Analytical Issues in Latin American Politics Spring 2019 Government 390L, Unique 38560 LAS 384L, Unique 39760 TH 12:30-3:30 PM, Batts 1.104
Professor: Wendy Hunter Email: [email protected] Office: 3.138 Batts Hall, Department of Government Office Hours: Monday 10:00 am–1:00 p.m. and by appointment
Course Description
This course is a graduate-level introduction to Latin American politics. It is designed to provide students with the theoretical and analytical tools to engage in cross-national study and research of political processes in Latin America. It explores alternative theoretical approaches as well as substantive topics of major importance studied by scholars in the field. Priority will be placed on critically examining the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to understanding political, social, and economic change in the region. The debates and theoretical currents that we will examine have been central not only to the study of Latin American politics but also to the development of the sub-discipline of Comparative Politics over the last thirty years. No prerequisites are necessary.
Required Texts for Purchase (available at the University Co-op)
*Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies, by Guillermo O'Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. *The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, edited by Steven Levitsky and Kenneth M. Roberts. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011. *The Resilience of the Latin American Right, edited by Juan Pablo Luna and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. *Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America, by Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2012. *Changing Course in Latin America: Party Systems in the Neoliberal Era, by Kenneth M. Roberts. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Course Requirements
1. Seminar participation: The success of the seminar depends first and foremost upon the active engagement of students. Barring extraordinary circumstances, students should be present at every session and prepared to discuss the reading. You must inform me beforehand if you plan to miss a session.
2. Three position briefs. Three times during the semester students will write a brief paper (3 or so double-spaced pages in length) on the readings in response to questions that will be handed out the week before. The same students who write for the week will kick off the class discussion. Students will select the days they will present.
3. Two short essays. Students will be required to write two short essays (6–8 double-spaced pages) that critically analyze the readings around assigned questions. These essays must put forth and develop a thesis, not merely summarize/synthesize the readings.
4. Final Assignment: Students will be required to write a final integrative essay (10–12 double- spaced pages) in response to given questions based on the course readings.
Plus and minus grades will be used.
Grade Weightings and Due Dates of Assignments
Seminar participation 15 percent
Three position papers 15 percent (5 each) Sign up
First short essay 20 percent February 25
Second short essay 20 percent April 15
Final essay 30 percent May 15
Please submit the essays to my GOV department mailbox or to my office by 3:00 of the day they are due. I will not accept papers via e-mail. Late papers will be penalized by 1/3 of a letter grade per day (e.g. an A will become an A-).
2 TOPICS AND SCHEDULE OF READINGS
Week 1, January 24
No reading.
Week 2, January 31: THE IMPORTANCE OF REGIONS/ DIFFUSION DYNAMICS
Scott Mainwaring and Aníbal Pérez-Liñán. 2005. “Why Regions of the World are Important.” Kellogg Institute Working Paper #322.
Stephan Haggard and Robert R. Kaufman. 2009. “How Regions Differ.” Journal of Democracy 20:4 (October): 64-78.
Stephen M. Walt. 2000. “Fads, Fevers, and Firestorms.” Foreign Policy (November/December): 34-42.
Zachary Elkins and Beth Simmons. 2005. “On Waves, Clusters, and Diffusion: A Conceptual Framework.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political Science 598 (March): 33-51.
Mitchell A. Orenstein. 2003. “Mapping the Diffusion of Pension Innovation.” In Robert Holzmann, Mitchell Orenstein, and Michal Rutkowski, eds. Pension Reform in Europe: Process and Progress. Washington: World Bank.
Natasha Borges Sugiyama. 2011. “The Diffusion of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in the Americas.” Global Social Policy 11(2-3). 250-278.
Week 3, February 7: INTERNATIONAL CONSTRAINTS/OPPORTUNITIES
Erik Wibbels. 2006. “Dependency Revisited: International Markets, Business Cycles, and Social Spending in the Developing World. International Organization 60(2): 433-468.
Andy Baker. 2003. "Why is Trade Reform So Popular in Latin America? World Politics 55:3 423-255.
Daniella Campello and Cesar Zucco, Jr. 2016. “Presidential Success and the World Economy.” Journal of Politics 78(2): 589-602.
Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way. 2006. “Linkage versus Leverage: Rethinking the International Dimension of Regime Change.” Comparative Politics 38(4): 379-400.
3 Barbara Stallings. 1992. “International Influence on Economic Policy.” In Stephan Haggard and Robert R. Kaufman, eds., The Politics of Economic Adjustment. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Week 4, February 14: AUTHORITARIANISM
Chalmers, Douglas. 1977. “The Politicized State in Latin America.” In J.A. Malloy, ed., Authoritarianism and Corporatism in Latin America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
David Collier. 1979. "Introduction" and "Overview of the Bureaucratic Authoritarian-Model." In David Collier, ed. The New Authoritarianism in Latin America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Alfred Stepan. 1973. "The New Professionalism of Internal Warfare and Military Role Expansion." In Alfred Stepan, ed. Authoritarian Brazil. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Greene, Kenneth. 2007. Chapter 3 in Why Dominant Parties Lose: Mexico’s Democratization in Comparative Perspective (New York: Cambridge University Press).
