Politics I

Philip Streich (Graduate School of Human Sciences)

Course Objective
   This course will teach the basic foundations of comparative political analysis - a comparison of political systems around the world.

Learning Goals
   Students completing this course will have understand basic theories and have specialized knowedge about different forms of governance around the world.

Class Plan
   Comparative Politics - 15 weeks (13 lectures, 2 exams)

	Theme	Content
Week 1	The Comparative Study of the State	Daniele Caramani, Chapters 1-4
Week 2	Elections Around the World	Donald Horowitz, “A Primer for Decision Makers,” and Richard Soudriette & Andrew Ellis, “A Global Snapshot,”
Week 3	Party Systems	Caramani, Chapters 12 & 13; and Anthony Downs. “An Economic Theory of Political Action in Democracy”
Week 4	Presidential vs Parliamentary Systems	"Juan Linz. “The Perils of Presidentialism,” & “The Virtues of Parliamentarism,” Guy Lardeyret. “The Problem With PR,” Andrew Reynolds, “Rejoinder: The Case for Proportionality,""
Week 5	Democratic Theory	Phillippe Schmitter & Terry Karl. “What Democracy Is.and Is Not.”  Larry Diamond. “Three Paradoxes of Democracy.”
Week 6	Authoritarianism	Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way. “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.” and Martin Dimitrov, “Popular Autocrats,
Week 7	Midterm Exam	No Readings
Week 8	Development	Documentary, "Good Fortune"
Week 9	Development	Radhika Desai, “Theories of Development,” and Joseph E. Stiglitz & Lyn Squire. “International Development: Is It Possible?”
Week 10	Colonialism's Legacy	Eric Allina-Pisano, “Imperialism and the Colonial Experience,” and • Paul Collier & Jan Willem Gunning. “Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?,”
Week 11	The Natural Resource Curse	Paul Collier, “The Natural Resource Trap,” and Charles Kenny, “What Resource Curse?,”
Week 12	Nationalism	Walker Connor. “A Nation Is a Nation, Is a State, Is an Ethnic Group" and Benedict Anderson, “Imagined Communities,”
Week 13	Right-wing Nationalism	Cas Mudde,”The Far Right & European Elections,” and “Right Wing Extremism Analyzed,”
Week 14	Mixed Socialist-Capitalist Systems	T.R. Reid, “The European Social Model,” and Caramani, Chaps 21 & 22
Week 15	Final Exam	No Readings

Type of Class
   Lecture Subject

Independent Study Outside of Class
   None

Textbooks
   None

Grading Policy
   S = 90-100; A = 80-89; B = 70-79; C = 60-69; F = 59 and below