Political Science 776
Comparative Political Institutions
Autumn 1999
Richard Gunther
2058 Derby Hall
292-6266
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:30-1:30 and by appointment
This course is an exploration of governmental institutions and their historical origins. It is organized chronologically, following the evolution of the modern state. This survey begins with an exploration of simple or stateless societies and the emergence of ancient states and empires, feudalism, the development of the "absolutist" state, and the emergence of the "nation-state" as a dominant model. The second segment of the course will consist of a comparative study of the key institutions (legislative, executive, judicial and bureaucratic) of the modern state. This analysis will be set within three different contexts: one defined by the type of political regime (democratic, authoritaritarian, totalitarian, post-totalitarian or Sultanistic) within which state institutions function; the second differentiating among different kinds of democratic system (presidential, parliamentary and semi-presidential); and the third deriving from the degree of fragmentation of party systems in democratic regimes (which will entail a brief overview of various electoral systems). This analysis will seek to explore the trade-offs among the multiple (and often mutually incompatible) goals of democratic government, such as effectiveness, responsiveness, representativeness and stability. The course will conclude with a survey of supra-state institutions best typified by those of the European Union.
The course will consist of both lectures and extensive class discussions of the assigned readings. The final grade will be determined by two short papers (each worth 30% of the course grade), a final exam (30%), and participation in class discussions (10%).
All required readings have been placed on closed reserve in the main library, except for articles published in the American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, World Politics, Journal of Democracy and International Organization, which may be found in the open stacks of the Graduate History Library (2nd floor of the Main Library). In addition, a Cop-Ez packet of photocopies of most of the readings for the course can be purchased at the Cop-Ez office in the new Tuttle parking facility, 2055 Millikan Way, next to the Univrsity Bookstore.
Topics and Required Readings
1. Introduction: The New Institutionalism and the "Return" of the State
James March and Johan Olsen, "The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life," American Political Science Review (APSR), 82, #3, Sept. 1984, pp. 853-874.
Stephen Krasner, "Approaches to the State," Comparative Politics, 16, #2, January 1984, pp. 223-245.
Gabriel Almond, "The Return to the State," and Nordlinger, Lowi and Fabbrini, "The Return to the State: Critiques," APSR, 82, #3, Sept. 1988, pp. 853-901.
Kathleen Thelen and Sven Steinmo, "Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics," in Sven Steinmo, Kathleen Thelen and Frank Longstreth, eds., Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp. 1-32. (NP-- Not in Cop-Ez Packet).
2. Stateless Societies and the Evolution of Pristine States
Lucy Mair, Primitive Government, Part I (chapters 1-4) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977), pp. 33-104. (NP)
3. The Emergence of the Modern State
Reinhard Bendix, Nation-Building and Citizenship (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965), pp. 33-70. (NP)
Reinhard Bendix, Kings or People (Berkeley: California, 1978), pp. 3-13 only.
Charles Tilly, "Western State-Making and Theories of Political Transformation," in Tilly, ed., The Formation of National States in Western Europe (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975) (NP)
4. State-Building in the 20th Century
Karl Deutsch, "Social Mobilization and Political Development," APSR, 55, #3, September, 1961, pp. 493-511.
Rupert Emerson, "Nation-Building in Africa," in Karl Deutsch and William J. Foltz, Nation-Building (New York: Atherton Press, 1963). (NP)
Clifford Geertz, "The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civic Politics in the New States, in Claude Welch, ed., Political Modernization (Belmont, CA: Duxbury Press, 1971).
Samuel Huntington, "Political Development and Political Decay," World Politics, 17, #3, 1965, pp. 386-430 (NP).
Lisa Anderson, "The State in the Middle East and North Africa," Comparative Politics, 20, #1, October 1987, pp. 1-18.
5. Regime Types: Democratic, Totalitarian and Authoritarian
Juan Linz, "Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes," in Fred Greenstein and Nelson Polsby, eds., Handbook of Political Science (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975), vol, 3, pp. 175-357. (Do not become bogged down in the details of this piece.)
Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski, "The General Characteristics of Totalitarian Dictatorship," in Friedrich and Brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), pp. 15-27 (NP).
Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, "What Democracy is... and is Not," Journal of Democracy, 2, #3, 1991 (NP).
C. B. MacPherson, "Non-Liberal Democracy: The Communist Variant," and"Non-Liberal Democracy: The Underdeveloped Variant," from The Real World of Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972), pp. 12-34.
The Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1977)
Richard Gunther, "The Franquist Regime," in Gunther, Public Policy in a No-Party State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), 1-45.
6. Legislatures and Executives
John Clarke Adams, "Parliaments as Legislatures in Liberal Democracies," in The Quest for Democratic Law: The Role of Parliament in the Legislative Process (New York: Thomas Crowell, 1970), pp. 94-166 (NP).
Gerhard Loewenberg and Samuel Patterson, "Functions of Legislatures," in Comparing Legislatures (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), pp. 43-67.
Anthony King, "Executives," in Greenstein and Polsby, Handbook, vol. 5, pp. 173-245.
Anthony King, "Modes of Executive-Legislative Relations," in Philip Norton, Legislatures (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 208-236.
