Barnard College Department of Political Science V1501 Introduction to Comparative Politics Spring 2014 Mona El-Ghobashy TR 11:40-12:55 404 Lehman Hall 405 Milbank Hall Office hours: Tu & Th 2-3 pm melghoba@barnard.edu Teaching Assistants Benjamin Mclelland, bpm2117@columbia.edu Shang Shang, ss4353@columbia.edu Giancarlo Visconti, gv2214@columbia.edu Comparative politics is about how power is gained, maintained, and transformed within countries. The discipline doesn t confine itself to countries in our contemporary world but ranges across time, examining how power was organized in different kinds of political systems such as empires and citystates, but it gives special attention to the development of the national state. The sub-field of comparative politics is premised on the idea that you can compare apples and oranges. Comparing both entire political systems and specific units within political systems helps us understand what we are looking at in each one. To understand the causes of one revolution, it is necessary to compare it to others and even to instances where revolution did not occur, so that we can isolate the factors that precipitated revolution in one place and time but not others. This course is structured in two parts. Part I studies the grand themes of comparative politics, namely state formation, nationalism, democratization, and revolution. Part II focuses on some major puzzles studied by contemporary political scientists, such as: why do dictators hold elections? Why do democracies look different? What s the link between politics and economic growth? How do citizens do politics under dictatorships? And what explains the recent protest wave sweeping the globe? The course has three goals: (1) to guide you to analyze and compare complex political processes through frequent reading and discussion, (2) to teach you how to design a research proposal anchored in a focused question, and (3) to prepare you for advanced undergraduate study in political science and related social sciences. Like the other 1000-level introductory gateway courses, this course is a prerequisite for several 3000- and 4000-level lectures, colloquia, and seminars. Requirements Lecture and Discussion Section Participation 15% In-class Midterm Exam 20% Research Design 35% In-class Final Exam 30% 1
Attendance is mandatory in both lectures and discussion sections. At every lecture, I present a framework that ties together the week s readings, offering the context and some counter-points to authors claims. You should aim to complete the first two readings before arriving to lecture on Tuesdays, and the whole week s readings on Thursdays. Lecture handouts and announcements will be posted on Courseworks but slides will not. Discussion sections are for in-depth discussion of individual readings, and will often go beyond the readings to explore spin-off topics. Section leaders will also guide you on the research design assignment and offer tailored feedback on your draft. Section attendance will be recorded. More than two unexcused absences from section will reduce your participation grade by one-third of a letter grade (e.g. from a B+ to a B). Each of the course assignments develops a specific skill. The in-class Midterm Exam will consist of four questions on individual readings that prompt you to write mini-essays unpacking an author s argument in your own words and spelling out its implications. A detailed explanatory handout on the midterm will be distributed in class. The major course requirement is the Research Design, which teaches you how to plan a sound research proposal on any political question that interests you. A strong research design must be anchored in a very specific and focused question. The assignment will guide you on how to develop a cogent answer to the question (your argument), discuss alternative answers to the same question (competing arguments), and develop a precise and feasible research strategy for how to support your argument. Doing research is not a one-shot exercise, but a multi-step process of rethinking and revision. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to receive feedback on a first a draft (worth 10% of your grade) so that your final submission (25% of the grade) is as strong as possible. A detailed explanatory handout on the research design will be distributed in class. The in-class Final Exam is cumulative and has the same format as the midterm (four questions), but instead of focusing on an individual reading each question will be more broadly framed, asking you to compose a mini-essay drawing on three syllabus readings. Required Readings There are no required textbooks. All course readings are posted on Courseworks in PDF in a folder titled Readings. Late Assignments, Missed Midterm, etc. There are only two conditions under which a make-up midterm will be administered: family emergency or serious illness (doctor s note required). Any other circumstances do not count (work commitments, schedule conflicts, etc.). If you don t sit for the midterm, you forfeit 20% of the course grade. 2
Late research designs will be downgraded one-third of a letter grade per day, including weekends. For example, a B assignment due Thursday but handed in Saturday will receive a C+. Assignments submitted more than two days after the due date will not be accepted. The date of the class final exam is determined by the University Registrar and cannot be changed. It is currently projected for Thursday, May 15, 4:10-7 pm, so please make your travel plans accordingly. No grade of Incomplete will be given in this course, so please manage your schedule to hand in all coursework on time. Academic Honesty All students taking this course must adhere to the Barnard College honor code, regardless of their academic affiliation. The honor code considers it dishonest to ask for, give, or receive help in examinations or quizzes, to use any papers or books not authorized by the instructor in examinations, or to present oral work or written work which is not entirely our own, unless otherwise approved by the instructor. If you have any questions about any aspect of doing honest academic work, please don t hesitate to ask me or the TAs. No question is too minor. Classroom Etiquette To maintain a professional classroom environment, please be in your seats by 11:40 am, set phones to silent and place them out of sight, and do not consume any food in class. Beverages in sealed containers are fine. 3
