Political Science 463/563:
Government and Politics in Latin America --
Fall 2009
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Professor: Anna Gruben |
T/R 2-3:20 pm 129 McKenzie Hall |
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Email: agruben@uoregon.edu |
Office Hrs: TBA |
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Office: 922 PLC |
GTF: TBA |
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I. Course Description:
This course serves
as part one of a two-part introductory overview of Latin American governance.
We will begin by studying the kinds of economic and political legacies left
behind by the region's colonialist past. We jump relatively quickly into an
analysis of political matters faced in the 20th and 21st centuries. These
include economic growth and dependency upon 'First World' economies (and recent
attempts to form 'regionalist' trade alliances) as well as populism,
dictatorship, democracy and social movement activism. Particular attention will
be given to Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico.
II. Required Reading:
III. Recommended Texts
(additional overviews of Latin American governance that are very helpful, but
not required reading for this class):
IV.
Course Requirements
Attendance -
It’s required. In
lectures, I will almost always present material that isn’t in the
readings. This is material that you will
be expected to refer to in exams.
Inability to do so could result in exam failure.
Reading - Required reading is just that:
required. Given that this is an upper
division class (400/500), some of the readings are technical and assume
familiarity with basic disciplinary terminology. If you have no background in political
science or development studies, you may find it useful to do outside
reading. Refer to the recommended texts
above. You will be expected to draw from
readings in all class projects (including occasional pop quizzes) and in class
discussion. Speaking of…
Participation - This is an interactive class. It
is most definitely not a class in which information will be spoon-fed. The ability to frame a question or a
statement articulately is an incredibly important part of learning in the
social sciences. Your comments and
questions don’t necessarily have to sound sophisticated, but they do need to be
thoughtful and coherent. The end of
almost every class will be reserved for discussion regarding themes covered in
that day’s lecture and/or reading.
Contribution to such discussion – and questions or comments throughout
class time in general – is very strongly encouraged. I realize that some people prefer not to
participate in class debate. I’m
expecting you to do your absolute best to set any participation hang-ups aside
and talk (see ‘classroom etiquette’ below for rules about listening to and
addressing comments respectfully). If
this is a serious issue for you, let me know during office hours. ALL STUDENTS ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO
SHARE QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS WITH ME DURING OFFICE HOURS. Let me know that
you’re alive!
Email -
This is a modern
institution with state-of-the-art email checking facilities, so you are
expected to check your email everyday. I
will regularly send reading or lecture-related updates via email. You are responsible for keeping up with these
notices.
Plagiarism or cheating of any kind is absolutely forbidden. If you are caught cheating or plagiarizing
(in the latter case, I use software to detect) you will automatically be
expelled from class and receive an F for the entire course. For details on the University’s policy on
cheating, go to http://studentlife.uoregon.edu/programs/student_judi_affairs/.
Classroom etiquette -
-
Cell
phone use (talking or texting) is not permitted during class. If you absolutely must take a call or text,
do so with the ringer off, and please leave the room. I will probably frown at you if this happens.
-
Computers
are not allowed in class without prior approval from me. This is an interactive
class. If you have a computer in front
of you, the ability to engage one another is hindered. I prefer that you take
handwritten notes, but if you have a special need requiring laptop use for
note-taking, get expressed permission from me beforehand and You’ll be required
to sit in one of the first two rows.
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General
respect for your fellow classmates, your GTF and for me is crucial. This is especially important in class
discussion. If you’re contributing to
debate please only address your fellow debaters’ arguments, not their
personalities. Please also take into
account that some of us are more comfortable than others about speaking in
public. Encourage each other to
participate in discussion by listening and engaging – not scrutinizing.
Assignments –
-
Pop
quizzes: I will give 5. One of them will be a map quiz in which you’ll have to
identify all Latin American countries and their capitals (see p. 4 of Skidmore
and Smith for an example). The map quiz
will definitely be one of the first few quizzes I give (within the next couple
of weeks). At the end of the quarter,
your lowest score of the 5 quizzes will be dropped.
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There
will be a midterm (Thursday, October 29) and a final (Thursday, December 10 at 1:00 pm). The
midterm will include mostly short answer questions and possibly one essay
question. The final will include some
short answer questions and at least one essay question. We will hammer the details as midterm and
final dates approach.
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Film
reaction papers incorporating relevant course readings. Due November
5 and November 19. Additional instructions to be delivered
as the due date approaches.
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Extra
Credit Paper Option (Required for 563 students). A 7-10 page research paper on a topic
addressed in lecture and/or in the readings.
In these papers you will be expected to present original arguments using
outside academic sources (books or journals).
The use of media sources is permissible and in some cases encouraged but
not as a substitute for academic sources.
