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Politics Department
Comparative Democratization (POLI 062)
Spring Semester 2014
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:15-2:30pm in Carnegie 12
Course Syllabus

Left imageIn January 2014,hundreds of thousands of anti-government protestors rally in Bangkok in
support of toppling the government, cancelling planned elections, and installing a peoples council to
carry our reforms in the country; Right imagein January 2014, Bangladeshi opposition party activists
beat a ruling Awami League party activist during a clash near a polling station in Rajshahi, northwest of
Dhaka.

Instructor: Professor Mietek Boduszyski
Email: mietek_boduszynski@pomona.edu
Office: Carnegie 18
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30am-11am

I. Overview:

Over the past four decades democracy has expanded across the globe. As recently as
1978, only 49 of the worlds then 158 states (31 percent) were democracies; by 2012, 117
of 195 countries (60 percent) were democracies to some degree. Recently, however, the
trend has slowed. According to Freedom Houses annual Freedom in the World survey,
the last seven years (20062012) were notable for democratic setbacks rather than
democratic gains. Nevertheless, democracy has become a global norm, such that even
autocrats feel they must hold elections, no matter how flawed, to legitimize their rule for
domestic and external audiences. Democratic activists around the world risk long jail
sentences, and even their lives, in a struggle for more accountable government.

This course is about how democracy works, how democracies vary, and how democracy
emerges and develops. Questions to be addressed include: Is democracy a universal
value? Is some democracy, no matter how flawed, preferable to no democracy? What
ingredients are necessary for democracy to arise, take hold, and survive in the long term?
Why do some democracies fail? Can democracy be encouraged by outside actors? We
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will examine such questions in broad comparative perspective. It will examine theories
and the actual experience of democratization around the world.
II. Learning Objectives and Methods of Evaluation

What I want you to know How I will evaluate that you know it
Identify multiple ways of defining
and measuring democracy and
democratization.
You will take a short-answer quiz that will assess
your understanding of concepts used to describe,
define, and measure democratic and non-
democratic political systems.
Familiarize yourself with
competing theories of what factors
shape democratization.
You will take a short-answer quiz that will assess
your understanding of the main theories dealing
with democratic transitions and the determinants of
democracy.
Apply theories and concepts to
explain contrasting paths of
democratization in two countries.
You will write an original research paper in which
you will compare and explain divergent outcomes
on one or more measures of democratization
(elections, civil society, civil liberties, etc.) in two
countries.

III. Course Requirements:

Requirement Due Date Percentage
Participation and reading presentations Always 20%
Quiz on measuring democracy Tue, Feb 18 15%
Quiz on theories of democratization Thu, Apr 10 15%
Research proposal Tue, Mar 4 5%
Research prospectus Tue, Apr 8 10%
Research Paper Tue, May 13 35%

IV. Class Meeting Format

This course is a seminar, and students are expected to take part in and drive classroom
discussions based on the assigned readings (and films). It is therefore imperative that
students attend all classes, complete the assigned reading in advance of each session, and
contribute to an interactive discussion. Students will sign up to lead discussions on
readings at each class session. All observations, even those that may seem
unconventional, are welcomed and encouraged in the classroom. Occasionally we will
host guest speakers in person or by videoconference.

V. Research Paper

The centerpiece of this course is a high-quality, twenty-page research paper. You should
begin thinking about the two country cases you want to compare immediately. We will be
assisted in the course by a Writing Fellow, Jeffrey Zalesin, who will be available to help
you write a clear, well-argued product.

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VI. Standards of Academic Integrity (from the Pomona College Catalog)

Pomona College is an academic community in which all members are expected to
abide by ethical standards both in their conduct and in their exercise of responsibilities
towards other members of the community. The College expects students to understand
and adhere to basic standards of honesty and academic integrity. These standards include
but are not limited to the following: 1) In projects and assignments (including homework)
prepared independently, students never represent the ideas or the language of others as
their own. ; 2) Students do not destroy or alter either the work of other students or the
educational resources and materials of the College.; 3) Students neither give nor receive
assistance with examinations; 4) Students do not represent work completed for one
course as original work for another or deliberately disregard course rules and
regulations. ; 5) In research projects involving the collection of data, students accurately
report data observed and do not alter or fabricate data for any reason.

VII. Readings

There are three required books available for purchase at Huntley Bookstore. Other
readings will consist of journal articles, PDFs of which will be posted to the courses
Sakai site. To effectively contribute to class discussions, you should take notes when you
read, even when you are not presenting a reading.

