Protocol for Handing in Written Assignments: Students must turn in all written assignments three ways. This assignment must be 1) emailed to the professor, 2) with a hard copy delivered to her office in the Tiber campus by 5pm on the due date and 3) an electronic copy delivered on through MOODLE to TURNITIN. This will require that you set up your own MOODLE account.
WEEKLY LESSONS AND READINGS
WEEK 1 (August 27-September 2) Introducing Comparative Politics
Session 1 (August 28) Course Introduction
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 1.
Session 2 (August 30) Building Theory: Comparative Method Applied
Peter Katzenstein, Adam Przeworski, Theda Skocpol, et al. (1995) ‘The Role of Theory in Comparative Politics’ World Politics 48/1:1-25.
WEEK 2 (September 3-9) State Formation and Types States
Session 3 (September 4) State Formation Trajectories
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 2, pp. 30-46
Francis Fukuyama, Political Order and Decay. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), Chapters 27-28, pp. 399-435
Case Study: England
Barrington Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993), Chapter 7, pp. 413-32
Session 4 (September 6) From Predatory to Rentier: Types of States
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 2, pp. 46-61.
Case Study: Saudi Arabia
Paul Aarts and Carolien Roulants, Saudi Arabia: The Kingdom in Peril, (London: Hurst and Co, 2015) pp. 1-36, 135-141
WEEK 3 (September 10-16) Political Culture and Religion
Session 5 (September 11) ‘Western’ and ‘Asian Values’
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 3, pp. 91-94.
Amartya Sen, “Democracy as a Universal Value,” Journal of Democracy, 10 (July 1999): 3-17
Russell Bova, “Democracy and Liberty: The Cultural Connection,” Journal of Democracy, 8 (January 1997): 112-126
Mark Thompson, “Whatever Happened to ‘Asian Values’?” Journal of Democracy 12 (October 2001): 154-165
Christian Welzel and Russell Dalton, “Cultural Change in Asia and Beyond,” Asian Journal of Comparative Politics (June 2017), 112-132
Case Study: Singapore
Bilahari Kausikan, “Governance that Works,” Journal of Democracy, 8 (April 1997): 24-34.
Session 6: (September 13) Clash of Civilizations
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 3, pp. 77-90
Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996), pp. 192-198.
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 7
Case Study: ISIS
Joby Warrick. Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. (New York: Anchor, Penguin, 2016), pp. 267-307.
**Course Dinner Discussion on Hillbilly Elergy on Wednesday, September 13, 7:30pm**
WEEK 4 (September 17-23) Social Cleavages, Nationalism and Ethnicity
Session 7 (September 18): Nationalism and Nationhood
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 3, pp. 62-76.
Sara Rich Dorman. “The Varieties of Nationalism in Africa,” Current History, (May 2015), pp. 189-193.
Case Study: Nigeria
Brandon Kendhammer. “Nigeria’s New Democratic Dawn,” Current History, (May 2015), 170-176.
Ebenezer Obadare, “Perspective: A Nigerian President’s Disappointing Return,” Current History, May 2017, Vol 116, No. 790, pp. 194-96
Session 8 (September 20): Left and Right Politics
Brendan O’Leary. “Europe’s Embers of Nationalism,” Current History, (March 2015)
Case Study: Italy and United Kingdom
David Art. “Why 2013 is not 1933: The Radical Right in Europe,” Current History (March 2013)
Session 9 (September 22): Class Field Trip 8:30-11am
***Book Assessment Due, Thursday, September 21st by 5pm***
WEEK 5 (September 24-30) Political Parties, Elections and Voting Behavior
Session 10 (September 25) Political Parties and Voting Behavior
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 5, pp. 158-68.
