January 9 (T)—Why is getting to know Latin American politics worth your time?

• Materials that will help you to get the most out of this class: the on-line versions of the syllabus and course schedule, paper grading criteria handout (on-line), citation instructions handout (on-line), and the High Point University Honor Code.

January 11 (TH)—Does it make sense to compare political systems within a large cultural region? 

• Map quiz: Select countries in South and Central America. I have placed a map and a hand out containing a blank practice map on-line for your convenience. 

• Blake, Chp. 1, "An Introduction to Latin American Politics" (14pp).

• Please take a close look at the topographical map of Latin America that I have put on the course website.

• Select data charts from Democracy in Latin America (class handout) 

Friday 12 (F)—Deadline to sign up for your presentation topics. Each student will give two short talks during the semester.

• Please review the instructions handout with the list of topics that I have placed on-line.

• A second handout provides detailed instructions and grading criteria for the presentations (and the short papers that will accompany them)

 

Week 2—Colonial legacies and contemporary politics

January 16 (T)—What can history tell us about why Latin American politics is the way it is now? 

• John C. Chasteen, "Encounter" (pp. 25-53).

• Jared Diamond, "The Arrow of the Disease" (Discover, 29pp)

January 18 (Th)—How did foundational ideologies, institutions, and culture impact Latin American political development? Why was their colonial period so different than America's?

• Howard J. Wiarda, "Foundations in Contrast: The United States and Latin America" (Yale University Press, 2001, 18pp)

• John Chasteen, "Colonial Crucible" (pp. 59-85).

Week 3—Why did democracy fail to take root in post-colonial Latin America? 

January 23 (T)—Why didn't independence lead to democracy? 

• Map quiz: The countries and selected major cities of Latin America. I have placed a practice maps and a list of cities on line for your convenience.

• John Chasteen, "Independence" and "Post-colonial Blues," pp. 91-112, 119-43. This reading is posted on-line (encrypted and password protected) pending arrival of the book, which has been delayed by the publisher.

January 25 (Th)—Why did underdevelopment and antidemocratic politics persist into the 20th C.? 

• John Chasteen, "Progress" and "Neocolonialism," pp. 149-209.

Week 4—The region's traditional political actors

January 30 (T)—Why is the military so important in Latin American politics? 

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Quinlivan

• Brian Loveman, A short selection from The Politics of Antipolitics (Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1989, 7pp)

• John Chasteen, "Reaction," pp. 279-310. This reading is posted on-line (encrypted and password protected) pending arrival of the book, which has been delayed by the publisher. Skim the chapter to get a general idea of how military regimes ruled after WW2 in Latin America. Pay some attention to the variations in military governments and their success in achieving their aims.

• The (Chilean) Government Junta/Augusto Pinochet, selected proclamations and speech excerpts (7pp)

• Kees Koonings and Dirk Kruijt, "Latin American Political Armies in the Twenty-first Century" (Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2003, 14pp) 

February 1 (Th)—Religion: A force for change at last? 

• Harry E. Vandel and Gary Prevost, "Religion in Latin America", a selection from Politics of Latin America (Oxford University Press, 2002, 19pp) 

• Eric Patterson, "Religious Activity and Political Participation" (Latin American Politics & Society, 2005, 29pp). Don't panic as you read this article if you don't understand the statistical models. Concentrate on trying to understand the major findings as described in the text. We are going to have a mini-lesson on OLS regression (the type of statistical model on which this article is based in class).

Week 5—Emerging political actors 

February 6 (T)—Engendering democracy: Why does women's political representation matter in Latin America?

• Fareed Zakaria, "First Ladies in the Truest Sense" (Newsweek, 2006, 1pg) 

• Peter Winn, "In Women's Hands", a selection from his book Americas (Oxford University Press, 2006, 38 pp)

• Mala Htun, "Women in Latin America: Unequal Progress Toward Equality" (Current History, 1999, 6pp)

February 8 (Th)—Indigenous movements and democracy: Power to the majority at last?

