Introduction to Comparative Politics

Department of Political Science

Columbia University

 

 

 

Political Science V1501x

Douglas A Chalmers (chalmers@columbia.edu)

Fall 2003

Off Hrs: Tues 3-5

702 Hamilton

829 Int. Aff , Tel: 854-6675

TR 10:25-11:50

chalmers@columbia.edu

Teaching Assistants

Xi Chen (xc48@columbia.edu),

Ben Reames (bnr4@columbia.edu),

Jian Zhang (jz2015@columbia.edu)

Discussions: TBA

 

 

Overview

 

This course introduces the analysis of politics and society through the techniques of comparative politics. We will address four major topics representing a significant, but small part of the work being done in the field. These topics are:

1. (Sept 9-23) Patterns of representation: what does it matter how citizens are linked to politics?

2. (Sept 28-Oct 12) Collective action: What are the conditions under which people act together to advance their own interests or promote change?

3. (Oct 24ÐNov 9) Democratic breakdown: Why do some democracies turn to authoritarianism while others survive many challenges?

4. (Nov 14Ð30) Building democratic institutions: What processes create stable, consolidated democratic institutions?

In each one of these modules, we will do three things: First, look at the politics of a country (Mexico, China, Germany and Brazil Ð with a cursory look at a comparative country in each case, Nigeria, France, Iran, India) to see the problem concretely, and see how questions and ÔsolutionsÕ are thrown up during political crises.  Second, we will examine some major theories meant to elucidate significant problems in all or many countries.  Finally, we will look closely at a relevant single work which has helped to shape the discipline of comparative politics. Exploring a single work will also give us a chance to talk not only about the theory it puts forward, but also about the methods political scientists use to construct theories and test them.

 

Requirements:

 

a term paper (with penalties for not turning in first draft),           40%

a mid term (October 16)                                                                      20%

a final examination (Dec 16)                                                                30%

participation in discussion sections                                                    10%

 

 

The paper

 

A single paper of about 15 pages in length, which will identify and try to answer some important question about the politics in a specific country (or set of them). The objective of the paper will be to explore whether theoretical writings Ð whether discussed in the course or not Ð throw light on the dynamics of politics in the chosen country. It need not discuss politics in more than one country, although the ideas should be relevant for making comparisons and contrasts.

A preliminary submission, of no more than two pages, identifying the country or event, a short annotated bibliography, and a tentative question to be addressed will be due on September 25.

A first draft of the paper is due on October 30. 

The final version of the paper will be due on December 2.

 

Books for purchase (available at Labyrinth Books)

 

Kesselman, Mark, Joel Krieger, and William A. Joseph, eds. 3rd ed. 2003.  Introduction to Comparative Politics (ICP). Houghton Mifflin

Allen, William Sheridan., The Nazi Seizure Of Power : The Experience Of A Single German Town, 1922-1945, Rev. ed. New York : F. Watts, c1984.

Dahl, Robert  A-, Polyarchy; participation and opposition , New Haven, Yale University Press, 1971.

McAdam, Doug, Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly, Dynamics of Contention (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001)

Ostrom, Elinor, Governing the Commons, New York : Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Putnam, Robert D., Making democracy work : civic traditions in modern Italy, Princeton, 1993


 

Schedule

(note that the up to date version will be in Courseworks)

 

(Note that sections sometimes overlap. We often spend 1 1/2 days on a topic)

 

Sept 2 & 4                  Intro and approach

Kesselman, Introduction to Comparative Politics (hereafter ICP) chapter 1

 

MODULE 1 - REPRESENTATION

 

Sept 9 & 11                Mexico (Nigeria)

ICP, chapter 10, 11,

Fox, Jonathan, "The Difficult Transition from Clientelism to Citizenship", World Politics, 46/2 (Jan 94) pp. 151-184  (JSTOR)

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8871%28199401%2946%3A2%3C151%3ATDTFCT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2

 

Kaufman, Robert and Guillermo Trejo, ÒRegionalism, Regime Transformation, and PRONASOLÓ. Journal of Latin American Studies pp714-745, October 1997
http://www.columbia.edu/~chalmers/KandT.html

 

