January 13 (T)—Why is getting to know about Latin American politics worth your time?

• Please review a handful of on-line handouts that will help you to get the most out of this class: the on-line versions of the syllabus and course schedule (from which you will link to all readings other than those in your textbooks), paper grading criteria handout (on-line), citation instructions handout (on-line), and the High Point University Honor Code.

January 15 (TH)—Does it make any sense to compare countries across a large, highly diverse 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. 

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

• Peter Winn, Chapter 1, "A View from the South"

January 20 (T)—What political structures were in place when Europeans arrived in Latin America, and how did a handful of Conquistadores defeat it so quickly? 

• Film: Selections from Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel (National Geographic, 2005)

• Jared Diamond, "The Arrow of the Disease" (Discover 1992, 29pp)

• Recommended if you are interested in learning more about the pre-Conquest era:
  Guy Gugliotta, "The Maya: Glory and Ruin" (National Geographic, 2007, 11pp).The article is accompanied by a series of photos.

January 22 (Th)—Why was Latin America's colonial period so different from North America's?

• Please select a film that you will watch and review by the end of the semester. You should e-mail me your top 7 (first, second, etc.) preferences by Monday, January 26.

• John Chasteen, short excerpt from Born in Blood & Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, 2nd ed. (New York: Norton, 2007) 

• Peter Winn, "The Legacies of Empire" (Chapter 2, up to the section  "The End of Empire"

January 27 (T)—Why didn't independence lead to Latin American democracy as was the case in the US? 

• 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.

• Peter Winn, "The Legacies of Empire" (Chapter 2, remainder)

• John Chasteen, a short excerpt from Born in Blood & Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, 2nd ed. (New York: Norton, 2007) 

• Optional (if you feel like you need more historical background): Howard J. Wiarda, "Independence and After"   

January 29 (Th)—Why did underdevelopment and antidemocratic politics persist into the 20th C.?

• Blake, Chp. 2, "A Bird's Eye View of Latin American History" (read up to "The Second Wave of Democratization"

• Howard J. Wiarda, "Entering the Modern World"

• Skim: Peter Winn, "The Perils of Progress" (Chapter 3). Don't get tied up in the nitty-gritty details on Argentina ; instead focus on the general patterns and drivers of economic and political development.

February 3 (T)—Why has the military always been so influential in Latin American politics? 

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

• 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) 

• Fabrice Lehoucq and Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, "Breaking Out of the Coup Trap" (Comparative Political Studies, 2014). This is an advanced reading that uses statistical modeling well beyond anything that you are expected to understand, and I have assigned this work primarily so that you can see which countries have been more or less prone to military intervention over time and to look at which nations have been seen the most coups. You are welcome to skip over the "results" sections, but please pay attention to the variables that appear to be linked to coups and what factors best explain their decline in recent decades. 

February 5 (Th)—Religion: A force for change at last? 

• Peter Winn, "The Power and the Glory" (Chapter 10)

• 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 and how the author measures the different variables in which he his interested. We are going to have a mini-lesson in class on how to read "regression" tables (the type of statistical work on which this article is based).

February 10 (T)—Engendering democracy: Why does women's political representation matter more than it used to in Latin America?

• Peter Winn, "In Women's Hands" (Chapter 9)

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

• Women in the America's: Paths to Power (Inter-American Dialgoue, 2008, 40pp). Skim tables for main ideas and read the analysis closely.

February 12 (Th)—Indigenous movements and democracy: Power to the majority at last?

• Peter Winn, "Children of the Sun" (Chapter 7)

• Donna Lee Van Cott, "Indigenous Movements Lose Momentum" (Current History, 2009, 6pp)

• Optional: Peter Winn, "A Question of Color" (Chapter 8). For reasons that we will discuss in class, civil rights movements and race-based politics in Latin America have tended to focus recently on the struggles of indigenous peoples even Cuba, Brazil, and numerous other countries have large populations of African-descendent peoples. 

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

UNIT 2: LATIN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

February 17 (T)—Examination 1. You will find it useful to review my handout on the grading criteria that will be used to assess your performance on the short answer question section of this test. You also may find it helpful to review the set of focus questions I have prepared to help you organize your examination preparation. 

February 19 (TH)—Why has democracy continued to struggle to take root in Latin America? 

