POLS260-1 Introduction
to Comparative Politics
Department of Political Science
Northern
Fall 2008
Instructor: Professor Kikue Hamayotsu Office:
Zulauf Hall 414
Lecture: M/W 2-3:15 OfficeHours:M12-1;W11:30-1:30
Phone: 815-753-7048 E-mail: khamayotsu@niu.edu
Teaching Assistant: Mr.
Shawn McCafferty
E-mail:
Course Outline:
This course will teach you about politics around the world
and is designed as an introduction to the basic concepts and themes in
Comparative Politics such as democracy, the political roots of development and
poverty, and how contentious politics plays out in different
forms across countries. If you are interested in political science as a major,
this class helps prepare you for more advanced political science courses. If
you just want to better understand what is going on in the world, this class
will provide you with useful theoretical frameworks, as well as factual
background, on a number of important countries and regions in the world.
The course will focus on the three essential themes of
comparative political analysis: (1) The State, Political Regimes and
Institutions; (2) Political Participation and State-Society Relations; and (3)
Political Economy. In the final sections, we will also review some major
contemporary issues. The underlying purpose of the course is to identify and
explain differences/similarities in political systems and political life across
a set of diverse countries and regions of the world. Through the comparison of
politics in different countries, we will shed light on some of the most
fundamental questions about politics: why are some countries democratic and
other not? Why does conflict within a society turn violent in some cases but
not in others? And, how are politics and economics related? To explore these
questions, we will be primarily (but not exclusively) focusing on six
countries—
This is a lecture course. In order to encourage discussion
among students, however, class meetings consist of lectures
followed by discussion. Students will make brief oral presentation and discuss
the section’s readings.
Course Requirements:
1.
Class
attendance:
a.
Students are required
to attend all the classes. More than three unexcused absences will
jeopardize your attendance grade and you will risk failing the course. Please
notify your TA in advance if you must miss class.
2.
a.
Students are expected to come to class having
done the reading beforehand and to actively participate in discussion. It is
helpful to approach the readings with the following questions in mind: (a) what
is the central question/debate? (b) what is the main
argument? (c) what is the evidence for the argument?
(d) what are the problems with the argument? (e) can you think of counterarguments? Students should also address these questions
in writing assignments.
3.
One
class presentation (10%):
a.
On the first day of class, students will be
asked to sign-up for a particular section in which to present.
b.
The presentation should be a critique of the
readings of the session and must address central controversies to stimulate
class discussion. Students may want to choose an article from a
national/international newspaper or other publication (such as The Economist,
the Chicago Tribune, or the New York Times) that relates to the section’s
readings (you can be creative). The presentation should be approximately 10
minutes.
4.
Random
quizzes
a.
A handful of brief quizzes will be given
randomly throughout the semester. They will focus mainly on the required
readings. The purpose of this component of the evaluation is to encourage the
students to do the assigned readings, and to come to class prepared to discuss
the material. If it becomes clear that people are not coming to class prepared,
the instructor reserves the right to take the drastic action of giving pop
quizzes. Otherwise, quizzes will be announced the class before they are due.
b. Two in-class exams
Ø
The
mid-term exam: consists of a short-answer section and essay questions.
The exam will cover the first half of the course. Students will be expected to
write clear and coherent essays.
Ø
The
final exam: consists of a short-answer section and essay questions. The
exam will primarily cover materials from the second half of the course, but
test your overall understanding of the materials covered in the course.
c. One term paper
Ø
Students will be required to write a short term
paper (5-6 pp). The paper topic will be given in class. The paper due is
November 24.
Ø
The paper must be typewritten (12 font),
double-spaced, and properly footnoted.
Grade distribution:
1. Class attendance (10%) and presentation (10%)
2. Term paper (20%)
3. Exams (20%+40%)
Please note:
a.
Late
submission will result in grade reduction for a 1/3 the letter grade per
day (e.g., “A” will be lowered to “A-” if submission is a day late). No paper
will be accepted that is more than one week late.
b.
Plagiarism
Policy: According to the NIU Undergraduate Catalogue “Students
are guilty of plagiarism, intentional or not, if they copy material from books,
magazines, or other sources without identifying and acknowledging them.
