John H. AldrichHerbert Kitschelt
408 Perkins405 Perkins
660-4346660-4343
PS 398: COMPARATIVE ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY
MONDAY/WEDNESDAY: 2:20-3:35
The course provides an overview of the state of the art in the study of electoral behavior. It primarily examines theories of voter choice and electoral campaigns, and considers their applications to developed democracies, for the most part, with some relevant applications to developing democracies. Thus, the course is effectively a course on comparative mass behavior, but with a consistent eye toward its setting within democracies. With gross simplification, one might say that electoral studies are currently segmented into two fields. On the one hand, students of American political behavior have pushed the envelope of methodological sophistication in the study of individual-level phenomena with highly refined survey sets. Given the nature of their empirical evidence, however, they have not been able to pay much attention to the institutional rules and strategic configurations of party systems that may shape individual level behavior. On the other hand, students of comparative political behavior work with cruder and less comprehensive data sets than their Americanist colleagues. In general, they have conducted somewhat less methodologically sophisticated and empirically precise work. At the same time, however, they are more likely to seize upon the opportunities to examine the consequences of institutional and strategic variations for electoral behavior because they are able to embed individual conduct into the context of institutions and strategic political configurations that vary cross-nationally.
COURSE READINGS:
Please buy required books on your own initiative. Unless available as e-journals, we will make copies of articles/book chapters available.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
- Written comments on the readings for three of the 9 weeks (weeks 3 through 11), to be distributed via e-mail to all course participants no later than Monday morning, 8 am, of the day on which we will discuss the readings in class: 20% of the grade.
- A review of one book on electoral behavior. Students may pick the book from the list of recommended readings or negotiate a book with the instructors. 10% of the grade.
3. Serving as moderator and discussion organizer for one or two of the weeks 3 through 11. This task entails reading all
the written comments submitted for that week and drawing up an agenda of discussion for the class session.
Combined with overall class participation: 20% of the course grade.
- Preparation of a research paper on an aspect of electoral behavior in one or several countries. The instructors will discuss details of the research paper strategy with course participants. Students will present research projects in the final two sessions of the class (weeks 12 and 13) and then write up their papers. Oral presentation and written paper: 50% of the course grade.
GENERAL THEMATIC STRATEGY FOR THE COURSE (TO BE NEGOTIATED WITH COURSE PARTICIPANTS):
BLOCK I: FUNDAMENTALS
1. What is the place of comparative electoral studies in political science? (1/13 + 15)
2. Voter Turnout (1/22)
3. Models of Preference Based Voting: Spatial, Directional, Salience (1/27 + 29)
BLOCK II: SOCIO-ECONOMIC STRUCTURE AND VOTING
4. Economic Divides and Voting (Class, Sector, Occupation, etc.) (2/3 and 2/5)
5. Globalization and Domestic Electoral Politics (2/12, 2/17, 2/19)
6. Political Representation (2/24 and 2/26)
BLOCK III: ECONOMIC VOLATILITY AND ELECTORAL POLITICS
7. The Macro Polity (3/3 and 3/5)
8. Retrospective Economic Voting (3/17 and 19…. Or just 3/17???)
9. Partisan Business Cycles (3/19 and 3/24 OR 3/24+3/26 OR just one session???)
BLOCK IV: DIRECT MATERIAL EXCHANGE OF VOTES FOR SELECTIVE BENEFITS
10. Clientelist or Programmatic Party-Voter Linkages? (2 sessions, beginning 3/24, 3/26 or 3/31)
11. Ethnic Political Alignments and Clientelism (one or two sessions, beginning 3/31, 4/2 or 4/7)
12. student projects: two to four sessions, beginning 4/2 through 4/14 (max: 4/2, 4/7, 4/9, 4/14, 4/16)
1. Place of Comparative Electoral Studies in Political Science
Ira Katznelson and Helen V. Milner, eds., Political Science: The State of the Discipline (New York:
W.W. Norton, 2002)
Chapters by Barbara Geddes, “The Great Transformation in the Study of Developing Countries,” pp. 342-370; Kay Lehman Scholzman, “Citizen Participation in America: What Do We Know? Why Do We Care?” pp. 433-461; and Morris P. Fiorina, “Parties, Participation, and Representations in America: Old Theories Face New Realities,” pp. 511-541.