I will provide sample topics in advance. Key here is the ability to
think critically about an issue or about someone else’s stance on an
issue. This would entail reviewing data
and reading about a particular theme, deciding where you stand in the debate on
that theme, and using sources to support your stance. Simply restating what someone else has
already said in a book or article is not sufficient. Make an educated, original argument and use
data and academic sources to support your claim. Further instruction on this will be provided
as the term progresses. Papers should be
double-spaced with margins of 1 inch to each side and include an introduction
with your main argument (i.e. your thesis statement), a conclusion and a
bibliography page. The use of wikipedia
for anything other than as a vague starting point is strongly discouraged. It does not count as an academic source. No matter how good a writer you are, I highly
recommend that everyone take advantage of campus writing support services. Here
are a couple:
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Academic
Learning Services
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http://www.uoregon.edu/~uopubs/bulletin/undergraduate_programs.shtml
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Paper due Friday, November 20th in
my office by 5:00 pm. No late papers will be accepted.
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Grading:
o
10% attendance/participation/mock debates
o
5% quizzes
o
25% midterm
o
25% paper
o
35% final
V.
Course Schedule –
Week 1 & 1st half of Week
2:
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September 29: Introduction
-
October 1 & 6: Colonialism, Independence
and Historical Legacies
o
for
October 1:
§ Thomas E. Skidmore, Peter H. Smith, Modern Latin America – 6th
edition. (New York : Oxford University Press, 2005): Prologue and Chapter 1
§ Forrest
Colburn, Latin America at the End of
Politics. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002): “Latin
America as a Place,” “Urban Bias,” and “The Poor”
§ Recommended
for 463 students, required for 563 students: Collier, Ruth B. and David Collier Shaping the Political Arena (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1991) pp 3-39.
§ Additional
required reading for 563 students: Collier and Collier, 1991: pp
161-270; 353-402.
o
for
October 6:
§ Skidmore and Smith: pp 42-51; 67; 109-118;
139-157; 254-274.
2nd half of Week 2: Economic
Crisis and Development -- Theoretical Approaches
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October 8: Economic Crisis; Modernization and
Dependency Theory
o Skidmore and Smith: pp 51-62.
o Valenzuela, J. Samuel and Arturo Valenzuela, “Modernization and Dependency: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Latin American Underdevelopment,” Comparative Politics, Vol. 10, No. 4. (Jul., 1978), pp. 535-557.
o W.W. Rostow, The Stages Of Economic Growth : A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1990), 3rd ed. pp 4-16.
o
Cardoso, Fernando Henrique and Enzo Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979). pp. vii – 28.
o
563
students: all of Cardoso and Faletto.
Week 3: State Building I
-
October 13:
State Building I
o
(Old) Populism and Corporatism
§ Defining the terms
· Adams, Paul S. “Corporatism in Latin America and Europe: Origins, Developments, and Challenges in Comparative Perspectives,” in Howard Wiarda, ed. Authoritarianism and Corporatism in Latin America – Revisited. (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004).
·
Di Tella, Torcuato. 1965. “Populism and Reform
in Latin America,” In Claudio Véliz, ed.
Obstacles to Change in Latin America
(London: Oxford University Press) pp.
47-73.
§ Brazil under Vargas
·
Skidmore
and Smith: pp 157-171.
·
Schmitter,
Philippe C. “Public Policy Toward Freedom of Association” chapter 5 in Interest
conflict and political change in Brazil (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1971).
·
Erickson,
Kenneth Paul “Populism and Political Control of the Working Class in Brazil” in
June Nash, Juan Corradi and Hobart Spalding, Jr eds., Ideology & social change in Latin America (New York: Gordon and
Breach, 1977)
·
Recommended for 463 students, required for
563 students:
o
Collier,
David “Trajectory of a Concept: ‘Corporatism’ in the Study of Latin American
Politics” in Peter H. Smith ed., Latin
America in Comparative Perspective: New Approaches to Methods and Analysis (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995).
o
Knight,
Alan “Populism and Neo-populism
in Latin America, especially Mexico” Journal of Latin American
Studies 30, 223-248, 1998.
Weeks 4, 5 & 6: State Building I contd.
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October 15: (Old) Populism and Corporatism
contd.
o
Argentina
under Peron
§ Skidmore and Smith: pp 69-94.
§ Munck, Ronnie Argentina:
From Anarchism To Peronism
(London : Zed, 1987). Excerpts on Blackboard.
o Mexico
§ Knight,
Allan “The Rise and Fall of Cardenismo” in Leslie Bethell, ed., Mexico
Since Independence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
§ Recommended:
Hellman, Judith Adler Mexico
in crisis / Judith Adler Hellman, 2nd edition (New York : Holmes &
Meier, 1988). Excerpts on Blackboard.
- October 20th: Authoritarianism
§ Malloy, James ed., Authoritarianism and Corporatism in Latin America (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977). Excerpts on Blackboard.
