INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS



INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS

COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS

Department of Political Science

Political Science 102-03 Professor Vickie Langohr

Spring 2008 326 Fenwick

TTh 12:30–1:45 793-2763

Vlangohr@holycross.edu

It is often said that democracy is the best system of government humans have devised. As countries in the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East attempt to democratize their governments, this belief appears to be becoming more widespread. But when we say that democracy is the best form of government, what do we mean? Is it the best form of government for managing ethnic conflict in divided societies? Is it the form of government best suited to addressing problems of poverty and social injustice? Can democracy take root in any country, regardless of that country’s level of economic development or its culture or history?

To answer these questions, we will examine three established democracies – Great Britain, France, and India - and compare them with the Soviet Union, Russia since the collapse of the USSR, and China. Many scholars have argued that a democratic political system cannot exist in a non-capitalist economy. If this is true, is the reverse also true: will a capitalist economy, given enough time, inevitably produce a democratic political system? We will examine these questions closely in the cases of the USSR (later Russia) and China. Both the USSR and China developed state-controlled economies accompanied by repressive authoritarian political systems. From the late 1980s Russia pursued a change from an authoritarian to a democratic regime AND a change from a state-controlled to a free-market economy. The Russian economy is now capitalist, but the political system, after a period of semi-democracy, is now authoritarian once again. By contrast, China’s Communist Party has basically adopted capitalism while only very slightly opening up its political system. Which strategy of change will be more viable in the long term, and what are the costs to Russian and Chinese citizens of each path?

The second topic we will address is that of poverty and economic development, particularly through the contrast of China and India. When the Communist Party took over China in 1947, and when India became independent from British rule in 1949, each country was overwhelmingly poor and economically backward, but each chose a different political system. The authoritarian regime of Communist China pursued rapid, state-controlled economic development; while millions of lives were lost in this process, particularly to famine in the late 1950s, this rapid development greatly increased the standard of living of the average citizen. India chose a democratic system, and the Indian poor participate actively in politics, voting in much higher numbers than poor people in the U.S., for example. But economic development which would improve the lives of the poor has come much more slowly in India than in China, and the average Chinese citizen today is better educated, lives longer, and is less likely to be poor than the average Indian citizen. Did the adoption of democracy in India slow economic development in any way? If poor people constitute the majority in India and they vote in large numbers, why have they been unable to use democracy to better their economic position? And by increasing the standard of living and level of education in China, has the authoritarian Communist regime created a population that is increasingly well- equipped to demand democracy and an end to Communist rule?

Course Requirements

The requirements for this course are a 5-7 page paper (20%), a midterm (20%), one 10-12 page paper (30%), and a final (30%).

Readings

The following books can be purchased in the Holy Cross Bookstore:

• Siddharth Dube, In The Land of Poverty: Memoirs of An Indian Family, 1947-1997, (Zed Press, 1998)

• Introduction to Comparative Politics, Fourth Edition, eds. Mark Kesselman, Joel Krieger, William Joseph, (Houghton Mifflin, 2007)

• Barrington Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World, (Beacon Press, 1993)

In addition to these books there are also many reserve readings. All of these readings are available on electronic reserves (noted ER in the syllabus.) They can be accessed by going to the library’s website, and then clicking on “electronic reserves.” Choose either my name from the professor list or the course name from the course list, click on it, and then enter the password. Click on the title of the relevant article to read it.

Some of the ERes readings for this semester have been used in previous semesters and so any article or book chapter on the ERes page may have more pages than I have asked you to read from that article or chapter for this semester. (For example, on the ERes page a reading entitled “Peace in the Middle East” by George Smith may include pages 1-50 because that was the reading assignment for a previous semester, but on this semester’s syllabus you may only be required to read pp. 1-25). So be sure to check this syllabus to see which specific pages of that reading you are being asked to do for this semester rather than automatically reading the entire ERes entry.

I EXPECT YOU TO HAVE DONE THE READING LISTED FOR EACH DATE ON THE SYLLABUS BEFORE CLASS MEETS ON THAT DATE.

How To Reach Me

My office hours will be Mondays 10 – 11 a.m and 1 – 2:30 p.m, and Thursdays 3:30-4:30 p.m. If you cannot make these hours let me know and we can set up other appointment times. The best way to reach me between classes is to e-mail me.

CLASS SCHEDULE

Th Jan 17: Introduction

DEFINING THE BASIC TERMS AND TOOLS OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS

T Jan 22: Political “Development” and Stability

• Political Order in Changing Societies, Samuel Huntington, pp. 1-8 and 39-59 (ER)

Th Jan 24: What is Democracy, and Hypothesis Testing

• “What Democracy Is…….and Is Not,” Philippe Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, reprinted in Comparative Politics 98/99 (ER)

• “Explanation of Freedom House Rankings of Political Rights and Civil Liberties,” pp. 6-19 (beginning with the section “Freedom in the World 2006 Checklist”) (ER)

COMPETING THEORIES ABOUT THE CAUSES OF DEMOCRACY

Does National Wealth Cause Democracy?

