COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST FOR POLI 352: ISSUES IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES

SEMESTER 2

  2017/2018 ACADEMIC YEAR

COURSE SYLLABUS

POLI 352: Issues in Comparative Politics (3-CREDITS)

Instructors: Dr. Hassan Wahab (will cover weeks 2 to 7)

                     Dr. Charles Amo-Agyemang (will cover weeks 8 to 13)                                     

Course Location: Francis Kofi Drah Conference Room (FKD)

Day & Time: Thurs. 1:30-3:20PM

Note: Readings from weeks 8 to 13 will be provided in due course.

Office:

Dr. H. Wahab                                                         Dr. C. Amo-Agyemang                                                

Pol. Sci. Dept. Room #13                                       Pol Sci. Dept. Room #: K. Forson Block, 1^st Fl.

Email: hwahab@ug.edu.gh                                    Email: camoagyemang@yahoo.com

Office Hrs.: Tues. 1:30-3:30PM or by appt.       Office Hours: TBA or by appointment

                      Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM       

                                                             

Course Summary:

This is an advanced comparative political science course. The goal of the course is to discuss current and pertinent issues in the study of comparative politics such as Values, Participation and Voting, Democracy and Democratization, Electoral and Party Systems, Regime Stability/Regime Change etc.

Course Objectives

The objectives of the course include:

1.      deepening students’ knowledge in core areas of comparative political research;

2.      analyzing and comparing some of the current political developments in different countries around the world;

3.      thinking like comparativists, and—eventually—getting students to DO research in comparative politics;

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, we expect students to be able to:

1.      understand the core concepts, theories and methodologies in comparative politics;

2.      read important books and journal articles in the field of comparative politics;

3.      make critical evaluations of differences between national political systems;

4.      critically apply the theoretical literature to practical examples;

5.      gather, organize and deploy evidence, data and information from a variety of secondary and some primary sources, and

6.      evaluate research material in a critical way and develop and present research projects within the discipline of comparative politics.

Academic Honesty:

All University policies regarding academic honesty will be strictly enforced. Plagiarism, cheating or academic misconduct in any manner will not be tolerated.  While most examples of misconduct are blatantly obvious (i.e., you may not pay someone to take your final exam for you!), knowing when and how to acknowledge and appropriately cite sources is something you may have to learn.  For example, even if you acknowledge the source, you cannot stay too close to the language of the original source when paraphrasing. If you are not sure about anything, please do not hesitate to see me, and we can go over it together. We encourage you to familiarize yourselves with the University’s policy regarding academic misconduct. This policy is available at http://www.ug.edu.gh/aqau/policies-guidelines.

Students with Special Needs:

Students with special needs should register with the Office of Students with Special Needs, located in the University of Ghana Computing Services (UGCS) building, next to the Student Financial Aid Office; Tel: +233-24-457-5177; E-mail: ossnug@gmail.com. Please contact me as soon as possible so that appropriate accommodation can be arranged.

Assessment:

TWO assessment mechanisms will be used in this course: (1) Interim Assessment exams, and (2) Final Exams. The format for these exams will be one or a combination of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, short essay, and long essay questions.

Interim Assessment (IA): This assessment component will comprise two in-class IA exams. These exams will take place on the fifth and tenth weeks of the semester. Each IA will be worth 15% of the final grade. The IA exams will be based on the content of the readings, lectures, discussion sections, and news items covered at that stage of the course. 

Final Exam: Worth 70% of the final grade, this exam will be based on the content of the readings, lectures, and discussions covered over the entire course. It may also include a research paper.

Grading Scale: Please refer to the Undergraduate Handbook

Tutorials: There will be tutorials for this class led by our teaching and graduate assistants. Please take advantage of these tutorials.

Disclaimer: We reserve the right to change any readings, dates and requirements listed in this syllabus.  If this occurs, every effort will be made to announce the changes well in advance.  You are responsible for any changes made and announced in class.

Course Policies

Regular attendance is a key determinant of success in this course and is required. While students are expected, nay, required, to do their readings before they come to class, the readings serve as a background, not as a substitute, for the lectures and class discussions. Not only do we expect students to attend classes, we also expect students to ask questions and participate in class discussions. We strongly encourage students to ask questions during class. We will not entertain students who come to us immediately after a class session to ask questions pertaining to that class when they could have asked those questions during the class to the benefit of all students.

