This course analyses the core political institutions of Western democracy as they have evolved over the past 200 years. The European model of the nation-state and capitalist economy became something which other countries around the world were forced to emulate or combat.
Political scientists pose the same questions as do philosophers and historians: the relationship between the individual and society, and the conditions under which efficient and just systems of government emerge. Political scientists range over the same historical evidence as the other disciplines, although they tend to spend less time on dead people than do historians. The difference is mainly in method and approach. Political scientists look for systemic explanations, for structural patterns across many cases. Historians revel in the specificity of individual cases and the uniqueness of history, but political scientists feel uncomfortable when forced to deal with specific cases. While philosophers judge empirical reality against abstract principles, political scientists stick with evidence from the material world.
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to some of the most important ideas and authors on the evolution of the modern state and political movements. Unlike economics, which has a set of very clear and unified theoretical principles, there is no agreement among political scientists about how to analyze these topics. Liberalism is broadly accepted as the only legitimate frame of reference, having fought off the Marxist challenge, but within liberalism there are divergent approaches as to the scope for democracy, the role of the state, the relative merits of stability and change. Mid-range theories, more exactly approaches, come in and out of fashion. This tutorial introduces you to some of the most influential writers in the political science tradition and the box of tools they have used to tackle these problems.
Course organization
Each week there is a principal source that everyone is required to read, and then a list of supplementary readings. At least for some of the weeks, you are expected to read a couple of these additional sources, and use them in preparing your paper. There is no need to coordinate coverage of the supplementary readings among the members of the class, students can follow their own nose in exploring which sources interest them. No individual is expected to read all the supplementary readings, in fact doing so would seriously damage your health.
Unlike other CSS tutors, I would like you to submit your papers to me BEFORE the class – by 10.00 am on Friday. You can put them on my door, or in my CSS box, or you can email them to me. I will then return the papers to you with comments at the beginning of the class.
READINGS
All the books mentioned in the syllabus are on reserve in Olin, and all the suggested articles and book chapters are posted on Blackboard for this course.
Books suggested for purchase:
Bernard Crick Democracy: A Very Short Introduction
Oxford University Press, USA (December 14, 2002) ISBN-10: 019280250X
Samuel Huntington Political Order in Changing Societies
Yale University Press; New Ed edition (January 1, 1968) ISBN- 0300011717
John Markoff
Waves of Democracy: Social Movements and Political Change
Pine Forge Press (February 7, 1996)
ISBN-10: 0803990197
Mancur Olson
The Logic of Collective Action [Harvard UP 1971]
Harvard University Press; Revised edition
(January 1, 1971) ISBN-10: 0674537513
Christopher Pierson &
Francis G. Castles (eds.) The Welfare State Reader
Polity Press; 2 edition (November 1, 2006) ISBN-10: 0745635563
Sidney Tarrow
Power in Movement, Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics
Cambridge University Press; 2 edition
(May 13, 1998) ISBN-10: 0521629470
Charles Tilly
Coercion, Capital and European States
Blackwell Publishing Limited; Reprint edition (March 1, 1993) ISBN-10:
1557863687
Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy
in America (Richard Heffner, ed.)
Signet Classics (September 5, 2001)
ISBN-10: 0451528123
Peter Rutland
Myth of the Plan (Open Court Press, 1985)
This book is out of print. I will provide you with copies that you should return
undamaged at the end of the semester.
1) DEMOCRACY
How can the people rule? What are the basic contours of Aristotle’s model of democracy? Is it still relevant today to study the Athenian polis?
What is the difference according to Constant between ancient and modern liberty?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of democracy, its possibilities and its limitations? Is its goal to empower the people, or to dis-empower them?
Aristotle Politics, Book 4.
Benjamin Constant The Liberty of the Ancients Compared to That of the
Moderns (1816)
Bernard Crick Democracy: A Very Short Introduction
(2002)
Supplementary reading
Fred
Miller ‘Aristotle’s political theory,’ Stanford
Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
Wikipedia.org ‘Human Rights’
Amartya Sen ‘Democracy as a universal value,’
Journal of Democracy,
v. 10, n. 3, July 1999, 3-17
David Held Models of Democracy
(2006)
2) THE MODERN STATE
What do states do? What was the role of the nation-state as it emerged in early modern Europe?
What is the rule of law, and why did it emerge?