Maurice Duverger, "A New Political System Model: Semi-Presidential Government," European Journal of Political Research, 8, #2, 1980, pp. 165-87.
Arend Lijphart, "The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws," APSR, 84, #2, June 1990, pp. 481-495.
Richard Gunther, "Electoral Laws, Party Systems and Elites," APSR, 83, #3, Sept. 1989, pp. 835-858. (NP)
Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems: Writing assignment
First, read Juan J. Linz, "Presidential or Parliamentary Democracy: Does It Make a Difference?" in Juan J. Linz and Arturo Valenzuela, eds., The Failure of Presidential Democracy, vol. 1, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1994), pp. 3-87. (NP). Then read at least five articles or book chapters from the following list (which may be found either on Closed Reserve in the Main Library or on open shelves in the Graduate History Reading Room in the Main Library):
R. Kent Weaver and Bert A. Rockman, eds., Do Institutions Matter? Government Capabilities in the United States and Abroad (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1993).
Kurt von Mettenheim, ed., Presidential Institutions and Democratic Politics: Comparing Regional and National Contexts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1997).
Linz and Valenzuela, eds., The Failure of Presidential Democracy.
Metin Heper, Ali Kazancigil and Bert A. Rockman, eds., Institutions and Democratic Statecraft (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997).
Timothy J. Power and Mark J. Gasiorowski, "Institutional Design and Democratic Consolidation in the Third World," CPS, 30, #2, April 1997, pp.
Matthew Sobert Shugart and John M. Carey, Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
Arend Lijphart, "Constitutional Choices for New Democracies," Journal of Democracy, 2, 1991, pp. 72-84.
Donald Horowitz, "Comparing Democratic Systems," Journal of Democracy, 1, #4, pp. 73-79.
Scott Mainwaring, "Presidentialism, Multipartism and Democracy: The Difficult Combination," CPS, 26, 1993, pp. 198-228.
Alfred Stepan and Cindy Skach, "Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Parliamentarism and Presidentialism," World Politics, 46, #1, 1-22.
George Tsebelis, "Decision making in Political Systems: Veto Players in Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, Multicameralism and Multipartyism," British Journal of Political Science, 25, 289-325.
Richard Gunther, "The Relative Merits (and Weaknesses) of Presidential, Parliamentary and Semi-Presidential Systems: The Background to Constitutional Reform," Journal of Social Sciences and Philosophy (Taipei), 11, March, 1999, pp. 61-91.
Option 1: Write a ten-page essay assessing the comparative strengths or weaknesses of presidential, parliamentary or semi-presidential forms of democratic government regarding conflict management, representativeness, responsiveness, policy-making effectiveness (capacity for innovation, coherence, and ability to impose "losses" when necessary), and/or protection of the interests of vulnerable minorities. Then be prepared to defend your arguments in class discussion.
Option 2: Write a ten-page essay addressing the methodological underpinnings of this debate. Why do these studies reach such conflicting conclusions? Is it because (as Tsebelis, reducing his analysis to one single dimension, argues), such traditional institutional variables as parliamentary vs. presidential, two-party vs. multiparty, etc., have no explanatory power? Or is it (as Weaver and Rockman, and Gunther argue) because single-dimensional analysis is, itself, fundamentally flawed, with the real causal impact of these institutional structures deriving from interaction effects involving several different institutional dimensions democratic systems.
7. Executives and Bureaucracies
Max Weber, "Bureaucracy," in Gerth and Mills, eds., From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), pp. 196-244 (NP).
Michel Crozier, The Bureaucratic Phenomenon (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), chapters 6, 7 and 11, pp. 145-208 and 294-314. (NP)
Mark Nadel and Francis Rourke, "Bureaucracies," in Greenstein and Polsby, Handbook, vol. 5, pp. 373-429.
8. Judiciaries
Martin Shapiro, "Courts," in Greenstein and Polsby, Handbook, vol. 5, pp. 321-365.
Martin Shapiro and Alec Stone, "The New Constitutional Politics of Europe," in CPS, 26, #4, January 1994, pp. 397-421. (NP)
Donald P. Kommers, "The Federal Constitutional Court in the German Political System," CPS, 26, #4, January 1994, pp. 470-489. (NP)
Torbjörn Vallinder, "The Judicialization of Politics--A World-wide Phenomenon," International Political Science Review, 15, #2, April 1994, pp. 91-100. (Country case-studies in this same volume are optional.)
9. Supra-state Governmental Institutions: The European Union.
Richard Gunther, "The Political Institutions of the European Community," in Steven L. Miller, ed., European Unification (Washington, D.C.: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, 1995), pp. 55-68.
Mattei Dogan, "The Decline of Nationalisms within Western Europe," Comparative Politics, 26, #3, April 1994, pp. 281-306.
Wayne Sandholtz, "Choosing Union: Monetary Politics and Maastricht," International Organization, 47, #1, Winter 1993, pp. 1-39. (NP)
Gary Marks, "Structural Policy and Multilevel Governance in the EC," in Alan W. Cafruny and Glenda G. Rosenthal, eds., The State of the European Community (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner, 1993), pp. 391-410. (NP)