Problems in Latin American Politics: Human Rights and Democracy
CPO 4306
Professor Anderson Meeting time: Tues 2-3 or 8:30-Anderson 318 10:25 & Thurs 3 or 9:35-10:25
Office hours: Tuesdays 11:30-1; Thursdays 8-9:30
Purpose of the Course
This is an advanced undergraduate class on a special topic: Human rights and democracy. If you have taken a special topics class previously, you can still get credit for taking another one. This one is about the process of developing a democracy in the aftermath of gross human rights violations. It is about the relationship between the development of democracy and a recent past that was cruel, inhumane, authoritarian and extreme. How is it possible for democracy to develop under such circumstances? What kinds of questions must citizens and leaders face in constructing their new society? What choices do they have and what constraints inhibit their choices? What tradeoffs do they see between different alternatives. Is democracy possible after such a past and what will it look like? These are the questions of this course.
While the course covers more Latin American countries than it does countries from any other region, the course is not only about Latin America. In addition to studying Chile, El Salvador and Argentina we will also study Germany and South Africa. All of these countries have tried to construct a democracy in the aftermath of gross human rights violations and all have had different levels of success in that effort. All of these countries faced the questions listed above when they moved toward democracy.
Requirements
We will have three essay exams in this course, two during the course of the semester and one as a final exam. Each of the first two exams is worth 25% of your grade; the final is worth 40% of your grade. Class attendance and participation will count for 10% of your grade.
Required books and Coursepack
Norbert Frei, Adenauer’s Germany and the Nazi Past, Columbia University Press, 2001
Richard Wilson, The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, 2001
Cath Collins, Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador, Penn State Press, 2010
Elisabeth Jean Wood, Forging Democracy from Below: Insurgent Transitions in South Africa and El Salvador, Cambridge University Press, 2000
Elisabeth Jean Wood, Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador, Cambridge University Press, 2003
Leslie Anderson, Social Capital in Developing Democracies: Nicaragua and Argentina Compared, Cambridge University Press, 2010
In addition to these books there is a small coursepack available under the course number at Target Copy. You have the option of purchasing either a hard copy or an electronic copy of the coursepack. The coursepack contains several chapters from an edited volume on human rights trials and a single chapter from a new book I am working on entitled Democracy by Institutions.
Class date Reading
January 8 first class: pass out syllabus
January 10, 15 coursepack materials, read all four chapters but not Anderson, unpublished
Part I: Germany
January 17, 22 Frei, entire book
January 24, 29
January 31
Part II: Latin America
February 5-14 Argentina: Read Anderson, 2010, Chap 3 and Anderson, unpublished ms, Democracy by Institutions, Chap 3
February 19-28 Chile: Read Collins, entire book
March 5-7 Spring Break
March 12-21 El Salvador: Read Wood, 2003, entire book
Part III: South Africa
March 26-April 2 South Africa: Read Wood, 2000 and Wilson, entire book
Part IV: Overview and Assessment
April 4-18 Coursepack chapters again
April 23 Final exam