Max Weber Politics as a Vocation (1919) extracts on Blackboard
Charles Tilly Coercion, Capital and European States (1993)
Wikipedia.org ‘State,’ ‘Nation state’
Sharon Lloyd ‘Hobbes’ moral and political theory,’ Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Supplementary reading
Anthony Smith ‘State making and nation-building,’ from John Hall (ed.) States in History (1986)
Michael Mann ‘The autonomous power of the state,’ in John B. Hall (ed.),
States in History (1987) 109-36
Gianfranco Poggi The Development of the Modern State (1978)
Martin Van Creveld The Rise and Decline of the State
(1999)
Anthony de Jasay The State (1985)
Barry Weingast ‘The political foundations of democracy
and the rule of law,’
American Political Science Review, v. 91, n. 2, Jun 1997, 245-63
Bertrand Badie & Pierre Birnbaum The Sociology of the
State (1983)
3) AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
What particular conditions made America suitable for modern democracy?
What did Tocqueville get
right, and what did he get wrong, in his analysis of America?
Can American democracy serve as a model for the rest of the world?
Alexis de
Tocqueville Democracy in America Vol. 1 (1835) Use the abridged
edition edited by Richard
Heffner, Signet Books 2001.
Daniel Elazar ‘To secure the blessings of liberty,’
(1987)
James Madison The Federalist Papers nos. 8, 10
(1787)
Seymour M. Lipset ‘Still the exceptional nation?,’ Hoover
Digest, 2000, no. 2.
The Economist ‘From sea to shining sea,’ 6
November 2003.
Supplementary reading
Robert
Putnam ‘Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital,’
Journal of Democracy,
January 1995, vol. 6, no. 1
[special issue] ‘Tocqueville reconsidered,’ Journal
of Democracy, v. 11, n. 1,
Jan 2000
Seymour Lipset American Exceptionalism (1997)
Ian Tyrrell ‘American exceptionalism in an age
of international history,’
American Historical Review,
n. 96, Oct. 1991, 1031-55
4) PLURALISM
What are the key principles underlying the operation of modern representative democracies? Dahl’s classic formulation offers a binary definition: electoral competition plus individual rights.
For some radical or communitarian democrats, Dahl’s approach is too minimalist. For the rest of us, we wonder whether it is realistic to believe that any country in the world can become a pluralist democracy.
Do ethnic divisions or social inequality prevent pluralist democracy from working in many (most) countries of the world? Is secularism a necessary prerequisite for pluralism?
Robert A.
Dahl Polyarchy (1971)
Fareed Zakaria ‘The rise of illiberal democracy,’
Foreign Affairs, Nov 1997,
v. 76, n. 6
Supplementary reading
Larry Diamond ‘What went wrong in Iraq,’ Foreign Affairs, v. 83, n. 5 Sep 2004
Fareed Zakaria The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and
Abroad (1994)
Adrian Karatnycky ‘Moslem countries and the democracy gap,’ Journal of
Democracy, v. 13, n. 1, Jan 2002
5) THE DEEPENING OF DEMOCRACY
The evolution of electoral
democracy. Strong labor movements produced a different trajectory for liberal
democracy in Europe than in the US. After some false starts (eg. nationalism and
fascism) the spread of the franchise led to the emergence of a social democratic
model in Europe.
Pateman analyses how and why was the right to vote was extended to women.
Downs explains why two-party electoral systems tend to converge on the median
voter.
John Markoff Waves
of Democracy: Social Movements and Political Change (96)
Dietrich Rueschemeyer Capitalist Development and
Democracy (1992), chs. 2-4
Caroline Pateman ‘Three questions about womanhood
suffrage,’ from Caroline
Daley & Melanie Nolan (eds.),
Suffrage and Beyond (1995) Anthony Downs An Economic
Theory of Democracy (1958) ch. 8
Supplementary reading
Martin Shefter
Political Parties and the State: The American Historical
Experience (1994) chs. 1-2
Alexander Keyssar The Right to Vote: The Contested History
of Democracy in the
US (2001)
6) THE WELFARE STATE
What is the welfare state, in its various forms, and how did it change the nature of citizenship? What are the forces internal and external that threaten the viability of the welfare state?
Christopher Pierson The
Welfare State Reader (2006)
& Francis G. Castles (eds.) Chapters by: Briggs, Marshall,
Titmuss, Korpi, Hayek,
Pateman, Esping-Andersen,
Grahl and Teague, Gough,
Pierson, Clayton and
Pontusson, Giddens
Giulio Gallarotti ‘The advent of the prosperous society: The
rise of the guardian state,’
Review of International Political
Economy, v. 7, n. 1 (Feb 2000)
7) THE CHALLENGE OF MODERNIZATION
The evolution of a modern
democratic states and capitalist economies forced other societies outside Europe
to respond, in a process that came to be known as “modernization.”