1a. Cognitive Foundations of Voter Behavior (1/15)
required readings:
(1) articles from Lupia/McCubbins/Popkin 2000: introduction, Lupia/McCubbins, Sniderman and Kuklinski/Quirk
Sniderman, Brody, Tetlock, Reasoning and Choice (1991), chapters 2 and 5
2. Voter Turnout (1/22)
required readings:
John Aldrich, "Turnout and Rational Choice," American Journal of Political Science, February, 1993.
Andre Blais and Agnieszka Dobrzynska, “Turnout in electoral democracies,” European Journal of
Political Research, Vo. 33 (1998): 239-61. (e-journal)
Jackman, Robert, “Political Institutions and Voter Turnout in the Industrial Democracies,”
American Political Science Review, 81, (1987) 405-23.
Powell, Bingham, “American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective,” American Political
Science Review, 80 (1986) 1: 17-43.
Benjamin Radcliff and Patricia Davis, “Labor Organization and Electoral Participation in Industrial
Democracies,” American Journal of Political Research, Vol. 44 (Jan 2000): 132-41.
Possible book review:
André Blais, To Vote or Not to Vote (Pittsburgh, 2000)
3. Models of Preference Based Voting: Spatial, Directional, Salience (1/27 + 29)
Required Reading:
Melvin J. Hinich,. and Michael C. Munger, Ideology and the Theory of Political Choice. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press. Especially chapters 3-5.
Samuel Merrill III and Bernard Grofman, A Unified Theory of Voting. Directional and Proximity Spatial
Models. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), read chapters 1-3, skim rest of the book;
Donald Stokes, “Spatial Models of Party Competition,” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 57,
No. 2. (Jun., 1963), pp. 368-377. Also in Angus Campbell, et al., 1967. Elections and the Political Order. New York: Wiley.
Other Important Readings:
James Adams, Party Competition and Responsible Party Government. Ann Arbor: Michigan University
Press, 2001.
Ian Budge and Dennis Farlie, Explaining and Predicting Elections: Issue Effects and Party Strategies inTwenty-
Three Democracies. London: Allen and Unwin.
Ian Budge and Dennis Farlie. Voting and Party Competition. London/New York: Wiley, 1977
Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper, 1957.
Torben Iversen, "Political Leadership and Representation in West European Democracies. A Test of Three
Models of Voting," American Journal of Political Science, 1994, Vol. 38, 1: 45-74.
Dennis Mueller, Perspectives on Public Choice. A Handbook. Cambridge Univ. Press 1996. Articles by
Ordeshook (pp. 247-70) and Schofield (pp. 271-95).
George Rabinowitz and Elaine Stuart McDonald, "A Directional Theory of Issue Voting," American Political
Science Review, Vol. 83, (1989) 1: 93-121.
Symposium: The Directional Theory of Issue Voting, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Vol. 9, (1997), 1.
Contributions by Gilljam, Macdonald et al,, Merrill and Grofman.
Anders Westholm, "Distance versus Direction: The Illusory Defeat of the Proximity Theory of Electoral
Choice," American Political Science Review, Vol. 91, 1997, 4: 865-84.
4. Left-Right, Class and Ideology (2/3 and 2/5)
Required Readings:
Jan W. van Deth and Elinor Scarbrough, eds., The Impact of Values. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995,
Chapters by Oddbjorn Knutsen, “Party Choice,” (pp. 461-91) and Knutsen and Scarbrough, “Cleavage
Politics,” (pp. 492-523).
John Huber, “Values and Partisanship in Left-Right Orientations: Measuring Ideology,” European Journal
of Political Research, Vol. 17 (1989) 5: 599-621.
