INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS
Political Science 102-03

Spring 2005
M/T/Th 11-11:50

Professor Vickie Langohr
326 Fenwick/793-2763
vlangohr@holycross.edu

It is often said that democracy is the best system of government humans have devised. As countries in the former Soviet Union , southeast Asia, and the Middle East attempt to democratize their governments, this belief appears to be becoming more widespread. But when we say that democracy is the best form of government, what do we mean? Is it the best form of government for managing ethnic conflict in divided societies? Is it the form of government best suited to addressing problems of poverty and social injustice? Is democracy as a political system compatible with any type of economic system? Can it take root in any country, regardless of that country"s level of economic development or its culture or history?

To answer these questions, we will examine three established democracies - Great Britain, France, and India - and compare them with the Soviet Union, Russia since the collapse of the Union, and China. Our comparison of these countries will be centered around three key concepts: the connection between political and economic change, poverty and economic development, and political institutions. Many scholars have argued that a democratic political system cannot exist in a non-capitalist economy, or in Barrington Moore's famous formulation, "no bourgeoisie, no democracy." If this is true, is the reverse also true: that a capitalist economy will inevitably produce a democratic political system? We will examine these questions closely in the cases of the USSR (later Russia ) and China. Both the USSR and China developed state-controlled economies accompanied by repressive authoritarian political systems. From the late 1980s Russia pursued a change from an authoritarian to a democratic regime AND a change from a planned to a free-market economy at the same time. While the Russian economy is now largely capitalist, how democratic is the political system, and has change on one front helped or hindered change on the other? China 's Communist Party has introduced significant economic changes over the last three decades while making almost no moves to democratize its political system. Which strategy of change will be more viable in the long term, and what are the costs to Russian and Chinese citizens of each path?

The second topic we will address is that of poverty and economic development. When Communist leaders came to power in Russia in 1917 and China in 1949, both countries were overwhelmingly poor and economically backward. The same was true of India at its independence in 1947. Communist regimes in the USSR and China pursued rapid economic development, and the USSR underwent one of the world's fastest transitions from an agricultural to a fully industrialized economy. This transition raised citizens' standard of living dramatically but millions of lives were lost in the process; authoritarian rule prevented Soviet and Chinese citizens from being able to protest economic policies that they opposed. This rapid development and the prohibition on private economic enterprise ensured a much higher level of economic equality in the USSR and China than had ever existed in either society; as both countries have turned to free-market economics, inequality has soared, potentially threatening the stability of the Chinese Communist regime. India has had a democratic government since independence. Economically disadvantaged Indians are a majority of the Indian population and they vote in very high numbers - much higher than their poor counterparts in the U.S. However, turning the poor's numerical advantage into political power that could be used to decrease poverty has been a very slow process, and India's poverty rate is significantly higher than that of China. We will examine in some detail poverty in contemporary capitalist, democratic India and the growing inequality in capitalist, authoritarian China today, noting both the successes and failures of attempts by the Indian poor to politically mobilize in various Indian states and comparing the situation of the Indian poor and their options to those of their counterparts in China.

Finally, the third theme of the course is the importance of political institutions. If politics is a game which is played to decide which citizens get what resources, then political institutions - presidential vs. parliamentary systems, first-past-the-post vs. proportional representation electoral systems - are the rules by which the game is played, and they can significantly alter its outcome. Does the fact that the United States is a presidential regime while the U.K. is a parliamentary one change the way that political issues are handled, making certain outcomes more likely than others? Do plurality electoral systems systematically disadvantage certain types of candidates? Plurality systems generally produce political systems dominated by two major parties; why has India, which also has a plurality system, always had important third, fourth, and fifth parties? What type of system should a newly democratizing country choose to maximize its chances of success; what factors would influence the answers to this question?

Course Requirements

The requirements for this course, in addition to regular attendance and participation in discussions (10% of your grade), are a 5-7 page paper (20%), a midterm (20%), one 10-12 page paper (25%), and a final (25%).

