Principles of Comparative Politics Political Science 250

Instructor: Wade Jacoby Office: 742 SWKT Office Phone: 801-422-1711 E-mail address: [email protected]

Office hours: Mondays 3:30-5pm in 742 SWKT

TA: Adam Stevenson, office hours, Wednesdays, 9-10 am and by appointment in 109 HRCB

Introduction:

This course shows you how and why to compare political systems to one another. By ‘political,’ I mean pretty obvious things like electoral rules, legislatures, and courts, but I also mean things like economics and non-government organizations and civil wars. During the course, we will discuss:

 What is comparative politics?  What makes for good comparisons?  What are the characteristics of a state?  How have states emerged across human history, ancient and modern?  How do class, ideology, and nationalism influence politics?  What do the variety of political institutions and regimes look like?  What is the role of economics in the populist backlash?  Why do some regimes transition to democracy?  Why are some countries rich and others poor?  How do political institutions shape patterns of economic development?  What are the varieties of ways people participate in politics?  How do social movements and civil society affect politics?  Why does politics sometimes become violent?  How does identity shape political participation?  How does globalization affect the state?

We will address these questions by looking both at theoretical approaches and by studying larger trends and actual cases in a variety of countries around the globe. Right away, you will notice that our readings provide different—and often conflicting— answers to the big questions above. We won’t always have time to resolve the debates— and many of them have not been resolved by scholars either. The syllabus, therefore, is not just a list of ‘greatest hits.’ Instead, it’s my job in this class to introduce you to a diversity of explanatory frameworks; much of your upper division coursework will help you sort through and test these frameworks and ideas. We simply don’t have time to do

1 all that in one class. That said, both the formal and informal writing assignments (see below) challenge you to pull a ‘bottom line’ from the readings.

Required texts:

The following texts are available at the bookstore.

1) Patrick O'Neil and Ronald Rogowski, Essential Readings in Comparative Politics, 5th edition, New York: Norton, 2017.

2) Arend Lijphart. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, 2nd edition, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.

Both of these texts are available at the bookstore. Buy ‘em, read ‘em, mark ‘em up. Additional readings are available on Learning Suite.

Requirements:

You should attend class and read (not skim) all the assigned materials. In addition, I require weekly web-postings, two response papers (5-page limit each), and two exams.

Grades will be calculated as follows:

Informal writing and participation: 25% Formal response essays: 30% (15% each) Mid-term exam: 20% Final exam: 25%

Readings: This class requires a lot of reading (though this section of 250 actually requires less reading than some other sections of the course). Aside from the two required books noted above, all other class readings will be posted on Learning Suite. Because this is a discussion class, I require students to bring hard copies of the reading to class every day. You will need to budget the time and money to print these out. Obviously, there is some hassle and expense in this, but the material is hard, and good research shows that students better retain new information when they practice retrieving it. You should be able to print each day’s readings and mark them up as you read (even if you take additional reading notes on a laptop). You will need your marked-up readings not only for class discussion but also to write the response papers and to study for both exams. I don’t allow laptop, phones or tablets in class. Please do not have them out at all during class.

Informal writing and participation: You are expected to post informal writing to the course website 12 times during the semester. Each week, I will post a discussion question online that either asks you to respond to a core concept in class or to the weekly readings (in 300-400 well-chosen words). You should post your weekly writing assignments in your online working group sections by each Thursday at 8 am. These postings will help

2 frame our discussion during working group activities. You get points for active and appropriate participation in class and in working groups. A key purpose of the informal writing is to pull you deeply enough into the readings that it enhances the quality of our class discussions. Thus, I do not give credit for informal writing if that student doesn’t come to class on the day it’s due.

Simulation: You will participate in a state-building simulation in class over the course of the semester. Participation in the simulation is expected, and will begin during the third week of the course. Simulation participation will be included in the participation grade. A simulation schedule and other details will be provided in the first few weeks of the course.

Response papers: The major formal writing for the course consists of two lengthier responses to the class readings. One response paper is due during the first half of the course, on or before February 21. The second response paper is due during the second half of the course, on or before April 11. You should submit your paper on Learning Suite prior to the start of class on the day we discuss the readings in your paper. The papers should be no more than 5 double-spaced pages in length and should be a response to the assigned readings for one of class periods up to the due date. Each response paper should have a clear argument that focuses the paper and synthesizes the readings. There are many ways to attack these papers, and I will give you some good and less good examples to study. Most excellent papers will, in addition to making a core argument, at least briefly address the following questions at some point in their paper:

 What are the main arguments of the readings for the chosen date?  What evidence do the authors use to make their arguments?  Do you agree with the arguments? Why or why not?  What are some important political implications of your (and the authors’) arguments?