Herbert Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe. A Comparative Analysis. Ann Arbor: Michigan
University Press, 1995, chapter 1 and skim 2.
Oddbjorn Knutsen, “Value Orientations, Political Conflicts and Left-Right Identification. A Comparative Study,”
European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 28 (1995) 1: 63-93.
Alejandro Moreno, Political Cleavages. Issues, Parties, and the Consolidation of Democracy. Boulder,
Colo.: Westview Press, 1999. pp. 1-28, 106-165.
Paul Nieuwbeerta and Wout Ultee, “Class voting in Western industrialized countries, 1945-1990: Systematizing
and testing explanations,” European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 35 (1999) 1: 123-60.
Further useful readings:
Russell J. Dalton, Scott Flanagan, and Paul Beck, eds., Electoral Change in Advanced Industrial
Democracies. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984.
Geoffrey Evans, ed, The End of Class Politics? Class Voting in Comparative Context. Oxford:
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Mark Franklin et al., Electoral Change: Responses to Evolving Social and Attitudinal Structures
In Western Countries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Ronald Inglehart, Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton
University press, 1990.
Ronald Inglehart, Modernization and Post-Modernization. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Oddbjorn Knutsen, Social Class, Sector Employment and Gender as Political Cleavages in the
Scandinavian Countries. A Comparative Longitudinal Study, 1970-95. APSA 1998 Paper.
Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan, “Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments.
An Introduction.” In Lipset and Rokkan, eds., Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National
Perspectives. New York: Free Press, 1967. Pp. 1-64.
Jeff Manza, Kichael Hout, and Clem Brooks, “Class Voting in Capitalist Democracies Since World War II:
Dealignment, Realignment, or Trendless Fluctuation? Annual Review of Sociology, 21 (1997) 137-62.
Jeff Manza and Clem Brooks, Social Cleavages and Political Change. Voter Alignments and U.S. Party
Coalitions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
M. Paldam, “Political Business Cycles,” chapter XVI in Mueller, ed., Perspectives on Public Choice.
A Handbook. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996.
Rae, Douglas, and Michael Taylor, The Analysis of Cleavages. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970.
Some readings on social structure, policy preferences and voting in post-communist countries and Latin America:
Alejandro Moreno, Political Cleavages. Issues, Parties, and the Consolidation of Democracy. Boulder,
Colo.: Westview Press, 1999.
Mariano Torcal and Scott Mainwaring, Social Cleavages, the Anchoring of the Vote and Party System
Institutionalization: Latin America and Western Europe. Paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of
the American Political Science Association, Boston 8/28-9/1/2002.
Joshua A. Tucker, “The First Decade of Post-Communist Elections and Voting: What Have We Studied
and How Have we Studied It?” Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 5 (2002): 271-304.
Stephen Whitefield, “Political Cleavages and Post-Communist Politics,” Annual Review of Political
Science, Vol. 5 (2002): 181-200.
4.a. Social Democracy and Class Politics (2/10)
required reading:
Stefano Bartolini, The Political Mobilization of the European Left, 1860-1980. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2001.
other related readings:
Herbert Kitschelt, The Transformation of European Social Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1994.
Adam Przeworski, Capitalism and Social Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
5. Globalization and Domestic Electoral Politics (2/12, 2/17, 2/19)
5.1. Theoretical Perspectives (2/12)
required readings:
Ronald Rogowski, Commerce and Coalitions. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989,
chapters 1, 4, 6 and 7.
James Alt, Jeffry Frieden, Michael J. Gilligan, Dani Rodrik and Ronald Rogowski, “The Political Economy of International Trade. Enduring Puzzles and an Agenda for Inquiry,” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 29 (1996) 6: 689-717.
5.2. Globalization and Public Opinion (2/17)
required readings:
Jennifer Merolla, Laura B. Stephenson, Carole J. Wilson, Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Globalization,
Globalización, Globalisation: Public Opinion and NAFTA
John Aldrich, Jennifer Merolla, Laura Stephenson, Elizabeth Zechmeister, “Behind the Eight Ball?