• The Economist, "Indigenous people in South America: A political awakening" (2004, 6pp)

• Donna Lee Van Cott, "Broadening Democracy: Latin America’s Indigenous Peoples’ Movements" (Current History 2004, 6pp)

• Roberta Rice and Donna Lee Van Cott,"The Emergence and Performance of Indigenous Peoples’ Parties in South America" (Comparative Political Studies, 2006, 24pp). You can ignore the charts using "logit" regression, but please make an attempt to understand how various variables were measured and how we should interpret the chart reporting "ordinary least squares" regression results. 

• Optional reading: Raul Madrid, "Indigenous Parties and Democracy" (Latin American Politics and Society, 2006, 18pp)

UNIT 2: LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 

Week 6—The challenges of democratization

February 13 (T)—How democratic is Latin America? 

• Democracy in Latin America,pp. 77-129. The UNDP published the electronic version of Democracy in Latin America as a locked PDF file, so I have had to place the entire book (300+ pages) on-line. You will probably find it easiest to simply read this week's assignment on your computer. Alternatively, if you want to print just the pages that are assigned, you can set your printer's options so that you only print the assigned pages.  

February 15 (TH)—What does democracy mean to today's average Latin American? 

• Democracy in Latin America pp. 131-147.

Week 7—Mexico 

February 19 (M)—Examination 1 is due in my office (DHAY 119) by 4:00 pm. 

February 20 (T)—Mexican politics and society

• Blake, Chp. 10, "Mexico" (40pp)

February 21 (Th)—Is revolutionary change needed in Mexico's young democracy?

• Enrique Krauze, "Tropical Messiah" (The New Republic, 2006, 6pp) 

• Jorge G. Castańeda and Marco A. Morales,"Looking to the Future " (Journal of Democracy, 2007, 11pp)

Week 8—Peru 

February 27 (T)—Politics and society in Peru

• Blake, Chp. 4. Read the whole chapter please, not just the parts on Peru. I will fill in the historical and institutional gaps in class.

March 1 (Th)—"Antipolitics" in the Andes: Is the new wave of campaigning against government an exception or window into the future? 

• Scott Mainwaring, "The Crisis of Representation in the Andes" (Journal of Democracy, 2006, 15pp) 

• Cynthia McClintock, "An Unlikely Comeback in Peru (Journal of Democracy, 2006, 15pp)

Week 9—Spring Break

Week 10—Brazil

March 13 (T)—Brazilian politics and society 

• Blake, Chp. 6. "Brazil" (40pp)

• Optional: The Economist, "The Perils of "Parapolitics" (2007, 5pp)

March 15 (Th)—Are bad institutional choices the root cause of bad government in Latin America? 

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Lubin

• Kurt Weyland, "The Growing Sustainability of Brazil's Low Quality Democracy" ( Part one & part two from The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America, eds. S Mainwaring and F. Hagopian, 2005, 20pp)

• Leslie Armijo, et al., "Compared to What?" (Comparative Political Studies, 2006, 27pp)

Week 11—Colombia 

March 20 (T)—Colombian politics and society 

• Harvey F. Kline and Venessa J. Gray, "Colombia: A Resilient Political System with Intransigent Problems" from Latin American Politics and Development, (Westview Press, 2006, 32pp)

March 22 (Th)—Will the Colombian state fall to guerillas or narcotraffickers?

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Elliot

• Eduardo Posada Carbo, "Colombia’s Resilient Democracy" (Current History, 2004, 6pp)

• The Economist, "Drugs in Latin America Battles won, a war still lost" (2005, 4pp.)

• Mark Peceny and Michael Durnan, "The FARCs Best Friend" (Latin American Politics and Society, 2006, 20pp)

• Optional reading:   Eduardo Posado Carbo, "Colombia Hews to the Path of Change" (Journal of Democracy, 2006, 15pp)

UNIT 3: LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL ECONOMY 

Week 12—Cuba

March 27 (T)—Cuban politics and society

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Neilson (focus you talk on the causes and consequence of the Cuban Revolution)

• Blake, Chp. 8, "Cuba" (38pp)

• Chasteen, Chp. 8, "Revolution" (249-78)

March 29 (Th)—Can a country achieve economic growth and equity through revolution? 