Books:

Robert A. Dahl, Ian Shapiro and Jos Antonio Cheibub, The Democracy
Sourcebook
Isobel Coleman, ed. Pathways to Freedom: Political and Economic Lessons From
Democratic Transitions
Joshua Kurlantzick, Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and
the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government

VIII. Course Schedule

Tuesday, January 21, 2013:

Introduction to the course and topic.

Thursday, January 23, 2013:

Defining and Measuring Democracy and Democratization, Part I
Puddington, Breakthroughs in the Balance
Przeworski, Minimalist Conception of Democracy: A Defense in DS
Diamond, Defining and Developing Democracy in DS
Pateman, Participation and Democratic Theory in DS
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Dahl, Polyarchal Democracy in DS
Levitsky and Way, Why Democracy Needs a Level Playing Field
Gerardo Munck and Jay Verkuilen. 2002. Conceptualizing and Measuring
Democracy: Evaluating Alternative Indices, Comparative Political Studies, 35
(1): 5-34.

Also review results and methodologies of the following indices:
Polity IV dataset: http://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/polity4.htm
Freedom House ratings: http://www.freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-
world#.Ut23qv2ttFQ
Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index:
https://portoncv.gov.cv/dhub/porton.por_global.open_file?p_doc_id=1034
Transparency International: http://www.transparency.org/country
World Bank Voice and Accountability Indicators:
http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#reports

Tuesday, January 28, 2013:

Defining and Measuring Democracy, Part II
Schmitter and Karl, What Democracy isand is Not
Elklit, What Makes Elections Free and Fair?
ODonnell, Delegative Democracy
Levitsky and Way, The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism
David Collier and Steven Levitsky. 1997. Democracy with Adjectives:
Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research, World Politics, 49 (3): 430-51.
Elkins, Gradations of Democracy

Thursday, January 30, 2014:

Defining and Measuring Democracy, Part III
Moller and Skaning, The Third Wave: Inside the Numbers
The Quality of Democracy: An Overview by Larry Diamond and Leonardo
Morlino. Journal of Democracy 15 (October 2004): 20-31
Why Wait for Democracy by Larry Diamond. The Wilson Quarterly Winter
2013 (Original URL: http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/article.cfm?AID=2237)
The Warsaw Declaration of the Community of Democracies 26-27 June 2000
Munck, Geraldo L. and Jay Verkuilen. 2002. Conceptualizing and measuring
democracy - Evaluating alternative indices. Comparative Political Studies.
Zakaria, The Rise of Illiberal Democracy

Tuesday, February 4, 2014:

Defining and Measuring Democracy, Part IV

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The End of the Transition Paradigm by Thomas Carothers Journal of
Democracy 13 (January 2002)
Emmerson, Minding the Gap
Lindberg, A Mixed Record
Fukuyama, Democracy and the Quality of the State
Diamond, Intro to the Meanings of Democracy
Stanley and Weaver, Is the United States a Racial Democracy? New York
Times
Chinese Government Report on Human Rights in the U.S.

Thursday, February 6, 2014:

Democracy, or Lack Thereof, in Russia
Krastev and Holmes, An Autopsy of Mandated Democracy
watch For God, Tsar and the Fatherland, http://www.whydemocracy.net/film/7
watch Putins Russia: The Modern Autocrat, BBC Newsnight (November 17,
2010) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9198809.stm, 0:10]
watch Putins Russia: The Peoples Choice, BBC Newsnight (November 18,
2010) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9204815.stm, 0:11]
watch Putins Kiss (2012) [Sakai; 1:25]
read A Russian Awakening, The Economist (December 11, 2011)
[http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/12/protest-russia-0]
watch Letter to Anna http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJxyEC31YXM
listen to Putin, the Patriarch, and Pussy Riot, BBC Radio 4 (October 1, 2012)
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n0xtg, 0:28]

Tuesday, February 11, 2014:

Dictatorships and Autocracies: China and North Korea
Read Kurlantzick, chapters 1-4
Watch The Tank Man, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/
Watch Frontline documentary on North Korea
Listen to On Point with Tom Ashbrook: Inside North Korea with the Pulitzer-
Prize winning author of The Orphan Masters Son (April 25, 2013).
[http://onpoint.wbur.org/2013/04/25/the-orphan-masters-son, 0:46]