Cueing Economic Insecurity in Canada, Mexico and the United States”
Claire Kramer, “Pocketbooks, Parties, and Policy: Reconsidering the Pathways between Globalization
and Policy Preferences”
Christopher J. Anderson, “Economic Losers and European Democracy.”
Kenneth Scheve,….
5.3. European Unification: A New Public Opinion and/or Partisan Cleavage?
Adam Brinegar, Seth Jolly and Herbert Kitschelt, “Varieties of Capitalism and Political Divisions over
European Integration,” to appear in Gary Marks and Marco Steenbergen, eds., Dimensions of
Contestation in the European Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
Matthew Gabel, “Political Support for European Integration: An Empirical Test of Five Theories,”
Journal of Politics, Vol. 60 (1998) 2: 333-54.
Gary Marks, Carole Wilson and Leonard Ray, “National Political Parties and European Integration,”
American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 46 (2002) 3: 585-594.
Lauren McLaren, “Public Support for the European Union: Cost/Benefit Analysis or Perceived Cultural
Threat?” The Journal of Politics, Vol. 64 (May 2002) 2: 551-566.
Further useful readings:
Christopher J. Anderson, “When in Doubt, Use Proxies: Attitudes toward Domestic Politics and Support
For European Integration,” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 31 (1998) 5: 569-601.
Matthew Gabel and Simon Hix, "Defining the EU Political Space: An Empirical Study of the European
Elections Manifestos, 1979-1999," to appear in Gary Marks and Marco Steenbergen, eds.,
Dimensions ofContestation in the European Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
Simon Hix and Christopher Lord, Political Paries in the European Union. New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1997.
Robert Ladrech, ed., The Europeanization of Political Parties. Special issue of Party Politics, Vol. 8
(2002), No. 4.
Peter Mair, “The Limited Impact of Europe on National Party Systems,” West European Politics, Vol. 28,
(2000), No.4: 27-51.
Marks, Gary and Carole Wilson, “The Past in the Present: A Cleavage Theory of Party Positions on
European Integration,” British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 30, (2000) No. 3: 433-59.
Leonard Ray, “Don’t Rock the Boat: Expectations, Fears, and Opposition to EU Level Policymaking,”
to appear in Gary Marks and Marco Steenbergen, eds., Dimensions of Contestation in the
European Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
Kenneth Scheve, Comparative Context and Public Preferences over Regional Economic Integration.
Paper Prepared for Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association 2000 in Washington, D.C., August 31-September 3.
6. Political Representation (2/24 and 2/26)
Required Readings:
Christopher H. Achen, “Measuring Representation: Perils of the Correlation Coefficient,” American
Journal of Political Science, Vol. 21 (1977) 4: 805-15.
Sören Holmberg, “Dynamic Opinion Representation,” Scandinavian Political Studies, Vol. 20 (1997)
No. 3: 265-83.
John D. Huber and G. Bingham Powell, “Congruence between Citizens and Policymakers in two Visions
Of Liberal Democracy,” World Politics, Vol. 45 (1994) 3: 291-326.
Herbert Kitschelt et al., Post-Communist Party Systems. Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party
Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1999. pp. 62-87 (part of chapter 2) and
Chapter 9 (309-44)
Juan Luna and Elizabeth Zechmeister, Political Representation in Latin America (evolving manuscript…
Probably new version available by mid-February)
G. Bingham Powell, “Citizens, Elected Policymakers and Democratic Representation: Two Contributions
From Comparative Politics,” to appear in Edward Mansfield and Richard Sisson, eds., Political
Knowledge and the Public Interest. Colombus: Ohio State University Press, to appear.
Further useful readings:
Warren Miller et al., Policy Representation in Western Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press
1999.