Readings

The following books can be purchased in the Holy Cross Bookstore:

• Siddharth Dube, In The Land of Poverty : Memoirs of An Indian Family, 1947-1997, (Zed Press, 1998)

• Barrington Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World, (Beacon Press, 1966)

• Monte Palmer, Comparative Politics: Political Economy, Political Culture, and Political Interdependence, (F.E. Peacock Publishers, 1997)

In addition to these books there are also many reserve readings. All of these readings are available on electronic reserves (noted ER in the syllabus.) They can be accessed by going to the Holy Cross web page, clicking on library, and then clicking on electronic reserves. Choose either my name from the professor list or the course name from the course list, click on it, and then enter the password.

I EXPECT YOU TO HAVE DONE THE READING LISTED FOR EACH DATE ON THE SYLLABUS BEFORE CLASS MEETS ON THAT DATE.

How To Reach Me

My office hours will be Mondays 2-2:50 p.m. and Tuesdays 9-10 a.m. and 2-3:30 p.m. If you cannot make these hours let me know and we can set up other appointment times. The best way to reach me between classes is to e-mail me.

CLASS SCHEDULE

Th Jan 20: Thinking About How to Compare Countries, & What Makes A Country Democratic?  

• America the Unusual, John Kingdon, (Wadsworth, 1998), 1-21 (ER)
  
  "What Democracy Is and Is Not," Philippe Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, reprinted in Comparative Politics 98/99 (ER)

M Jan 24: Development, Stability, and Democracy

• Political Order in Changing Societies, Samuel Huntington, pp. 1-8, 24-32, 397-403 (ER)

• "Order or Movement? The Literature of Political Development as Ideology," Mark Kesselman, World Politics, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (ER)

DEBATES ABOUT THE PRECONDITIONS FOR DEMOCRACY

T Jan 25: Does Economic Development Cause Democracy?

• "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy," Seymour Martin Lipset, American Political Science Review, 69-85 (ER)

Th Jan 27: Do Development and Capitalism Promote Stability and Democracy? 

• Political Order in Changing Societies, 39-59  

• "The Uncertain Triumph of Democratic Capitalism," Peter Berger, Journal of Democracy, July 1992 (ER)

M Jan 31: Are Certain Cultural Traits Required for Democracy?  

• The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Samuel Huntington, (University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 13-16 and 72-85 (ER)

• "The True Clash of Civilizations," Ronald Inglehardt and Pippa Norris, Foreign Policy, Mar-Apr 2003 (ER)

T Feb 1: A Counter-Argument: Development And Particular Cultural Traits Are Not Required for Democracy 

• "Transitions to Democracy: Toward A Dynamic Model," Dankwart Rustow, Comparative Politics, April 1970 (ER)

Th Feb 3 & M Feb 7: Poverty, Democracy, and Structural Violence

• Pathologies of Power, Paul Farmer, (Berkeley : University of California Press, 2003), 29-50 (Th Feb 3) (ER)

• Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen, (New York : Alfred Knopf, 2000), 13-24 (Th Feb 3) (ER)

• "Does Democracy Prevent Famine?" Michael Massing, New York Times, March 1, 2003 (M Feb 7) (ER)

T Feb 8: Ways of "Doing" Democracy: Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems 

• "Presidents and Prime Ministers," Richard Rose, Society, March/April 1988 (ER)

• "The Perils of Presidentialism," Juan Linz, Journal of Democracy, Winter 1990 (ER) (accessible from on-campus computers only)

• "Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America : Rethinking the Terms of the Debate," Matthew Shugart and Scott Mainwaring, in Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America, eds. Shugart and Mainwaring, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 14-18 and 29-40 (on p. 29 start at section "The Argument Against Presidentialism") (ER)

Th Feb 10 & M Feb 14 : Plurality vs. Proportional Representation, and Two-Party vs. Multi-Party Systems

• "Constitutional Choices for New Democracies," Arend Lijphart, The Global Resurgence of Democracy, eds. Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996) (Th Feb 10) (ER)

• "PR and Democratic Statecraft," Quentin Quade, The Global Resurgence of Democracy, eds. Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996) (Th Feb 10) (ER)