T Jan 29: Initial Statements and Breaking the Argument Into Its Component Parts

• “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy,” Seymour Martin Lipset, American Political Science Review, Section II: “Economic Development and Democracy,” pp. 75-85 (ER)

Th Jan 31: More Recent Findings on the Wealth/Democracy Hypothesis

• Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi, “Modernization: Theories and Facts,” in World Politics 49.2, 1997, 155-183

• “National Income and Liberty,” Adrian Karatnycky, Journal of Democracy, January 2004, 88-92 (section entitled “Freedom, Wealth, and Poverty) (ER)

T Feb 5: Is Capitalism Required for Democracy? Can Division and Conflict Facilitate the Emergence of Democracy?

• “The Uncertain Triumph of Democratic Capitalism,” Peter Berger, Journal of Democracy, July 1992 (ER)

• “Transitions to Democracy: Toward A Dynamic Model,” Dankwart Rustow, Comparative Politics, April 1970 (ER)

WAYS OF “DOING” DEMOCRACY: PRESIDENTIAL, PARLIAMENTARY, AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS

Th Feb 7: Advantages and Drawbacks of Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems

Parliamentarism is the Better System:

• “The Perils of Presidentialism,” Juan Linz, Journal of Democracy, Winter 1990 (ER)

• “Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Parliamentarism versus Presidentialism, “Alfred Stepan with Cindy Skach, excerpted in Readings in Comparative Politics, eds. Mark Kesselman and Joel Krieger, Houghton Mifflin, 2006 (ER)

The Advantages of Presidentialism

• “Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America: Rethinking the Terms of the Debate,” Matthew Shugart and Scott Mainwaring, in Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America, eds. Shugart and Mainwaring, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 14-18 and 29-40 (on p. 29 start at section “The Argument Against Presidentialism”) (ER)

T Feb 12: Plurality vs. Proportional Representation, and Two-Party vs. Multi-Party Systems

• “Factors in a Two-Party System and Multiparty System,” in Party Politics and Pressure Groups, Maurice Duverger, (New York: Thomas Crowell, 1972) (4 typed pages) (ER)

Advantages of PR over Plurality Systems

• “The Case for Proportional Representation,” Robert Richie and Steven Hill, Boston Review 23.1, pp. 1-8 (ER)

• “A Radical Plan To Change American Politics,” Michael Lind, The Atlantic Monthly, August 1992, pp. 4-5 (section titled “Proportional Representation” and pp. 8-11 (sections titled “Extremism or Consensus?” and “New Parties” (ER)

Dangers of PR

• “The Problem with PR,” Guy Lardeyret, The Global Resurgence of Democracy, eds. Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996) (ER)

THE UNITED KINGDOM & FRANCE

Th Feb 14: The Political System of the U.K.

• Introduction to Comparative Politics, Chapter Two

T Feb 19: Peaceful and Violent Western Roads to Democracy

• Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of The Modern World, Barrington Moore, Chapter 7 and Chapter 1 (read in this order)

COMMUNIST AND POST-COMMUNIST TRAJECTORIES: RUSSIA & CHINA

THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AND RUSSIA

Th Feb 21: The Basics of Marxism

• “Marxism,” in Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact, Leon P. Baradat, (Prentice-Hall, 2000) (ER)

------------------------------------TH FEB 21: FIRST PAPER DUE----------------------------------

T Feb 26: Leninism, the Russian Revolution, and Moore’s Explanation of The Revolution

• Social Origins of Dictatorship, Chapter 9

Th Feb 28: The Political and Economic System of the Soviet Union

• Introduction to Comparative Politics, 355-362

• The Russians, Hedrick Smith, (Crown Press, 1985), 57-69 (“Consumers”) (ER)

------------------------SPRING BREAK: M MAR 3 – SUN MAR 10 --------------------

T Mar 11: Capitalism Emerges…….

• Introduction to Comparative Politics, 368-380

• “The Russian Devolution,” John Lloyd, The New York Times Magazine, August 15, 1999 (ER)

• “The Triumph of the Quiet Tycoon,” Peter Maass, New York Times, August 1, 2004 (ER)

Th Mar 13: But Does Democracy?

