CSS 291: SENIOR COLLOQUIUM
Capitalism and Democracy
(aka Public and Private: The Logic of Social Order)
Fall 2007 WF 2:40-4pm
Prof. Gil Skillman Hours: Th 1:30-3
325 PAC x2359 and by appointment.
This course concerns the distinction between public and private spheres of social life: what that distinction might mean, how the two spheres are manifested and interrelate in actual societies, and how the appropriate boundary between the two spheres might be determined. As such, this is a course in applied political economic theory. There are various theories of political economy in the social science literature, but perhaps none are exactly suited to our purposes in this course. If not, we’ll need to synthesize it as we go along, but in any case political economic theory may represent something more than just the joining of political and economic theory. The theory will be applied to real-world cases in order to get a more concrete sense of how it works in the presence of inevitable empirical complexities.
One of the difficulties in conducting this course is that the class is relatively large for the intended seminar format. We’ll accommodate this difficulty by sequentially pursuing three modes of class interaction: interactive lectures in Part I, instructor-moderated class discussions in Parts II and III, and student-led presentations and discussions in Part IV. In any case, broad-based student involvement is essential to making the course work, so class participation will be an important part (10%) of the final grade. Attendance and, as past experience has proved, punctuality are important aspects of class participation, prompting the following policies. First, regular attendance is noted and strongly encouraged (given that it’s difficult to participate when you’re not there) but not required. Absences necessitated by medical or other emergencies will of course be completely excused. If you do choose to attend class, however, please show up on time, as late arrivals impair concentration, disrupt the flow of discussion, and create a risk that critical information is missed. Repetitive late arrival will count against the class participation portion of the grade.
The course will proceed as follows. It’s my responsibility to inform you of the material to be covered for each upcoming week, and to indicate the key questions that are likely to be addressed. Please try to have the indicated reading done before it is taken up in class. Course assignments will include, in addition to a series of exercises (counting for 20% of the final grade), a group project and an individual term paper. Research groups will be formed around the end of September and begin working on their respective topics. Group presentations (along with a first draft of the paper) will occur throughout November, and final papers are due on September 9th by 10 PM. The presentation and the final paper each count for 35% of the final grade.
Acemoglu and Robinson, Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
Avinash Dixit, Lawlessness and Economics
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia
John Rawls, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement
Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom
Brian Skyrms, Evolution of the Social Contract
All of these texts are available for purchase at Broad Street Books. Additional readings will be made available by suitable means, e.g. on course reserve at Olin Library or distributed directly to your CSS mailboxes. I reserve the right, with due notice, to add required texts as deemed appropriate for the evolving needs of the course.
such relations take?
Basu 1, 2.1-2.2, 3.1-3.2, 4.5
How might social outcomes be explained and evaluated? In what meaningful
sense might it be asserted that an outcome other than the existing (equilibrium?)
one is not optimal? How are the two notions connected via social norms?
Basu, Chs. 2.3, 4, 7, 9,10; Skyrms Preface, 2-5
C. Public and Private
What makes given social situations public in nature? How does publicness relate
to the phenomenon of social norms, and what does it imply about the nature and
uniqueness of the set of social norms typically categorized as the state?
Basu, Chs. 5-6, 8; Albert Hirschman, Exit, Voice and Loyalty; Rawls, Parts I-III; Kenneth Arrow, Social Choice and Justice, Ch. 8: “Some Ordinalist-Utilitarian Notes on Rawls’s Theory of Justice”
II. Extent of the State (3 weeks)
What might be the nature of anarchic social order? Under what conditions might it be asserted that this order is optimal?
Nozick, Chs. 1-3; Dixit, 1,3, 5; Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons:
The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action; David Haddock, “Force,
Threat, Negotiation: The Private Enforcement of Rights,” in Property Rights:
Cooperation, Conflict and the Law
B. Minimarchy
What is the most stringent conception of a state, and what are the prospects for
attaining social optimum under that form of state?
Nozick, Chs. 4-8; Kenneth Arrow, “Nozick’s Entitlement Theory of Justice”
C. Beyond Minimarchy
On what grounds might a more extensive state be considered just?
Nozick, 9; Sen, 1-5; Gerald Cohen,“Are Freedom & Equality Compatible”
James Scott, Seeing Like a State
III. Form of the State (3 weeks)
A. Public Rules
What does it mean for a state to have a constitution, and how does it matter? Would monarchy be acceptable given an appropriately specified constitution?
Geoffrey Brennan and James Buchanan, The Reason of Rules, Chs. 1-3, 6-7
B. Public Choice
What does it mean for a state to be a democracy, how does democracy work, and how does it matter?
Kenneth Arrow, “A difficulty in the concept of social welfare”; Jon Elster, “The
market and the forum: three varieties of political theory”; Sen, Chs. 6-7
Ian Shapiro, The State of Democratic Theory
C. Between Public Rules and Public Choice
How are rules and public choice integrated in polyarchic systems?
Robert Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics, Pts. 3 and 5
IV. Social Systems (3 weeks)
A. Social and Economic Foundations of Political Development
Acemoglu and Robinson; Rueschemeyer, Stephens and Stephens, Capitalist
Development and Democracy; Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work
B. Political Foundations of Economic Development
Sen 5-9; Streek and Yamamura, eds., The Origins of NonLiberal Capitalism
John Freeman, Democracy and Markets: The Politics of Mixed Economies
William Keech, Economic Politics: The Costs of Democracy; Adam Przeworksi,
Democracy and the Market
C. Relations among Nation States
David Held, Democracy and the Global Order Robert Keohane, After Hegemony:
Cooperation and Discord in the World Political
V. Final Considerations (1 week)