• "The Problem with PR," Guy Lardeyret, The Global Resurgence of Democracy, eds. Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996) (Th Feb 10) (ER)  

• "The Case for A Multi-Party U.S. Parliament? American Politics in Comparative Perspective," Christopher Allen, Annual Editions: Comparative Politics 02/03 (M Feb 14) (ER)  

• "A Radical Plan To Change American Politics," Michael Lind, The Atlantic Monthly, August 1992, pp. 4-13 (M Feb 14) (ER)  

• "Ariel Sharon's Coalition Options," Ha'aretz, January 29, 2003 (M Feb 14) (ER)

THE UNITED KINGDOM & FRANCE 

T Feb 15 & Th Feb 17: The Political System of the U.K. , and How It Became A Democracy 

• Comparative Politics, 51-79 (T Feb 15) 

• "A Constitutional Revolution in Britain?" Donley Studlar, in Annual Editions: Comparative Politics 03/04 (ER)(T Feb 15)

• Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of The Modern World, Barrington Moore, Chapter 7 and Chapter 1 (read in this order) (Th Feb 17)  

M Feb 21 & T Feb 22: The Political System of France, and How It Became A Democracy 

• Comparative Politics, 94-102 (M Feb 21) 

• Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, 40-56 (M Feb 21), 63-92, 101- 108 (T Feb 22)

---------------------------FIRST PAPER DUE: THURSDAY FEB 24-----------------------

COMMUNIST AND POST-COMMUNIST TRAJECTORIES: RUSSIA & CHINA  

THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AND RUSSIA

Th Feb 24 & M Feb 28: The Basics of Marxism (and Leninism)

• "Marxism," in Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact, Leon P. Baradat, (Prentice-Hall, 2000) (Th Feb 24) (ER)

• "What Is To Be Done?" Vladimir Lenin, excerpts, The Lenin Anthology, ed. Robert Tucker, (W.W. Norton, 1975) (M Feb 28) (ER)

T Mar 1 & Th Mar 3: The Political and Economic System of the Soviet Union

• Comparative Politics, 224-248 (T Mar 1)

• Political Order in Changing Societies, Huntington, 308-324, 334-343 (T Mar 1) (ER)
  
• The Russians , Hedrick Smith, (Crown Press, 1985) pgs TBA (Th Mar 3) (ER)

-----------------FRIDAY MAR 4 - SUNDAY MAR 13: SPRING BREAK-------------------------

M Mar 14: Life in The Soviet Union

• The Russians , Hedrick Smith, (Crown Press, 1985) pgs TBA (ER)  

T Mar 15 & Th Mar 17: As The Economic Rules Change.........Politics Remains the Same?  

• David Hoffman, TheOligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia , 177-208 (M Mar 14) and 296-324 (T Mar 15) (ER)

• Michael McFaul, "Democracy Unfolds in Russia,"Current History, October 1997 (Th Mar 17) (ER)  

• Michael McFaul, "Putin in Power," Current History, October 2000 (Th Mar 17) (ER)

• Peter Maass, "The Triumph of the Quiet Tycoon," New York Times, August 1, 2004 (Th Mar 17) (ER) 

M Mar 21: Moore's Explanation of the Russian Revolution

• Social Origins of Dictatorship, Chapter 9

---------------------------------MIDTERM: T MAR 22---------------------------------------------------

------------THURSDAY MARCH 24 - MONDAY MARCH 28: EASTER BREAK------------

CHINA

T Mar 29: The Chinese Revolution and Chinese Political Structure

• Comparative Politics , 269-275 and 283-291

Th Mar 31: The Economics of the New China 

• "The Other China," Maurice Meisner, Current History, September 1997 (ER)  

• "China's Workers Risk Limbs in Export Drive," Joseph Kahn, New York Times, April 7, 2003 (ER)  

• "Making Trinkets, and A Deadly Dust," Joseph Kahn, New York Time, June 18, 2003 (ER)

• "China's 'Haves' Stir the 'Have-Nots' To Violence," Joseph Kahn, New York Times, December 31, 2004 (ER)

M Apr 4 - Th Apr 7: Who Might Press for Reform in China?