• Introduction to Comparative Politics, 362-365, 380-385, 388-400

• “Putin in Power,” Michael McFaul, Current History, October 2000 (ER)

• “The Myth of the Authoritarian Model: How Putin’s Crackdown Holds Russia Back,” Michael McFaul and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, Foreign Affairs, January 2008 (ER)

-----------------------------------------------T Mar 18: MIDTERM------------------------------------

----------------------------EASTER BREAK: TH MAR 20 – M MAR 24-----------------------------

CHINA

T Mar 25: The Chinese Revolution & The Contemporary Chinese Political System

• Introduction to Comparative Politics, 627-637, 640-651, 651-659, 663-668, 671-678

• Suzanne Ogden, Inklings of Democracy in China, (Harvard University Press, 2002), 60-79 (ER)

Th Mar 27: The Economics of the New China

• “The Other China,” Maurice Meisner, Current History, September 1997 (ER)

• “The New Inequality,” An Chen, Journal of Democracy, Volume 14, No. 1, January 2003 (ER)

• “China’s Workers Risk Limbs in Export Drive,” Joseph Kahn, New York Times, April 7, 2003 (ER)

• “Making Trinkets, and A Deadly Dust,” Joseph Kahn, New York Times, June 18, 2003 (ER)

• “China’s ‘Haves’ Stir the ‘Have-Nots’ To Violence,” Joseph Kahn, New York Times, December 31, 2004 (ER)

T Apr 1 - T Apr 8: Who Might Press for Reform in China?

Poor Farmers? (T Apr 1)

• Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China, Ian Johnson, (New York: Pantheon Books 2004), 23-28,17-23, 34-86 (ER)

• “China’s Social Unrest: The Story Behind the Stories,” Albert Keidel, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, September 2006 (ER)

Students and Workers? Capitalists? Pro-Democracy Activists? (Th Apr 3)

• “The Social Origins and Consequences of the Tiananmen Crisis,” Anita Chan, in China in the Nineties, Goodman & Segal, eds. (1991) (ER)

• “When Chinese Workers Unite, the Bosses Often Run the Union,” Joseph Kahn, New York Times, December 29, 2003 (ER)

• “China’s Communist Party Opens Its Doors to Capitalists,” Joseph Kahn, New York Times, November 4, 2002 (ER)

• “Letter From Beijing: Enemy of the State,” Jianying Zha, The New Yorker, April 23, 2007 (ER)

T Apr 8: Is Democracy A Priority for Most Chinese People?

• Suzanne Ogden, Inklings of Democracy in China, (Harvard University Press, 2002), 120-141, 172-181 (ER)

Th Apr 10: Is Authoritarianism in China on the Way Out? Differing Views

• “When Will the Chinese People Be Free?” Henry Rowen, Journal of Democracy, July 2007 (ER)

• “How Will China Democratize?” Minxin Pei, Journal of Democracy, July 2007 (ER)

• “The Resilient Authoritarians,” Martin Dimitrov, Current History, January 2008 (ER)

INDIA

T Apr 15: The Foundations of Democracy and Partition

• Introduction to Comparative Politics, 255-258

• Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction, Bhikhu Parekh, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 1-34, 64-73, 92-98 (ER)

• India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy, Ramachandra Guha, (Ecco Press, 2007), 19-38 and 46-50 (ER)

Th Apr 17: India’s Political and Economic Systems Today

• Introduction to Comparative Politics, 269-290

T Apr 22: How Did India Become and Remain A Democracy?

• Why Democracy Survives,” Ashutosh Varshney, Journal of Democracy 9.3 1998 (ER)

• “Ethnic Diversities, Constitutional Designs, and Public Policies in India,” David Stuligross and Ashutosh Varshney, in The Architecture of Democracy: Constitutional Design, Conflict Management, and Democracy, eds. Andrew Reynolds, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) 429-443 (ER)

• India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy, Ramachandra Guha, 733-751 (ER)

------------------------------T APR 22: FINAL PAPER DUE IN CLASS--------------------------

Th Apr 24 – T Apr 29: Caste and Poverty in India, Historically and Today

• In The Land of Poverty: Memoirs of An Indian Family, 1947-1997, Siddharth Dube, (Zed Books, 1998, London), 6-17, 22-38 (Th Apr 24)

• “Ethnic Diversities, Constitutional Designs, and Public Policies in India,” David Stuligross and Ashutosh Varshney, 443-458 (Th Apr 24)

• In the Land of Poverty, 52-62, 65-68 (Th Apr 24)

• In The Land of Poverty, 105-124, 127-135, 200-209 (T Apr 29)

• India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy, Ramachandra Guha, 597-613 (ER) (T Apr 29)

• “Does Democracy Prevent Famine?” Michael Massing, New York Times, March 1, 2003 (ER) (T Apr 29)

----------------------------------T MAY 6 at 2:30 p.m.: FINAL EXAM----------------

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