Graduate Course Syllabus: De La Salle University

Theories of the State & Political Development

(DVS760P/DVS760M/POL761M)
2T, Academic Year 2017-2018
Room M317, Tuesdays, 1800-2100

Dr. Alejandro Christian D. Soler

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
E-mail: alejandro.soler@dlsu.edu.ph
Dr. Cleo Anne A. Calimbahin
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
E-mail: cleo.calimbahin@dlsu.edu.ph

Overview

The state has become a polarizing entity in the study of Political Science and Development Studies
and Policy. Academicians, practitioners, and students alike are split on the role and significance
of the state in a globalizing world. In the midst of this reality, theorizing the state has become more
pressing than ever. This graduate course attempts to ground this, and these debates, on both seminal
and contemporary pieces from Comparative Politics, International Relations, and studies on
Democratization. Whether the state is viewed as obsolete, on the one hand, to as prominent as it
ever was, on the other, necessitates cogent arguments that could contribute to the wider discussion
on this crucial actor in global politics.

Learning outcome

The course attempts to contribute to your attainment of the three Expected Lasallian Graduate
Attributes (ELGAs) for Political Science and Development Policy and Studies graduate students.
The course material, activities, and writing requirements are designed to contribute to your
development as 1) competent and socially responsible professionals who are fully cognizant and
responsive to issues in politics and development; 2) articulate knowledge producers capable of
enhancing understandings of political and developmental processes, and 3) collaborative
stakeholders engaged in the betterment of society and government. The table details the course’s
LO:

ELGA LEARNING OUTCOME

A graduate of MAPOLSCI, DPOLSCI, MADEPOL On completion of the course, students
and DDEVEST is envisioned to be a(n): are expected to have
1. Competent and socially responsible professional  A clear understanding of the
who understands the dynamics of politics and state, its theoretical
public policy underpinnings and the
2. Articulate knowledge producer cognizant of the processes it engages in.
need to enhance an understanding of the role and  Formulated novel insights on
function of the state in the contemporary world. the interplay of various theories
3. Collaborative stakeholder engaged in the and development issues
betterment of the state, society, and government confronting the state.

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Learning methodology and assessment

This course is reading-intensive; graduate students will neither find fulfillment nor success by
merely going through the motions of physically showing up to class without sufficient preparation.
Each student is expected to come to class having thoroughly read the assigned material per week
and participate actively in discussions with and between her/his professor and colleagues. The
course has four major components: a final, end-of-semester paper, one short paper,
seminar/discussion leadership, and class participation.

The short paper, consisting of 2,000-2,500 words (references included), must cover a week’s theme
and readings (to be picked by the student). This is not meant to be a summary of a given week’s
readings. Rather, students are expected to elaborate on both salient and latent conceptual linkages
and/or dissociations and create dialogues or conversations involving the readings, among others.
Discussion leadership involves a thorough, oral analysis and presentation of the week’s readings
on the part of students, who will select a week to lead the class discussion. Students cannot choose
the same week for both the short paper and discussion leadership. Like the short paper, oral
presentations must not be summaries of the week’s readings. Students are free to decide on the
format of their presentations (i.e. the use of PowerPoint, selecting a short film or documentary that
captures prevailing concepts across the readings, use of the whiteboard to facilitate a lecture-type
report, etc.), but must always bear in mind that the main objective of their presentation is to
analytically engage with the texts.

The final, end-of-semester paper should posit a novel idea or insight, or contribute to the existing
body of knowledge, on the theoretical bases of the state, and/or processes it is engaged with, be it,
but not limited to, democracy, decolonization, and globalization. It must contain between 6,000-
6,500 words (references included) and consistently follow a chosen citation style (preferably the
Chicago Manual, 16th edition). A Turnitin report must accompany the final submission.

The distribution of grading weights is as follows:

Final paper: 40%

Short paper: 25%
Discussion leadership: 20%
Class participation: 15%

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All course requirements will be assessed using the De La Salle University grading system and the
policies on earning credit in graduate school.

