Office: 105 Zulauf
Fall 2008
Office Hours: T, Th 2-3:30 Tuesdays,
753-7042, dunger@niu.edu DuSable 464
Comparative Political Analysis
This course provides a highly
selective survey of the comparative politics literature. It is designed to familiarize students with
the main theoretical debates in the field today and their roots in the field’s
development over past decades. It also
aims to prepare students for more advanced research, as well as the candidacy
examination (for doctoral students.)
Students taking the candidacy exams are responsible for the
“Supplementary” as well as the “Required” readings.
Students may want to become
familiar with the department’s webpage which has curricular information, course
syllabi, as well as useful information about possible careers and other
matters.
NIU abides by Section 504 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that mandates reasonable accommodations for
students with disabilities. If you have
a disability, contact me early in the semester so that I can help to address
your needs. You will need to register
with the Center for Access-Ability Resources (CAAR) on campus on the 4th
floor of the University Health Services building (753-1303.)
Required texts
-B. Guy Peters, Comparative
Politics: Theory and Methods (New York University Press, 1998)
-Geraldo L. Munck and Richard
Snyder, Passion, Craft, and Method in Comparative Politics (
Students may also want to
obtain the following text:
-Lichbach, Mark Irving and
Alan S. Zuckerman, Comparative Politics:
Rationality, Culture, and Structure (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
The bulk of readings for the
course will be available from the library’s e-reserves. You will need to order the above texts
yourself or find some other means of getting access to those readings.
Requirements:
-Contributions to class
discussions (30%)
-Assigned presentations in
class (20%)
(one presentation of a
reading; one using readings to interpret or explain specific, contemporary
political developments)
-In class final exam (50%)
Presentations
of readings should very briefly review and assess the author(s)’s arguments,
the appropriateness of the analytical approaches employed, and should place the
readings in their theoretical context.
Schedule of
meetings and readings
August 29, Overview of the
field and the course
September 5, The behavioral revolution
Required reading:
-Richard Snyder, “The Human
Dimension of Comparative Research” and Gerardo L. Munck, “The Past and Present
of Comparative Politics,” in Munck and Snyder, Passion, Craft, and Method,
pp.1-59
-Munck and Snyder, Passion,
Craft, and Method (Gabriel A. Almond) pp.63-85
-Huntington, Samuel P. "The
Change to Change: Modernization, Development, and Politics," Comparative Politics. April 1971:
283-322.
-Lichbach and Zuckerman, “Social
Theory and Comparative Politics,” in Lichbach and Zuckerman, eds. Comparative
Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure, pp.3-8
-Roy Macridis, “A Survey of
the Field of Comparative Politics,” in Harry Eckstein and David Apter, eds. Comparative
Politics, A Reader (The Free Press, 1963) pp.43-52
Suggested readings:
-Benjamin Neuberger, “State
and Nation in African Perceptions of Nation-Building,” Asian and African
Studies 11, 1976, pp.241-61
-Dankwart Rustow, “New
Horizons for Comparative Politics,” in Harry Eckstein and David Apter, eds. Comparative
Politics, A Reader (The Free Press, 1963) pp.57-66
-Karl W. Deutsch, “Social
Mobilization and Political Development,” in Harry Eckstein and David Apter,
eds. Comparative Politics, A Reader (The Free Press, 1963) pp.582-603
Supplementary readings:
-David Easton, “An Approach
to the Analysis of Political Systems,” World
Politics, 9:3, April 1957
September 12, Development
of the field
Required reading:
-Samuel P. Huntington, Political
Order in Changing Societies, pp.1-11,24-32,53-59,72-78
-Munck and Snyder, Passion,
Craft, and Method (Samuel P. Huntington) pp.210-233
-Barbara Geddes,
"Paradigms and
-Remmer, Karen. "Theory
Decay and Development, Institutional Analysis," World Politics, 50, October 1997.
September 19, Comparative
Methods
Required reading:
-B. Guy Peters, Comparative
Politics, pp.1-79, 212-26
-Alexander George, “Case
Studies and Theory Development: The Method of Structured, Focused Comparisons,”
in P.G. Lauren, ed. Diplomacy: New Approaches in History, Theory and Policy
(New York, 1979)
-Arend Lijphart, “Comparative
Politics and the Comparative Method,” American Political Science Review,
Vol.75, September 1971, pp.682-93
-Munck and Snyder, Passion,
Craft, and Method (Juan J. Linz, David Collier) pp.150-209, 556-600
-Alexander L. George and Andrew
Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (MIT
Press, 2005), pp.3-35
September 26, Structuring
Political Systems
Required reading:
-Theda Skocpol, “
-Munck and Snyder, Passion,
Craft, and Method (Barrington Moore, Jr., Theda Skocpol) pp.86-112, 649-707
-John T. Sidel, “Social
Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy Revisited,” Comparative Politics,
40:2, January 2008, pp.127-47
-Liah Greenfeld, Nationalism,
Five Roads to Modernity (Harvard University Press, ) pp.17-21
-PS.