Thursday, February 13, 2014:

China and Legitimacy
Read Kurlantzick, chapters 5-8
Fukuyama, The Patterns of History
watch The Last Train Home (2011) [Sakai, 1:25]
Chinas Migrant Worker Mega City, BBC Crossing Continents (December 19,
2011) watch [www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0184v2q; 0:30]
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watch History Lessons for Chinas New Leaders, Episode 2 BBC
Documentaries (October 30, 2012). [www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0104gj0;
0:25]
watch Baby Milk Rationing: Chinese Fears Spark Global Restrictions, BBC
News (April 10 2013) [www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22088977]
watch Protest Prompts China to Cancel Jiangment Uranium Plant, BBC News
(July 13, 2013) [www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-23298663]

Tuesday, February 18, 2014:

Quiz on defining and measuring democracy
Read Kurlantzick, chapters 9-11

Thursday, February 20, 2014:

Economic Development and Democratization, Part I
Lipset, Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics (DS)
Huber, The Impact of Economic Development on Democracy (DS)
Przeworski et al., Economic Development and Political Regimes (DS)
Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (DS)
Skocpol, Social Revolutions in the Modern World (DS)
Blaydes and Chaney, The Feudal Revolution and Europes Rise (PDF on Sakai)
Fukuymama, Dealing with Inequality

Tuesday, February 25, 2014:

Economic Development and Democratization, Part II
Read Coleman, chapters 1 and 2
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson, and Pierre Yared. 2009.
Re-evaluating the Modernization Hypothesis. Journal of Monetary Economics
56: 1043-58. [15 pp.]
Daniel Ziblatt. 2006. How did Europe Democratize? World Politics, 58: 311-
338.
Barbara Junisbai. 2012. Improbable, but Potentially Pivotal Oppositions:
Privatization, Capitalists, and Political Contestation in the Post-Soviet
Autocracies, Perspectives on Politics, 10(4): 889-914. (PDF on Sakai)
Michael L. Ross, Does Oil Hinder Democracy? World Politics 2001.
Toledo, Latin America: Democracy with Development

Thursday, February 27, 2014:

Culture and Democratization, Part I
Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, "Changing Mass Priorities: The Link
Between Modernization and Democracy." Perspectives on Politics June 2010 (vol
8, No. 2) page 554.
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Inglehart and Baker, Modernization, Cultural Change, and the Persistence of
Traditional Values (DS)
Przeworski et. Al, Culture and Democracy (DS)
Fukuyama, Confucianism and Democracy (PDF on Sakai)
Dalai Lama, Buddhism, Asian Values and Democracy (PDF on Sakai)
Abdou Filialy-Ansary, Muslims and Democracyhich
Yun-han Chu, Michael Bratton, Marta Lagos, Sandeep Shastri, and Mark Tessler,
Public Opinion and Democratic Legitimacy, Journal of Democracy 19 (April
2008) http://www.globalbarometers.org/06_19.2chu.pdf
Michael Bratton, Trends in Popular Attitudes toward Multiparty Democracy in
Africa, Afrobarometer Briefing Paper no. 105, October 2012
http://www.afrobarometer.org/files/documents//briefing_papers/afrobriefno105a.p
df.
Yun-han Chu, Bridget Welsh and Alex Chang, Briefing Paper Series no. 64,
Asian Barometer, Congruence and Variation in Sources of Regime Support in
Asia, May 2012
http://www.asianbarometer.org/newenglish/publications/workingpapers/no.64.pdf
.
Latinobarometro, 2010 Report
http://www.asepsa.org/latinobarometro/LATBD_Latinobarometro_Report_2010.p
df

Tuesday, March 4, 2014:

Research Proposal due
Culture and Democratization, Part II
Watch documentary on Japan Elections
Fish, Islam and Democracy (PDF on Sakai)
Amartya Sen, Democracy as a Universal Value, JOD 10 (July 1999): 3-17.
Russell Bova, Democracy and Liberty: The Cultural Connection, Journal of
Democracy 8 (January 1997): 112-126.
Michael Bratton, The Alternation Effect in Africa, Journal of Democracy 15
(October 2004): 147-158.
Mark Tessler, Amaney Jamal and Michael Robbins, New Findings on Arabs and
Democracy, Journal of Democracy 23 (October 2012): 89-103.
Alfred Stepan with Graeme B. Robertson, An Arab More than Muslim
Electoral Gap, Journal of Democracy 14 (July 2003): 30-44.
Shi, The Shadow of Confucianism