Steven Levitsky and James Loxton. 2013. "Populism and Competitive Authoritarianism in the Andes." Democratization 20 (1): 107-136.
Javier Corrales. 2015. "Autocratic Legalism in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy 26(2): 37-51.
Week 5, February 21: TRANSITIONS FROM AUTHORITARIAN RULE
Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies. 1986. Guillermo O'Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. (Entire book)
Week 6, February 28: MARKET REFORM AND PARTY SYSTEMS
Kenneth M. Roberts. Changing Course in Latin America: Party Systems in the Neoliberal Era. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Chapters 1-9.
Week 7, March 7: POVERTY, INEQUALITY, AND SOCIAL POLICY I
Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America, by Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2012. READ Chapters 1, 4, 6, 8. SKIM Chapters 2, 3, and 5.
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Fernando Filgueira. 2011. “Fault Lines in Latin American Social Development and Welfare Regime Challenges.” In Merike Blofield ed. The Great Gap: Inequality and the Politics of Redistribution in Latin America. University Park: Penn State University Press.
Week 8, March 14: POVERTY, INEQUALITY, AND SOCIAL POLICY II
Alisha C. Holland and Ben Ross Schneider. 2017. “Easy and Hard Redistribution: The Political Economy of Welfare States in Latin America." Perspectives on Politics 15(4): 988-1006.
Wendy Hunter and Robert Brill. 2016. “’Documents, Please:’ Advances in Social Protection and Birth Certification in the Developing World.” World Politics 68(2): 191-228.
Wendy Hunter and Natasha Borges Sugiyama. 2014. “Transforming Subjects into Citizens: Insights from Brazil’s Bolsa Família.” Perspectives on Politics 12:4 (December): 829-845.
Alisha C. Holland. 2018. " Diminished Expectations: Redistributive Preferences in Truncated Welfare States." World Politics 70 (4): 555-594.
Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, Federico Estévez, Beatriz Magaloni. 2016. The Political Logic of Poverty Relief: Electoral Strategies and Social Policy in Mexico. Chapter 1: Poverty Relief in Latin America.
Spring Break
Week 9, March 28: CLIENTELISM
Allen Hicken. 2011. "Clientelism." Annual Review of Political Science 14: 289-310.
Chappell Lawson and Kenneth F. Greene. 2014. “Making Clientelism Work: How Norms of Reciprocity Increase Voter Compliance.” Comparative Politics 47 (1): 61-77.
Paula Muñoz. 2014. “An Informational Theory of Campaign Clientelism: The Case of Peru.” Comparative Politics 47(1): 79-98.
Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro. 2012. "What Wins Votes: Why Some Politicians Opt Out of Clientelism." American Journal of Political Science 56(3): 568-583.
Ana Lorena de la O. 2015. Crafting Policies to End Poverty in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 6: Conditional Cash Transfers and Clientelism.
5 Natasha Borges Sugiyama and Wendy Hunter. 2013. Whither Clientelism? Good Governance and Brazil’s Bolsa Família Program.” Comparative Politics 46 (1): 43-62.
Week 10, April 4: CORRUPTION
Manuel Balán. 2011. "Competition by Denunciation: The Political Dynamics of Corruption Scandals in Argentina and Chile." Comparative Politics 43(4): 459-478.
Daniel Treisman. 2007. "What Have We Learned about the Causes of Corruption from Ten Years of Cross-National Research?" Annual Review of Political Science 10: 211-244.
Kurt Weyland. 1998. "The Politics of Corruption in Latin America." Journal of Democracy 9(2): 108-121.
Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro and Matthew S. Winters. 2017. "Can Citizens Discern? Information Credibility, Political Sophistication, and the Punishment of Corruption in Brazil. The Journal of Politics 79(1): 60-74
Mollie J. Cohen, Noam Lupu, Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, eds. Chapter 3 in "The Political Culture of Democracy in the Americas, 2016/17: A Comparative Study of Democracy and Governance." USAID, Vanderbilt University, LAPOP.
Week 11, April 11: CRIME
Kevin Casas-Zamora and Lucía Dammert. 2007. "Public Security Challenges in the Americas." Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, Latin America Initiative.
Mollie J. Cohen, Noam Lupu, Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, eds. Chapters 1 and 4 in "The Political Culture of Democracy in the Americas, 2016/17: A Comparative Study of Democracy and Governance." USAID, Vanderbilt University, LAPOP.
