Course
website: through https://blackboard.uoregon.edu/
Email: cap@uoregon.edu Office Hours: Weds 10-1
Office: 930 PLC or by appt.
Course registration #: 15922
The basic ideas of “comparative politics” are 1) that politics in
different countries works similarly in some ways and differently in others, and
2) that whether we are interested in understanding just one country or in
understanding trends across many of them, we can learn a great deal by
comparing things across a variety of national cases. By looking at how democracy
developed in Britain, Poland, and Argentina, for example, we might hope to say
something about what is common about democratization in these different
countries—or about how the notion and process of democratization can vary.
In addition to this method of learning by comparison, this field
has arguably been defined around a set of core questions: Why are the most
powerful, richest countries in the world capitalist democracies, and to what
extent are other countries converging on that “Western” model? In other words,
is there only one path of “modernity” to democracy and capitalism? Is something
driving all countries along that path? Or do other paths exist, with other
impulses to other outcomes, such that the world will continue to exhibit very
different national political systems?
This class will ask these questions across a wide range of
countries to introduce students to how politics works and changes around the
world. In addition to this analytic thrust—investigating what is going on—we
will ask normative questions about what should
be going on. What constitutes the “good society,” and who comes closest to it?
Your main assignment will be to design your own developing country, making
arguments for institutions and policies that would improve the welfare of your
citizens.
WHAT YOU HAVE
TO DO
1. Attend class. The lectures will always
contain material that is not in the readings. If you do not come to lecture and
take good notes, you will fail the exams.
2. Read. Reading will be heavy at
points. When it isn’t heavy, get ahead. The projects and exam will require you
to draw on reading material that isn’t in the lectures.
3. Participate. Talk in class, ask
questions, or make me aware that you’re engaged in other ways. I know some
people don’t like to talk in class; if that is you, come see me in office hours
(or by appointment) and show me that you’re alive and interested.
4. Check your email every
day. This
is not optional at a 21st century university. I will often send you
information on scheduling, corrections to lectures, and other messages that you
need to see. It is your responsibility to check your email. Once I have sent
you a message, I assume that you have that information.
5. Liberalism vs. Marxism
Essay. An
initial short essay (4-6 p.) will be due at the start of the third week of
class (Mon. 10/12, beginning of class) addressing whether you feel liberal or
Marxist theory better captures major aspects of dynamics in your own life or in
patterns around the world. Turn in your paper by uploading it to Blackboard,
under “Assignments.”
6. Midterm. There will be an in-class
midterm exam on Wednesday, Oct. 28. It will consist of short-essay answers to
very straightforward questions about major points from readings and lectures.
You will receive a study sheet and we will hold extra review sessions before
the exam.
7. Development Essay. A second short essay (4-6p.) will be due in
the middle of the eighth week of class (Weds. 11/18, beginning of class)
addressing whether how well you think free trade encourages/allows poor
countries to develop, and what (if any) actions they should take other than or
in addition to opening their markets. It will later be integrated into your
“design a country” paper (see next item). I or the GTFs will comment on outlines,
sketches, or drafts emailed to us before 3pm on Fri. 11/13. Turn in your paper
by uploading it to Blackboard, under “Assignments.”
8. Final Project. You will design a
developing country in 8-10 pages. Your country has middle-low income levels and
has recently seen the end of a dictatorial regime. It must deal with a 60%/40%
ethnic divide between two groups. Your two-part assignment is 1) Define basic
political institutions and the balance of power between them in order to
improve the lives of your citizens, justifying your choices with reference to
real examples from other countries, and 2) Describe broadly how to set up the
political economy in order to improve the lives of your citizens, again with
reference to real examples (incorporating most of your second short essay,
which will have covered some of this ground). Extensive supplementary
information and guidelines will be handed out later. I or the GTFs will comment
on any outline, sketch, or draft emailed to us before midnight on Friday Dec. 4
(last day of class). Final draft due on Wednesday, Dec. 9 (Weds. of finals
week), uploaded to Blackboard by 5pm.
9. Give 24 hours advance
notice or formal doctor’s letter to request excused absence or assignment
extension.
Extensions requested within 24 hours will not be granted. Late assignments lose
a half letter grade each day. Assignments are due at the beginning of class,
and a late penalty of one day (half grade) applies for assignments handed in
later on the due date.
Final
project 30%
Development
essay 20%
Midterm 30%
Lib
vs. Marx Essay 20 %
Readings
TBA.
All
other readings are on the course Blackboard website, under “Course Documents.”
Please contact Prof. Parsons immediately if you have any trouble downloading or
reading them.
Mon. 9/28: The big questions and why comparison helps
Read for Weds.9/28:
Weds. 9/30: Basic political systems and institutions
Read for Fri. 10/2:
Fri. 10/2: Basic political economies
Read for Mon. 10/5: WEEK 2
Read for Weds.10/8:
Weds. 10/7: The big debates: History of Right and Left (II)
Read for Fri. 10/9:
Fri. 10/9: Democratization in the West (1)
Read for Mon. 10/12: WEEK 3
Mon. 10/12: Democratization in the West (2) LIBERALISM vs. MARXISM ESSAY DUE!
Read for Weds. 10/14:
Weds. 10/14: Variations in democratic states (I):
Executives and legislatures
Read for Fri. 10/16:
Fri. 10/16: Variations in democratic states
(II): Bureaucracies
Read for Mon. 10/19: WEEK 4
Mon. 10/19: Variations in democratic states (III): Courts
Read for Weds. 10/21:
Weds. 10/21: Variations in democratic states
(IV): Electoral systems and parties
Read for Fri. 10/23:
Fri. 10/23: Rich world varieties of capitalism
Read for Mon. 10/26: WEEK 5
Weds/ 10/28: MIDTERM
Read for Fri. 10/30:
Fri. 10/30: Globalization
discussion
Read for Mon. 11/2: WEEK 6
Read for Weds. 11/4:
Weds. 11/4: Concrete challenges for Third
World development
Read for Fri. 11/6:
Fri. 11/6: A “Golden Straitjacket”?
Read for Mon.
11/9: WEEK 7
Mon. 11/9:
The “Asian model” of development
Read for Weds. 11/11:
Read for Fri. 11/13:
Read for Mon. 11/16: WEEK 8
Read for Weds. 11/18:
Read for Fri. 11/20:
Fri. 11/20: Democracy and Islam
Read for Mon. 11/23: WEEK 9
Mon. 11/23: The case of Iraq (I)
Read for Weds. 11/25:
Weds. 11/25: The case of Iraq (II)
Thanksgiving break
Read for Mon. 11/30: WEEK
10
Mon. 11/30: Democracy’s prospects in China
Read for Weds. 12/2:
Weds 12/2: Utopia vs. dystopia
Read for Fri. 12/4:
Final papers due Wednesday, December 10, downloaded
to Blackboard BY 5PM. After 5pm is ½ grade penalty; ½ grade penalty for each
subsequent calendar day.