Pippa Norris (eds.) Comparing Democracies 2: New Challenges in the Study of Elections and Voting, (New York: Sage Publications, 2002), Chapter 7
David M. Farrell, “Campaign Strategies and Tactics,” in Lawrence Le Du et. Al. Comparing Democracies: Elections and Voting in Comparative Perspective, (New York: Sage Publications, 2002), Chapter 6
Case Studies: United States and Italy
Session 11 (September 27) Elections and Representation
Jan Teorell, Marino Torcal and Jose Ramon Montero. “Political Participation: Mapping the Terrain,” In Jan van Deth, Jose Ramon Montero and Anders Westholm (eds.) Citizenship and Involvement in European Democracies, (London: Routledge, 2007), Ch. 13, pp. 334-35
Christian Achen & Larry Bartels, Democracy for Realists: Why Elections do not Produce Responsive Government (Princeton, 2016), Chapter 1.
Russell J. Dalton & Christian Welzel (eds), The Civic Culture Transformed: From Allegiant to Assertive Citizens (Cambridge, 2014), Chapter 1.
WEEK 6 (October 1-7) Research and Comparative Politics
Session 12 (October 2): Conducting Research on Comparative Politics
Library Session for Comparative Politics
Research on elections and electoral systems in Italy and United States
*Session 13 (October 4): Studying Elections
Field Assignment on Italian and US Elections: Conduct Interviews. No class.
WEEK 7 (October 8-14) Political Mobilization and Leadership
Session 14 (October 9) Movements, Protest, Populism and Disengagement
Charles Tilly and Leslie Wood. Social Movements, 1768-2008. (New York: Paradigm Publishers, 2009), pp. 1-37
Jan Werner-Muller, What is Populism? (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), pp. 41-74.
Case Study: Occupy Movements
William A. Gamson, and Micah L. Sifry. "The# Occupy movement: an introduction." The Sociological Quarterly 54, no. 2 (2013): 159-163
Session 15 (October 11) Role of Leadership, Ideas and Charisma
Max Weber. “The Three Pure Types of Legitimate Authority, Legal Authority with a Bureaucratic Administrative Staff, Traditional Authority, Charismatic Authority, The Routinization of Charisma, “The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, (N.Y.: The Free Press, 1984). pp. 328-336, 341-346, 358-373.
Mussolini, “The Doctrine of Fascism,” http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/reading/germany/mussolini.htm
The Futurist Manifesto, http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/T4PM/futurist-manifesto.html and paintings, http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/news/20-dynamic-paintings-from-the-italian-futurists/
Hitler,“Triumph des Willens”
https://youtu.be/vBF6d4xyq40
***Students must have turned in at least one Reading Reflection by this week, October 12th***
WEEK 8 (October 15-21) Democracy
Session 16 (October 16) Defining and Measuring Democracy
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 5, pp. 136-142, 168-9.
Philippe Schmitter and Terry Karl, "What Democracy Is...and Is Not," Journal of Democracy 2 (July 1991): 75-88
Larry Diamond, Emily Green and William Gallery “Measuring Democracy,” in Larry Diamond, In Search of Democracy, (London: Routledge, 2016), pp. 46-75.
Session 17 (October 18) Political Institutions and Democratic Governance
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 5, pp. 148-157.
Larry Diamond and Leonardo Morlino. “The Quality of Democracy: An Overview.” Journal of Democracy, 15 (October 2004): 20-31.
Case Study: India
Ashutosh Varshney, “India’s Democracy at 70: Growth, Inequality and Nationalism,” Journal of Democracy, (July 2017), 28/3: 41-51.
WEEK 9 (October 22-28) Regime Change: Democratization
Session 18 (October 23) Early Waves of Democratization
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 5, pp. 143-47.
Larry Diamond, “Democracy’s Third Wave Today,” Current History, November 2011. 110:299-307
Philippe C. Schmitter. “Twenty-Five Years, Fifteen Findings.” Journal of Democracy, 21 (January 2010): 17-28.
*Session 19 (October 25) Contemporary Democratization
Field Assignment State of Democracy in Chosen Country (not your own)
WEEK 10 (October 29-November 4) Reflections Week
Session 20 (October 30) No Class (Make-up Session was Fieldtrip)
(November 1) National Holiday. No Class.