Thursday, March 6, 2014:

Civil Society and Democratization, Part I
William A. Galston, "Civil Society and the 'Art' of Association", JOD 11, no 1
(January 2000): 64-70.
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Howard, The Weakness of Civil Society in the Post-Communist World (PDF on
Sakai)
Putnam, Bowling Alone: Americas Declining Social Capital (PDF on Sakai)
Maing, Strengthening Civil Society

Tuesday, March 11, 2014:

Civil Society and Democratization, Part II
Lussier and Fish, Indonesia: The Benefits of Civic Engagement
MacKinnon, Chinas Networked Authoritarianism
Ekiert and Kubik, Myths and Realities of Civil Society

Thursday, March 13, 2014:

Institutional Design and Democratization, Part I
Larry Diamond, "Three Paradoxes of Democracy," JOD, July 1990: 48-60. (PDF
on Sakai)
Juan Linz, "The Perils of Presidentialism," JOD, January 1990: 51-70. (PDF on
Sakai)
Horowitz, Juan Linz, and S. M. Lipset, "Debate: Presidents vs. Parliaments,"
JOD, October 1990: 73-92. (PDF on Sakai)
Arturo Valenzuela, "Latin American Presidencies Interrupted,", JOD, October
2004. (PDF on Sakai)
Daniel N. Posner and Daniel J. Young, "The Institutionalization of Political
Power in Africa,", JOD, July 2007.
Fish, Stronger Legislatures, Stronger Democracies (PDF on Sakai)
Reynolds, Constitutional Medicine (PDF on Sakai)

Tuesday, March 18, 2014:

No class; spring break.
Watch The Lives of Others on Sakai

Thursday, March 20, 2014:

No class; spring break.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014:

Institutional Design and Democratization, Part II
Donald L. Horowitz, "Electoral Systems: A Primer for Decision Makers," JOD
October 2003: 115-127.
Arend Lijphart, "Constitutional Choices for New Democracies," JOD, Winter
1991: 72-84.
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Guy Lardeyret, Quentin Quade, and Arend Lijphart, "Debate: Proportional
Representation," JOD, Summer 1991: 30-48.
Ken Gladdish, "Choosing an Electoral System: The Primacy of the Particular,"
JOD, January 1993: 53-65.
Meisburger, Getting Majoritarianism Right
Reynolds, Getting Elections Wrong
Thursday, March 27, 2014:

Horizontal Accountability, Rule of Law, and Corruption
Guillermo ODonnell, Horizontal Accountability in New Democracies, JOD 9
(July 1998): 112-126.
M. Steven Fish, "Stronger Legislatures, Stronger Democracies," JOD 17 (January
2006)
Guillermo ODonnell, The Quality of Democracy: Why the Rule of Law
Matters, JOD 15 (October 2004): 32-46.
Donald L. Horowitz, Constitutional Courts: A Primer for Decision Makers,
JOD 17 (October 2006)
Robert Klitgaard, Political Corruption: Strategies for Reform, JOD 2, no. 4
(Fall 1991): 86-100.
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Controlling Corruption through Collective Action, JOD
24 (January 2013)
Ganguly, An Enduring Threat

Tuesday, April 1, 2014:

Social and Ethnic Cleavages and Democratization
Donald Horowitz, "Democracy in Divided Societies", JOD 4 (October 1993): 18-
38.
Arend Lijphart, "Constitutional Design in Divided Societies", JOD15 (April
2004): 96-109
Alfred Stepan, "Federalism and Democracy: Beyond the US Model." JOD 10
(October 1999): 19-34.
Lijphart, Consociational Democracy (DS)
Glazer, Democracy and Deep Divides

Thursday, April 3, 2014:

International Factors and Democratization, Part I
Stephen Levitsky and Lucan A. Way. 2005. "International Linkage and
Democratization", JOD, 16. 20-34.
Thomas Carothers, 2009. Democracy Assistance: Political vs. Developmental,
JOD 20.
Thomas Carothers, 2007. How Democracies Emerge: The Sequencing Fallacy,
JOD 18.
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Carl Gershman and Michael Allen, 2006. The Assault on Democracy
Assistance,, JOD 17.
David Hendrickson and Robert Tucker, 2005. "The Freedom Crusade," The
National Interest 81: 12-21.
Mungiu-Pippidi, The Transformative Power of Europe Revisited
A Diplomats Handbook for Democracy and Development Support
Community of Democracies

