[ course requirements ] [ books ] [ links ] [ Exploreit assignment due dates ] [ course readings ]
[EXTRA QUESTIONS for Explorit exercises]
POLS 121
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Spring 2001
MW 4-5.15
Monteith 315
Instructor: Professor Scruggs
Office: 104A Monteith
Office Hours: MW 10-11:15, or appointment
phone: 486-0409
email: lyle.scruggs@uconn.edu
TA: Khalid Alyahya, Office: 103 Monteith, email: kalyahya@yahoo.com
Comparative politics is both a subject and a method for understanding politics. As a subject, comparative politics is the study of different (usually national) political systems, an their major components-- cultures, structures, and institutions. As a method, comparative politics is a way of trying to establish and test general claims about particular political phenomena, using different political units as data. Understanding comparative politics as both a subject and a method is complementary. Using political systems as "data" requires an appreciation of their similarities and differences. The purpose of this class is to introduce you to major themes and problems in comparative politics as well as provide a crash course in the analysis of social science information. These are not the only themes in the course nor are they the only important questions in comparative politics. It would be impossible to do justice to all of the issues in a course such as this one.
Requirements:
Readings:
Reading requirements are relatively light ( less than 75 pages a week on average).
There are three reasons It is vital that you do the readings assigned carefully prior
to the classes in which they are discussed. First, it is impossible to talk about everything in class and I will assume that some stuff is clear from the reading. If you skip the reading or wait until exam time, it will be harder to keep things straight.
Third, in order to answer questions when called upon in class (see below), you need to be familiar with the reading.
Attendance:
Most assignments are due in class or require your attendance to complete.
There are no make-up exams. Information in the lectures is often not in the
readings. Alterations in assignments, etc. announced in class are binding on everyone.
While there is no official attendance policy, you are strongly encouraged to be
in class.
Internet:
The Website for the class can be found at http://vm.uconn.edu/~scruggs/syl12101.html
. You are expected to be familiar with the internet and use email. In order to save time (and paper), many things in class
including any changes to the assignments for the class will be distributed through an email list.
Some assignments will require you to use the internet. It is your responsibility to ensure that you get on the mailing list by giving me a valid email address. (If you are unfamiliar with using email and the internet, you can get more info from the computer center help desk at 486-HELP.)
Countries for in-depth study
Lectures will look primarily at broad issues in comparative politics, and
often paying less attention to country details. For this reason, each student will choose a country of interest to them to
follow in more detail throughout the course of the semester. You will be asked
to answer some simple questions on your Explorit Assignments about your country.
More details and other assignments will be provided in class and on the website.
Evaluation:
Your grade is based on:
Explorit Excercises:
30%
Exam 1
15%
Exam 2
20%
Final
25%
Participation (Games, Class discussion,
Misc.) 10%
Explorit Exercises: There are 12 Explorit exercises. Students must complete nine, (and only nine; assignments beyond your ninth will be returned ungraded). Assignments must be handed in in class on the due date. Late assignments will not be accepted. .Because they introduce and explain the methods used later, you are strongly encouraged to do each of the first five assignments.
Exams Short Identification and short answer exams. Exams 1 and 2 are not cumulative; the final will be. Exams will include questions you will need to know more about your country to answer.
Participation: The class is primarily lecture, but we are all more
engaged if there is some discussion.
Games: Twice in the semester
we will divide into groups and play "political games." Good
performance will be rewarded.
Class discussion:
Students will be called upon (more or less randomly) to answer questions in
class. Sometimes these will be factual questions (e.g., based on reading),
others may be opinion questions. The purpose of this is not to
embarrass people, but to motivate you to be prepared, think and be ready to talk
about the material. I will select people to call on before class; I am not
going to search around to call on those who are sinking in their seats. I
will also try to give everyone an equal chances over the course of the semester.
Misc: There is no extra
credit, but some account can be taken here for improvement over the course of
the semester.
All students are assumed to abide by the Student Conduct Code (see in particular sections on Academic Misconduct).
Any students with special needs in the semester (due to religious observance, disability, etc.), please feel free to discuss them with me.
Books for purchase in the Co op
Sodaro, Michael. Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction (McGraw-Hill,
2001)
LeRoy, Michael. Comparative Politics: An Introduction Using Explorit
(Microcase, 1999)
--Readings marked "reserve" on the syllabus will be available in the library and on electronic reserve.
Links to other useful information sources for the
class:
All students should try to keep up with current international news events . This will make participating in class
much easier. There are a variety of sources for this, but these are particularly good.
Washington Post.
New York Times, Financial
Times (London), The Economist.