-Richard F. Doner, Bryan K.
Ritchie, and Dan Slater, “Systemic Variation and the Origins of Developmental
States,” International Organization, 59:2, Spring 2005, pp.327-62
Supplementary readings:
-Ira Katznelson,
"Structure and Configuration in Comparative Politics," Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture,
and Structure. Lichbach and Zuckerman, eds.: 81-112.
-Walter Korpi, “Power
Resources and Employer-Centered Approaches in Explanations of Welfare States
and Varieties of Capitalism,” World Politics, 58, January 2006,
pp.167-206
-
-Martin van Creveld, The
Rise and Decline of the State (Cambridge University Press, 1999) pp.189-262
October 3rd, Rationality
in Politics
Required reading:
-Levi, Margaret. "A
Model, a Method, and a Map: Rational Choice in Comparative and Historical
Analysis," Comparative Politics:
Rationality, Culture, and Structure. Lichbach and Zuckerman, eds.: 19-41.
-Munck and Snyder, Passion,
Craft, and Method (Robert Bates, Adam Przeworski) pp.504-555, 456-503
-James G. March and Johan P.
Olsen, Democratic Governance. The Free Press, 1995) pp.7-47
-Anthony Downs, An
Economic Theory of Democracy. Harper and Brothers, 1957, pp.96-113
-Barry Weingast, “The
Political Foundations of Democracy and the Rule of Law,” American Political
Science Review 91, 1997, pp.245-63
Suggested readings:
-William H. Riker and Peter
C. Ordeshook, An Introduction to Positive Political Theory. Harcourt Brace, 1994. pp.8-37, 45-77
Supplementary readings:
-Carles Boix, Democracy
and Redistribution (
October 10, Political
Culture
-Ronald Inglehart and
Christian Welzel, “Political Culture and Democracy,” Comparative Politics, 36:1, October 2003,
pp.61-79
-Munck and Snyder, Passion,
Craft, and Method (James C. Scott, David Laitin) pp.351-391, 601-48
-Marc Howard Ross, “Culture
and Identity in Comparative Political Analysis,” in Lichbach and Zuckerman,
pp.42-80
Suggested readings:
-Ronald Inglehart, “Trust,
well-being and democracy,” in Mark Warren, ed. Democracy and Trust (Cambridge
University Press, 1999) pp.88-120
-Lana Crothers and Charles
Lockhart, eds. Culture and Politics, A Reader (
-
-Ronald
Inglehart, Modernization, Cultural Change and Democracy: The Human Development
Sequence
(Cambridge University Press) pp.15-77
Supplementary readings:
-Lawrence Scaff, “Fleeing the
Iron Cage: Politics and Culture in the Thought of Max Weber,” American
Political Science Review, vol.81, September 1987, pp.737-57
October
17, The New Institutionalism
Required
readings:
-Immergut, Ellen M. "The
Theoretical Core of the New Institutionalism," Politics and Society. 26:1, March 1988: 5-34.
-Sven Steinmo, “Political Institutions and Tax Policy in
the
-Stephan Haggard and Mathew
D. McCubbins, “Introduction: Political Institutions and the Determinants of
Public Policy,” in Haggard and McCubbins, eds. Presidents, Parliaments, and
Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2001) pp.1-13
-Douglas North and Barry
Weingast, “Constitutions and Commitment,” in Alston et al. eds. Empirical
Studies in Institutional Change (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
pp.134-65
Recommended readings:
-Andrew MacIntyre,
“Institutions and investors: the Politics of the Asian Economic Crisis in
October 24, Political
Economy
Required readings:
-Gerschenkron, Alexander.
" Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective," Economic Backwardness in Historical
Perspective. Gerschenkron ed., 1962, pp.5-30
-Carles Boix, Political
Parties, Growth and Equality (Cambridge University Press, 1998) pp.1-13,
16-50
-Jason Abbott, Developmentalism
and Dependency in Southeast Asia (Routledge, 2003) pp.10-34
-Robert Bates, Prosperity
and Violence, The Political Economy of Development (
-Peter
A. Hall and David Soskice, “An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism,”
pp.1-68
Suggested readings:
-Shafer, D. Michael. Winners and Losers, How Sectors Shape the
Developmental Prospects of States.
-Packenham, Robert A. The Dependency Movement: Scholarship and
Politics in Development Studies.
