Introduction to Comparative Politics

Th., 1:30-3:10pm (6202)    Spring, 2017

Political Science Department, SIRPA, Fudan University

Instructor: LI, Jing (郦菁)                         Email: jingli718@fudan.edu.cn

Office Hour: Wed., 3:30-5:00pm             Office: 703 Wenke Building

Teaching Assistant: Xia Yu (夏屿)           Email: 16210170011@fudan.edu.cn

Course Description

This undergraduate course is meant to introduce some of the basic concepts in political science by relativizing and comparing political institutions of major polities around the world. It covers three general topics: 1) state and nation; 2) democracy and its institutional underpinnings; 3) variety of institutional forms to organize powers within democracy. Students are expected to leave the course with:

Appreciation of major theoretical perspectives as well as analytical tools in political theories in general, and comparative politics in particular;

Knowledge of political institutions, their political roots and the long shadows they usually cast on national politics;

Exposure to some comparative strategies at theoretical as well as empirical level.

Course Requirements and Policies

•     Attendance (10%). Attendance will be checked randomly in class.

•     In-class Presentation (10%). Students are expected to make a 15 minutes presentation on one of the topics in group.

•     Memos (40%). Each student is required to write four memos throughout the semester, each on the required readings of a specific week. It is suggested that you organize the memo into two parts: a quick summary of the central arguments of the readings, and your own thoughts, criticisms and questions. Memos should be submitted online through the elearning system before class (12 point, single-spaced, one page). You can write either in English or in Chinese. Memos are due on Wed. at 10:00pm.

•     Final Exam (40%). Inclass, closedbook exam composed of two parts: ID and short essay questions.  

Readings

All the readings will be posted on elearning system. Notices, grades and syllabus are also posted on elearning. You can access via your university ID. Besides that, you can also refer to the following books (the first two are also available on elearning):

Hague, Rod, and Martin Harrop. 2004. Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction (6th Edition). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lowi, T.J., B. Ginsberg, K.A. Shepsle, and S. Ansolabehere. 2010. American Government: Power and Purpose (11th Edition).  New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

迈克尔·罗斯金著，杨勇译，《国家的常识：政权·地理·文化》，北京：世界文化出版公司2013年出版。

理查德·拉克曼著，郦菁、张昕译，《国家与权力》，上海：上海人民出版社2013年版。

Schedule

03/02: Introduction

03/09: State (1): The Rise of Modern State

Weber, Max. “Politics as a Vocation”. (You can skip “Since the time of the constitutional state, and definitely since democracy has been established,...” on page 13 to “…leaves the future formation of parties and all these chances still completely in the dark.” on page 25). 此篇英文不易理解，可以参考阅读中文翻译《政治作为志业》

Lachmann, Richard. States and Power. 2010. Cambridge: Polity Press. Chapter 1.

03/16: State (2): How State functions or Breaks down

Lachmann, Ch3, 6

03/23: Nation and Nationalism

Gellner, Ernest. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1983. Ch1, 4-6.

03/30: Documentary: The Story of Ireland

04/06: Democracy (1): Some Basic Concepts

Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl. 1991. “What Democracy Is . . . and Is Not.” Journal of Democracy 2 (3): 75-88.

Dahl, Robert. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. Yale University Press. Chapter 1, pp. 1-16.

Guillermo O'Donnell. 1998. “Horizontal Accountability in New Democracies.” Journal of Democracy 9 (3): 112-126.

04/13: Democracy (2): Democratization

Tilly, Charles. Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Ch1, 4-6.

04/20: Electoral System

Norris, P.. “Choosing Electoral Systems: Proportional, Majoritarian and Mixed Systems”, International Political Science Review July 1997 vol. 18 no. 3 297-312.

Gallagher, M. and P. Mitchell (2008). The politics of electoral systems. Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press. Ch 9-10.

04/27: Party (1): Why and Why not Parties?

Aldrich, J.H. Why Parties?: The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America. University of Chicago Press, 1995. Chapter 2.

Hale, H.E. “Why Not Parties? Electoral Markets, Party Substitutes, and Stalled Democratization in Russia”, Comparative Politics, 37(2):147-166.

05/04: Youth Day

05/11: Week off

05/18: Party (2): Party System

Russell J. Dalton, The History of Party Systems, in Dalton, Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Western Democracies. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1996, pp. 149-164.

Lowi, T.J., B. Ginsberg, K.A. Shepsle, and S. Ansolabehere. 2010. American Government: Power and Purpose (11th Edition).  New York: W. W. Norton & Company. excerpts from Chapter 11.

05/25: Elections and Party Systems in New Democracies

Kim, Byung-Kook. 2000. “Party Politics in South Korea’s Democracy: The Crisis of Success.” In Larry Diamond and Byung-Kook Kim eds, Consolidating Democracy in South Korea, 53-85.

Slater, Dan. “Indonesia’s Accountability Trap: Party Cartels and Presidential Power after Democratic Transition.” Indonesia 78 (October 2004), pp. 61-92.

06/01: Forms of Democratic Government (1): Preisdentialism V. Parliamentarism

Cheibub, J. A. n. (2007). Presidentialism, parliamentarism, and democracy. New York, NY, Cambridge University Press. Ch 2.

Lijphart, A. (1991). Constitutional choices for new democracies. Journal of Democracy 2(1): 72-84.

Linz, Juan J. 1990. “The Perils of Presidentialism.” Journal of Democracy 1 (1): 51-69.

D. Horowitz. 1990. Comparing Democratic Systems, Journal of Democracy 1 (4).

06/08: Forms of Democratic Government (2): Unitary V. Federal System

Pippa Norris. 2009. Driving Democracy: Do Power‐sharing Institutions Work? New York: Cambridge University Press. Ch 7

Alfred Stepan. 1999. “Federalism and Democracy: Beyond the U.S. Model.” Journal of Democracy 10 (4): 19-34.

Rodden, Jonathan. 2004. “Comparative federalism and decentralization: On meaning and measurement.” Comparative Politics 36 (4).

06/15: Overflow week