Course Schedule January 21: Introduction, Course Overview January 23: Preliminaries David Samuels, Doing Comparative Politics, in Samuels, Comparative Politics (Pearson, 2013), 1-27. David Rosenwasser & Jill Stephen, Writing Analytically, 4 th Ed. (Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006), ch. 4. Part I. Major Themes in Comparative Politics January 28-30 State Formation Douglass North and Robert Paul Thomas, The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp. 1-8, 91-101. Charles Tilly, War Making and State Making as Organized Crime, in Peter Evans et al, eds., Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 169-91. Margaret Levi, Of Rule and Revenue (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), chs. 3 & 6. February 4-6 Nationalism Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 80-100. Anthony Marx, Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), ch. 3. Eugen Weber, Peasants Into Frenchmen: the Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914 (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1976), ch. 6. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1991), ch. 3. 4
February 11 Democratization Robert Dahl, Polyarchy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971), ch. 1. Charles Tilly, Democracy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), ch. 1. February 13 No Class (Away at a Conference) February 18-20 Democratization (cont d) Robert Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), ch. 18. Adam Przeworski et al, What Makes Democracies Endure? Journal of Democracy 7:1 (1996). Carles Boix, The Roots of Democracy, Policy Review 135 (February 2006). February 25-27 Revolution Jeff Goodwin, No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945-1991 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), ch. 1. Eric Selbin, Revolution in the Real World: Bringing Agency Back in, in John Foran, Ed., Theorizing Revolutions (London: Routledge, 1997), 118-132. Timur Kuran, Now out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of 1989, World Politics 44:1 (October 1991): 7-48. March 4 March 6 In-Class Review In-Class Midterm Exam Part II. Puzzles for Comparativists March 11-13 Why are Some States Predatory and Others Developmental? Mancur Olson, Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development, American Political Science Review 87:3 (September 1993): 567-576. Robert Bates, Prosperity and Violence: The Political Economy of Development (New York: W.W. Norton 2001), chs. 3-4. 5
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (New York: Crown Publishers, 2012), chs. 1&3. March 17-20 Spring Break March 25-27 Why are Some Countries Resource-rich but Poor while others are Resource-poor but Rich? World Bank, Natural Resources: When Blessings Become Curses, n.d. Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Eds., Escaping the Resource Curse (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), chs. 1 & 10. Thad Dunning, Crude Democracy: Natural Resource Wealth and Political Regimes. (Cambridge University Press Cambridge, 2008), ch. 1. April 1-3 Why do Democracies Look Different? Philippe Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, What Democracy Is and Is Not, Journal of Democracy 2 (1991): 75-88. Juan Linz, The Perils of Presidentialism, Journal of Democracy (1990): 51-69. José Antonio Cheibub, Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, and Democracy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), Introduction and ch. 6. David Samuels and Matthew Shugart, Presidents, Parties, and Prime Ministers: How the Separation of Powers Affects Party Organization and Behavior (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), ch. 1. Research Design Draft due in class April 3 April 8-10 Why do Dictators Care to Dress their Windows? Steven Levitsky & Lucan Way, Elections without Democracy: The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism, Journal of Democracy (April 2002): 51-65. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita & Alastair Smith, The Dictator s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics (PublicAffairs, 2011), chs. 1 & 3. Jennifer Gandhi and Adam Przeworski, Authoritarian Institutions and the Survival of Autocrats, Comparative Political Studies 40 (November 2007): 1279-1301. 6
King, Gary, Jennifer Pan, and Molly Roberts, How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism But Silences Collective Expression. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network, 2012. SSRN Scholarly Paper April 15-17 How do Citizens Do Politics under Dictatorships? James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), pp. 28-37. Hank Johnston, Let s Get Small : The Dynamics of Small Contention in Repressive States, Mobilization 11 (June 2006): 195-212. Kurt Schock, Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies (University of Minnesota Press, 2004), ch. 3. Susanne Lohmann, The Dynamics of Informational Cascades: the Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig, East Germany, 1989-1991, World Politics 47 (October 1994): 42-101. April 22-24 The Global Protest Wave Isabel Ortiz et al, World Protests, 2006-2013, Initiative for Policy Dialogue (September 2013), 91 pp. Jeff Goodwin, Why We Were Surprised (Again) by the Arab Spring, Swiss Political Science Review 17:4 (December 2011): 452-456. David Plotke, Occupy Wall Street, Flash Movements and American Politics, Dissent (August 2012) Ernest Harsch, An African Spring in the Making: Protest and Voice Across a Continent, Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy & International Relations (Winter/Spring 2012): 45-61. April 29-May 1 Conclusions & Review Research Design due in class May 1 Final Exam on Thursday May 15, 4:10-7:00 pm 7