John C. Cross, ÒCo-optation, Competition, and Resistance: State and Street Vendors in Mexico CityÓ Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 25, No. 2, The Urban Informal Sector. (Mar., 1998), pp. 41-61.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0094-582X%28199803%2925%3A2%3C41%3ACCARSA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R

 

James W Russell , ÒLand and identity in Mexico: Peasants stop an airportÓ Monthly Review; Feb 2003; 54, 9; pg. 14
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?index=0&did=000000290693711&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1059673647&clientId=15403

 

 

 

Sept 11 & 16              Forms of Participation: How individuals link to the state

 

Foley, Michael W. & Bob Edwards , "The Paradox of Civil Society", Journal of Democracy 7.3 (1996) 38-52  (MUSE)

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v007/7.3foley.html

 

 

Douglas A. Chalmers, Scott B. Martin, and Kerianne Piester, "Associative Networks: New Structures of Representation for the Popular Sectors?" in Douglas Chalmers et al., eds., The New Politics of Inequality in Latin America: Rethinking Participation and Representation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), ch. 22 http://www.columbia.edu/~chalmers/AN.html

 

Kitschelt, Herbert.. "Linkages Between Citizens and Politicians in Democratic Polities" Comparative Political Studies 2000  vol33, no. 6: 845-879 http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=XND01P0L2PEXXTNTVM10

 

Stephen N. Ndegwa,  Citizenship and Ethnicity: An Examination of Two Transition Moments in Kenyan Politics  The American Political Science Review , Vol. 91, No. 3. (Sep., 1997), pp. 599-616.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28199709%2991%3A3%3C599%3ACAEAEO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0

 

Brady, Henry E., Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Schlozman,  "Beyond SES: A Resource Model of Political Participation ".   The American Political Science Review, Vol. 89, No. 2. (Jun., 1995), pp. 271-294. (JSTOR )

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28199506%2989%3A2%3C271%3ABSARMO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V

 

Diane Singerman, Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo - (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997) Intro, Chapter 5, Conclusion (on electronic course reserve)

 

Other reading:

 

John W. Harbeson, Donald Rothchild, and Naomi Chazan, eds., Civil Society and the State in Africa - (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publisher, 1996)

 

James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak:  Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), chs. 1-2

 

G. Bingham Powell, Jr., Elections as Instruments of Democracy, pbk. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), chs. 1-2.

 

Warren E. Miller and J. Merrill Shanks, The New American Voter, pbk. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), chs. 1, 6, 8, 10, 17, 18.  The latest synthesis of decades of analysis of why Americans vote as they do.

 

James A. Stimson, Michael B. MacKuen, and Robert S. Erikson, ÒDynamic Representation,Ó APSR 89 (September 1995), pp. 543-565  (JSTOR)

 

Brady, Henry E. ; Schlozman, Kay Lehman. ; Verba, Sidney, Prospecting for participants: rational expectations and the recruitment of political activists. The American Political Science Review v. 93 no1 (Mar. 1999) p. 153-68

 

Sept 18 & 23              Exploring Civil Society: ÒSocial CapitalÓ

 

Putnam, Robert D., Making Democracy Work

 

Annotated Bibliography and problem due Sept 25

 

MODULE 2 Ð COLLECTIVE ACTION

 

Sept 25           China (France)

ICP, ch 11, 3

 

Xueguang Zhou, ÒUnorganized Interests and Collective Action in Communist ChinaÓ, American Sociological Review, Volume 58, Issue 1 (Feb., 1993), Pp. 54-73. (JSTORE)

 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-1224%28199302%2958%3A1%3C54%3AUIACAI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A

 

Joseph W. Esherick, Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, ÒActing Out Democracy: Political Threater in Modern ChinaÓ, Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 49, Issue 4 (Nov., 1990):835-865 (JSTORE) http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9118%28199011%2949%3A4%3C835%3AAODPTI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E

 

Tianjian Shi, Political Participation in Beijing, Cambridge: Harvard  University Press, 1997., Ch1 ÒIntroductionÓ.