Tuesday, April 8, 2014:

Research Prospectus due
International Factors and Democratization, Part II
Huntington, Democracys Third Wave (DS)
Carothers, The Elusive Synthesis
Levy, The Case for Principled Agnosticism
Mark Landler and Andrew H. Lehren. 2011. Cables Show Delicate U.S.
Dealings with Egypts Leaders, New York Times, January 27. Available on Sakai
and online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/middleeast/28diplo.html?_r=1&page
wanted= print
U.S. Embassy Tunis cables from 2010,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/217138
Watch Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark

Thursday, April 10, 2014:

Quiz on theories of democratization
Transitions to Democracy
Dankwart Rustow, "Transitions to Democracy", Comparative Politics vol 2
(1970), pp 337-363.
Sheri Berman, "How Democracies Emerge: Lessons from Europe." JOD 18
(January 2007).
Michael McFaul, "Transitions from Postcommunism." JOD, 16 (July 2005).
Lucan Way, "The Real Causes of the Color Revolutions." JOD 19 (July 2008).
Larry Diamond, "Liberation Technology." JOD 21 (July 2010).
Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Toward Consolidated Democracies, Journal of
Democracy 7 (April 1996): 14-33.
Andreas Schedler, What is Democratic Consolidation? Journal of Democracy 9
(April 1998): 91-107.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014:

Democratic Breakdown and Survival and Authoritarian Durability
Ethan Kapstein and Nathan Converse, Why Democracies Fail, JOD 19
(October 2008): 57-68.
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Larry Diamond, Why Democracies Survive, JOD 22 (January 2011): 17-30.
Read Levitsky and Way, The Durability of Revolutionary Regimes

Thursday, April 17, 2014:

Case Study: Nigeria
Read Nigeria chapter in Coleman
read Guide to Nigerias Trouble Spots, BBC News, last updated March 10, 2013
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17310808]
listen to Nigeria at a Crossroads: Episode 1, BBC Documentaries (April 21,
2012) [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00qh8rs, 0:25]
listen to Nigeria at a Crossroads: Episode 2, BBC Documentaries (April 25,
2012) [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00qrxhk; 0:25]
watch Chris Abanis TED talk on Telling Stories from Africa, June 2007
[http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_abani_on_the_stories_of_africa.html; 0:18] 3.
watch Chris Abanis TED talk Muses on Humanity, February 2008
[http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_abani_muses_on_humanity.html; 0:16]

Tuesday, April 22, 2014:

Case Studies: Poland, Thailand, South Africa, and Indonesia
Read respective chapters in Coleman
Watch: Walesa: Man of Hope
Pongsudhirak, Thailands Uneasy Passage
Petrova, How Poland Promotes Democracy

Thursday, April 24, 2014:

The Future of Democracy, Part I
Marc F. Plattner, 2010. Populism, Pluralism, and Liberal Democracy, JOD 21.
Ivan Krastev, 2006. "New Threats to Freedom: Democracy's 'Doubles'" JOD 17.
Henry S. Rowen, 2007. When Will the Chinese People Be Free, JOD 18.
Andrew Nathan, 2013. China at the Tipping Point: Forseeing the Unforseeable,
JOD 24.
Larry Diamond, China and East Asian Democracy: The Coming Wave, JOD

Tuesday, April 29, 2014:

The Future of Democracy, Part II
Read Strategies for Successful Democratization in Coleman
Read Diamond et. al, Reconsidering the Transition Paradigm
Krastev, Paradoxes of the New Authoritarianism
Yom and Gause, Resilinet Royals

Thursday, May 1, 2014:
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The Future of Democracy, Part III
Schmitter, Twenty-Five Years, Fifteen Findings
ODonnell, Schmitters Retrospective
Sander and Putnam, Still Bowling Alone
Yudhyono, The Democratic Instinct in the Twenty-First Century
Siegel, Weinstein and Haleperin, Why Democracies Excel

Tuesday, May 6, 2014:

The Future of Democracy, Part IV
Plattner, Reflections on Governance
Stepan, Democratic Theory and the Arab Spring
Fukuyama, Democracy and the Quality of the State
Diamond, The Coming Wave

Tuesday, May 13, 2014:

Research Paper due to Sakai Dropbox.