Topic 1—What will you learn in this course?

• Syllabus, participation grading criteria (on-line handout), paper grading criteria (on-line handout), and citation instructions (on-line handout).

Topic 2—How and why do we compare countries and regions?

• Current History, "A Statistical Snapshot" (2013, 1p)

• O'Neil, Essentials, Chp. 1 "Introduction." 

• O'Neil, Essentials, Chp. 2 "States." Skim or skip entirely the sections on "The Origins of Political Organization" and "The Rise of the Modern State"

Topic 3: What makes the advanced nations democratic?

• O'Neil, Essentials, Chp. 5 "Democratic Regimes," Read up to the section "Institutions of the Democratic State"

• Terry Lynn Karl and Philippe C. Schmitter, “What Democracy Is…and Is Not ” (Journal of Democracy, 1991, 12pp). Focus on what the authors' see as required for a nation to be considered democratic

UNIT I: THE ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACIES

Topic 4—How do the advanced democracies vary?

• O'Neil, Essentials, Chp. 5 "Democratic Regimes," Read the remainder of the chapter.

Topic 5—What is globalization and why is it making so many people unhappy in the advanced industrial democracies?

• O’Neil, Essentials, Chapter 7, “Advanced Democracies”

• O’Neil, Essentials, Chapter 11, “Globalization and the Future of Comparative Politics”

• Susan J. Pharr, Robert Putnam, and Russell Dalton, "A Quarter-Century of Declining Confidence" (Journal of Democracy, 2000, 21pp)

Topic 6—Thinking comparatively: Can we better understand or even improve America's democracy if we compare it to other advanced industrial democracies?

• O’Neil, et al. Cases, “United States.” If you have recently complete a college-level American government class, skim this chapter; if not, please read it closely.

• Ishaan Tharoor, American Exceptionalism Has Become Exceptionally Stale (Time, 2012, 4pp)

• http://rankingamerica.wordpress.com:  Most of the data on this site obviously has no relevance to our course, but please take a look at please take a look at the various charts related educational performance, economic freedom, economic inequality, happiness, healthcare, and other issues that are important when comparing the performance of governments around the world. In what areas is the US a model of excellence? Are there areas where we might consider exploring how other countries do things?

• Louis M. Seidman, "Let's Give Up on the Constitution" (New York Times, 2012, 4pp)

• Norm Ornstein, "Worst. Congress. Ever" (Foreign Policy 2012, 8pp)

• Documentary film #1: Sicko. The syllabus notes that you will be asked to watch three documentaries during the course as part of the regular material load and in lieu of additional coursework. This film is available on Amazon.com in streaming format for 3 dollars. You will be asked a question on these materials as part of your first exam. 

Topic 7—How and why is power so centralized in Britain's democracy?

• O’Neil, et al. Cases, “United Kingdom”

• Uri Dadush, "A Tale of Two Polities" (Current History 2010, 3pp)

• A short video of debate in Parliament

Topic 8—Does Great Britain need a constitutional revolution to become more democratic?

• Vernon Bogdanor, "The Historic Legacy of Tony Blair" (Current History, 2007, 7pp)

• James Cronin, Converging at the Center in Britain (Current History, 2009, 7pp)

• "Voting Reform and the Coalition" (The Economist, 2010, 3pp)

Topic 9—Why did democracy come so late to Germany? What's so special about its democratic choices and system?

• O’Neil, et al. Cases, “Germany”

Topic 10—Is Germany's approach to globalization a model of success that should be emulated?  

• J Maximilian Müller-Härlin, "Germany's Indecisive Election" (Contemporary Review, 2005, 6pp.)

• Ludger Helms. "Angela Merkel and the Unfulfilled Promise of Chancellor Democracy" (Current History, 2011, 6pp)

• Completely optional: Herbert Kitschelt and Wolfgang Streeck, "From Stability to Stagnation" (Western European Politics, 2003, 35pp). If you would like, review this article to get the big picture of how Germany's institutions work and whose interests they best protect rather than getting tangled up with an overly close reading

 

Monday, February 11—Unit 1 Examination

Friday, February 15—Unit 1 Essay due. Make sure to read through the topic and instructions very carefully. You also should review the grading criteria for papers in this class before you start. To help you in self-assessing your work, you may want to download my essay grading rubric so that you can pre-grade your own work.

 

 

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UNIT II: TOTALITARIAN, REVOLUTIONARY, AND AUTHORITARIAN STATES

 

Topic 1: What are the essential features of non-democratic regimes, and why do they still occur in the 21st century? To what extent can revolutions challenge them?

• O’Neil, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 6, “Nondemocratic Regimes”

• Howard Handleman: "Revolutionary Change" (2006, through page 208 only)

Topic 2: What is communism and why did so many non-democratic governments pursue this type of government in the 20th century even as democracies flourished?  