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Hussey (focus you talk on the status of the left in Latin America now that Castro appears to be sidelined)

• Jorge Castańeda, "Latin America's Left Turn" (Foreign Affairs, 2006, 16pp)

• Javier Corrales, "Cuba After Castro" (Current History, 2005, 8pp)

• Julia E. Sweig, "Fidel's Final Victory" (Foreign Affairs, 2007, 15pp)

Week 13—Chile

April 02 (M)—Examination 2 is due in my office (DHAY 119) by 4:00 pm.

April 3 (T)—Chilean politics and society

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Neilson (focus your comments on Pinochet's rule and its consequences)

• Blake, Chp. 7, "Chile" (38pp)

April 5 (Th)—Do authoritarians build better economies over the long term? 

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Fairchild

• Joseph T. Siegle, et al., “Why Democracies Excel” (Foreign Affairs, 2004, 15pp)

• Arturo Valenzuela and Lucia Dammert, "Problems of Success in Chile" (Journal of Democracy, 2006, 14pp)

• Peter M. Siavelis "How New Is Bachelet’s Chile?" (Current History Feb. 2007, 7pp)

Week 14—Argentina 

April 10 (T)—Argentine politics and society 

• Blake, Chp. 5, "Argentina" (40pp)

• The Economist, "Becoming a Serious Country" (2004, 5pp)

April 12 (Th)—How closely should Latin American countries follow the advice of international financial organizations?

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Elliot

• James E. Mahon, "Goodbye Washington Consensus?" (Current History, 2003, 7pp)

• Steven Levitsky, "From Crisis to Consolidation (and Back)," a chapter from Constructing Democratic Governance, Johns Hopkins Press, 2003).

Week 15—Venezuela 

April 16 (T)—Venezuelan politics and society 

• Blake, Chp. 11, "Venezuela" (37pp)

• Michael Shifter and Vinay Jawahar, "Latin America's Populist Turn" (Current History, 2006, 7pp)

April 18 (Th)—Are Latin American populists like Hugo Chavez really all that revolutionary? 

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Quinlivan (make the case that Chavez is a radical)

• Discussion presentation on the readings: Hussey (overview the evidence suggesting that Chavez is not especially revolutionary)

• Michael Shifter, "In Search of Hugo Chavez" (Foreign Affairs, 2006, 15pp) 

• Steve Ellner, "Revolutionary and Non-Revolutionary Paths of Radical Populism (Science and Society, 2005, 31pp)

Week 16—The United States and Latin America 

April 24 (T)—What role should the United States play in expanding and deepening democracy in Latin America? 

• (Except for seniors) Your last paper is due by 1:30pm, Wed. May 02. I have posted the topic and instructions for this assignment. Seniors, I need your papers by midnight, April 30; seniors may e-mail the paper, but must do so in a Word or RTF attachment to make sure that I can open your document. Discussion of a textbook chapter that I will post shortly:

• Lubin (provide a historical overview of US-Latin American relations as discussed in Smith)

• Discussion presentation on the other readings: Fairchild

• Peter H. Smith, "Structure and Change in US-Latin American Relations" (Oxford University Press, 2000. 18pp)

• Daniel Erickson, "Requiem for the Monroe Doctrine" (Current History, 2008, 7pp).

• Peter Hakim, "Is Washington Losing Latin America?" (Foreign Affairs, 2006, 15pp) 

April 26 (Th)—The future of Latin America: Course wrap-up.

• Lubin (provide an analysis of where Latin America is headed using these two readings)

• Michael Shifter and Vinay Jawahar, "The Divided States of the Americas" (Current History, 2006. 7pp)

• Peter H. Smith, "In Quest of Alternatives" (Oxford University Press, 2000. 35pp)

Week 17—Finals Week 

• (Except for seniors) Your last paper is due by 1:30pm, Wed. May 02. I have posted the topic and instructions for this assignment.
  
  Seniors, I need your papers by midnight, April 30; seniors may e-mail the paper, but must do so in a Word or RTF attachment to make sure that I can open your document.
   

• An optional comprehensive final exam will be administered during the final exam period (Wednesday, May 2, at 1:30 pm). Students electing to take this exam will have its grade substituted for their lowest exam grade or their course quiz grade, whichever results in a higher course grade. Any student wishing to take this exam should see me by the last day of class to arrange to take the test..