-Kanishka Jayasuriya,
“Authoritarian liberalism, governance and the emergence of the regulatory state
in post-crisis
-Walter Korpi, “Power
Resources and Employer-Centered Approaches in Explanations of Welfare States
and Varieties of Capitalism,” World Politics, 58 (January 2006) pp.167-206
-Torben Iversen, Capitalism,
Democracy, and Welfare (
October 31, Democracy
Required readings:
-Philippe Schmitter and Terry
Lynn Karl, “What Democracy Is…And Is Not,” Journal
of Democracy, 1991
-Fareed Zakaria, “The Rise of
Illiberal Democracy,” Foreign Affairs,
November 1997, pp.22-43
-Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave, chapter one
-Michael McFaul, “The Fourth
Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship,” World Politics, 54:2, January 2002
-Guillermo
O’Donnell, “Delegative Democracy,” Journal of Democracy, 1994, 5:1, pp.55-69
-Munck and Snyder, Passion,
Craft, and Method (Robert A. Dahl, Guillermo O’Donnell, Philippe Schmitter,
Alfred Stepan) pp.113-149, 273-304, 305-350, 392-455
November 7, Democracy and
Political Institutions
Required readings:
-Mainwaring, Scott.
"Party Systems in the Third Wave,” Journal of Democracy. July 1998: 67-81
-Herbert Kitschelt and Steven
I. Wilkinson, “Citizen-politician linkages: an introduction,” in Kitschelt and
Wilkinson, eds. Patrons, Clients, and Policies (Cambridge University
Press, 2007) pp.1-46
-Gretchen Helmke and Steven
Levitsky, “Introduction,” in Helmke and Levitsky, eds. Informal Institutions
and Democracy, Lessons from Latin America (Johns Hopkins University Press,
2006) pp.1-25
-Luis Roniger, “Political
Clientelism, Democracy, and Market Economy,” Comparative Politics, 36:3,
April 2004, pp.353-375
-Marcus Kreuzer and Vello
Pettai, “Political Parties and the Study of Political Development,” World
Politics, 56, July 2004, pp.608-33
-Susan C. Stokes, “Do
Informal Rules Make Democracy Work?” in Gretchen Helmke and Steven Levitsky,
eds. Informal Institutions and Democracy, Lessons from Latin America
(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) pp.125-39
-Philippe Schmitter, “Parties
are Not What they Once Were,” in Larry Diamond and Richard Gunther, eds. Political
Parties and Democracy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) pp.67-89
-M. Steven Fish, “Stronger
Legislatures, Stronger Democracies,” Journal of Democracy, 17 (January
2006) pp.5-20
Suggested readings:
-Ingrid Van Biezen, “On the
theory and practice of party formation and adaptation in new democracies,” European Journal of Political Research
44, 2005, pp.147-74
-Andreas Schedler, Larry
Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner, eds. The Self-Restraining State: Power and
Accountability in New Democracies (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner
Publishers, 1999)
November 14, The State and
State-Society Relations (I)
Required readings:
-Munck and Snyder, Passion,
Craft, and Method (Arend Lijphart) pp.234-272
-Peter Evans, Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial
Transformation.
-Midgal, Joel S.
"Studying the State," Comparative
Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure. Lichbach and Zuckerman,
eds.: 208-235.
-Stepan, Alfred. "State
Power and the Strength of Civil Society in the Southern Cone of Latin
America," in Peter Evans and Theda Skocpol, eds. Bringing the State
Back In, pp.317-343
-Michael Walzer,
“Intellectuals, Social Classes, and Revolutions,” in Skocpol, ed., Democracy, Revolution, pp.127-42
-Susan C. Stokes, Culture
in Conflict, Social Movements and the State in
Suggested readings:
-Chalmers Johnson, MITI
and the Japanese Economic Miracle (Stanford University Press, 1978)
-Kurt Schock, Unarmed
Insurrections (
November 21, The State and
State-Society Relations (II)
Required readings:
-Joel S. Migdal, State in
Society (
-Omar G. Encarnacion, “Civil
Society Reconsidered,” Comparative Politics, 38:3, April 2006, pp.357-75
-Kenneth M. Roberts,
“Populism, Political Conflict, and Grass-Roots Organization in
Suggested readings:
-Ashutosh Varshney, Democracy,
Development, and the Countryside (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
-Donald L. Horowitz, Ethnic
Groups in Conflict (University of California Press, 1985)
November 28, Political
Participation
Required readings:
-Joan Nelson, “Political
Participation,” in Myron Weiner and Samuel P. Huntington, eds. Understanding
Political Development (Little, Brown and Co., 1987) pp.103-49
-Henry Milner, Civic
Literacy (
-Myron Weiner, “Political Participation:
Crisis of the Political Process,” in Leonard Binder et al. Crises and
Sequences in Political Development (Princeton University Press, 1971)
pp.159-74
Suggested
-S.M. Lipset and Stein
Rokkan, “Class Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments: An
Introduction,” in Lipset and Rokkan, eds. Party Systems and Voter
Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives. The Free Press, 1967, pp.1-33
-Susan J. Pharr and Robert D.
Putnam, eds. Disaffected Democracies (
December 5, A substantive
or methodological synthesis?
Required reading:
-Lichbach, Mark I.
"Social Theory and Comparative Politics," Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure. Lichbach
and Zuckerman: 239-276.
December 9, 6-7:50, final
exam