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Introduction to Comparative Politics >> Content Detail

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Readings table.
SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
Week I: Introduction
1	Introduction and Review of Syllabus, Discuss Final Exam, Pick Recitation Time	Read through syllabus and list of potential paper topics in the assignments section.
Week II: The State and Regime Type
2	What is Social Science? Social Science Research? Name Game
3	What is a State and Why have One? What is a Democracy and Why have One?	Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. London, UK: Penguin Classics, 1982, pp. 183-188, and 227-228. ISBN: 9780140431957. Hume, David. "Of the Origin of Government." Essay V in Essays Moral, Political, and Literary. Edited by Eugene F. Miller. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1985 [1742], pp. 37-41. ISBN: 9780865970564. Aristotle. "The Politics." In Aristotle: The Politics and Constitution of Athens. 2nd ed. Edited by Stephen Everson. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996, Book III: chapters 6-12 and 18, pp. 69-80, and 91. Book IV: chapters 1-2, pp. 91-94. ISBN: 9780521484008. Karl, Terry, and Philippe C., Schmitter. "What Democracy is...and is Not." Journal of Democracy 2, no. 3 (Summer 1991): 75-86. Recitation In recitation: Map test. How to write a research paper. Potential paper topics, including sample article from popular press.
Week III: Social Structure
4	Lens 1: The Construction of Political Cleavages (Class)	Madison, James. "Federalist No. 10." In The Federalist Papers. Edited by Isaac Kramnick. London, UK: Penguin Books, 1987 [1788], pp. 122-28. ISBN: 9780140444957. Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. "Manifesto of the Communist Party." Part 1 in The Marx-Engels Reader. 2nd ed. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1978, pp. 473-83. ISBN: 9780393090406. Weber, Max. "Class, Status, and Party." In From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Edited by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1958, pp. 180-186. ISBN: 9780195004625. Gallagher, Peter, Michael Laver, and Peter Mair. "Cleavage Structures and Electoral Change." In Representative Government in Modern Europe. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2000. ISBN: 9780072322675.
5	Lens 1 (cont.): The Construction of Political Cleavages (Race, Religion, and Ethnicity)	See readings for Ses #4. Recitation In recitation: Discuss paper topics.
Week IV: Culture and Institutions
6	Lens 2: Culture and Beliefs Discussion of Measurements of Culture in Articles	Inglehart, Ronald, and Marita Carballo. "Does Latin America Exist? (And is There a Confucian Culture?): A Global Analysis of Cross-Cultural Differences." PS: Political Science and Politics 30 (March 1997): 34-46. Lagos, Marta. "Public Opinion in New Democracies: Latin America's Smiling Mask." Journal of Democracy 8, no. 3 (July 1997): 125-38.
7	Lens 3: Institutions Wrap up on Lenses	Lijphart, Arend, ed. Parliamentary versus Presidential Government. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1992. Introduction and chapters 1, 2, and 14, pp. 29-32. ISBN: 9780198780441. Stepan, Alfred. "Federalism and Democracy: Beyond the U.S. Model." Journal of Democracy 10, no. 4 (October 1999): 19-33. Recitation In recitation this week: Discussion of articles on culture. Review "Hints" for writing papers.
Week V: Democratization
8	Why do Countries Become Democratic?	Diamond, Larry. "Is the Third Wave Over?" Journal of Democracy 7, no. 3 (July 1996): 20-37. Dahl, Robert. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1971, pp. 1-16. ISBN: 9780300013917.
9	Does Economic Development Lead to Democracy? Review of Lenses	Lipset, Seymour Martin. "Economic Development and Democracy." In Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. Expanded ed. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981, pp. 27-63. ISBN: 9780801825224. Przeworski, Adam, and Fernando Limongi. "Modernization: Theories and Facts." World Politics 49 (January 1997): 155-193. Recitation In recitation this week: Discussion of first paper and readings for week. Review "Hints" for writing papers.
Week VI: Case Study on the Breakdown of Democracy: Inter-war Germany
10	Why did Democracy Break Down in Inter-war Germany?	Hoffmann-Lange, Ursula. "Germany: Twentieth Century Turning Points." In Elites, Crises, and the Origins of Regimes. Edited by Mattei Dogan and John Higley. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998, pp. 170-74. ISBN: 9780847690220. Overy, Richard. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich. New York, NY: Penguin, 1997, pp. 8-21. ISBN: 9780140513301. Lepsius, M. Ranier. "From Fragmented Party Democracy to Government by Emergency Decree and National Socialist Takeover: Germany." In The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes: Europe. Edited by Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978, pp. 34-79. ISBN: 9780801820229. Lipset, Seymour Martin. "'Fascism' - Left, Right, and Center." In Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. Expanded ed. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981, pp. 127-152. ISBN: 9780801825224. Turner, Henry Ashby. Hitler's Thirty Days to Power: January 1933. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books, 1996, pp. 1-2 and 163-183. ISBN: 9780201407143. Taylor, A. J. P. "History Unfolds, 1918-1933." In The Nazi Revolution: Germany's Guilt or Germany's Fate? Edited by John L. Snell. Boston, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1959, pp. 19-26.
