «Eurasian polities as hybrid regimes: The case of Putin s Russia», Journal of Eurasian Politics, 1, 2010, pp. 33-41 Ekman J., «Political Participation and Regime Stability: A Framework for Analyzing Hybrid Regimes»,[Tanzania, Russia, Venezuela] International Political Science Review (2009), Vol. 30, No. 1, 7 31 Miller et al. (eds.), Latin American Democracy, Routledge, 2009, chs. 1, 2. Week 10 (7/12-14/12) Comparative foreign policy analysis Lectures Landman, Issues and methods, ch. 12. Breuning, Foreign Policy Analysis, Palgrave, 2007. Putnam, «Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games», International Organization, 42, 3, 1988. Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 1-6. Risse-Kappen, «Public Opinion, Domestic Structure, and Foreign Policy in Liberal Democracies», World Politics, vol. 43, 1991, pp. 479-512. Morgan - Campbell, «Domestic Structure, Decisional Constraints, and War. So Why Kant Democracies Fight?», Journal of Conflict Resolution, 35, 2, 1991. 5
Course requirements: 1) Full attendance is required (and will be checked by the teacher). Students are allowed up to two absences without justification. Further absences must be justified by supplying the course teacher with a medical certificate. Unjustified absences (beyond the allowance of two) will negatively affect your exam grade by reducing the mark assigned for participation, and prolonged unjustified absences will ultimately result in your being excluded from taking the exam. Justifications other than illness (such as grave family reasons) may be taken into account at the discretion of the course teacher. The occurrence of protracted illness will be assessed on a case-bycase basis. Active participation in class will be considered as a part of the student performance. During the course, every single student will be asked to give a presentation (15 minutes) on one of the readings included in the course material. 2) At the end of the course, students have to write a final essay (4000-5000 words). (See below a list of topics suggested by the teacher). (Student guidelines: This is a standard term paper based on several specific texts (for example, 4 or 5 articles, which might be taken from your course reading or might be additional to it, going more into depth on a specific topic). An assessed essay should normally show some autonomous ability to construct or reconstruct debates, arguments or lines of reasoning, and if possible should show some critical distance ). 3) Oral examination - based on the following list of readings (from the course material): i) Newton - Van Deth, Foundations of Comparative Politics, Cambridge, 2010, Postscript: how and what to compare, pp. 400-415. ii) Landman, Issue and Methods in Comparative Politics, Routledge, 2008, chs. 1-2. iii) Lijphart, Patterns of democracy, New Haven: CT, 1999, pp. 1-42. iv) Boix, The Emergence of Parties and Party Systems, in Boix - Stokes (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, ch. 21. v) from Dahl, Shapiro (eds.), The democracy sourcebook, The MIT Press, 2003: Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy; Huber, Rueschemeyer, Stephens, The Impact of Economic Development on Democracy; Przeworski-Alvarez-Cheibub-Limongi, Economic Development and Political Regimes; Huntington, Democracy s third wave. vi) Morgan - Campbell, «Domestic Structure, Decisional Constraints, and War. So Why Kant Democracies Fight?», Journal of Conflict Resolution, 35, 2, 1991. (or) vi) Risse-Kappen, «Public Opinion, Domestic Structure, and Foreign Policy in Liberal Democracies», World Politics, vol. 43, 1991. 6
Grade breakdown: 20%: Attendance, participation and presentation 40%: final essay 40%: oral examination English language requirement: For students not enrolled in the degree course in World Politics and International Relations, counting as an attending student (frequentante) depends on satisfying one of the following requirements: having obtained at least 26/30 in the online English "Entry Test" taken for admittance to other Laurea Magistrale degree courses in the Department (students should supply the course teacher with a print-off of their mark); having reached at least B2 level in the English test for participation in the Erasums exchange program; having taken, or being currently enrolled in, another degree course taught in English; having an international certificate (such as IETLS with a score of at least 6,5 or TOEFL with a score of at least 90). Visiting students or students from other Departments without one of the above qualifications will be asked to take the online English test: http://elearning2.unipv.it/scipol/course/index.php?categoryid=1 List of topics suggested for the final essay: Bureaucracy Case study: a comparative analysis of African political systems Case study: a comparative analysis of India Case study: a comparative analysis of Latin America political systems Case study: a comparative analysis of Middle East political systems Case study: a comparative analysis of Russia Comparative foreign policy Democracy: concepts and theories in comparative perspective Democratization in world politics International systems and societies in comparative perspective Lobbies and interest groups Modernization and state/society relationship Non-democratic regimes Political culture Political parties and party systems Revolutions in domestic and international politics Social Movements The political influence of religion Women and politics in comparative perspective 7