POS 203: Introduction to Political Science
Department of Political Science and Public Administration
POS 203-01: Introduction to Political Science
Fall 2011
TR 11-12:15
Instructor: Dr. David Faris
Office: AUD 757
Email:
Office Phone: 312-341-3512
Office Hours: Tuesdays 3:30-5:30, Thursdays 3:30-4:30 and by appointment
Course Description:
Introduction to Political Science explores the nature of the political universe in comparative perspective. Primarily we will be focusing on how groups and individuals share and struggle over powerin countries outside the United States. In this course we will look at how different countries structure their political arenas to best divide power between competing groups in society. We will look at the different components of countries – the state itself, civil society, electoral institutions, international groups and actors, and individuals –and debate the effectiveness, justness, and viability of different governing arrangements. We will be using the comparative method to do so, in which we explore the similarities and differences in various countries and groups of countries. We will also be discussing at length the emergence of the state system that serves as the foundation of the global order, and the ways in which the dual systems of states and nations often find themselves in conflict with one another.
Goals and Philosophy:
The course is not designed to force you to memorize facts, figures and dates but rather to help you become conversant in the major political questions and themes that characterize public debate in the global order. By the end of the course you will not just understand but be fluent in the kinds of questions policymakers, scholars, and opinion-leaders tackle on a daily basis. This syllabus serves as an invitation for you to join the conversations that political scientists engage in with each other, with scholars from other disciplines, with policymakers, and with other groups and individuals in the political world. This is not a lecture-only course. On the contrary, to help develop your skills as critical thinkers, we will be engaging in a variety of collaborative and group activities in the classroom, designed to solve problems and offer answers to the toughest questions facing those who consider questions of politics and policy.
Required Texts:
The following texts are available for purchase in the university bookstore.
- O’Neil, Patrick H., Karl Fields, and Don Share, eds. Cases in Comparative Politics, Third Edition. WW Norton and Co.
- O’Neil, Patrick H. Essentials of Comparative Politics, Third Edition. WW Norton and Co.
- O’Neil, Patrick H. and Ronald Rogowski, eds.,Essential Readings in Comparative Politics, Third Edition.
All other readings will be posted well in advance on Blackboard. Such readings are denoted by a (BB) in the syllabus.
Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this course.
Attendance and Punctuality:
Because of the frequency of working groups, interactive activities and plenary sessions, your presence in class is essential to the creation and maintenance of a collaborative learning environment. It is your choice to join or not to join the community we will be constructing here. However, absences and chronic lateness will indicate your reluctance to fully engage in the shared building of knowledge and will be reflected in your final grades.
Assignments
Mid-term Exam:There will be one exam, a midterm, administered on Tuesday, October 18th.
Quizzes:
There will be 6 quizzes based on the required readings. Quiz days are listed in the syllabus. No make-up quizzes will be given for late or absent students, but your lowest two quiz grades will be dropped.
Working Groups:
We will be forming 10country-specific working groups, in which you will be working in groups of 4. The working groups will not require collaboration outside of class, but will be used in class to brainstorm ideas and problems relevant to your particular country, to workshop paper ideas, and to discuss the relevance of course themes relevant to your region. Working groups will occasionally present their findings in plenary sessions in which the class will come together as a group to engage in extended discussion. Participation in working groups is mandatory and forms part of your class participation grade. As part of your working group participation, you are expected to follow the most recent political news in your country– through both the BBC’s World News section and one flagship local English newspaper. The country you choose in this group will also be at least partially the subject of your term paper. More details about these working groups will follow during their formation next week.
Grading
Note: I reserve the right to adjust grades on the margin based on a shared understanding of your contribution to the group learning environment.
Mid-term 25%
Final Exam: 35%
Quizzes: 20%
Participation: 20%
Note Pt. II: Participation is not just about how many times you raise your hand in class. It is also about the commitment you show to achieving our shared goals, your work in groups, and your physical presence in class. You may check with me at any time to get a sense of how your participation grade is shaping up.