WEEK 11 (November 5-11) Authoritarian Regimes
Session 21 (November 6) Types of Authoritarian Regimes
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 6
Ivan Krastev. “Paradoxes of the New Authoritarianism,” Journal of Democracy, 22 (April 2011):5-16
Case Studies: Egypt and Thailand
Emad El-Din Shahin. “Egypt’s Revolution Turned on its Head,” Current History (December 2015), 114: 343-348
Claudio Sopranzetti, “The Tightening Authoritarian Grip on Thailand,” Current History, (September 2017), 116/791: 230-34
Session 22 (November 8) Authoritarian Resilience
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 9
Alexander Cooley, “Countering Democratic Norms,” Journal of Democracy, 26 (October 2015):49-63.
Case Studies: China
Minxin Pei. “Transition in China? More Likely Than You Think.” Journal of Democracy, 27/4, 2016. pp. 5-20.
WEEK 12 (November 12-18) Democratic Decay and Deconsolidation
Session 23 (November 13) Democratic Decay
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 8
Case Studies: Russia and Eastern Europe/ Turkey
Samuel A. Greene. “The End of Ambiguity in Russia,” Current History (October 2015), pp. 251-258.
Holly Case, “Perspective: Shape-Shifting Illiberalism in East-Central Europe,” Current History, Vol. 116 (March 2017), pp. 112-116.
Aaron Stein, “Take to the Streets: Turkey’s Failed Coup One Year Later,” War on the Rocks, July 14, 2017. https://warontherocks.com/2017/07/take-to-the-streets-turkeys-failed-coup-one-year-later/
Session 24 (November 15) Political Polarization and Democratic Deconsolidation
Takis Pappas. “The Specter Haunting Europe: Distinguishing Liberal Democracy’s Challengers,” Journal of Democracy, 27/4, 2016. pp. 22-36.
Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk, “The Signs of Democratic Deconsolidation,” Journal of Democracy (January 2017), 28/2: 5-16
Thomas Carothers and Richard Young, “Is Democracy Dying? Seeing through the Boom and Gloom,” Foreign Affairs (April 2017).
***Last Week for Reading Reflections and Oral Presentations***
WEEK 13 (November 19-23) Inequality and Welfare
Session 25 (November 20): Inequality
Francis Fukuyama. “Dealing with Inequality,” Journal of Democracy, 22 (July 2011), 79-89.
Larry Bartels, Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013), Introduction, pp. 1-28.
Alfred Stepan and Juan J. Linz. “Comparative Perspectives on Inequality and the Quality of Democracy in the United States. Perspectives on Politics, 9(4) (2011): 841-856.
Session 26 (November 22): Welfare
Giovanni Carbone. “The Consequences of Democracy.” Journal of Democracy, 20 (April 2009): 123-137.
Guiliano Bonoli. “Europe’s Social Safety Net Under Pressures,” Current History, (March 2016), 115:102-107.
*** Short Analytical Paper Due, Tuesday, November 21st by 5pm***
WEEK 14 (November 26-December 2) Governance, Development and Globalization
Session 27 (November 27) Development & Good Governance
Patrick H. O’Neill, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 10
Jeffery Sachs, “The Development Challenge,” Foreign Affairs, March/April, 2005.
William Easterly, “Was Development Assistance a Mistake?” http://williameasterly.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/50_easterly_wasdevelopmentassistanceamistake_prp.pdf
Susan Rose Ackerman Corruption: A study in political economy. (New York: Academic Press, 2013), pp. 211-233.
“The Wages of Sin” The Economist, January 30th 2016
Session 28 (November 28) Globalization
Nathaniel Persily, “Can Democracy Survive the Internet,” Journal of Democracy,(April 2017), 28/3: 63-76.
Session 29 (December 1) Exam Review (Optional)
WEEK 15 (December 4-8) Final Examination TBD