Political Science 324, Crn. #                                                                                     Fall 2008

EUROPEAN POLITICS

Course website: through https://blackboard.uoregon.edu/

 

Professor Craig Parsons                                                           T/Th 10:00-11:20, ROOM

Email: cap@uoregon.edu                                                          Office Hours: Weds. 9-12

Office: 918 PLC                                                                                                  or by appt.

 

GTF:

Office hours:

 

This course surveys the contemporary politics of the major west European countries.  Most material will be drawn from Great Britain, France, and Germany, with some attention to Italy, and Spain and occasional mention of other countries. We will also pay considerable attention to the European Union. 

 

WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO

 

1.  Attend class.  The lectures will almost 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.  The exams and projects will require you to draw on information in the readings that isn’t in the lectures. Reading will be heavy at points. When it isn’t heavy, get ahead.

 

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.  Takehome Midterm.  Detailed instructions and some suggestions posted to the course website on Tues. Oct. 21. Due at the beginning of class on Tues. Oct. 28.  

 

5.  Final Project.  Take an alter ego and critique today’s Europe and especially your country.

·        You can choose to be a Socialist or Social Democrat from France, Germany, Italy, or Spain; a socially conservative person on the Right (but not extreme Right) in any of these countries; a new immigrant to any of these countries; or a European Commission official who works on the EU Internal Market. (If you have another idea you like, ask me—I may approve other possibilities).

·        You must write 8-10 pages on what you like and dislike about the Europe of 2008 (with attached list of references). This should take the form of a developed analysis, not a rant. Your paper needs to include a description of the elements of the current landscape that you want to address, a justification for why they are the important ones to your character, and a detailed analysis of what you think is good or bad about them and why.

·        The breadth of the paper is up to you. You can focus broadly on the whole terrain of Europe today (say, critiquing the EU and contemporary capitalism), or you could focus on a particular country or issue (i.e. corruption in Italy, European immigration, etc.)—but make sure to justify your focus, making clear why your character would see these things as the most important thing to comment on.

·        I or [the GTF] will read any outlines or drafts (up to two iterations) that you email to us before at midnight on [DATE]. The final draft is due on the last day of class, Thurs. Dec. 6, by 5pm.

 

6.  Final exam.  On DATE, TIME in our normal room there will be an extremely straightforward final, basically checking some of your factual knowledge across the class. Comprehensive (including pre-midterm), short-answer questions, in-class, no notes.

 

7.  Give 24 hours advance notice or formal doctor’s letter for excused absence or assignment extension. No other extensions or absences will be excused. Late assignments lose a half letter grade each day.

 

8.  Don’t cheat.  Don’t waste my time and yours. Today’s software makes it very easy to catch cheaters. At the very least cheating or plagiarism will result in failing the class; most such cases will be brought to the attention of the university. If you have any doubt at all about what constitutes plagiarism, please see the UO information at http://libweb.uoregon.edu/guides/plagiarism/students/.

 

EVALUATION

 

Final project                             40%

Final exam                                25%

Midterm                                   35%

Participation                             (varies: participation can’t hurt you, but strong participation can bump up your grade)

 

COURSE MATERIALS

 

There is one required book for this course, Jürg Steiner and Markus Crepaz, European Democracies (5th ed.), available at the UO bookstore. All the other readings are available in electronic form on the course Blackboard site.

 

Course schedule follows. (Readings to be added).

I. THE RISE OF MODERN EUROPE                                                                  WEEK 1

 

Tues. 9/30:      How Europe is different from US

 

Read for Thurs. 10/2:

 

Thurs. 10/2     Party families: Right and Left I

 

Read for Tues. 10/7:                                                                                                 WEEK 2

 

Tues. 10/7:      Right and Left II

 

Read for Thurs. 10/9:                                               

 

Thurs. 10/9:    Other party families

 

Read for Tues. 10/14:                                                                                                WEEK 3

 

Tues. 10/14:    Electoral systems             

             

Read for Thurs. 10/16:                                                                   

 

Thurs. 10/16:  Cabinet formation, heads of state and government (I)

 

Read for Tues. 10/21:                                                                                               WEEK 4

 

Tues. 10/21:    Cabinet formation, heads of state and government (II)       TAKEHOME

                                                                                    MIDTERM

                                                                                                                         POSTED      

 

Read for Thurs. 10/23:                                               

 

Thurs. 10/23:  Federalism and subnational government

 

Read for Tues. 10/28:                                                                                                WEEK 5

 

Tues. 10/28:    Courts                                                                                    TAKEHOME

                                                                                                                        MIDTERM

                                                                                                                             DUE!

 

Read for Thurs. 10/30:                                                                   

 

Thurs. 10/30:  Bureaucracies

 

Read for Tues. 11/4:                                                                                                  WEEK 6

 

Tues. 11/4:      Unions and corporatism

 

Read for Thurs. 11/6:                                 

 

Thurs. 11/6:    European economies since WWII                                      

 

Read for Tues. 11/11:                                                                                                WEEK 7

 

Tues. 11/11:    Varying policy outcomes

 

Read for Thurs. 11/13:                                               

 

Thurs. 11/13:  The state and the economy

 

Read for Tues. 11/18:                                                                                                WEEK 8

 

Tues. 11/18:    Globalization and European democracies

 

Read for Thurs. 11/20:           

 

Thurs. 11/20:  Origins and development of the EU

 

Read for Tues. 11/25:                                                                                                WEEK 9

 

Tues. 11/25:    How the EU works

 

 

Thurs. 11/27: NO CLASS. THANKSGIVING.

 

Read for Tues. 12/4:                                                                                                WEEK 10                   

 

Tues. 12/4:      EU challenges today

 

Read for Thurs. 12/6:                                                                                     

 

Thurs. 12/6:    Relating to the US, relating to the world                       FINAL

   PROJECTS

                                                                                                                              DUE!!