11	Class Debate: Why did the Weimar Republic Collapse?
12	Wrap up on Weimar and Discussion of Federal Republic	Recitation In recitation this week: Finish Class Debate
Week VII: Research Papers
13-14	Interim Presentations on Research Papers
Week VIII: Political Institutions and Economic Growth
15-16	How do Political Institutions Affect Economic Growth?	Olson, Mancur. "Big Bills Left on the Sidewalk: Why Some Nations are Rich, and Others Poor." Journal of Economic Perspectives 10, no. 2 (1996): 3-24. Weingast, Barry. "The Economic Role of Political Institutions: Market-Preserving Federalism and Economic Development." Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 11, no. 1 (1995): 1-31. Przeworski, Adam, and Fernando Limongi. "Political Regimes and Economic Growth." Journal of Economic Perspectives 7, no. 3 (1993): 51-69. De Soto, Hernando. The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. London, UK: Bantam Press, 2000, pp. 1-37 and 208-218. ISBN: 0593046641. Recitation In recitation this week: Discussion of Weingast article and de Soto's main argument.
Week IX: Why is Mexico so Corrupt?
17-18	Corruption in Mexico General Causes of Corruption and Proposed Solutions	Davis, Diane E. "Undermining the Rule of Law: Democratization and the Dark Side of Police Reform in Mexico." Latin American Politics and Society 48, no. 1 (2006): 55-86. Oppenheimer, Andres. Bordering on Chaos. Boston, MA: Little Brown and Co., 1996, pp. 289-294. ISBN: 9780316650953. Almond, Gabriel, and Sidney Verba. "Mexico: Alienation and Aspiration." In The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1989, pp. 310-312. ISBN: 9780803935587. Thompson, Ginger. "In a Lawless Town, the Top Lawman Avoids Trouble." The New York Times, Late Edition - Final, Section A, Page 4, Column 3. August 20, 2005. Treisman, Daniel. "The Causes of Corruption: A Cross-National Study." Journal of Public Economics 76, no. 3 (2000): 399-457. Recitation In recitation this week: Discussion of Treisman article. Corruption in Greece.
Week X: Culture and Effective Governance
19	Lecture: Culture and Democracy
20	Why is Northern Italy so Much, Well, Better? (Except for the Food) Breakout Group Presentations on Putnam's Argument	Putnam, Robert. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 1-16 and 63-end. ISBN: 9780691037387. Recitation In recitation this week: Critique of Putnam's arguments and measurements. Breakout groups on Putnam.
Week XI: Class Presentations on Research Papers
21	Class Presentations on Research Papers
Week XII: The U.S. in Comparative Perspective
22-23	What's Right and What's Wrong with the U.S. System? Breakout Groups on Redesigning the U.S. Constitution	Dahl, Robert. How Democratic is the American Constitution? 2nd ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780300095241. Lijphart, Arend, ed. Chapter 9 in Parliamentary versus Presidential Government. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780198780434. Recitation In recitation this week: Breakout groups on redesigning the U.S. constitution.
Week XIII: State-building, Ethnic Conflict, and "Democracy" in Iraq
24	Attempts to Impose Democracy by Foreign Powers	Dawisha, Adeed, and Karen Dawisha. "How to Build a Democratic Iraq." Foreign Affairs 82, no. 3 (May/June 2003). Lawson, Chappell. "How Best to Build Democracy: Laying the Foundation for a New Iraq." Foreign Affairs 82, no. 4 (July/August 2003). Diamond, Larry. "Building Democracy After Conflict: Lessons from Iraq." Journal of Democracy (January 2005): 9-23. Filkins, Dexter. "Solution: Divide Iraq. Reality: It's Not So Easy." The New York Times, The Week in Review, Late Edition - Final, Section 4, Page 14, Column 3. June 25, 2005. Independent research on Iraq. (see e.g., Council on Foreign Relations)
25	Show and Tell on Iraq	Recitation In recitation this week: Show and tell on Iraq.
Week XIV: State-building, Ethnic Conflict, and "Democracy" in Iraq (cont.)
26	Discussion of the Final Exam, Wrap-up of Semester, and Class Evaluations

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