 

Tang Tsou, ÒThe Tiananmen Tragedy: The State-Society Relationship, Choices, and Mechanisms in Historical PerspectiveÓ. In Jon Elster ed., The Roundtable Talks and the Breakdown of Communism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

 

 

 

Sept 30 & October 2                          Collective action

 

Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, Mayer N. Zald  (eds.) Comparative Perspectives On Social Movements New York : Cambridge University Press, 1996., Intro and Chapters 2, 7 & 12 - HN13 .C644 1996  (On reserve in Butler)

Stammers, Neil, ÒSocial Movements and the Social Construction of Human Rights,Ó Human Rights Quarterly - Volume 21, Issue 4 1999 (MUSE) http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/human_rights_quarterly/v021/21.4stammers.html

 

Other reading:

Tarrow, Sidney, Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics  (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994),

 

Hipsher, Patricia L ÒDemocratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Chile and SpainÓ Comparative Politics, Vol. 28, No. 3. (Apr., 1996), pp. 273-297 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00104159%28199604%2928%3A3%3C273%3ADATDOU%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q

 

Other Reading

 

Arturo Escobar and Sonia E. Alvarez, eds., The Making of Social Movements in Latin America:  Identity, Strategy, and Democracy (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992).

 

Donatella della Porta, Social Movements, Political Violence, and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Italy and Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995).

 

John W. Harbeson, Donald Rothchild, and Naomi Chazan, eds., Civil Society and the State in Africa (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publisher, 1996).

 

 

Oct 7 & 9                   Exploring Social Movements

 

Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly, Dynamics of Contention (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001)

Oct 14                         Review

 

Oct 16                                     MIDTERM EXAM

 

MODULE 3 Ð Democratic  Stability and Weakness

 

Oct 21& 23                Germany  (Iran)

 

ICP, ch 4, 12

Allen, William Sheridan., The Nazi Seizure Of Power : The Experience Of A Single German Town, 1922-1945, Rev. ed. New York : F. Watts, c1984. Part 1, pp. 1-147  - DD256.5 .A58 1984

 

Sheri Berman, ÒCivil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar RepublicÓ World Politics 49, 3 (1997), pp.401-429. Ð(MUSE) http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v049/49.3berman.html

 

Bawn, Kathleen. 1993. "The Logic of Institutional Preference: German Electoral Law as a Social Choice Outcome" American Journal of Political Science 37, no. 4: 965-989. (JSTOR)

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0092-5853%28199311%2937%3A4%3C965%3ATLOIPG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z

 

Kuechler, Manfred. 1992. "The Road to German Unity: Mass Sentiment in East and West Germany" Public Opinion Quarterly 56, no. 1: 53-76.  (JSTOR)

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-362X%28199221%2956%3A1%3C53%3ATRTGUM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%2 

 

Oct 23             Iran and the Middle East (Lecture by Prof Lisa Anderson)

 

Oct 28                         Stable Democracy: Weaknesses and Obstacles

 

Linz, Juan J.  The Breakdown Of Democratic Regimes : Crisis, Breakdown, And Reequilibration.  - JN94.A2 L56  (On reserve in Butler)

Przeworski, Adam, and Fernando Limongi.  "Modernization: Theories and  Facts." World Politics 49:2 (Jan 1997) pp. 155-183. (MUSE)

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v049/49.2przeworski.html

Samuel Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (1968), pages 1-59.

Stephens,  John D. ÒDemocratic Transition and Breakdown in Western Europe, 1870-1939: A Test of the Moore ThesisÓ American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 94, No. 5. (Mar., 1989), pp. 1019-1077.(JSTOR)

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9602%28198903%2994%3A5%3C1019%3ADTABIW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6

 

Other Reading

 

Lisa Anderson, ed., Transitions to Democracy, pbk. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).  A symposium on RustowÕs 1970 article by the same title.

 

Barrington Moore Jr., The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, pbk.  (Boston:  Beacon Press, 1966), Preface, Chs. 1.

 

Guillermo O'Donnell, "Illusions About Consolidation" Journal of Democracy 7.2 (1996) 34-51  (MUSE)

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v007/7.2odonnell.html

 

Jill Crystal, ÒAuthoritarianism and its Adversaries in the Arab WorldÓ World Politics, 46, no. 2. 1994: 262-289.

 

Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, ÒWhat Democracy Is...and Is Not,Ó Journal of Democracy 2 (Summer 1991), 75-87

 

Adam Przeworski et al., Sustainable Democracy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), Chs. 3-5.

