CURRICULUM PROPOSAL FORM #3
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER

NEW COURSE


Effective: Spring 2001
Course Number: * 820-255    
Course Title: Introduction to Comparative Politics  
  (limited to 65 characters) 

 
15 Character Abbreviation: INTRO COMP POL
25 Character Abbreviation: INTRO COMPARATIVE POLITIC
 

 
Sponsor: Anne Hamilton   E-mail Address: Hamiltoa@uwwvax.uww.edu
Department: Political Science   College: Letters and Sciences
         
Co-sponsor:     E-mail Address:  
Department:     College:  
  * You MUST verify course numbers with Registrar's Office prior to submitting (x1211) (Done 3/17/00)

 
 
Other Programs Affected:  

 
 
Check if course is to meet any of the following requirements:
__ None __ Writing __ Computer __ Diversity __ General Ed and Area  

Credit/Contact Hours: (per semester)
Total lab hours: 0   Total lecture hours: 48
Number of credits: 3   Total contact hours: 48

 
Check if course is repeatable: X No _ Yes (if yes, answer the following questions)
  • No of times in major
     No of credits in major  
  • No of times in degree
     No of credits in degree  

 
 
Enter the appropriate titles if the course is required in any of the following:
Major Title(s)          
Minor Title(s)          
Emphasis Title(s)          

Course justification:

This course fills a curricular gap in the Political Science curriculum. Introduction to Comparative Politics is a standard course in political science curricula around the country. Its introduction as a General Studies course is consistent with efforts to internationalize the curriculum. None of the other General Studies Political Science courses offered is international in focus. In addition, this course will be a useful introduction for the five upper-level comparative politics courses offered in the Political Science Department.
 

Relationship to program assessment objectives:

    1. The General Education Program


      2. This course complements the core courses in the General Education curriculum very well, in that there is little overlap between the material for this course and the other core courses. Global Perspectives is the only core course that is 100% international in focus, as this course is. Global Perspectives courses may address some of the issues that are covered in this course, e.g., nationalism and the role of religion in politics, but Global Perspectives is primarily about relations between states, whereas this course focuses on domestic politics and societies of important states. In addition, this course envisages incorporating feature films and short novels into the curriculum, an approach that is consistent with the interdisciplinary nature of the core courses.

      This course will meet the goals of the General Education Program in the following ways: (1) Students will gain analytic and critical skills and learn to evaluate complex issues (General Education Goal 1); (2) Students will learn about the politics and societies of Western and non-Western countries and learn to appreciate the diversity of institutions outside of the United States (General Education Goal 3); (3) Students will gain an understanding of how different political institutions and patterns of political behavior around the world affect political outcomes in important ways (General Education Goal 4); (4) Students will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of the comparative method for generating and testing knowledge about political outcomes (General Education Goal 4); and (5) Students will improve their communication skills through regular discussion and writing assignments (General Education Goal 5).
       

    2. The Political Science Major
In addition to providing a useful introduction to upper-level comparative politics courses, this course will meet the Political Science Assessment Plan objectives in the following ways: (1) It will teach students about the comparative method as a research tool for answering important questions about politics (Subject Matter Objective 2); Students will learn about major theories in the field of comparative politics (Subject Matter Objective 3c); Students will become acquainted with the structure, processes, and operation of a number of non-American political systems (Subject Matter Objective 3c); and (4) Students will, through extensive class discussion, writing assignments, and application of the comparative method, develop analytical skills needed to understand political phenomena (Cognitive Development Objective 1).   Budgetary impact:
There will be no budgetary impact. We anticipate that the changes in the General Education requirements will result in a reduction in the number of sections offered of 900-140, and that faculty who have regularly taught 3 sections of Global Perspectives will have the flexibility to teach other courses as a result. There are four tenured or tenure-track professors who have the expertise to teach this course.


Course Description

This course compares the political systems of five or six countries, reflecting the range of political institutions and political behavior around the world. Students will learn to develop explanations for similarities and differences in the political life of countries around the world, e.g, why are some countries democratic and others authoritarian?


Course objectives and course syllabus

Tentative Course Syllabus
The term "comparative politics" refers to the comparative analysis of domestic political systems, as opposed to "international relations," which is the study of relations between states. The study of comparative politics begins with the premise that comparative analysis of countries can produce meaningful answers to important questions. Since there are nearly 200 states in the world, comparative politics is an immense field, covering such diverse topics as revolution in China and Russia, party loyalties in Great Britain, corruption in Japan, economic stabilization in Latin America, and changing social values in Western Europe. Given the immensity of the field, we can only touch on major issues and raise important questions in an introductory course. In this course, we will focus on 6 case studies – Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Mexico, India and China – and address several questions fundamental to the study of comparative politics, including (1) Why are some countries democratic versus authoritarian? (2) What is the relationship between democracy and development? (3) Why is nationalism a potent political force?

Course Objectives

This course will (1) broaden your knowledge about the possible range of political institutions and political behavior around the world; (2) help you develop explanations for similarities and differences in the political life of countries around the world and understand the significance of these similarities and differences; and (3) teach you to apply the comparative method as a research tool for analyzing politics.

Course requirements

Your final grade will be based on 6 short essays, participation in discussion and a final exam. Each short essay counts 10 percent, participation counts 15 percent, and the final exam counts 25 percent.

The six essays should be about two pages, double-spaced (approximately 500 words). The essays must be typed, in hard copy, or submitted to me by e-mail. Your essay must address one of the four questions that will be assigned on the country under discussion. The essays are due at the end of the units on individual countries, as indicated in the syllabus.

In writing your essays, you should draw on your readings, as well as points made in discussion. In the first class session, you will be assigned to a permanent discussion group; each discussion group will be called upon to discuss one of the questions for each country during the course of the semester.

