Tuesday, January 03, 2006 - University of Pittsburgh



Comparative Politics 0300, Spring 2006

Prof. Scott Morgenstern (smorgens@pitt.edu)

4807 Posvar Hall

T/TH WWPH 01700 2:30PM 3:45PM

Comparative Politics is a vast subject. In political science, comparative politics covers the study of any country, including the United States, within a comparative context. As such, comparative political scientists (comparativists) have two main tasks: knowledge of the world and focus on the methodology of comparison. That is, we need to know something about different countries and take care in how to draw comparisons amongst them. The goal, overall, is further knowledge of the countries (empirics) and of the factors that drive politics generally (theory).

In an introductory course on comparative politics, it is necessary to choose among the countries to study and the factors that drive politics (which we will call “independent variables”). In this course I have chosen several countries/regions to study: India, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Britain, the European Union, Argentina, and Mexico. We have a bit of extra emphasis on the Latin American region, since this course can count towards a Latin American certificate. In terms of the independent variables, we will focus on several constitutional issues (e.g. presidentialism versus parliamentarism, electoral systems, federalism) and other factors, such as social structure and culture, that can drive political behavior.

The course has several requirements:

1. Current events reports. You are required to read the NY Times daily (quizzes and tests may cover some of the material) and 2-3 people will give a short report each day. The NYT can be purchased through the bookstore.

2. Each student will work in a group to prepare an hour-long presentation on one of the countries. I will meet with each group to discuss the presentations. (The first group will be a partial exception; they will only have about ½ hour for their presentation.)

3. Midterm

4. Paper: Most students will write a short, 5 page paper proposing constitutional changes for your country of choice. I will allow 5 students to earn a W in the course by writing an extended version of this paper.

5. Final

6. I also reserve the possibility of including one or more pop quizzes if attendance falls or there is evidence that students are not doing the reading.

Grading

| |% |

|Participation and current events reports |10 |

|Group presentation |10 |

|Midterm |30 |

|Paper |20 |

|Final |30 |

* If there are quizzes, they will count for 15 percent of the grade, which will be accounted for by adjusting the weights on the midterm and final.

Books to purchase:

In addition to the NY Times, three books are available for purchase.

Zakaria The Future of Freedom

Payne et al Democracy in Development

Annual Editions Comparative Politics 2005/2006

Putnam Making Democracy Work

Other articles will be on reserve, on our BlackBoard site, or available through the internet.

| | |

|Unit 1: Introduction to Democracy |

|Thursday, January 05, 2006 |Introduction |

|Tuesday, January 10, 2006 |Definition of Democracy & Comparative Politics |

| |Annual Editions (AE) pp 79-85 "What Democracy Is…and Is Not" |

|Thursday, January 12, 2006 |Why do we care about democracy? & Iraq: A report and debate on Democracy |

| |Group 1: |

| |Payne Ch. 2 |

| |Start reading Zakaria |

|Tuesday, January 17, 2006 |Bolivia: Can Democracy Work in a divided and poor society? |

| |Group 2 |

| |Read: From Blackboard |

|Thursday, January 19, 2006 |Democratization & Waves of Democratization |

| |Continue reading Zakaria |

|Varieties and Development of Democracy |

|Tuesday, January 24, 2006 |Varieties of Democracy 1: |

| |Reading: Illiberal Democracy, Zakaria |

|Thursday, January 26, 2006 |India Case |

| |Reading: AE "India's Democracy Provides Lessons" |

| |Continue reading Zakaria |

| |Group 3 |

|Tuesday, January 31, 2006 |No class; showing of Gandhi during the week in the evening |

| |Start reading for next class |

| |

|Unit 2: Key Institutional features of Democracy |

|Thursday, February 02, 2006 |Presidentialism and Parliamentarism |

| |Reading: Linz “The Perils of Presidentialism,” Journal of Democracy 1990 pp. 50-68 |

| |Mainwaring and Shugart “Juan Linz, Presidentialism, and Democracy: A Critical Appraisal” |

| |Comparative Politics. July 1997 (JSTOR) |

|Tuesday, February 07, 2006 |Party Systems: Definitions and Importance; Support & Change |

