GOVERNMENT 1190 the POLITICS of EUROPE Professor Daniel
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
GOVERNMENT 1190 THE POLITICS OF EUROPE Professor Daniel Ziblatt Office: 27 Kirkland St (#123) Course Time: 1:30-2:45 M/W Course Location: 27 Kirkland Street, Lower Level Lecture Room Office hours: signup on www.danielziblatt.com Today's Europe is in tumult and has been facing its most serious political tests since the end of WW II. These include the 2009 financial Euro-crisis, Europe's refugee crisis of 2015, the steady rise of the radical right and populist parties in western Europe, the ongoing saga of Brexit, and the emergence of authoritarian regimes in the eastern edges of the European Union. Analysts and citizens alike question the sustainability of Europe’s model of capitalism, the future of European Union, and the viability of democracy itself in Europe This course places these current headlines in broader and historical perspective, tracing the evolution of European political systems from their predemocratic origins to the present crises. We begin with an overview of Europe’s distinctive political legacies of feudalism, state-building, absolutism and revolution that provide key background to contemporary Europe. We then trace the difficult rise of democracy in the 19th century and fascism in the 1930s. Next we explore the post-war “rescue” of Europe through the creation of the European Union and postwar European welfare states. And, finally, we turn to study why populist, anti-immigrant, and Euroskeptic movements and parties have surged across Europe exploring what this means for European democracy today. After taking this course, students will possess a knowledge of the political currents running through contemporary Europe, providing students with historical and analytical context for understanding contemporary European politics. The course is especially recommended for students who plan to do further work on European politics. Requirements (and weighting in final grade) 1. Exam #1, (In-Class) Thursday February 20: 20% 2. Exam #2, (Take-Home), Due Tuesday April 1: 30% 3. Final Exam, covering the material from the entire course: 30% 4. Participation in weekly sections: 20% Readings: readings are online except for the following books for purchase at the Harvard Coop *Daniel Ziblatt, Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2018) *John Pinder and Simon Usherwood, The European Union: A Very Short Introduction (2013), *Barry Eichengreen, The Populist Temptation (Oxford University Press, 2018) WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION January 28: Introduction January 30. What is the State? Edmund Morgan, Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America (W.W. Norton, 1988), pp. 13-15 Max Weber, Politics as Vocation, pp.77-82 Karl Marx, “The Communist Manifesto” in Karl Marx: Selected Writings, 2nd edition (edited by David McLellan), Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 246-255. WEEK 2: DEMOCRACY February 4. What is Democracy? Joseph Schumpeter, “The Classical Doctrine of Democracy” and “Another Theory of Democracy”, in Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy ([1943] Routledge, 2003), pp. 292-328 Robert Dahl, Polyarchy (Yale University Press, 1971), Chapter 1, pp. 1-9 February 6. What gives rise to democracy? Seymour Martin Lipset, “Some Social Requisites of Democracy” American Political Science Review 53 (1) 1959 [selections] pp. 69-85 Paul Pierson, “Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics” American Political Science Review 94 (2) 2000, pp. 251-267. WEEK 3: EUROPE’S PRE-DEMOCRATIC STATES February 11 Medieval Roots of Constitutionalism Brian Downing, “Medieval Origins of Constitutional Government in the West,” Theory and Society (1989) pp. 213-229 Gianfranco Poggi, “The Feudal System of Rule” and “The Staendestaat” in The Development of the Modern State: A Sociological Introduction (Stanford University Press, 1978) pp. 16-59 February 13: The Absolutist Alternative Gianfranco Poggi, “The Absolutist System of Rule,” from The Development of the Modern State (1978), pp. 60-85. Thomas Ertman, “Political Regimes” Birth of Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 19-25 WEEK 4: February 18: President’s Day February 20: In Class Exam #1 WEEK 5: THE RISE OF THE STATE IN EUROPE: THREE PERSPECTIVES February 25: Religion and the Rise of the State Richard Dunn, “Calvinism and Catholicism in Western Europe” and “Political Disintegration in Central and Eastern Europe” in The Age of Religious Wars (1978), pp. 11-102 February 27: Economic Change, Military Conflict, and the Rise of the State Hendrick Spruyt, “The Economic Renaissance of the Late Middle Ages” The Sovereign State and its Competitors, (1994), p. 61-76 Brian Downing, “The Military Revolution,” in The Military Revolution (1992) pp. 56-83; Charles Tilly, “War Making and State-Making as Organized Crime” in Theda Skocpol et al (eds) Bringing the State Back In (1985), pp. 169-191 WEEK 6: ABSOLUTISM AND REVOLUTION March 4: Prussia as the Prototype of absolutism Brian Downing “Brandenburg-Prussia” and “Poland” in Downing, The Military Revolution pp. 84-112; pp. 140-156 March 6: The Exit from Absolutism: French and English Revolutions Compared Brian Downing. “France” and “England” The Military Revolution, pp. 113-139; pp. 157-186. Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the French Revolution (Doubleday, 1955), Chapters 9 and 10 Optional Background Reading on English and French Revolutions: Sheri Berman, Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe (Oxford University Press, 2019), pp. 29-76 WEEK 7: PUSH FOR MASS DEMOCRACY, PART I March 11 and 13: Gradual Democratization in Britain James Miller, “A Struggle for Political and Social Equality” in Can Democracy Work? A Short History of a Radical Idea (2018) pp. 134-144 E.J. Hobsbawm, “The Industrial Revolution” (Chapter 2) in The Age of Revolution, pp. 44-73. Stephen J. Lee (“The 1832 Reform Act”and “Parliamentary Reform: 1867 and beyond” Aspects of British Political History (1994), 1815-1914; 53-63; 136-146; Robert Dahl, “Historical Sequences” in Polyarchy (1971), chapter 3. Moshei Ostrogorski, “The Party Whip” and “Registration Societies” Democracy and the Political Parties (1902),volume 1 , pp. 137-143 Daniel Ziblatt, Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, Chapters 3, 4 and 5. Spring Break: No Class on March 18/20 WEEK 8: PUSH FOR MASS DEMOCRACY, PART II March 25: Unsettled Democratization: 1848 Revolutions and Napoleon III’s France, John Merriman, A History of Modern Europe, chapter 16 (“The Revolutions of 1848”) Gordon Wright, France in Modern Times (5th edition), pp. 123-144 (Chapters 11 and 12) Optional Primary Source Reading: Karl Marx “Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon” in Karl Marx Selections. March 27: Unsettled Democratization: the case of Imperial Germany Hans Ulrich Wehler, The German Empire (Berg, 1985), pp. 52-65, 91-99. Daniel Ziblatt, Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, Chapters 6 and 7 Sheri Berman, “Modernization in Historical Perspective: The Case of Imperial Germany,” World Politics, 53, 3, April 2001. Week 9: INTERWAR YEARS: RISE AND FALL OF DEMOCRACY **Take Home Exam (Exam #2) Due April 1 at the Beginning of Lecture April 1/3: The Rise and Fall of the Weimar Republic in Comparative Perspective Richard Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 Daniel Ziblatt, Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, Chapters 8 and 9 (pp. 259-333). Barry Eichgengreen, “Unemployment and Reaction” in The Populist Temptation (Oxford University Press, 2018), Chapter 6 Robert Paxton, “The Five Stages of Fascism” Journal of Modern History 1998 Giovanni Capoccia, “Defending Democracy” (2001) European Journal of Political Research, pp. 431-460 Optional Primary Document: Lion Feuchtwanger, The Oppermanns: a Novel [1934] (2001), Book 3, Chapter 12, pp. 341-346. Week 10 POSTWAR: CAPITALISM AND DEMOCRACY COMPATIBLE FINALLY? April 8: Transformed International Context & Transformed Political Parties Charles Maier, “The Two Postwar Eras and the Conditions for Stability in Twentieth-Century Western Europe” American Historical Review (1981): 327-352. John Pinder and Simon Usherwood, The European Union: A Very Short Introduction (2013), pp.1-32 Optional Primary Document (Audio of Marshall Plan announcement at Harvard Commencement in 1947): https://www.marshallfoundation.org/marshall/the-marshall- plan/marshall-plan-speech/ April 10: Tamed Capitalism Barry Eichengreen, “The Age of Moderation” The Populist Temptation (Oxford University Press, 2018), Chapter 7 Gosta Esping Andersen “De-Commodification in Social Policy” Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, pp. 35-54 Peter Hall and David Soskice, “An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism” in Varieties of Capitalism (Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 1-14 Watch video on Bretton Woods System (on course website) WEEK 11: POST-1973: GLOBALIZATION, EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND ROAD TO THE EURO- CRISIS April 17 and 19 John Pinder and Simon Usherwood, The European Union: A Very Short Introduction (2013), Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 Sophie Meunier, R. Daniel Keleman and Erik Jones “Failing Forward? The Euro Crisis and the Incomplete Nature of European Integration” Comparative Political Studies 49 (7) 2015: Peter Hall, “Varieties of Capitalism and the Euro-Crisis” West European Politics. 2014;37 (6) :1223-43. Wolfgang Merkel “Is Democracy Compatible With Capitalism?” Zeitschrift fuer Vergleichende Politik Wissenschaft (2014) 8:109-128 WEEK 12: A POPULIST BACKLASH April22/24: Populism in western and eastern Europe Jan Werner Mueller, “What Populists Say” in What is Populism? (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), Chapter 1 “How Far is Europe Swinging to the Right?” New York Times (2017) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/22/world/europe/europe-right-wing-austria- hungary.html Barry Eichengreen, The Populist Temptation, pp. 131-187 Elisabeth Zerofsky, “Viktor Orban’s Far Right Vision for Europe” The New Yorker, January 14, 2019 Daniel Keleman, “Europe’s Authoritarian Equilibrium” Foreign Affairs December2017 WEEK 13: April 29: A Roundtable Discussion with Guests .