Students guilty of, or assisting others in, either
cheating or plagiarism on an assignment, quiz, or examination may receive a
grade of F for the course involved and may be suspended or dismissed from the
university.” In short, all ideas that are not your own or well known must be
footnoted. A general rule is that if the information cannot be found in three
or more commonly available sources it should be footnoted. All direct
quotations must be placed in quotation marks. If you are unsure as to what
should be footnoted either play it safe and footnote, or ask for assistance.
Failure to adhere to the University’s plagiarism policy will result in
punishments ranging from a failed course grade to suspension and even
expulsion, depending on the egregiousness of the infraction.
Course
The
following textbooks have been ordered at the university bookstore and should be
available for purchase. The rest of the readings are uploaded in Blackboard. A
number of Internet links have been made to on-line journals. Students may
either download the articles or read them on line. The required readings and textbooks
will also be kept in library reserve.
Textbooks to
purchase:
Ø
Kopstein, Jeffrey, and
Mark Lichback, eds. 2005. Comparative Politics:
Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order. Second ed.
Ø
O'Neil,
Patrick H. 2007. Essentials of Comparative Politics. Second ed.
Ø
Zakaria, Fareed. 2003. The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy
at Home and Abroad.
Class Schedule:
PART I: INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
Week 1.1 (Aug 25) Course
Introduction
Week 1.2 (Aug 27) Comparative
Methods, Toolkits, and Issues
n
What is Comparative Politics? Why do we have to
care to study?
Required
Kopstein and Lichback,
Ch.1-2 (pp.1-36)
PART II: States, Regimes and
Democratic Transitions
Week 2.1 (Sept 1) Labor Day
Week 2.2 (Sept 3) States
n
What is the state and why use it as a unit of analysis?
Required
O’Neil, Ch.2 (pp.20-43)
Week 3.1 (Sept 8) State
Formation
n
Why and how have we got state institutions that
we have now?
Case:
Required
Kopstein and Lichback,
Ch.4 (especially pp.81-98)
Week 3.2 (Sept 10) Nationalism 1
n
Ethnic and national identities
n
Where does a “national identity” come from? Who
reserves the right to define it?
Case:
Required
Breuilly, John.
1994. Nationalism and the State. Second ed.
O’Neil, Ch.3 (especially pp.44-53)
n
Who should be included and in what terms?
Case:
Ø
Video: TBA
Required
“Our Town”, NYT Magazine,
Brubaker. 2001. “The Return of Assimilation?” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 24 (4),
pp.531-548.
Week 4.2 (Sept 17) Democracy 1
n
What is democracy and what is not?
n
What are the requisites for democracy?
Case:
Required
Almond,
Gabriel A. 2004. Comparative Political System.
In Essential Readings in Comparative Politics, edited
by P. O'Neil and R. Rogowski.
Zakaria, Introduction (pp.13-27).
n
Parliamentary democracies
n
How did
Case:
Required
Kopstein and Lichback, Ch.3 (especially pp.51-75)
Week 5.2 (Sept 24) Democratic Transitions and
Consolidations 1
n
Illiberal Democracy
Case:
Required
Zakaria, Ch3 (pp.89-118)
Week 6.1 (Sept 29) Democratic Transitions and
Consolidations 2
Case:
Required
Kopstein and Lichback, Ch.7
(especially pp.205-238)
Week 6.2 (Oct 1) Authoritarian Regimes 1
n
What is authoritarianism?
Required
O’Neil, Ch.5 (pp.110-133)
Case:
Ø
Video: TBA
Required
Kopstein and Lichback, Ch.8 (pp.253-274)
n
What explains resilience of some authoritarian
regimes?
Case:
Required
Kopstein and Lichback,
Ch.8 (pp.274-282)
Nathan, Andrew J. 2003.
Week 8.2 (Oct 15) Democracy and
Culture
n
Civil
Society and Social Capital
Case: US
Required
Fukuyama, Francis. 1995. The Primacy of Culture. Journal of Democracy
6 (1):7-14.
Putnam, Robert D. 1995. Bowling Alone:
Week 9.1 (Oct 20) Democracy and Culture
n
Are certain cultural traits required for
democracy?
n
Is Islam an exception?
Required
Zakaria, Ch.4 (pp.119-159)
PART III: State-Society
Relations
Week 9.2 (Oct 22) Social
Movements 1
n
Why do people rebel?
Case:
Required
Tilly, Charles, and Sidney Tarrow.