Note that you do not have to address all of the readings on the syllabus for that date, nor do you need to address each reading equally. You should respond to more than one of the readings, however, synthesizing common points and integrating the arguments of the authors into your response. Again, I will provide some solid examples that will give you a better sense of how to do this. Exam dates:  Mid-term: Thursday February 28 (in class)  Final exam: Friday April 19 7:00-10:00 am (in class)

Late policy: All response papers should be submitted on Learning Suite before class on the day the relevant readings will be discussed. Late papers will lose a portion of the grade for each day they are late (e.g., from B+ to B). No late papers will be accepted after the final exam. Exams will not be given at any other time than those scheduled.

Vocational and Writing Interludes: There are many things I wish people (including faculty, who are, in fact, also people) had told me when I was a sophomore (or

3 thereabouts). I will tell you all of these things. Nearly every Tuesday we will have a short “Writing Interlude,” and nearly every Thursday we will have a short “Vocational Interlude.” These are chances for me to give advice I think valuable for the medium and longer term. I tailor the advice to polisci and IR majors.

Extra Credit: There will be opportunities for extra credit for attending specific lectures (usually at the Kennedy Center) during February, March, and April. Details TBA.

COURSE SCHEDULE

T January 8—Course Introduction

TH January 10—What is Comparative Politics?

Patrick O’Neil, “Introduction,” in Cases in Comparative Politics, 4th ed., New York: Norton, pp. 12-36.

Mark Lichbach and Alan Zuckerman, “Research Traditions and Theory in Comparative Politics: An Introduction,” from Comparative Politics, pp. 4-9 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Arend Lijphart, “Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method,” American Political Science Review 65:3 (September 1971), pp. 682-693.

Jared Diamond, “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” from Comparative Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings, pp. 5-7 in J. Tyler Dickovick and Jonathan Eastwood, Comparative Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings, New York: Oxford University Press.

Vocational Interlude: How to talk to your parents about your liberal arts degree.

T January 15—Varieties of Democracy

Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, “What Democracy Is…and Is Not,” pp. 180- 189 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Arend Lijphart, “Constitutional Choices for New Democracies,” pp. 189-198 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty- Six Countries, 2nd ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012, Chapters 1-4, pp. 1-59.

4 Writing Interlude: Everybody has their pet peeves, so here are mine.

TH January 17—The Science in Political Science

Karl R. Popper, “Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach,” from Objective Knowledge, pp. 26-28 in Dickovick and Eastwood.

John Stuart Mill, “Of the Four Methods of Experimental Inquiry,” from A System of Logic pp. 16-19 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

James Mahoney and Celso Villegas, “Historical Inquiry and Comparative Politics” from Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, pp. 35-43 in Dickovick and Eastwood.

Gary King, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba, “The Science in Social Science,” from Designing Social Inquiry, pp. 10-15 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Ronald Rogowski, “The Rise of Experimentation in Political Science,” from Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences pp. 19-26 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Vocational Interlude: How to tell your own story.

T January 22—Varieties of Authoritarianism

Robert Dahl, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale, 1971, pp. 1- 32.

Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan, “Modern Nondemocratic Regimes,” from Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation, pp. 241-253 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Larry Diamond, “The Rule of Law Versus the Big Man,” from Journal of Democracy, pp. 264-272 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Ivan Krastev, “Paradoxes of the New Authoritarianism,” pp. 502-509 in O’Neil and Rogowski (4th ed. only).

Gary King, Jennifer Pan, and Margaret E. Roberts, “How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression,” from American Political Science Review pp. 288-308 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Barrington Moore, “Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World,” from Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, pp. 124-127 in Dickovick and Eastwood.

Writing Interlude: Why being a good reader comes before being a good writer.

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TH January 24—The State and its Functions

Aristotle, The Politics, Translated by Peter Phillips Simpson, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997, pp. 81-101.

James Scott, Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States, Yale University Press, 2017, pp. 116-157, 180-182.

Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation, pp. 28-34 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Stephen Krasner, “Sovereignty,” from Foreign Policy pp. 57-63 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Read the January 23 New York Times (available on-line or at the Kennedy Center) and write down all the functions of the state you see discussed within. Bring your list to class.

Vocational Interlude: The dirty secret about internships

T January 29—The Emergence of States, Ancient and Modern

James Scott, Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017, Chapters 6 and 7, pp. 183-256.

Charles Tilly, “Cities and States in World History,” in Coercion, Capital, and European States 990-1990, London: Basil Blackwell, 1990, pp. 1-37.

Vocational Interlude: Workplace gender issues for Mormons

TH January 31—How to Write a Paper in the Social Sciences

Online Mechanics Quiz, details TBA.

Steven Pinker, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century, New York: Viking, 2014, pp. 1-56.

George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language,” April 1946, available free online at http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/.

