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.