2007. Contentious Politics.
Week 10.1 (Oct 27) Social
Movements 2
n
Video: Tiananmen uprising
Required
Perry, Elizabeth J., and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom. 1994. Casting Chinese "Democracy" Movement: The roles of
Students, Workers, and Entrepreneurs. In Popular Protest
and Political Culture in Modern China, edited by E. J. Perry.
Week 10.2 (Oct 29) Social
Movements - Political Islam
Case:
Required
Fuller, Graham E. 2002. The Future of Political Islam.
Foreign Affairs 81 (2):48-60.
Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky. 2004. Interests, Ideas, and
Islamist Outreach in
Week 11.1 (Nov 3) Ethnicity:
Ethnic conflict
n
What are the causes of ethnic violence?
Case:
Required
O’Neil, Ch.3 (especially
pp.53-56)
Varshney, Ashutosh. 2001. Ethnic Conflict and Civil Society:
Week 11.2 (Nov 5) Religion
and Politics
§
Radical Islam
Ø
Video: “War Within” (CNN)
Required
Economist Special Report, “Faith and Politics”
O’Neil, Ch.3 (pp.65-74)
PART IV: Political Economy—State and Market
Week 12.1 (Nov 10) Political Economy
n
What is Political Economy?
Case:
Required
O’Neil, Ch.4 (pp.77-109)
Week 12.2 (Nov 12) State and Market
n
Why are some countries resource-poor but rich
while others are resource-rich but poor?
n
Shall state intervention facilitate development?
If so, how?
Case:
Kopstein and Lechback,
Ch.6 (
Week 13.1 (Nov 17) Democracy and Development 1
n
Does economic growth promote democracy/ Does democracy promote economic growth?
Case:
Required
Zakaria, Ch.2 (pp.59-88)
Kopstein and Lichbach,
chap.10 (especially pp.354-67)
Week 13.2 (Nov 19) Democracy and Development 2
Case:
Required
Varshney, Ashutosh. 1998. Why
Democracy Survives. Journal of Democracy 9 (3):36-50.
Kopstein and Lichbach,
chap.10 (especially pp.367-77)
PART V: Contemporary Challenges
Week 14.1 (Nov 24) Globalization and Nation-States
Required
O’Neil, Ch.10 (pp.250-276).
Wolf, Martin. 2001. “Will the Nation-State Survive
Globalization?” Foreign
Affairs, Jan/Feb. pp.160-77.
n
THE TERM
PAPER DUE
Week 14.2 (Nov 26) THANKSGIVING
HOLIDY: NO CLASS
Week 15.1 (Dec 1) Globalization and Identity/Culture
n
Does globalization facilitate a universal
identity or a clash among different cultural identities?
Ø
Video: TBA
Required
Huntington, Samuel P. 1993.
The clash of civilizations? Foreign Affairs 72
(3)
Week 15.2 (Dec 3) Review: What’s next?
Tips for Doing Well in this Class
1. Do the readings AND come to class. Lectures will refer to the assigned readings
but they will not summarize them and they are not an adequate substitute.
Likewise, lectures will cover material that is not in the readings, and that
may appear on the exams.
2. Read critically.
As you read, note questions that you would like to raise
in lecture or section, and think critically about the author's evidence and
arguments.
3. Think comparatively. Ask yourself how the particular case you are
reading about compares with similar developments in other countries, regions,
or periods.
4. Participate actively in discussion sections and in
lecture. Take notes on lectures, and
be engaged in the question and discussion periods that will be held during the
final minutes of class.
5. Keep up with current events. If you do not already
do so, read the international pages of at least one major national /
international paper every day. Examples
include The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The
Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Think about how contemporary events relate to the themes and cases
studied in class.
6. Know the locations of the countries and regions we
cover. Geography is critically
important for understanding a nation's historical development and importantly
influences national security interests and many other areas of political
life. If a name of a country is
mentioned that you can't pinpoint on a map (a vague sense of where it is
located is insufficient!), locate it on a map. Also note what its neighboring
countries and regions are. Maps of the countries and regions of the world we
will cover can be found in the Essentials
of Comparative Politics text.
7. Follow up on topics you find particularly interesting
by reading beyond the assigned texts. Look for hints of where to find
additional materials by looking at footnotes and references in the readings or
by asking your T.A. or me for suggested additional readings.
8. Take advantage of office hours. The T.A.s and I are here to help if you're having trouble
understanding concepts or if you are simply interested in further discussing
topics covered in class (see #7 above).