 

 

First Draft of Paper Due October 30

 

Oct 30 & Nov 6                    Exploring Democratic  Instability

 

 

Dahl, Robert  A, Polyarchy

 

Nov  11          Discussion of papers

MODULE 4 Ð BUILDING DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS

 

Nov  13 & 18             Brazil (India)

 

ICP, ch 9, 6

Mainwaring, Scott, "Brazilian Party Underdevelopment in Comparative Perspective" Political Science Quarterly, 107/4 1992, pp677-707    (JSTOR)

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0032-3195%28199224%2F199320%29107%3A4%3C677%3ABPUICP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H

 

 

 

 

Nov 18 & 20              Democratic Institutions

 

Guillermo O'Donnell, "Illusions About Consolidation" Journal of Democracy 7.2 (1996) 34-51  (MUSE)

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v007/7.2odonnell.html

 

Mainwaring, Scott, 1954- ÒThe Surprising Resilience of Elected GovernmentsÓ Journal of Democracy - Volume 10, Issue 3 1999 - Article

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v010/10.3mainwaring.html

 

Remmer, Karen L. , New Theoretical Perspectives on Democratization, Comparative Politics, Vol. 28, No. 1. (Oct., 1995), pp. 103-122. (JSTOR)
 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-4159%28199510%2928%3A1%3C103%3ANTPOD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T

 

Karen L. Remmer, Theoretical Decay and Theoretical Development: The Resurgence of Institutional Analysis, World Politics 50.1 (1997) 34-61

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v050/50.1remmer.html

 

Jack Knight, Institutions and Social Conflict (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), Chs. 1-3.

 

Peter Hall and Rosemary Taylor, ÒPolitical Science and the Three New InstitutionalismsÓ Political Studies, Vol.44 (1996): 936-957.

 

Sven Steinmo and Kathleen Thelen, ÒHistorical Institutionalism in Comparative Perspective,Ó in Steinmo, Thelen and Longstreth, Structuring Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp. 1-32.

 

Kathleen Thelen, ÒHistorical Institutionalism in Comparative PoliticsÓ, Annual Review of Political Science, 1 (1999)

 

Walter Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio, eds., The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).

 

George Tsebelis, Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1990.

 

Nov 25 & Dec 2                    Using Models in Political Analysis

 

Ostrom, Elinor, Governing the Commons

 

 

Final version of paper due Dec 3

 

 

Dec 4                          Review

 

Dec 17    (Tuesday, 9-Noon)           Final Examination 

 

Some Recommended Readings

 

Some works on theories and methods of political and social science

 

Almond, Gabriel. A Discipline Divided (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1990), ÒSeparate        Tables?Ó and ÒClouds, Clocks.Ó

King, Gary.  Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research, pbk. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).

Mark Irving Lichbach and Alan S. Zuckerman, eds., Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure, pbk. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

ÒThe Role of Theory in Comparative Politics: Symposium,Ó World Politics 48:1 (October 1995): 1-49. (MUSE)

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v048/48.1kohli.html

 

 

 

 

Mexico

 

Blum, Roberto. ÒThe Weight of the Past.Ó  Journal of Democracy, vol. 8, no. 4 (October 1997).

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v008/8.4blum_valenzuela.html

De la pol’tica mexicana y sus medios:  Deterioro institucional o nuevo pacto pol’tico?  Mexico City:  CIDE, 1996. 

 

Collier, Ruth Berins and David Collier.  Shaping the Political Arena.  Princeton:  Princeton University Press, 1991. (chapt. on Mex)

 

Cornelius, Wayne.  ÒMexicoÕs Delayed Democratization.Ó  Foreign Policy, no. 95 (Summer 1995). (

 

Dom’nguez, Jorge and James McCann.  Democratizing Mexico:  Public Opinion and Electoral Choices.  Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.

 

Dresser, Denise.  ÒMexico:  The Decline of Dominant Party Rule.Ó  In Dom’nguez, Jorge, and Lawrence Lowenthal, eds.  Constructing Democratic Governance:  Latin America and the Caribbean in the 1990s.  Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. 

 

Durand Ponte, V’ctor Manuel, ed.  La Construcci—n de la Democracia en MŽxico.  Mexico City:  Siglo XXI Editores, 1994. 

 

Klesner, Joseph. L.  ÒAn Electoral Route to Democracy?  MexicoÕs Transition in Comparative Perspective.Ó  Comparative Politics, vol. 30, no. 4 (July 1998).  