• O’Neil, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 8, “Communism and Post-Communism”

• The Economist, “The Strange Case of Karl and Adolf” (1999, 6pp)

Topic 3—The Russian political system: How did socialist ideals lead to totalitarianism "communism" and then authoritarianism?

• O’Neil, et al. Cases, “Russia” (Chapter 7)

Topic 4—How authoritarian is post-Soviet Russia? How does its "illiberal democracy" work and how sustainable is its soft authoritarianism?

• Ivan Krastev and Stephen Homes, "An Autopsy of Managed Democracy" (Journal of Democracy, 2012, 13pp)

• Lilia Shevtsova, "The Next Russian Revolution" (Current History, 2012, 7pp)

Topic 5—How and why has Chinese socialism, totalitarianism, and authoritarianism differed from the Russian experience? 

• Film: 1947-The Great Leap (check out this film's PBS website; other films in this series (The People's Century) on the Russian and Iranian Revolutions can be obtained at no expense through inter-library loan)

• O’Neil, et al. Cases, “China” (Chapter 8)

Topic 6—Can the CCP hold on to power over the long run? Will continued economic growth and more international power end up making China democratic? 

• Cheng Li, "The Battle for China's Top Nine Leadership Posts" (Washington Quarterly, 2012, 15pp)

• Zhenhua Su, Hui Zhao, and Jingkai He. "Authoritarianism and Contestation" (Journal of Democracy, 2013, 15pp)

• Yu Liu and Dingding Chen, "Why China Will Democratize" (Washington Quarterly, 2012, 23pp)

• Optional: Lauren Hilgers, "The Unraveling of Bo Xilai" (Harpers 2013, 8pp).

Monday, March 18: In-class examination 2. Please note that we will be covering Iran after the exam, and it will be included on the last test of the term.

Topic 7—Institutionalizing a revolutionary theocracy: Iran's political system 

• O’Neil, et al. Cases, “Iran”

Topic 8 (Friday after the test)—Iran: A model for Middle-Eastern democracy or a political dead end for reform?

• Anoush Ehteshami, "The Rise and Impact of Iran's Neocons" (Stanley Foundation brief, 2008, 8pp)

• Abbas Milani, "Ahmadinejad vs. The Ayatollah" (National Interest 2012, 9pp.)

Monday, March 25: Analytical essay #2 is due. It must be submitted by e-mail and in hard copy by the start of class.

 

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UNIT III: THE CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRATIZATION

 

Topic 1: Why do some countries stay poor when others do not? Domestic theories of development and underdevelopment

• Robert Wade, “Global Inequality: Winners and Losers” (the Economist, 2001, 5pp)

• The Economist, "Climbing Back" (2006, 4pp)

• William Easterly, "The Ideology of Development" (Foreign Policy, 2007, 4pp)

• O’Neil, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 9, “Less-Developed and Newly Industrializing Countries”

Topic 2: Why do some countries become and stay democratic? Why don't all societies do this?

• Reread sections of O’Neil, Essentials of Comparative Politics, Chapter 9, “Democratic regimes.” Review the sub-section on "Defining Democracy" and the several sections on "Contemporary Democratization" that look at the causes of democratization. 

• Larry Diamond, "Universal Democracy?" (Policy Review, 2003, 18pp)

• Arch Puddington, "Democracy Under Duress" (Journal of Democracy, 2011, 16 pp).

• A selection from Michael Sodaro's, Comparative Politics

• Jørgen Møller and Svend-Erik Skaaning, "Regime Types and Democratic Sequencing" (Journal of Democracy, 2013 14pp). Don't get caught up on all of the fancy language. Instead, concentrate on the four factors that make up a consolidated democracy and what names are used to describe democracies that have some, but not all of the elements in place. Also read carefully the section, starting on page 146, the section on how the international organization Freedom House rates various elements of democratization.

 

Topic 3—India's Democracy and Development

• O’Neil, et al. Cases, “India” (Chapter 9)

• Atul Kohli, "Introduction: The Success of India's Democracy" (2001, 20pp). Old but still very good.

 

Topic 4—So what then is the relationship the between development and democracy?

• Aseema Sinha, "Economic Growth and Political Accommodation" (Journal of Democracy, 2007, 13pp)

• Joseph T. Siegle, et al., “Why Democracies Excel” (Foreign Affairs, 2004, 14pp)

• Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and George W. Downs, "Development and Democracy" (Foreign Affairs, 2005, 5pp)

• Optional: Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, "How Development Leads to Democracy" (Foreign Affairs, 2009, approximately 15pp)

 

 

Planning ahead: 

Monday, April 22: The op-ed assignment is due. This assignment may be completed and submitted at any point during the second half of the semester. Please e-mail and submit a hard copy of it by the start of last scheduled regular seminar.