1

Comparative Politics: Principles

Syllabus
Mgr. Matus Halas, Ph.D.
Institute of European Studies and International Relations
matus.halas@fses.uniba.sk
Classification:
Continuous assessment (100%) A: 100 91% Course type: compulsory
Participation: 10 pts B: 90 81% Code: 1-UES-110
Memos: 20 pts C: 80 73% Semester: Winter, 6 credits
Presentation: 20 pts D: 72 66% Where: B 120
Tests: 2 x 25 pts E: 65 60% When: 14:30 - 17:45 (Wed)
Literature: all books and articles listed either as a required, seminar, or supplementary
reading will be available in electronic form. Texts are mostly in English.
Course overview: The goal of this course is to offer an overview of the most important
factors analyzed by the comparative politics. Attention will be paid both to institutional
character of political regimes as well as to socio-economic development with emphasis
on consequences of the process of changing political order. Lectures and seminars will
enable to understand and interpret development of political systems and to compare their
specific features and functioning. Knowledge acquired during this semester will make it
easier for students to participate in the subsequent courses on comparative politics
dealing with specific regions of the world.
Grading system: Students are supposed to submit memos from all seminar readings.
Four memos per student will be randomly selected and graded based on quality (at most 5
points each). Total points for the memos will be reduced by one point for every missing
memo. Group presentation deals with one country, while individual group members
present given country from the perspective of specific course sessions (modernization,
models of democracy, party and voting system, separation of powers etc.). In both tests
students can get 25 points. The mid-term test will be held at the seventh session and the
final test is scheduled on the twelfth (last) session or during the examination period.
Missing of more than two sessions will be penalized
1
st
week (9/19): Intro: course overview, structure of individual sessions, setting the
classification requirements, tasks assignment, personal introduction.
2
nd
week (9/26): Methodology: single and comparative case study, role of theory, small
N and generalization, deviant case, least- and most-probable case, method of agreement,
method of difference, pros and cons of comparative case study, debate on directions.
Required Reading:
Drulk, Petr et al. (2008): Jak zkoumat politiku. Praha: Portl, pp. 29-91.
Seminar:
Bennett, Andrew & Elman, Colin (2007): Case Study Methods in the International
Relations Subfield. Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 170-195.
2
Additional Sources:
Lijphart, Arend (1971): Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method. American
Political Science Review, Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 682-693.
Lijphart, Arend (1975): The Comparable-Cases Strategy in Comparative Research.
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 158-177.
Gerring, John (2004): What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good For? American Political
Science Review, Vol. 98, No. 2, pp. 341-354.
Mahoney, James (2007): Qualitative Methodology and Comparative Politics.
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 122-44.
Levi, Margaret (2000): The Economic Turn in Comparative Politics. Comparative
Political Studies, Vol. 33, No. 6/7, pp. 822-844.
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 40 (2007), No. 1, pp. 5-47 (articles by Munck &
Snyder; Mahoney; Wibbels; and Munck & Snyder reply).
3
rd
week (10/3): Modernization, state, and the political regime: macro-causal analysis,
totalitarianism, dictatorship, socio-economic factors, revolutions, selection bias.
Required Reading:
Hagopian, Frances (2000): Political Development, Revisited. Comparative Political
Studies, Vol. 33, No. 6/7, pp. 880-911.
Seminar:
Moore, Barrington (1966): Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Boston:
Beacon Press, pp. 413-432.
Additional Sources:
Gandhi, Jennifer & Przeworski, Adam (2007): Authoritarian Institutions and the Survival
of Autocrats. Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 40, No. 11, pp. 1279-1301.
Skocpol, Theda (1979): States and Social Revolutions. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 3-46 & 161-173.
Geddes, Barbara (1990): How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get:
Selection Bias in Comparative Politics. Political Analysis, Vol. 2, pp. 131-150.
Lipset, Seymour Martin (1959): Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. Garden City:
Doubleday & Company, pp. 97-176.
Linz, Juan (2000): Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
4
th
week (10/10): Models of democracy: Westminster, consensual, illiberal, direct,
classical, cosmopolitan, and vertical democracy, polyarchy, definition, liberalism.
Required Reading:
Terry, Karl & Schmitter, Philippe C. (1991): What Democracy Is ... and Is Not. Journal
of Democracy, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 75-86.
Seminar:
Lijphart, Arend (1999): Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in
Thirty-Six Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 9-47.
Additional Sources:
Archibugi, Daniele (2004): Cosmopolitan Democracy and its Critics: A Review.
European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 437-473.
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Sartori, Giovanni (1993): Teria demokracie. Bratislava: Archa, pp. 132-182 & 369-399.
Dahl, Robert A. (2001): O Demokracii: prvodce pro obany. Praha: Portl, pp. 79-93.
Zakaria, Fareed (2004): Budoucnost Svobody. Praha: Academia, pp. 109-146.
5
th
week (10/17): Democratization and regime transformation: third wave, political
conflict, power and distribution of resources, value change, industrialization.
Required Reading:
Geddes, Barbara (1999): What Do We Know about Democratization after Twenty Years?
Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 2, pp. 115-144.
Seminar:
Rustow, Dankwart A. (1970): Transitions to Democracy: Towards a Dynamic Model.
Comparative Politics, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 337-366.
Additional Sources:
Acemoglu, Daron & Robinson, James A. (2006): Economic Origins of Dictatorship and
Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 15-46.
Huntington, Samuel (1991-92): How Countries Democratize. Political Science Quarterly,
Vol. 106, No. 4, pp. 579-616.
Inglehart, Ronald & Welzel, Christian (2009): How Development Leads to Democracy.
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 2, pp. 33-48.
Bunce, Valerie (2000): Comparative Democratization: Big and Bounded Generalizations.
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 33, No. 6/7, pp. 703-34.
6
th
week (10/31): Political parties: catch-all, cartel, caucus, and mass parties, cleavages
and four revolutions, iron law of oligarchy, what is party and what is its goal?
Required Reading:
Katz, Richard S. & Mair, Peter (1995): Changing Models of Party Organization and Party
Democracy: Emergence of the Cartel Party. Party Politics, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 5-28.
Seminar:
Lipset, Seymour M. & Rokkan, Stein (1967): Cleavage Structures, Party Systems and
Voter Alignments: An Introduction. IN: Lipset, Seymour M. & Rokkan, Stein (eds.):
Party Systems and Voter Alignments. New York: The Free Press, pp. 1-27.
Additional Sources:
Schlesinger, Joseph A. (1984): On the Theory of Party Organization. Journal of Politics,
Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 369-400.
Michels, Robert (1999 [1962]): Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the
Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. New Brunswick: Transaction
Publishers, pp. 333-357.