 

Purcell, Susan Kaufman.  ÒThe Changing Nature of US-Mexico Relations.Ó  Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, vol. 39, no. 1 (Spring 1997) (on line cite, coming)

 

Ward, Peter.  ÒSocial Welfare Policy and Political Opening in Mexico.Ó  In Cornelius, Wayne, Ann L. Craig and Jonathan Fox, eds.  Transforming State-Society Relations in Mexico:  The National Solidarity Strategy.  San Diego:  Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, 1994.

 

Zebadœa, Emilio.  ÒDel Plan Brady al TLC:  La l—gica de la pol’tica exterior mexicana, 1988-1994.Ó  Foro Internacional, vol. XXXIV, no. 4 (October-December 1994).

Forms of Participation

 

Dryzek, John S., ÒPolitical Inclusion and the Dynamics of DemocratizationÓ The American Political Science Review, Vol. 90, No. 3. (Sep., 1996), pp. 475-487. (JSTOR)

Inglehart, Ronald ,Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies, pbk. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), chs. 8, 10.

Putnam, Robert "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital", Journal of Democracy 6.1 (1995) 65-78   (MUSE) http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v006/6.1putnam.html

Schmitter, Philippe C. (1974) "Still the Century of Corporatism?" Review of Politics 36: 85-131.

Verba, Sidney, Norman Nie, and Jae‑on Kim, Participation and Political Equality: A Seven Nation Comparison, pbk. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), chs. 1-7, 9-11, 14.

 

Exploring Civil Society

 

Designing social inquiry  Gary King, Robert O. Keohane, Sidney Verba.  H61 .K5437 1994    (Lehman reserves)

 

 

Collective Action

 

Clark, Ann Marie, Friedman, E. and Hochstetler, K.  "The Sovereign Limits of Global Civil Society: A Comparison of NGO Participation in the UN World Conferences on the Environment, Human Rights, and Women," World Politics,Vol. 51, No. 1, October 1998:  1-35

 

Olson, Mancur. The Logic Of Collective Action; HM131 .O55 1971  (Lehman reserves)

 

Sikkink, Kathryn and Keck, Margaret.  Activists Beyond Borders: Transnational Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998) JF529 .K43 1998

 

Tilly, Charles. From Mobilization To Revolution JC328.3 .T54 (Milstein)

 

Germany

 

Kitschelt, Herbert. 2000. "Linkages Between Citizens and Politicians

in Democratic Polities" Comparative Political Studies 33, no. 6:

845-879.

 

Poguntke, Thomas. 1992. "Parties in a Legalistic Culture: The Case of

Germany." In How Parties Organize: Change and Adaptation in Party

Organizations in Western Democracies, ed. by Richard S. Katz and Peter

Mair, 185-215. London: Sage.

 

Democratic Stability and Collapse

 

Cohen, Youssef. Radicals, reformers, and reactionaries : the prisoner's dilemma and the collapse of democracy in Latin America 1994  JL966 .C64 1994

 

 

 

Democratic Institutions

 

Evans, Peter, "The Eclipse of the State? Reflections on Stateness in an Era of Globalization", World Politics 50.1 (1997) 62-87  (MUSE)

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v050/50.1evans.html

Jackson, Robert H. and Carl Rosberg, "Why Africa's Weak States Persist: the Empirical and the Juridical in Statehood", World Politics, 35/1 (Oct. 1982), 1-24

O'Donnell, Guillermo (Editor), Philippe C. Schmitter (Editor) , Transitions from Authoritarian Rule : Tentative Conclusions About Uncertain Democracies, Johns Hopkins University Press 1986

Larry Diamond, Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999). Ch. 3

Larry Diamond, "Rethinking Civil Society: Toward Democratic Consolidation" Journal of Democracy - Volume 5, Issue 3          July 1994 (MUSE)

Stephan Haggard and Robert R. Kaufman, The Political Economy of  Democratic Transitions (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), Introduction, Chs. 4, 5, 9, 10, Conclusion.

Linz and Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Eastern Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996).  Ch. 1

Stepan and Skach, "Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Parliamentarianism versus Presidentialism"       World Politics - Volume 46  October 1993 (J-STOR)