G. Bingham Powell, Elections as Instruments of Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
Przeworski, Adam, Susan C. Stokes, and Bernard Manin, eds., Democracy, Accountability, and
Representation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Herman Schmitt and Jacques Thomassen, eds., Political Representation and Legitimacy in the European
Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Susan Stokes, Mandates and Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Bernhard Wessels, “System Characteristics Matter: Empirical Evidence from Ten Representative
Studies,” in Warren Miller et al., pp. 137-61.
Bernhard Wessels, “Whom to Represent? Role Orientations of Legislators in Europe,” in Schmitt and
Thomassen, pp. 209-34.
BLOCK III: ECONOMIC VOLATILITY AND ELECTORAL POLITICS
7. The Macro Polity (3/3 and 3/5)
Kramer, Gerald H. 1983. “The Ecological Fallacy Revisited: Aggregate versus Individual-Level
Findings on Economics and Elections and Sociotropic Voting.” American Political Science Review 77:92-111.
Erikson, Robert S., Michael B. MacKuen, and James A. Stimson. 2000. The Macro Polity, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
esp. chapters 1, 3 (expansion of Stimson et al. 1992), 8 (expansion of MacKuen et al. 1995), 9,
and 10. Cambridge University Press.
(Stimson, James A., Michael B. MacKuen, and Robert S. Erikson. 1995. “Dynamic Representation.”
American Political Science Review. 89 (September):543-565.
MacKuen, Michael B., Robert S. Erikson, and James A. Stimson. 1992. “Peasants or Bankers: The
American Electorate and the U.S. Economy.” American Political Science Review. 86:597-611.)
Norpoth, Helmut. “Politics and the Prospective Voter.” 1996. Journal of Politics. 58: -792, together
with: MacKuen, Michael B., Robert S. Erikson, and James A. Stimson. 1996. Comment on 'Presidents and the Prospective Voter.' Journal of Politics 58:793-801.
Bartels, Larry M. 1991. Constituency Opinion and Congressional Policy Making: The Reagan Defense
Buildup. American Political Science Review 85:457‑474.
8. Economic Voting and Business Cycles (3/17 and 3/19)
required readings: …to be filled in (Matt, John)
Tucker 2001, AJPS?
Fiorina?
on Latin America?
Alesina and Rosenthal 1995, APSR
Smith, Mark A. 1999. “Public Opinion, Elections, and Representation within a Market Economy: Does
the Structural Power of Business Undermine Popular Sovereignty?” American Journal of Political Science 43(3): 842-863.
Presentation: Matt Singer on conditional-institutional theories of retrospective economic voting…
and how about an APSA 2002 paper: Guy Whitten/ Randolph Stevenson, “Framing the Economy:
The Impact of Economic Circumstances, Ideology, and Incumbency on Party Manifestos.”
9. Expressive and Strategic Voting (3/24 and 3/26)
required readings:
John, make proposals!
BLOCK IV: DIRECT MATERIAL EXCHANGE OF VOTES FOR SELECTIVE BENEFITS
10. Clientelist or Programmatic Party-Voter Linkages? (3/31+4/2)
required readings:
Bruce E. Cain, John A. Ferejohn, Morris P. Fiorina, “The Constituency Service Basis of the Personal Vote for
U.S. Representatives and British Members of Parliament,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 78,
No. 1. (Mar., 1984), pp. 110-125.
Carey, John M. and Matthew Soberg Shugart, 1995 "Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: a Rank Ordering
of Electoral Formulas," Electoral Studies, Vol. 14 (1995), 4: 417-39.
David Kang, Crony Capitalism. Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2002 (chapters 1, pp. 1-20 and 7, pp. 181-94)
Herbert Kitschelt, “Linkages Between Citizens and Politicians in Democratic Polities,” Comparative Political
Studies. Vol. 33 (2000), No. 6-7: 845-879.
Herbert Kitschelt, “The Crisis of Clientelism in Advanced Capitalist Democracies,” to be completed by spring
2003.
Various contributions to Kitschelt/Wilkinson (eds.) Citizen-Politician Linkages in Democratic Politics