§ David Collier, “Overview of the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian
Model,” in The New Authoritarianism in
Latin America, ed. David Collier.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1979: 19-32.
§ Schamis, Hector E. “Reconceptualizing Latin American
Authoritarianism in the 1970s: From Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism to
Neoconservatism” in Comparative
politics 23:2, 1991.
o
Brazil:
§ Skidmore and Smith: pp171-179
o
Argentina:
§ Skidmore and Smith: pp 89-101
-
October 22:
Authoritarianism
contd.
o
Case
Study: Chile under Allende and Pinochet
§ Skidmore and Smith: Chapter 4
§ Constable and Valenzuela, A Nation of Enemies: Chapters 1, 3, 6
and 7 (this is a quick read)
§ Additional
reading for 563 students:
Arturo Valenzuela, “Chile: Origins, Consolidation, and Breakdown of a
Democratic Regime,” in Larry Diamond, et al, Politics in Developing Countries (Boulder & London: Lynne
Rienner Publishers).
o
October 27: Film The Battle of Chile
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OCTOBER 29TH – IN CLASS MIDTERM
Week 6 and 1st half of Week
7: State Building II
-
November 3:
o
Authoritarian
Breakdown
§ Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe Schmitter, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule:
Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Transitions
(Johns Hopkins, 1986).
-
November 5: Film Reaction Paper Due
o
Redemocratization – Pacted Democracies
§ Karl,
Terry, “Dilemmas of Democratization in Latin America” Comparative Politics, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Oct., 1990)
§ Guillermo
O’Donnell, “Delegative Democracy.” Journal of Democracy 5 (January): 55-69.
§ The
case of Chile
§ Garretén, Manuel Antonio “The Political
Opposition and the Party System under the Military Regime,” in Paul W. Drake
and Iván Jaksíc the Struggle for
Democracy in Chile (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991).
-
November
10: Film The Judge and the General
2nd half of Week 7 and Week
8: Social Movements, Civil
Society, State-Society Relations: General, Gender, Environmental
- November 12: Film contd. and Civil Society
-
Avritzer, excerpt TBA Civil Society
Reading
- Fox, Jonathan "How Does Civil Society Thicken? The Political Construction of Social Capital in Rural Mexico," World Development, 24(6), June, 1996.
- Recommended for 463 students; required for 563 students:
§
Fox, Jonathan “The Difficult Transition from
Clientelism to Citizenship: Lessons from Mexico. World
Politics. Volume 46, no. 2 (January
1994): 151-84
- November 17: Social Movements
- Tarrow
- Escobar/Alvarez/Dagnino
-
Roberts –
TBA
- November 19: Film Reaction Paper Due in class
o Social Movements contd. --- Case Studies
- Colburn Chapter 11 “Struggling For Gender Equality”
- Alvarez, Sonia E., Engendering democracy in Brazil : women's movements in transition politics (Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1990) 463 students: excerpts TBA; 563 students all
-
Keck, Margaret, “Social Equity and Environmental
Politics in Brazil: Lessons from the Rubber Tappers of Acre” Comparative
Politics, Vol. 27, No. 4
(Jul., 1995).
-
Additional readings TBA
Extra Credit Paper (required for 563
students) due Friday, November 20th , in my office by 5:00 pm.
Week 9 and 10: Recent Trends -- Development
Revisited, New Populism and Re-Decentralization
-
November 24th: Development Revisited
o
Skidmore
and Smith: 274-295
o
Escobar, Arturo “the Problematization of
Poverty: the Tale of Three Worlds and Development” from Encountering Development: the Making and Unmaking of the Third World” (Princeton,
1995)
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NOVEMBER
26: THANKSGIVING DAY -- NO CLASS
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December 1st: New Populism and Leftward Shifts – EXCERPTS
TBA
o Hector
E. Schamis, “Populism, Socialism, and Democratic Institutions,” Journal of Democracy 17:4 (October
2006): 21-34.
o Kenneth M. Roberts, “Social Inequalities Without Class Cleavages in Latin America’s Neoliberal Era,” Studies in Comparative International Development 36:4 (Winter 2002): 3-33.
o Nicolás Lynch, “What ‘Left’ Means in Latin America Now,” Constellations 14:3 (2007): 373-383.
o Skidmore and Smith: p179-181
o Hunter, Wendy, and Timothy J. Power. 2005. "Lula's Brazil at Midterm." Journal of Democracy 16 (3):127-139.
o “Who leads Latin America?” in the Economist -- September 30-Oct 6, 2006.
o Skidmore and Smith: p440-456.
-
December
3rd: Decentralization and Review
o Eaton
– Chapter 6
o Tendler
– Intro recommended; Chapter 2 required
Thursday, December 10
at 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm:
Final Exam in 129 McKenzie Hall