The Working Groups will be:
The United Kingdom
Germany
Mexico
Nigeria
Iran
University Policy on Absence to Observe Religious Holidays:
Roosevelt University respects the rights of students to observe major religious holidays and will make accommodations, upon request, for such observances. Students who wish to observe religious holidays must inform their instructors in writing within the first two weeks of the semester of their intent to observe the holiday so that alternative arrangements convenient to both students and faculty can be made at the earliest opportunity. See the student handbook for further details.
Class Schedule
Week 1: THE POLITICAL WORLD AND THE COMPARATIVE METHOD
Tuesday August 30th
In class: Logistics and Introduction to the study of politics
Read: -
Thursday September 1st
In class: NO CLASS
Read: “Chapter 1: Introduction” (Essentials) Lichbach, Mark, and Zuckerman, Alan S. “Research Traditions and Theory in Comparative Politics.” (Essential Readings).
Week 2: EMPIRES, STATES AND THE STATE SYSTEM
Tuesday September 6th
In-class: Lecture: “Emergence of the state system” Working groups
Read: Eric Hobsbawn, “Nationalism” (Essential Readings); Stephen D. Krasner, “Sovereignty” (Essential Readings); “Chapter 2: States” (Essentials);
Thursday, September 8th
In-class: Lecture: “What is the state?” Working groups
Read: “Chapter 3: Nations and Society” (Essentials); Robert I. Rotberg, “The New Nature of Nation-State Failure” (Essential Readings)
Week 3: DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS/United Kingdom
Tuesday September 13th
In-class: Quiz #1; Lecture: “Structuring Contestation in Democratic Societies”;
Read: Zakaria, Fareed “A Brief History of Human Liberty” (Essential Readings); “Chapter 5: Democratic Regimes” (Essentials)
Thursday September 15th
In-class: Collaborative exercise; Discussion
Read: “United Kingdom” (Cases)
Week 4: COMPARATIVE ELECTORAL SYSTEMS/United Kingdom
Tuesday September 20th
In-class: Lecture “Problems in Electoral System Design”
Read:Pippa Norris, “Choosing Electoral Systems: Proportional, Majoritarian, and Mixed Systems”(BB); Juan Linz, “The Perils of Presidentialism” Journal of Democracy 1(1) Winter 1990, 51-69 (BB); Simon Schama, “Three Way Race.” The New Yorker, May 10th, 2010 (BB).
Thursday September 22nd
In-class: Collaborative exercise on elections
Read: Scott Mainwaring and Matthew S. Shugart, ‘Juan Linz, presidentialism and democracy. A critical appraisal’, Comparative Politics, Vol. 29, No.4 (1997), pp.449-71.;Duverger “The Number of Parties” (Essential Readings);
Week 5: PROBLEMS IN ADVANCED DEMOCRACIES/Germany
Tuesday, September 27th
In class: Quiz #2; Lecture “Germany”
Read: “Germany” (Cases in Comparative Politics);
Thursday September 29th
In-class: Working groups
Read: “Chapter 7: Advanced Democracies” (Essentials)
Week 6: THE FUTURE OF THE WELFARE STATE/Germany
Tuesday, October 4th
Lecture “The Crisis of the Welfare State”
Read: David Leonhardt, “The German Example,” New York Times, June 7th, 2011 (BB); selections from Tony Judt’sIll Fares the Land (BB). Margarita Estévez-Abe, TorbenIversen, and David Soskice,“Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Re-Interpretation of the Welfare State.” (Essential Readings)
Thursday October 6th
In-class: Working groups; Quiz #4
Read: “Electoral Institutions and the Politics of Coalitions: Why Some Democracies Redistribute More than Others” (Essential Readings)
Week 7: NON-DEMOCRATIC REGIMES/Iran
Tuesday October 11th
In-class: Quiz #3; Lecture: “Politics in Authoritarian States”; Working groups
Read:“Chapter 6: Non-Democratic Regimes” (Essentials); “Iran” (Cases in Comparative Politics).
Thursday October 13th
In-class: Collaborative exercise on authoritarianism
Read: Roger Cohen “Iran: The Tragedy and the Future”. New York Review of Books, August 13th, 2009 (BB); Linz and Stepan “Modern Non-Democratic Regimes” (Essential Readings).
