Introduction to Comparative Politics (PSC 001) Spring 2006
Tuesday, Thursday
Professor Kimberly Morgan
Office: Old
Phone: 994-2809
Email: kjmorgan@gwu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday, Thursday 1:45-3:00
Summary
This class is an introduction to the study of comparative
politics. You will learn not only about politics
in a select group of countries, but also about some of the major concepts used
in the study of comparative politics.
The course will cover a wide range of issues, including the formation of
the nation-state, democratization, authoritarianism, political culture and
institutions, and economic development.
We also will discuss some debates in comparative politics that have been
important in the policy-making community in recent years, such as the “clash of
civilizations,” the concept of social capital, and the effort to encourage
democratization of the
There is one required text for this class that you can purchase at the GWU bookstore.
Michael J. Sodaro, Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction, 2nd edition.
The other required readings are available as pdf files through e-reserves on the Blackboard system – you can either read them on-line or print them out.
Blackboard
In addition to required reading, you will find other useful information on Blackboard, such as helpful websites, a copy of the syllabus, information about exams, and your grades. For each class, I also will post a list of key terms for that lecture, as well as any tables or graphs shown as overheads in that day’s lecture.
To access Blackboard, you must have a Colonial e-mail account and be registered for this course. To log in, go to http://blackboard.gwu.edu and type in your NetID and email password. If you have problems or questions, try going to http://helpdesk.gwu.edu. Please try to access Blackboard as soon as possible, to make sure that you are in the system and that you understand its various features.
NOTE: you may have trouble accessing the articles posted on blackboard if you are not using a university-networked computer. You should instead download the articles on a university-networked computer and print or save them to read at home. I’ve also listed detailed bibliographic information and the on-line library catalog (Project Muse) from which the articles came. Thus, you could also log on to Gelman library at home, access Project Muse, and search for the articles yourself.
Current events
One of the goals of the class is to make you a more sophisticated consumer of news. To keep up with current events, I strongly suggest you regularly read one of the major national newspapers (The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal) or international newspapers (Financial Times {www.ft.com}, International Herald Tribune {www.iht.com}). Some useful magazines and journals that are available through Gelman include The Economist, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Quarterly.
Exams
Midterm/Final: Both exams will consist of identifications and essays. The first exam, on March 7th, will cover the first half of the course. The second exam will cover the entire class and will be given during exam week.
Discussion sections: the weekly discussion sections
are extremely important for this class.
It is at these sessions that you will have a chance to discuss the
reading and the themes of the course.
Attendance is mandatory, and you will be evaluated on your contributions
to the discussion. This means you must
do the assigned reading for each week prior to the discussion section meeting.
Grading
Class participation (discussion section): 20%
Midterm exam: 35%
Final exam: 45%
Themes and Concepts
Week 1: January 17
Class 1: Introduction
Class 2: What is comparative politics? The concept of power
Week 2: January 24
Class 1: The nation-state – concepts; origins of the state.
Francis Fukuyama, “The Imperative of State-Building,” Journal of Democracy vol. 15, no. 2 (April 2004), pp. 17-31.
Class 2: Nationalism
Jack Snyder, From
Voting to Violence, 15-43.
Week 3: January 31 Regimes
Class 1: Democracies
Amartya Sen, “Democracy as a Universal Value” Journal of Democracy vol. 10,no. 3 (July 1999), pp. 3-17.
Class 2: Authoritarianism.
Thomas Carothers, “Democracy’s
Week 4: February 7 Political Institutions
Class 1: Parliamentary vs. presidential systems.
Juan J. Linz, “The Perils of Presidentialism,” Journal of Democracy vol. 1, no. 1
(Winter 1990), pp. 51-69.
Class 2: Electoral and party systems.
Arend
Lijphart, “Constitutional Design for Divided Societies,” pp. 96-107.
Week 5: February 14 Identities and Ideologies
Class 1: Class and religion.
Nikki R. Keddie, “Secularism and its Discontents,” Daedalus vol. 132, no. 3 (Summer 2003), pp. 14-30.
Class 2: Race/ethnicity and gender
Howard Winant, “Race in the Twenty-First Century,” Tikkun 17, 1 (Jan/Feb 2002), pp. 33-40.
Week 6: February 21 Political culture and
civil society
Class 1: Political culture
Samuel
Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?”
Foreign Affairs 72, no. 3 (Summer 1993), pp. 22-49.
Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris,
“The True Clash of Civilizations.” Foreign
Policy issue 135 (March/April 2003): 63-70.
Class 2: Civil society
Michael
Foley and Bob Edwards, “The Paradox of Civil Society,” Journal of Democracy vol 7, no. 3 (July 1996), pp. 38-52.
Week 7: February 28 Political Economy
Class 1: Capitalism, communism, and mixed economies.
Class 2: Economic development.
Carol Lancaster, “Development in
Week 8: March 7 Midterm;
Class 1: *MIDTERM EXAM*
Class 2: The
Spring Break March 13-17
Week
9: March 21
Class
1:
Class 2: Contemporary challenges: aging societies and immigration
Paul S. Hewitt,
“The End of the Postwar Welfare State,”
Week
10: March 28
Class
1:
Class 2: Contemporary Russian politics. *GUEST LECTURE* Prof. Henry Hale
Week
11: April 4
Class
1:
Class 2:
Reading: Bruce Dickson, “
Suisheng Zhao, “Nationalism’s Double Edge,”
Week 12: April 11
Class 1:
Class 2:
Alan Berkman, et al., “A Critical Analysis of the Brazilian
Response to HIV/AIDS,” American Journal
of Public Health 95, 7 (July 2005), pp. 1162-72.
Week
13: April 18
Class
1:
Class 2:
Richard Joseph, “
Ron Singer, “
Robert B. Lloyd, “
Week 14: April 25 The
Class 1: Persistence of authoritarianism
in the
Alfred Stepan and Graeme B. Robertson, “An ‘Arab’ More than
‘Muslim’ Electoral Gap,” Journal of Democracy
14, no 3 (July 2003).
Michael McFaul, “Chinese Dreams, Persian Realities,” Journal of Democracy 16, no. 5 (2005),
pp. 74-82.
Class 2: Constructing a nation-state, and
a democracy, in
Toby Dodge, “
Eva Bellin, “The Iraqi Intervention and Democracy in
Comparative Perspective,’ Political
Science Quarterly 119, 4 (Winter 2004/2005): 594-608.