T February 5—Colonialism

Jeffrey Herbst, “War and the State in Africa,” from International Security, pp. 35-49 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

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Pinkaj Mishra, “The Globalization of Rage,” Foreign Affairs, October 17, 2016, pp. 1-7.

Niall Ferguson, “Why We Ruled the World,” May 1, 2003, available at http://www.niallferguson.com/journalism/history/why-we-ruled-the-world, pp. 1-2.

Writing Interlude: Why “but” is a writer’s best friend.

TH February 7—Nationalism

Eric Hobsbawm, “Nationalism,” from The Age of Revolution, pp. 66-74 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Benedict Anderson, “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism” from Imagined Communities, pp. 238-240 in Dickovick and Eastwood.

M. K. Gandhi, pp. 52-54, pp. 116-19. From Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, Anthony Parel, ed. Cambridge University Press, 1997. In Matthew Festenstein and Michael Kenny, eds. Political Ideologies, Oxford University Press, 2005.

Hans Kundnani, The Paradox of German Power, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 71-87.

Lars-Erik Cederman, Nils Weidmann, and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch, “Horizontal Inequalities and Ethnonationalist Civil War: A Global Comparison,” from American Political Science Review, pp. 123-137 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Vocational Interlude: How to ensure a diverse, healthy, and nutritious media diet.

T February 12—Class and Ideology

Giovanni Sartori, “Politics, Ideology and Belief Systems,” (selection) American Political Science Review 63 (1969), pp. 400-403, 410-411. In Matthew Festenstein and Michael Kenny, eds. Political Ideologies, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Mark Blyth and Matthias Matthijs (2017) “Black Swans, Lame Ducks, and the Mystery of IPE’s Missing Macroeconomy,” Review of International Political Economy, 24:2, pp. 203-231.

Clifford Geertz, “Ideology as a Cultural System,” pp. 217-20, 230-33 in The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973. In Festenstein and Kenny.

John Stuart Mill, “Introductory,” in On Liberty. Edward Alexander, ed. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1999, pp. 43-57.

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Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” pp. 465-476 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile, pp. 39-44 in “The Doctrine of Fascism,” Italian Fascism, Adrian Lyttleton, ed., Cape, 1973. In Festenstein and Kenny.

Writing Interlude: What does it mean to “have an argument”?

TH February 14—The Populist Backlash

Dani Rodrik, Populism and the Economics of Globalization, National Bureau of Economics Research, 2017, pp. i-27.

Niall Ferguson, “Populism as a Backlash against Globalization: Historical Perspectives,” from Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development, pp. 567-572 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Ben Ansell and David Samuels, “Inequality and Democratization: An Elite-Competition Approach,” from Inequality and Democratization, pp. 419-432 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Vocational Interlude: Networking for fun and profit.

T February 19. NO CLASS. MONDAY INSTRUCTION

TH February 21—Party and Electoral Systems

Peter Mair, Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy, Verso: London, 2013, pp. 2-73.

Torben Iverson and David Soskice, “Electoral Institutions and the Politics of Coalitions: Why Some Democracies Redistribute More than Others,” from American Political Science Review, pp. 437-446 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Maurice Duverger, “The Number of Parties,” from Political Parties, pp. 432-436 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty- Six Countries, 2nd ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012, Chapter 5, pp. 60-78.

Vocational Interlude: What are the polisci “tracks” and the IR “concentrations”?

**FIRST RESPONSE PAPER DUE**

8 T February 26—Study session and review for midterm

TH February 28—**MID-TERM** (in-class, essay and short answer exam)

T March 5—Governance in the 21st Century

Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty- Six Countries, 2nd ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012, Chapters 15 and 16, pp. 255-94.

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, “What is the State For?” The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State, New York: Penguin, 2014, pp. 221- 248.

Economist, “What’s Gone Wrong With Democracy?,” March 1, 2014.

Henry Hale, “25 Years After the USSR: What’s Gone Wrong?” from Journal of Democracy, pp. 489-496 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Writing Interlude: Opportunities for publishing in and around our department.

TH March 7—Revolutionary Change

Crane Brinton, “First Stages of Revolution,” The Anatomy of Revolution. New York: Vintage, 1965, pp. 67-91.

Theda Skocpol, “France, Russia, China: A Structural Analysis of Social Revolutions,” from Comparative Studies in Society and History, pp. 310-327 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Scott Atran and Robert Axelrod, “Reframing Sacred Values,” from Negotiation Journal, pp. 343-361 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Timur Kuran, “Now Out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of 1989,” pp. 227-236 in Dickovick and Eastwood.

Vocational Interlude: How to do an “informational interview.”

T March 12—Transitions to Democracy

Timothy Garton-Ash, “Warsaw: The First Election,” and “Prague: Inside the Magic Lantern,” pp. 25-46 and 78-130 in The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of ’89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague, New York: Vintage Books, 1999.