Students and Workers? (M Apr 4)

• "The Social Origins and Consequences of the Tiananmen Crisis," Anita Chan, in China in the Nineties, Goodman & Segal, eds. (1991) (ER)

• "When Chinese Workers Unite, the Bosses Often Run the Union," Joseph Kahn, New York Times, December 29, 2003 (ER)

Poor Farmers? ( T Apr 5)

• Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China, Ian Johnson, ( New York: Pantheon Books 2004), 23-28,17-23, 34-86 (ER)

Emerging Capitalist Entrepreneurs? (Th Apr 7)  

• "China's Communist Party Opens Its Doors to Capitalists," Joseph Kahn, New York Times, November 4, 2002 (ER)

• Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change Bruce Dickson, (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2003), 107-115, 126-141 (ER)

• "The New Inequality," An Chen, Journal of Democracy, Volume 14, No. 1, January 2003 (ER)

INDIA

M Apr 11: The Political System of India : How A Democracy Deals with Diversity

• Comparative Politics, 329-342

• "Ethnic Diversities, Constitutional Designs, and Public Policies in India," David Stuligross and Ashutosh Varshney, in The Architecture of Democracy: Constitutional Design, Conflict Management, and Democracy, eds. Andrew Reynolds, (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2002) (ER)

T Apr 12 & Th Apr 14: How Did India Become - and Remain - a Democracy Against All the Odds? 

• "Why Democracy Survives," Ashutosh Varshney, Journal of Democracy 9.3 1998 (T Apr 12) (ER)

• Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction, Bhikhu Parekh, (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2001), 1-34, 64-73, 92-98 (Th Apr 14) (hard copy reserves, or buy)  

M Apr 18 & T Apr 19: Poverty in Democratic India : The Story of Ram Dass and Family in the U.P. 

• In The Land of Poverty: Memoirs of An Indian Family, 1947-1997 , Siddharth Dube, (Zed Books, 1998, London), 6-17, 22-38, 52-62 (M Apr 18) 65-68, 105-112, 113-124, 127-135, 200-212 (T Apr 19)

Th Apr 21: One Attempt to Decrease Poverty and Discrimination: The Bahujan Samaj Party in the U.P.

• Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India, Kanchan Chandra, ( Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 143-158 (ER)

• "Representation and Redistribution: The New Lower Caste Politics of North India ,” Zoya Hasan, in Transforming India : Social and Political Dynamics of Democracy , eds. Frankel, Hasan, Bhargava, and Arora, ( Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 152-166 (ER)

M Apr 25 & T Apr 26: Another Attempt to Decrease Poverty: The KDB in Kerala  

• Democracy at Work In An Indian Industrial Cooperative: The Story of Kerala Dinesh Beedi, T.M Thomas Isaac, Richard Francke, and Pyaralal Raghavan, ( Ithaca : Cornell University Press) 1-19, 22-53 (M Apr 25) 62-85, 217-223 (T Apr 26) (ER)  

--------------------------SECOND PAPER DUE: TH APR 28---------------------------------------- 

Th Apr 28, M May 2 & T May 3 : India Reconsidered in Light of the Chinese Experience 

Revolution Would Have Established A Better Life for Indians Today 

• Social Origins of Development and Democracy, Barrington Moore, 353-378 (Th Apr 28) 

Democratic Government Has Given Indians A Better Life, But India Needs To Do More 

• "How India's Elections Were Won And Lost,” Soutik Biswas, BBC News Online, May 13, 2004 (ER) (M May 2)  

• "How is India Doing?" Amartya Sen, in Social and Economic Development in India (1986), pp. 28-42 (ER) (M May 2)

• Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen, ( New York : Alfred Knopf, 2000), 38-53 (T May 3) (ER)

• "Passage to China," Amartya Sen, New York Review of Books , December 2, 2004, SECTION 7 ONLY (ER) (T May 3)

-----------------------------------FINAL EXAM: FRIDAY MAY 13 2:30 p.m.----------------------------