7
th
week (11/7): Voting and party systems: Duvergers law, plurality, proportional,
polarization, coalition and blackmail potential, relevant parties, test.
Required Reading:
Norris, Pippa (2004): Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-65.
4
Seminar:
Sartori, Giovanni (1990): A Typology of Party Systems. IN: Mair, Peter (ed.). The West
European Party System. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 316-349.
Additional Sources:
Riker, William (1982): The Two Party System and Duvergers Law: An Essay on the
History of Political Science. American Political Science Review, 76 (4), pp. 753-66.
Farrell, David M. (2001): Electoral systems: a comparative introduction. Houndmills:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Lijphart, Arend (1994): Electoral Systems and Party Systems: A study of 27 Democracies
1945-1990. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
8
th
week (11/14): Political participation: political behavior, micro-level analysis,
principle-agent, links between voter and politicians, election turnout, civil society
Required Reading:
Dalton, Russell J. (2000): Citizen Attitudes and Political Behavior. Comparative Political
Studies, Vol. 33, No. 6/7, pp. 912-940.
Seminar:
Lijphart, Arend (1997): Unequal Participation: Democracys Unresolved Dilemma.
American Political Science Review, Vol. 91, No. 1, pp. 1-14.
Additional Sources:
Kitschelt, Herbert (2000): Linkages between Citizens and Politicians in Democratic
Polities. Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 33, No. 6/7, pp. 845-879.
Aldrich, John (1993): Rational Choice and Turnout. American Journal of Political
Science, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 246-78.
9
th
week (11/28): Political culture and political socialization: language, practices, and
symbols, defining culture, changing patterns of behavior, social capital, class
Required Reading:
Wedeen, Lisa (2002): Conceptualizing Culture: Possibilities for Political Science.
American Political Science Review, Vol. 96, No. 4, pp. 71328.
Seminar:
Putnam, Robert D. (1995): Bowling Alone: Americas Declining Social Capital. Journal
of Democracy, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 65-78.
Additional Sources:
Elkins, David J. & Simeon, Richard (1979): A Cause in Search of Its Effect, or What
Does Political Culture Explain? Comparative Politics, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 127-146.
Inglehart, Ronald (1988): The Renaissance of Political Culture. American Political
Science Review, Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 1203-1230.
Swidler, Ann (1986): Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies. American Sociological
Review, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 273-286.
10
th
week (12/5): Horizontal separation of powers: executive, legislature, judiciary,
parliamentarism, presidentialism, factors influencing political stability & survival
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Required Reading:
Cheibub, Jose Antonio (2006): Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, and Democracy.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-14 & 33-44.
Seminar:
Cheibub, Jose A. & Limongi, Fernando (2002): Democratic Institutions and Regime
Survival: Parliamentary and Presidential Democracies Reconsidered. Annual
Review of Political Science, Vol. 5, pp. 151-79.
Additional Sources:
Huber, John D. (1996): The Vote of Confidence in Parliamentary Democracies. American
Political Science Review, Vol. 90, No. 2, pp. 269-282.
Lijphart, Arend (ed.): Parliamentary versus Presidential Government. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, Introduction and Chapters 1, 2, 6-8, 14, 29-32.
Stepan, Alfred & Skach, Cindy (1993): Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic
Consolidation: Parliamentarianism versus Presidentialism. World Politics, Vol. 46,
No. 1, pp. 1-22.
11
th
week (12/12): Vertical separation of powers: centralization, private and public
sector, subsidiarity, subnational and supranational level, federal and unitary states, test.
Required Reading:
Norris, Pippa (2009): Driving Democracy: Do Power-Sharing Institutions Work?
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 157-185.
Seminar:
De Vries, Michiel S. (2000): The rise and fall of decentralization: A comparative analysis
of arguments and practices in European Countries. European Journal of Political
Research, Vol. 38, pp. 193224.
Additional Sources:
Burgess, Michael (2006): Comparative Federalism: Theory and Practice. London:
Routledge, pp. 135-161 & 209-225.
Rodden, Jonathan (2004): Comparative Federalism and Decentralization. Comparative
Politics, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 481-500.