Week 8: MIDTERM
Tuesday October 18th
In-class: MIDTERM REVIEW
Thursday October 20th
In-class: MIDTERM EXAM
Week 9: POLITICAL ECONOMY/Iran
Tuesday, October 25th
In-class: Quiz #4; Lecture: “Political Economy”
Read: “Chapter 4: Political Economy” (Essentials); Adam Smith “An Inquiry….” (Essential Readings)
Thursday October 27th
In-class: Collaborative exercise: “The Rentier State”
Read: “Erika Weinthal and Pauline Jones Luong, “Combating the Resource Curse” (Essential Readings); James Surowiecki, “Troubled Waters Over Oil.” The New Yorker, February 19th, 2007 (BB).
Week 10: POLITICAL VIOLENCE/Mexico
Tuesday November 1st
In-Class: Lecture “Political Violence”
Read: “Mexico” (Cases); “Chapter 10: Political Violence” (Essentials)
Thursday November 3rd
In-class: Quiz #5; Collaborative Exercise on drug war
Read:Marsha Crenshaw “The Causes of Terrorism” (Essential Readings);Finnegan, William, “Letter From Tijuana.” The New Yorker, October 18th, 2010 (BB).
Week 11: GLOBALIZATION/Mexico
Tuesday November 8th
In-class: Lecture: “Globalization”
Read – “Chapter 11: Globalization and the Future of Comparative Politics” (Essentials); Stanley Hoffman, “Clash of Globalizations” (Essential Readings); Douglass C. North, “Institutions” (Essential Readings)
Thursday November 10th
Read – JagdishBhagwati, “In Defense of Globalization”; Niall Ferguson, “Sinking Globalization”
Week 12: POLITICS IN DEVELOPING STATES/Nigeria
Tuesday, November 15th
Lecture Quiz #6; “The Global South”
Read: “Nigeria” (Cases); Jeffrey Herbst “War and the State in Africa” (Essential Readings); William Easterly: “To Help the Poor” (Essential Readings);
Thursday November 17th
In-class: Working groups;
Read:“Chapter 9: Less-Developed and Newly Developing Countries” (Essentials); Paul Collier and Jan Willem Gunning, “Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?” (Essential Readings)
Week 13: THANKSGIVING BREAK
NO CLASSES 11/22 AND 11/24
Week 14: STRUCTURING CONTESTATION IN DIVIDED SOCIETIES/Nigeria
Tuesday November 29th
In-class: Quiz #7; In-class: Lecture: Politics in Divided Societies
Read: ArendLijphart,“Constitutional Choices for New Democracies” (Essential Readings);Tayler, Jeffrey. “Worse Than Iraq?” The Atlantic Monthly, April 2006 (BB).
Thursday December 1st
In-class: Working groups
Read: Robert J. Barro, “Democracy: A Recipe For Growth?” (Essential Readings); James Fearon and David D. Laitin, “Ethnicity Insurgency and Civil War” (Essential Readings)
Week 15: LOOKING FORWARD
Tuesday December 6th
In-class: Lecture “The Future of the Global Order”;
Read: Khanna, Parag. “Beyond City Limits.” Foreign Policy, Sept/Oct 2010 (BB). The Economist, “Is Government Disappearing?” (Essential Readings); Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civiliations” (Essential Readings)
Thursday December 8th
In-class: Quiz #8/Final Exam Review/Evaluations
Important Notes:
Students with disabilities may request special accommodations. Students must let me know within the first two weeks of the semester if this is the case, and they also must contact Nancy Litke in the Academic Success Center (312-384-3810).
Students are required to abide by the University’s Code of Student Conduct. Students who plagiarize or cheat will receive a zero for the assignment and will be referred to the university for disciplinary action.
Cell phones, mp3 players and other personal electronic devices must be switched off during class. You may use your laptop for notetaking, but students using their laptops for personal communication during class will be asked to stop.
There is no eating during class. You may bring drinks with lids or caps.