In your essays I do not expect you to go beyond class material in developing your responses to the questions. What I expect is for you to make arguments that are consistent and reasonable, given the material you’ve learned in the class. The essays should not be summaries or repetitions of textbook material. I want to know your reactions to the material, which will involve your own critical, original thinking.

We will be spending 2 ½ weeks on each case. In addition to the readings from textbooks and articles on reserve, we will be either watching a feature film or reading a novel relating to the politics of each of the six cases, in an effort to deepen our understanding of political themes and events associated with the countries.

Required texts:

Mark Kesselman, Joel Krieger, and William A. Joseph, eds., Introduction to Comparative Politics (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin), 2000.

Soe, Christian. Annual Editions: Comparative Politics 00/01, 18th ed. (Guilford, CT: Dushkin/McGraw Hill), 2000.

Course packet with articles (on electronic reserve).
 
 

 Schedule:

Week 1: Introductory Lecture:

What is Comparative Politics?

Readings: Kesselman et al., Ch. 1
 

  Weeks 2 and 3: Case 1—Great Britain Readings:

Kesselman et al., Ch. 2;
Survey of Britain in The Economist, November 6-12, 1999;

Archie Brown, "Assymmetrical Devolution: Nationalism in Scotland."
(reading packet)

Andrew Sullivan, "There Will Always Be an England," New York Times Magazine, February 21, 1999, in Soe.

Novel or video: TBA

Weeks 4-6: Case 2—Germany Readings:

Kesselman et al., Ch. 4;

Timothy Garton Ash, chapter on the fall of the Berlin Wall," in The Magic Lantern, pp. 61-77 (reading packet). Survey of Germany in The Economist, February 6, 1999;
Ralf Dahrendorf, "Bothered in Berlin," Prospect, Dec. 1999, in Soe.
Novel or video: TBA   Weeks 7-8: Case 3—India Readings: Kesselman et. al, chap. 6; Ashutosh Varshney, "Why Democracy Survives," Journal of Democracy 9:3 (July 1998): 36-50;

Marshall M. Bouton, "India’s Problem is Not Politics," Foreign Affairs 77:33 (May-June 1998);

Celia W. Dugger, "Hindu-First Party Wins Solid Majority in India’s Election," New York Times, Oct. 8, 1999, in Soe.

Video or novel: TBA

 Weeks 9-11: Case 4--Mexico Readings:

Kesselman et al., chap. 9 ;

N. Delal Baer, "Mexico’s Coming Backlash," Foreign Affairs 78:4 (July/August 1999);

Roberto E. Blum, "The Weight of the Past," Journal of Democracy 8:4 (October 1997): 28-43;;

 Survey on Mexico in The Economist, 28 October, 2000.

Video or novel : TBA
 
 
 

Weeks 12-13: Case 5—Russia


Readings:

Kesselman et al., chap. 10 ;

Lee S. Wolosky, "Russia’s New Plutocrats," Foreign Affairs 79:2 (March/April 2000);

"Yeltsin’s Legacy: Russia’s Flawed Reformer," The Economist, January 8, 2000."

 Video or novel: TBA
  Weeks 14-15: Case 6--China


Kesselman et al., chap. 11 ;

Survey on China in The Economist, 8 April 2000;

Bruce Gilley, "Jiang Zemin: On the Right Side of History?" Current History, September 1999, in Soe;

Henry Chu, "In March toward Capitalism, China Has Avoided Russia’s Path," Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1998.

 Video or novel: TBA
 

Week 16: Final Exam
 
 

Bibliography

*Almond, Gabriel and Sydney Verba. "The Civic Culture and Democratic Stability." In The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963.

*Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: New Left Books, 1980.

Ash, Timothy Garton. The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of ’89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague. New York: Random House, 1990.

*Bianco, Lucien. Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971.

*Brubaker, Rogers. Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996.

Cardoso, Fernando Henrique, "North-South Relations in the Present Context: A New Dependency?" In North-South Relations n the New Global Information Age. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Univ. Press, 1993.

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

*Dahrendorf, Ralf. Society and Democracy in Germany. Garden City, NY:

Doubleday, 1967.

*Eckstein, Harry. "The Idea of Political Development: From Dignity to Efficiency." World Politics (July 1982): 451-86.

Goldstone, Jack A. Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative and Historical Studies. 2nd ed. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994.

*Horowitz, Donald. "Democracy in Divided Societies: The Challenge of Ethnic Conflict." Journal of Democracy 4 (October 1993): 18-33.

*Huntington, Samuel. "Democracy’s Third Wave." Journal of Democracy 2 (Spring 1991): 12-34 (on line).

*Kohli, Atul. "Democracy and Development." In Lewis and Kallab, eds., Development Strategies Reconsidered. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1986: 153-182.

*Linz, Juan. "Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes," in Fred I. Greenstein and Nelson Polsby, eds. Handbook of Political Science 3: 175-196, 264-274.

*Liu Binyan. "The Long March from Mao: China’s De-Communization." Current History, September 1993.

*Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto. In Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader NY: Norton.

*Meisner, Maurice. Mao’s China and After. New York: The Free Press, 1986.

Migdal, Joel. "Strong States, Weak States: Power and Accommodation." In Weiner and Huntington, eds., Understanding Political Development: An Analytic Study. Boston: Little Brown, 1987: 391-431.

*Moore, Barrington. The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. Boston: Beacon Press, 1966.

*O’Donnell, Guillermo. "Tensions in the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian State and the Question of Democracy." In D. Collier, ed., The New Authoritarianism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979: 286-291.

*Schmitter, Philippe and Terry Karl. "What Democracy is and … is not." Journal of Democracy 2 (Summer 1991): 75-88 (on line).

*Weber, Max. "Politics as a Vocation." In H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1946.