David Shirk and Joel Wallman. 2015. "Understanding Mexico's Drug Violence." Journal of Conflict Resolution 59 (8): 348-376. (SKIM)
Gabriela Calderón, Gustavo Robles, Alberto Díaz-Cayeros, and Beatriz Magaloni. 2015. "The Beheading of Criminal Organizations and the Dynamics of Violence in Mexico." Journal of Conflict Resolution 59(8): 455-485. (SKIM)
David Pion-Berlin and Miguel Carreras. 2017. "Armed Forces, Police and Crime-fighting in Latin America." Journal of Politics in Latin America 3: 3-26.
Enrique Desmond Arias and Mark Ungar. 2009. "Community Policing and Latin America's Citizen Security Crisis." Comparative Politics 41(4): 409-429.
6 Mark Ungar. 2007-08. “The Privatization of Citizen Security in Latin America: From Elite Guards to Neighborhood Vigilantes.” Social Justice 34 (3-4): 20-37.
Week 12, April 18: RESURGENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN LEFT
Kurt Weyland. 2013. "The Threat from the Populist Left." Journal of Democracy 24 (3): 18-32.
*Read the following in The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, edited by Steven Levitsky and Kenneth M. Roberts. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.
Introduction. “Latin America’s ‘Left Turn.’ A Framework for Analysis.” Steven Levitsky and Kenneth M. Roberts.
Chapter 1. “Evidence from Public Opinion.” Jason Ross Arnold and David J. Samuels
Chapter 2. “Economic Constraints and Presidential Agency.” María Victoria Murillo, Virginia Oliveros, and Milan Vaishnav
Chapter 3. “The Left: Destroyer or Savior of the Market Model?” Kurt Weyland.
Chapter 4. “The Political Left, the Export Boom, and the Populist Temptation.” Robert R. Kaufman.
Chapter 8. “The Left and Citizenship Rights.” Deborah J. Yashar.
I recommend that you deepen your knowledge of at least one case of the moderate left (Brazil, Chile) and one farther reaching case (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador) by reading the corresponding chapters (13,14) and (9, 10, 11).
WEEK 13, April 25: RESILIENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN RIGHT
*The Resilience of the Latin American Right, edited by Juan Pablo Luna and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
Introduction: “The Right in Contemporary Latin America: A Framework for Analysis.” Juan Pablo Luna and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser.
Chapter 1. “Democracy, Free Markets, and the Rightest Dilemma in Latin America.” Kenneth M. Roberts.
Chapter 2. “Profiling the Electorate: Ideology and Attitudes of Rightwing Voters.” Nina Wiesehomeier and David Doyle.
Chapter 3: “New Strategies of the Latin American Right: Beyond Parties and
7 Elections.” Kent Eaton.
Chapter 5. “The Authoritarian Roots of New Right Party Success in Latin America.” James Loxton.
Chapter 6. “From Right Populism in the 1990s to Left Populism in the 2000s—and Back Again? Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser.
I recommend that you enhance your knowledge of at least one case of the electoral non partisan right (7, 8) and one case of the partisan right (9, 10, 11, 12, 13).
Holland, Alisha C. 2013. "Right on Crime?: Conservative Party Politics and Mano Dura Policies in El Salvador." Latin America Research Review 48(1): 44-67.
Wendy Hunter and Timothy J. Power. 2019. "Bolsonaro and the Illiberal Backlash in Brazil." Journal of Democracy (unpublished manuscript for January edition).
Week 14, May 2: FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT
Javier Corrales and Michael Penfold. 2014. "Manipulating Term Limits in Latin America." Journal of Democracy 25(4): 157-168.
Guillermo O’Donnell. 1994. “Delegative Democracy.” Journal of Democracy 5:1 (January): 55-69.
Santiago Anria. 2016. “More Inclusion, Less Liberalism in Bolivia.” Journal of Democracy 27:3 (July): 99-108.
Juan Pablo Luna. 2016. “Chile’s Crisis of Representation.” Journal of Democracy 27:3 (July): 129-138.
Richard Snyder and David Samuels. 2001. Devaluing the Vote in Latin America.” Journal of Democracy 12,1 (January): 146-159.
Daniel M. Brinks and Sandra Botero. 2014 “Inequality and the Rule of Law: Ineffective Rights in Latin American Democracies. “In Daniel M. Brinks, Scott Mainwaring, and Marcelo Leiras, eds. Reflections on Uneven Democracies: The Legacy of Guillermo O’Donnell. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Week 15, May 9: FINAL REFLECTIONS
Kenneth M. Roberts. 2014. “Conclusion." Chapter 10 in Changing Course in Latin America: Political Legacies and the Crisis of Representation.
8 Steven Levitsky and Kenneth M. Roberts. 2011. "Democracy, Development, and the Left.” Conclusion of The Resurgence of the Latin American Left.
Juan Pablo Luna and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. 2014. “Right (and Left) Politics in Contemporary Latin America.” Conclusion of Resilience of the Latin America Right.
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