| |Reading AE, pp. 57-67 |

|Thursday, February 09, 2006 |Party system differences |

| |Payne Ch. 6 |

| |Reading AE pp. 99-107 "The Case for a Multi-Party US Parliament?" |

|Tuesday, February 14, 2006 |Chile: Democracy, Dictatorship, and Back |

| |Reading: Skidmore and Smith, Modern Latin America: “Chile: Socialism, Represssion, and |

| |Democracy” |

| |Group 4 |

|Thursday, February 16, 2006 |Chile 2: Explanations for Democratic Breakdown |

| |Reading: Diamond, et al: Democracy in Developing Countries: Valenzuela: “Chile: Origins and |

| |Consolidation of a Latin American Democracy” 205-222 |

|Tuesday, February 21, 2006 |Democratic Transitions and Dealing with Dictators |

| |Reading: Priscilla B. Hayner, "Fifteen Truth Commissions–1974 to 1994: A Comparative Study," |

| |Human Rights Quarterly, v. 16, no. 4, November 1994 pp. 598-611, 621-629 |

| |Mark Ensalaco: Human Rights Quarterly, Nov 1994, v 16 n4 656-75, “Truth commissions for Chile |

| |and El Salvador: a report and assessment.” |

| |Read the introduction and review other parts of the Chilean report at: |

| | |

|Thursday, February 23, 2006 |Electoral systems |

| |Payne Chs 4-5 |

|Tuesday, February 28, 2006 |Executive-Legislative relations |

| |Payne Chs 8-9 |

|Thursday, March 02, 2006 |Midterm |

|Tuesday, March 07, 2006 |Spring break |

|Thursday, March 09, 2006 |Spring break |

|Tuesday, March 14, 2006 |Party Organization and Party Financing |

| |Payne Ch. 7 |

| |

|Unit 3: Democratic Development: A Variety of Directions |

|Thursday, March 16, 2006 |Political and Economic Development |

| |AE 129-132 |

|Tuesday, March 21, 2006 |Cuba |

| |Film: Castro |

| |Read: Prevost: “Cuba” in Vanden and Prevost: Politics of Latin America |

|Thursday, March 23, 2006 |Cuba Discussion: Should Cuba Democratize? How? |

| |Group 5 |

| |Readings: NACLA March/April 1999 Inside Cuba pp. 41-45 “Advancing Democracy in Cuba: The |

| |International Context” |

| | |

| |Is Venezuela the new Cuba? NACLA July-August 2005 v39 i1 p3(1) |

| |Bush and Cuba: still the full moon.    NACLA Sept-Oct 2004 v38 i2 p4(2) |

| |Blackness with a Cuban beat. NACLA Sept-Oct 2004 v38 i2 p31(7) |

| |See also: articles on Blackboard |

| |Suggested film: Cuba Va |

|Tuesday, March 28, 2006 |China |

| |Group 6 |

| |Reading: AE 150-156 "Hu Takes Full Power" "The Quiet Revolution" |

|Thursday, March 30, 2006 |Mexico: From Authoritarian Presidentialism to Democracy |

| |Group 7 |

| |AE, pp 133-137 "Mexico at an Impasse" |

| |Begin Reading Making Democracy Work |

|Tuesday, April 04, 2006 |Argentina: From Prosperity to Social and Economic Disaster |

| |Film: Garden of Forking Paths |

| |Reading: The Kirchner factor. NACLA Jan-Feb 2005 |

| |Continue Reading Making Democracy Work |

| |NY Times 1/3/06 Dwindling Debt Boosts Argentine Leader |

|Thursday, April 06, 2006 |Argentina |

| |Group 8 |

| |Waisman, Reversal of Development in Argentina, Ch. 1 “The Argentine Riddle |

| |Continue Reading Making Democracy Work |

|Tuesday, April 11, 2006 |Europe and the EU |

| |Group 9 |

| |Reading: AE pp 1-28 109-121 |

| |Continue Reading Making Democracy Work |

| |

|Unit 4: Making Democracy Work |

|Thursday, April 13, 2006 |Making Democracy Work I |

| |Reading Making Democracy Work, Chs 1-5 |

|Tuesday, April 18, 2006 |Making Democracy Work II |

| |Reading: Making Democracy Work Ch. 6 |

| |Putnam: “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital” Journal of Democracy and at |

| | |

|Thursday, April 20, 2006 |Constitution design workshop |

|Friday April 21, 2006 |Papers Due: 5:00 |

Final Wed Apr 26 2:00 p.m.- 3:50 p.m.

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