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Trevor Noah, Born a Crime, New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2016, read the text of South Africa’s Immorality Act (first page) plus pp. 3-33, 61-62, 75, 92, 115-116, 183-201.

Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way, “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism,” pp. 254- 263 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Writing Interlude: How to write a policy memo and survive the (brutal) editing.

TH March 14—Civil Society

Carles Boix and Susan C. Stokes, “Endogenous Democratization,” from World Politics pp. 387-412 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk, “The Danger of Deconsolidation,” from Journal of Democracy, pp. 229-238 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Grzegorz Ekiert, “The Illiberal Challenge in Post-Communist Europe,” from Taiwan Journal of Democracy, pp. 477-488 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Vocational Interlude: What is a language certificate and why do I want one?

T March 19—From Civil Society to Social Movements

Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics, 2nd edition, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 1-25.

Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993, Chapter 6, pp. 163-185.

Writing Interlude: How to structure a puzzle.

TH March 21—Types of Identity Politics

Clifford Geertz, “Primordial Ties,” in Hutchinson, John and Anthony D. Smith, eds. Ethnicity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 40-45.

Jack Eller and Reed Coughlan. “The Poverty of Primordialism,” in Hutchinson and Smith, pp. 45-51.

Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996, pp. 125-154.

10 Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, New York: The New Press, 2016, pp. 39-54.

Vocational Interlude: How to talk about your mission to a potential employer.

T March 26—Ethnic Politics

Ashutosh Varshney, Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002, Chapters 2-3, pp. 23-86.

Kate Baldwin and John Huber, “Economic Versus Cultural Differences: Forms of Ethnic Diversity and Public Goods Provision,” from American Political Science Review pp. 103- 123 in O’Neil and Rogowski

Writing Interlude: Flowery language must die (but fun language may live).

TH March 28—Identity in Conflict

James Fearon and David Laitin, “Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War,” from American Political Science Review, pp. 75-85 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Martha Crenshaw, “The Causes of Terrorism,” from Comparative Politics, pp. 328-349 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

James Walsh and James Piazza, “Why Respecting Physical Integrity Rights Reduces Terrorism,” from Comparative Political Studies, pp. 362-275 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Vocational Interlude: How to socialize with non-Mormons.

T April 2—Civil War and Failed States

Robert D. Kaplan, “An Unsentimental Journey,” The Ends of the Earth, New York: Vintage Press, 1996, pp. 3-31.

Robert Rotberg, “The New Nature of Nation-State Failure,” from The Washington Quarterly, pp. 49-56 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Writing Interlude: Applying our writing principles to talks.

11 TH April 4—Why are Some Countries Rich and Others Poor?

Adam Smith, from An Inquiry into the Nature and the Causes of the Wealth of Nations, pp. 141-146 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Douglass North, “Institutions,” from Journal of Economic Perspectives, pp. 147-158 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Jeffrey Sachs, “A Global Family Portrait,” The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, New York: Penguin, 2005, pp. 3-25.

Daron Acemoglu, “Root Causes: A Historical Approach to Assessing the Role of Institutions in Economic Development,” from Finance and Development, pp. 159-162 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Vocational Interlude: Keep your filthy robot hands off my job.

T April 9—Politics and Development Outcomes

William Easterly, “To Help the Poor” from The Elusive Quest for Growth, pp. 509-514 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Gregory Clark, “The Sixteen-Page Economic History of the World,” from A Farewell to Arms, pp. 515-524 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James Robinson, and Pierre Yared, “Income and Democracy,” from American Economic Review, pp. 413-418 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

Robert Wade, Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990, Introduction and Chapter 1, pp. 3-33.

Jeffrey Sachs, “Making the Investments Needed to End Poverty,” The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, New York: Penguin, 2005, pp. 244-265.

Writing Interlude: Applying our writing principles to powerpoint presentations.

TH April 11—Globalization and the State

Dani Rodrik, “Is Global Governance Feasible? Is it Desirable?” from The Globalization Paradox, pp. 550-563 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

John Dryzek, “Global Civil Society: The Progress of Post-Westphalian Politics,” from Annual Review of Political Science, pp. 573-590 in O’Neil and Rogowski.

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Gregory Mankiw, “The Trilemma of International Finance,” from New York Times, pp. 184-185 in O’Neil and Rogowski (4th edition only).

Michael Pettis, The Great Rebalancing: Trade, Conflict, and the Perilous Road Ahead for the World Economy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, Chapter 1, pp. 1-25.

Vocational Interlude: What cognate tech skills should I consider?

**SECOND RESPONSE PAPER DUE**

T April 16—FINAL EXAM PREP

F April 19—FINAL EXAM 7:00-10:00 am (280 SWKT)

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