(the library subscribes to all of these in paper)
Reuters and AP News Wires
For help on finding more about your countries, there are many internet sites
(and don't forget the library). Two that may be useful are:
Political Resources on the Net
Columbia International Affairs Online
(CIAO)
Due dates
for Explorit Exercises
Feb 14 Chapter 1
Feb 21 Chapter 2
Feb 28 Chapter 3
Mar 7 Chapter 4
Mar 14 Chapter 5
Mar 21 none
Mar 28 Chapter 6
Apr. 4 Chapter 7
Apr 11 Chapter 8
Apr 18 Chapter 9
Apr 25 none
May. 2 Chapter 10
May 7 Chapter 11 or 12 (either, but only one)
Course Outline
(These dates are approximate. They may be changed as the semester goes on)
Introduction ( Jan. 24)
I. Key Issues and Concepts in Comparative Politics
1. What is comparative politics? [ Jan.
29]
Sodaro (herafter S), Ch 1 and 2 (50 pages),
2. How do we Compare? [
Jan 31, Feb 5]
S, Chapt 3 and 4 (45 pages)
Leroy (vii-xix) [By the end of this week you should have
installed the program and done the introductory steps]
What is a dependent variable? An independent variable? Why does
comparative politics not use an experimental method as in most natural sciences?
3. The Early Fate of Societies (66 pages) [Feb 7]
Diamond, Part I, pp. 9-66, 85-92 ( on reserve)
What does the author cite as the critical factors explaining why some areas of
the world developed more rapidly and conquered others? If true, do these
factors still matter today?
4. Ideologies [Feb. 12]
S, Chap. 13 (25 pages)
5. States
A. History
[Feb 14]
S,
Ch 6 and 7 (45 pages)
Where did states come from? What is the Difference between a state, a
nation and a nation
state?
B. What do states Do?
[Feb 19, 21]
(review S, Ch 6 and 7)
Shively, "Policies of the State" [on reserve] (20 pages)
Diamond, Ch 14 (30 pages) [on reserve]
II. "Big Topics" in Comparative Politics
1. Development? Economic, Social and Political
S, Chap. 15, Ch. 12 (269-280 only)
plus: (select 3 of 5) 374-381 UK; 432-452 (skip long box on Profile of
De Gaulle) France; 495-505 Germany; 548-61 Japan; 733-7 (China) (90
pages)
Handleman, "Political Economy of
Third World Development" [on reserve] (pages 213-31 only)
Recommended
Mahler, Political Development and Political Economics [on reserve]
A. What do we mean by development? [Feb 26]
--Game I [Mar. 7] Details TBA
--Game and Exam Review [Mar 12]
Exam 1 [Mar 14]
Mar 19 and Mar 21 Spring Break
2. Forms of Government
B.
Democracy [Mar
28]
S, Ch 8 (25 pages) and Ch 11 (243-47 only)
Recommended
Dahl, On Democracy, Reading I (on reserve) (45 pages)
What is a polyarchy? What are the essential elements for a country to be
considered democratic? What are the advantags of democracy?
3. Democratization and Regime
Transitions [ Apr 2, 4]
S, Ch. 10 (25 pages)
Shively, "Democracy and Its Resurgence.." [on reserve] (15 pages)
What is the third wave of democracy?
4. Varieties of Democracy
[Note: If you want to organize reading experience in this part more by
country then read Chapter 9, then 381-417 (UK), 428-30 and 457-69 (France);
507-531 (Germany); 551-575 (Japan)
A. Parliamentary vs.
Presidential Systems [Apr 9]
C. Parties and Party Systems [Apr. 16]
S, Ch. 11 247-54 (only); plus (2 of the 4 countries) 381-96 (UK); 468-9 (France); 519-31 (Germany); 615-22
(Israel)
Shively, "Parties" [on reserve]
Why do electoral systems have an influence on the number of parties? What
else affects the number and types of parties?
5. Interest groups (and Game 2 discussion) [April
18]
S. Ch. 11 (254-262 only)
Recommended
Shively, "Structured Conflict" (25 pages) [on reserve]
What is the difference between pluralism and corporatism? What is exit,
voice and loyalty? Do interest groups play a role in
non-democracies? Are interest groups bad for democracy?
Exam 2 [April
23]Game 2 [April 25]
6. Game 2 discussion and Capitalism, Development, and Democracy: Conflict or Synthesis
[ Apr. 30, May 2]
S, Ch. 14
Dahl, On democracy, Reading II (on reserve) (15 pages)
Handleman, "Political Economy of Third World Development" (on reserve)
(pp. 231-50)
How are capitalism and democracy complementary and contradictory? Why are
most rich countries democratic?
Conclusion: What have we learned? [May 7] --
Final Exam
date May 13 at 1 pm Monteith 315
EXTRA QUESTIONS for ExplorIt exercises
The
following questions are to be added to the Explorit assignments at the place
(question number) given. They ask you to do things specific to your chosen
country. Please answer the questions in the workbook at the appropriate spot,
indicating what your country is; there is no need to write out the
question.
If you cannot find information on your
country in Explorit, with the suggestions I provided, or on your own, then
answer "NA" (for not available).
Chapter 3--
5. g. (page 54) Does your country conform to
the patterns found above or is it "exceptional"; that is, an
outlier like Rwanda was at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 4--
3. f. (page 69) Write down the GDP per capita and Independence
date for your country. Does this data provide support for the dependency
theory hypothesis?
10. e. (page 72) Does the information for your country differ from that found in the general pattern? (In other words, is your country an outlier?) If it is, how would you explain why it differs from the pattern?
Questions for later chapters will follow