• Film: Selections from Our Brand is Crisis (Koch Lorber Films, 2006).

• Scott Mainwaring and Tim Scully, "Latin America: Eight Lessons for Governance" (Journal of Democracy, 2008)

 

February 23 (M)—Paper 1 is due in my office by 4:00pm. I have posted the topics and instructions for this assignment. 

 

February 24 (T)—How democratic is Latin America? (And how do you measure this concept when comparing countries? 

• 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 26 (Th)—What do Latin American citizens think about democracy? 

• Democracy in Latin America pp. 131-147.

• Charles Blake, Chp. 12, "Challenges and Choices in the 21st Century." Concentrate on the sections evaluating liberty and governance.

• Optional (I'll go over the key charts in class): Marta Lagos, "Latin America's Diversity of Views" (Journal of Democracy, 2008, 15pp)

 

March 3 (T)—An overview of Mexican history, politics, and society

• Charles Blake, Chp. 10, "Mexico" (40pp)

March 5 (Th)—Is revolutionary change needed in Mexico's young democracy?

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

• Andreas Schedler, "The Mobilization of Distrust" (Journal of Democracy, 2008, 17pp)

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

• Optional:   Luis Estrada and Alejandro Poire, "Taught to Protest, Learning to Lose" (Journal of Democracy, 2007, 16pp)

 

March 10 and 12—No class or office hours during spring Break

March 17 (T)—An overview of Brazil's history, politics, and society

• Charles Blake, Chp. 6. "Brazil" (40pp)

March 19 (Th)—Are bad institutional choices the root cause of bad government in Latin America? 

• 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)

March 24 (T)—An overview of Colombian history, politics, and society

• Peter Winn, "Endangered States" (Chapter 12, concentrate on the section on Colombia)

• Vanessa Joan Gray, "The New Research on Civil Wars: Does It Help Us Understand the Colombian Conflict?" (Latin American Politics and Society, 2008, 30pp).

March 26 (Th)—Will the Colombian state fall to guerillas or narcotraffickers?

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

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

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

UNIT 3: LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL ECONOMY 

March 31 (T)—Examination 2.  You will find it useful to review my handout on the grading criteria that will be used to assess your performance on the short answer question section of this test. You also may find it helpful to review the set of focus questions I have prepared to help you organize your examination preparation. PowerPoint slides from class are in their usual file.

April 2 (Th)—What is the state of development in Latin America

• Film: Selections from The War on Democracy (Lionsgate Films, 2007).

• Charles Blake, Chp. 4, "The Quest for Development, Liberty, and Governance"  

• Charles Blake, Chp. 12, "Challenges and Choices in the 21st Century" (reread the short section on development) 

April 6 (M)—Examination 2 is due in my office by 4:00 pm.

April 7 (T)—An overview of Cuba's history, politics, and society

• Charles Blake, Chp. 8, "Cuba" (38pp)

April 9 (Th)—Can a country achieve economic growth and equity through revolution? 

• Peter Winn, Chp. 13, "Making Revolution" 

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

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

April 14 (T)—An overview of Chilean history, politics, and society

• Charles Blake, Chp. 7, "Chile" (38pp)

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

April 16 (Th)—Did Chile's authoritarians build a better economy than its democrats ever could? 

• 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 2007, 7pp)

April 21 (T)—An overview of Venezuela's history, politics, and society

• Charles Blake, Chp. 11, "Venezuela" (37pp)

• Michael Shifter, "In Search of Hugo Chavez" (Foreign Affairs, 2006, 8pp)

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

April 23 (Th)—Is there a third way between socialism and capitalism in Latin America? Is Hugo Chavez a model of such an alternative?

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

• Mitchell A. Seligson, "The Rise of Populism and the Left in Latin America" (Journal of Democracy, 2008, 15pp)

April 24 (F)—Film review essay is due in my office by 4:00pm.

April 28 (T)—What role can the United States and other countries play in expanding and deepening democracy and development in Latin America? 

• Film review presentations

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

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

April 30 (Th)—The future of democracy and development in Latin America

• Film review presentations continued.

• Seniors only: The university requires that I submit your final grades by 8am, May 5. You must make arrangements with my by no later than today to take an early exam. 

May 6 (W)—Final examination (except for seniors) Your final exam will be at 1:30pm.