(All Rights Reserved)
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES SEMESTER 2
2018/2019 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: JQB 19 (Main Campus) NB2, 3A (City Campus)
Day & Time: Wed. 7:30-9:20PM
Office:
Dr. H. Wahab Dr. C. Amo-Agyemang Pol. Sci. Dept. Room #13 Pol Sci. Dept. Room #: K. Forson Block, 1st Fl. Email: hwahab@ug.edu.gh Email: camoagyemang@yahoo.com
Office Hours: Mon. 11:00AM-1:00PM Office Hours: TBA or by APPOINTMENT OR by APPOINTMENT
Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM OR by APPOINTMENT
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 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 consistent 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
NOTE:
Readings from weeks 8 to 13 will be provided when Dr. Amo-Agyemang takes
over.
Course
Reading and Class Schedule:
Week 1 (Feb 4 – 8): Introduction to the
Course Readings:
No readings
assigned.
Week 2 (Feb 11 – 15): 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 (Feb 18 – 22): Collective Action and Social Movements Readings:
Meyer, David
S. 2004. “Protest and Political Opportunities.” Annual Review of Sociology, 30:125-145
Week 4 (Feb
25 – March 1): 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 (March 4 – 8): 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 (March 11 – 15): Regime Stability/Regime Change Readings:
Schedler,
Andreas. 1998. “What is Democratic Consolidation?” Journal of Democracy 9(2):91107
Hadenius, Axel
and Jan Teorell. 2007. “Pathways from Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 18(1):143-156.
Week 7 (March
18 – 22): 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 (March 25 – 29): Hybrid Regimes Readings:
Week 9
(April 1 – 5): Lessons Learned Readings:
Week 10 (April 8 – 12): Democratic Institutions Readings:
Week
11 (April 16 – 20): Electoral and Party Systems Readings:
Week 12 (22 – 26): Presidentialism vs.
Parliamentarism Readings:
Week
13 (April 29 – May 3): State and Nonstate Provision of Welfare Reform Readings:
Week 14 (May 6 – 10):
REVISION
Weeks 15 & 16 (May 11- June 2):
FINAL EXAMS
No comments:
Post a Comment