You may use laptops and tablets to take notes during class. If you choose to do so, you MUST ask permission from us, and you MUST sit in the front row.  

Please turn off your cell phones, MP3 players, etc. before class begins. The use of cell phones in class is PROHIBITED. If your cell phones rings/vibrates up to three times in class during the semester, you will be asked to leave the class for DISRUPTION. Additionally, please refrain from: frequently arriving late for class; talking, sleeping, texting, or studying other materials in class; and leaving class early. In general, please be polite and respectful to everyone in this class. We reserve the right to apply appropriate sanctions for consistently discourteous classroom behavior in accordance with the University of Ghana policies.

During both the IA and final examinations, please note that you may NOT be allowed to leave the examination room until you have submitted your exam.

NOTE: We have indicated our office hours above. Please respect that. We reserve the right to NOT see any student who shows up in our offices outside our office hours and without appointment.

Text Books:

There are no required/prescribed textbooks for this course. However, there are several supplementary texts that students are encouraged to consult, including:

Shugart, Mathew S., and John M. Carey.  1992. President and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics. New York: Cambridge University Press

Huntington, Samuel. 1968. Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press

Wiarda, Howard J.  (ed.). 2002. New Directions in Comparative Politics. Boulder, CO.: Westview Press

Dahl, Robert A. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, Yale University Press

Linchbach, Mark I., and Alan S. Zuckerman (eds.). 2002. Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure. New York: Cambridge University Press

Lijphart, Arend. 1984. Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press

Diamond, Larry, and Marc F. Plattner (eds.). 2008. How People View Democracy. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press

Bates, Robert H. 2008. When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late-Century Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press

Cammett, Melani, and Lauren M. MacLean (eds.). 2014. The Politics of Non-State Social Welfare. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press

Kasza, Gregory J. 2006. One World of Welfare: Japan in Comparative Perspective. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press

Huntington, Samuel P. 1991. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press

All class readings will be provided to students as PDFs

Course Reading and Class Schedule:

Week 1: Introduction to the Course

Readings:

No readings assigned.

Week 2: Values, Participation, Voting

Readings:

Conge, Patrick. 1988. “The Concept of Political Participation: Toward a Definition.” Comparative Politics 20(2):241—249

Bratton, Michael, and Robert Mattes. 2001. “Support for Democracy in Africa: Intrinsic or Instrumental.” British Journal of Political Science 31(3):447-474

Week 3: Collective Action and Social Movements

Readings:

Meyer, David S. 2004. “Protest and Political Opportunities.” Annual Review of Sociology, 30:125-145

Week 4:  Political Agency in Democratization

Readings due:

Hagopian, Frances. 1990. "'Democracy by ‘Undemocratic Means'?  Elites, Political Pacts and Regime Transition in Brazil." Comparative Political Studies, 23(2):147-170.

Huntington, Samuel P. 1991. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, chaps. 1, 3.

Oberschall, Anthony. 2000. “Social Movements and the Transition to Democracy.” Democratization, 7(3):25-46

Week 5: Democratic Transitions

Readings:

Ziblatt, Daniel. 2006. “How did Europe Democratize.” World Politics (58):311-338.

Berman, Sheri. 2007. “Lessons from Europe.” Journal of Democracy 18(1):28-41

Week 6: Regime Stability/Regime Change

Readings:

Schedler, Andreas. 1998. “What is Democratic Consolidation?” Journal of Democracy 9(2):91-107

Hadenius, Axel and Jan Teorell. 2007. “Pathways from Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 18(1):143-156.

Week 7: International Diffusion and Promotion

Readings:

Brinks, Daniel and Michael Coppedge, 2006. “Diffusion is no Illusion: Neighbor Emulation in the Third Wave of Democracy.” Comparative Political Studies 39(4):463-489.         

Gleditsch, Kristian, and Michael Ward. 2006. “Diffusion and the International Context of Democratization.” International Organization 60(4):911-933.

Week 8: Hybrid Regimes

Readings:

Week 9: Lessons Learned

Readings:

Week 10: Democratic Institutions

Readings:

Week 11: Electoral and Party Systems  

Readings:

Week 12: Presidentialism vs. Parliamentarism

Readings:

Week 13: State and Nonstate Provision of Welfare Reform

Readings:

Week 14:

REVISION

Weeks 15 & 16:

FINAL EXAMS