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Political Science 2: Introduction to Comparative Politics

Class Time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8:00 to 9:50
Room: Kleiber 3

Professor: Jo Andrews
Office: Rm. 681, Kerr Hall
Office Hours: TBA
Email: jtandrews@ucdavis.edu

Course Description

In this course we will compare and contrast the political institutions of several countries.
Our focus will be on how these institutions have changed or are changing over time. In
particular, we will try and understand how countries make a successful transition from an
authoritarian political system to a democratic one, a process that is underway in tens of countries
all over the world.

Course Requirements

You are required to attend lectures and the weekly meetings of your discussion section.
There will be two midterm exams, which will cover material from the lectures and from
the readings, and a final exam. The first midterm, April 21, will quiz you on your understanding
of the details of institutional design, material covered in the first third of the course. The second
midterm, May 19, will quiz you on your understanding of democratization as it occurred in the
post-communist cases. The final exam, June 9, will be cumulative, with questions on all material
covered in the course.
In addition, you will be required to write one paper. The paper is to be 5 pages in length
and will require some additional research including materials from contemporary news sources
as well as academic publications. The purpose of the paper assignment is to help students learn
the skills necessary to write effective political science essays. The paper topic will be tied
directly to the course materials, including lectures. We will discuss the paper topic in class.
Your section leaders will provide you with short, graded assignments to help you write a strong
paper. The paper will be due in your regularly scheduled section during Week 9.
Finally: I will give weekly pop quizzes on lecture and reading material. These will
start in Week 2 and continue through Week 10. Your quiz grade is based on your best 8 quizzes.

Reading Assignments

The readings are taken from two sources. The first source, the basic online textbook, is
called Introduction to Comparative Politics. This text is available from Kendall-Hunt and
includes six chapters in addition to lecture outlines, which track closely with the PowerPoint
slides I show in class. The Course Schedule appears at the beginning of the online text materials
and provides you with links to the outline slides tied to each lecture. You can purchase this
online text directly from Kendall Hunt: Go to www.grtep.com. From there select, First time
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user (without access code), and click to purchase. You should then access a site where you
enter institution and class and then purchase the online text.

I have also assigned a second source, an e-book. This e-book is published by McGraw-Hill and
is called Comparative Politics (sorry for the confusing similarity in titles). The e-book includes
five country case chapters, covering Britain, France, Russia, Poland and China. The e-book may
be purchased directly from McGraw Hill (or you can purchase an access code from the
Bookstore, although the cost is cheaper if you purchase directly from the publisher). To
purchase the book from McGraw-Hill, follow these steps:

1. Go to http://create.mcgraw-hill.com/shop/
2. Search for and select book by Title, ISBN, Author, or State/School.

ISBN: 9781308070650
Title: Comparative Politics

3. Add the book to your cart and pay using a credit card or access code.

NOTE: I refer to each assigned chapter by the chapter title. In addition, I will note whether it
appears in the online textbook or in the e-book of country cases.

Course Grading

Course grades will be calculated in the following manner.

Participation in section 10%
Midterm 1 15%
Midterm 2 15%
Quizzes (best 8) 10%
Paper 20%
Final Exam. 30%

A few final points

Make-up midterms will be given ONLY in cases of illness or family emergency, and you
MUST inform the professor or your section leader BEFORE the midterm is given. Furthermore,
you must provide proof of illness. Absolutely NO make-up midterms will be given if the student
fails to contact either the professor or section leader BEFORE the midterm. If this happens to
you, please drop the course. NOTE: Under NO circumstances may you email the professor or
your section leader the morning of the midterm and expect a makeup. You will get a zero for
that midterm absolutely NO exceptions. Also, if you claim a family emergency, you must
provide written PROOF of that emergency. NO EXCEPTIONS.
ABSOLUTELY NO MAKEUP FINAL EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN. Under no
circumstances will final exams be given early to accommodate personal travel plans.
All papers are due in section in Week 9. Late papers WILL be graded down.

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Course Schedule

Week 1. March 31 to April 2

Topics:
(1) Introduction
Slides: Chapter 1, 1.1
(2) Checks and Balances in Presidential and Parliamentary Systems
Slides: Chapter 1, 1.2

NO CLASS ON FRIDAY, APRIL 4

Reading: Chapter 1 Institutional Foundations of Democracy in online text

Week 2. April 7 to April 11

Topics
(1) British parliamentary system
Slides: Chapter 1, 1.2
(2) Importance of electoral systems
Slides: Chapter 2
(3) Electoral systems details
Slides: Chapter 2

Reading: Chapter 2 Electoral Systems in online text and Chapter Britain: Modern
Politics in a Very Old State in e-book of country cases.

Week 3. April 14 to April 18

Topics:
(1) Lessons from French history: The multi-party parliamentary system
Slides: Chapter 3, 3.1
(2) Modern French political institutions: The mixed presidential-
parliamentary system.
Slides: Chapter 3, 3.2
(3) Summary: Institutional solutions to Support Successful Democracy

Reading: Chapter 3 A Third Governmental Model the Semi-Presidential System in
online text and Chapter Politics in France: Participation versus Control in e-
book of country cases

Week 4. April 21 to April 25

Topics:
(1) Midterm
(2) Post-communist transitions: Collapse of communism
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Slides: Chapter 4
(3) The Soviet Union: The old system and the old institutions
Slides: Russia Lecture 1

Midterm on April 21

Reading: Chapter 4 Post-Communist Transitions in online text

Week 5. April 28 to May 2

Topics:
(1) Political institutions in todays Russia
Slides: Russia Lecture 2
(2) Russia: Democracy in crisis under Yeltsin
Slides: Russia Lecture 3
(3) Russia: End of democratization under Putin
Slides: Russia Lecture 4

Reading: Chapter Russia: Democratization Gone Awry in e-book of country cases

Week 6. May 5 to May 9

Topics:
(1) Democratization in Poland
Slides: Poland Lecture 1
(2) New political institutions in Poland
Slides: Poland Lecture 2
(3) Role of the European Union Post-communist Eastern Europe
Slides: EU Lecture 1

Reading: Chapter 5 Institutional Choice and Successful Democratization in online text

Week 7. May 12 to May 16

Topics: (1) Polands strong democracy today
Slides: Poland Lecture 3
(2) Institutional choices and democratic outcomes in Hungary
Slides: Hungary Lecture 1
(3) Comparison of institutional choices in post-communist countries
Slides: Chapter 5

Reading: Chapter Poland: A Young Democracy in e-book of country cases




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Week 8. May 19 to May 23

Topics: (1) Midterm
(2) Modernization: Is there a relationship between economic development
and democratization?
Slides: Chapter 6
(3) Democratization in South Korea and Taiwan: Empirical evidence for a
relationship between economic growth and democratization?
Slides: Modernization in Asia Lecture 1

Midterm on May 19: Transitions to Democracy

Reading: Chapter 6 Modernization in online text

Week 9. May 28 to May 30 (Monday is a holiday)

Topics: (1) China: Communist system in transition
Slides: Modernization in Asia Lecture 2
(2) Implications of economic growth in China.
Slides: China Lecture 1

Reading: Chapter China: From State Socialist to Capitalist Iconoclast in e-book of
country cases

Week 10. June 2 to June 4

Topics: (1) Political change in China?
Slides: China Lecture 2
(2) China in the world today.
Slides: China Lecture 3

FINAL EXAM. Monday, June 9, 6:00 pm.