How does Huntington explain modernization, and the capacity of non-democratic
political systems to respond to this challenge? Is ‘stability’ more important
than democracy or liberty?
Samuel P.
Huntington Political Order in Changing Societies (1968)
(Gale Group) Development
Doctrine and Modernization Theory (2001)
Supplementary reading
Theda Skocpol
States and Social Revolutions (1979)
Clive Thomas The Rise of the Authoritarian State in
Peripheral Societies (1984)
John Higley & G. Lowell Field Elitism (1980) ch.
1
8) THE COMMUNIST ALTERNATIVE
For most of the 20th century, the most successful alternative to capitalist modernization was the Soviet model. What were the strengths and weaknesses of Soviet central planning? What pathologies of bureaucratic behavior can we learn from the Soviet experience? In 1989-91 state socialism collapsed in the Soviet Union and East Europe, but elements live on in China, Vietnam and North Korea, and in big bureaucracies everywhere.
Peter Rutland The Myth of the Plan. Lessons of Soviet Planning (1985)
Supplementary reading
Robert
Service Comrades! A History of World Communism (2007)
Stephen Kotkin Armageddon Averted: The Soviet
Collapse (2001)
James Scott Seeing Like a State (1998), ch.
6.
Vladimir Kontorovich The Destruction of the Soviet Economic
System (1998)
& Michael Ellman
9) COLLECTIVE ACTION
What is the collective action dilemma? How can groups overcome the “free rider” problem?
What drives the formation and evolution, the success or failure, of social movements?
Mancur
Olson The Logic of Collective Action (1971) esp. chs. 1, 2
Garret Hardin ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ (1968)
Russell Hardin ‘The
free rider problem,’ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sidney Tarrow Power in Movement, Social Movements,
Collective Action and
Politics (1998)
Supplementary reading
Charles Tilly
‘Models and realities of popular collective action,’ Social
Research, n. 52, 1985
Herbert Kitschelt ‘Political opportunity structures and
political protest: Anti-
nuclear movements in
four democracies,’ British Journal of
Political Science, v. 16,
n. 1 (1986), 57-85
Timur Kuran ‘Now out of never. The element of
surprise in the East European
revolution of 1989,’ World Politics, v. 44, n. 1,
Oct. 1991, 7-48
Doug Mcadam et al (eds.) Comparative Perspectives on Social
Movements (1996)
RESERVE READINGS
Aristotle The Politics
Bertrand Badie The Sociology of the State (1983)
& Pierre Birnbaum
Bernard Crick Democracy: A Very Short Introduction
(2002)
Robert A. Dahl On
Democracy (2000)
Robert A. Dahl Democracy and its Critics (1989)
Caroline Daley & Melanie Nolan (eds) Suffrage and Beyond (1995)
Anthony Downs An Economic Theory of Democracy
(1958)
Anthony de Jasay The State (1985)
John Hall (ed.) States in History (1986)
David Held Models of Democracy (1996)
John Higley & G. Lowell Field Elitism (1980)
Samuel Huntington Political Order in Changing Societies (1971)
Alexander Keyssar The Right to Vote: The Contested History of
Democracy in the US
(2001)
Vladimir Kontorovich & Michael Ellman The
Destruction of the Soviet Economic System (1998) Stephen Kotkin
Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse (2001)
Seymour M. Lipset American Exceptionalism (1997)
Michael Mann Sources of Social Power Volume 1 (1985)
John Markoff Waves of Democracy: Social Movements and
Political Change (1996)
Doug Mcadam et al (eds.) Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements
(1996)
Mancur Olson The Logic of Collective Action (1971)
Marina Ottaway Democracy Challenged. The Rise of
Semi-Authoritarianism (2003)
Christopher Pierson The Welfare State Reader (2006)
& Francis G. Castles (eds.)
Gianfranco Poggi The Development of the Modern State (1978)
Dietrich Rueschemeyer Capitalist Development and Democracy
(1992) James Scott
Seeing Like a State (1998)
Robert Service Comrades! A History of World Communism (2007)
Theda Skocpol States and Social Revolutions
(1979)
Martin Shefter Political Parties and the State: The American
Historical Experience (1994)
Sidney Tarrow Power in Movement, Social Movements, Collective
Action and Politics
(1998)
Clive Thomas Rise of the Authoritarian State in Peripheral
Societies (1984)
Charles Tilly Coercion, Capital and European States
(1993)
Martin Van Creveld The Rise and Decline of the State (1999)
Max Weber Economy and Society (1978)
Fareed Zakaria The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at
Home and Abroad (2004)