Grading system
4.0 = 97-100
3.5 = 93-96
3.0 = 89-92
2.5 = 85-88
2.0 = 80-84 (NC for Ph.D. students)
1.5 = 75-79 (NC for all graduate students)
1.0 = 70-74 (NC for all graduate students)
0.0 = 69 and below (Failure of course)

Course schedule and readings

Week 1 (May 21): Course orientation and overview

Week 2 (May 28): No classes

Week 3 (June 4): Introduction to the state

Biersteker, Thomas J. “State, Sovereignty, and Territory.” In Handbook of International Relations

2nd ed., edited by Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse and Beth A. Simmons, 245-272.
London, United Kingdom: Sage, 2013.

Tilly, Charles. Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1990. Cambridge, MA: Basil
Blackwell, 1990, 67-122.

Week 4 (June 11): Theories of the state: an overview

Flint, Colin and Peter Taylor. World-Economy, Nation-State and Locality 7th ed. Abingdon, United
Kingdom: Routledge, 2018, 129-73.

Vom Hau, Matthias. “State Theory: Four Analytical Traditions.” In The Oxford Handbook of
Transformations of the State, edited by Stephan Leibfried, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange,
Jonah D. Levy, Frank Nullmeier and John D. Stephens, 131-151. Oxford, United Kingdom:
Oxford University Press, 2015.

Week 5 (June 18): Pluralism

Hirst, Paul Q. “Introduction.” In The Pluralist Theory of the State: Selected Writings of G.D.H.
Cole, J.N. Figgins, and H.J. Laski, edited by Paul Q. Hirst, 1-47. London, United Kingdom:
Routledge.

Smith, Martin. “Pluralism.” In The State: Theories and Issues, edited by Colin Hay, Michael Lister
and David Marsh, 21-38. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

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Week 6 (June 25): Elitism

Evans, Mark. “Elitism.” In The State: Theories and Issues, edited by Colin Hay, Michael Lister
and David Marsh, 39-58. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Mann, Michael. “The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms and Results.” In
State/Space: A Reader, edited by Neil Brenner, Bob Jessop, Martin Jones and Gordon
MacLeod, 53-64. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell.

Week 7 (July 2): Marxism

Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from Prison Notebooks. London, United Kingdom: Lawrence &
Wishart, 1971, 1999, 524-535, 540-46.

Hay, Colin. “(What’s Marxist About) Marxist State Theory?” In The State: Theories and Issues,
edited by Colin Hay, Michael Lister and David Marsh, 59-78. Basingstoke, United
Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Week 8 (July 9): Public choice

Hindmoor, Andrew. “Public Choice.” In The State: Theories and Issues, edited by Colin Hay,
Michael Lister and David Marsh, 79-97. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2006.

Lohmann, Susanne. “The Non-Politics of Monetary Policy.” In The Oxford Handbook of Political
Economy, edited by Barry R. Weingast and Donald A. Wittman, 523-544. New York, NY:
Oxford University Press, 2006.

Week 9 (July 16): Institutionalism

March, James G. and Johan P. Olsen. “The Institutional Dynamics of International Political
Orders.” International Organization 52, no. 4 (1998): 943-969.

Schmidt, Vivien. “Institutionalism.” In The State: Theories and Issues, edited by Colin Hay,
Michael Lister and David Marsh, 98-117. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2006.

Week 10 (July 23): Contemporary approaches

Finlayson, Alan and James Martin. “Poststructuralism.” The State: Theories and Issues, edited by
Colin Hay, Michael Lister and David Marsh, 155-171. Basingstoke, United Kingdom:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

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Kantola, Johanna. “Feminism.” In The State: Theories and Issues, edited by Colin Hay, Michael
Lister and David Marsh, 118-134. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan,
2006.

Paterson, Matthew, Peter Doran and John Barry. “Green Theory.” The State: Theories and Issues,
edited by Colin Hay, Michael Lister and David Marsh, 135-154. Basingstoke, United
Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Week 11 (July 30): Decolonization and the state

Jackson, Robert H. “Quasi-states, dual regimes, and neoclassical theory: International

Jurisprudence and the Third World.” International Organization 41, no. 4 (1987): 519-549.

Lange, Matthew. “State Formation and Transformation in Africa and Asia: The Third Phase of
State Expansion.” In The Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State, edited by
Stephan Leibfried, Evelyne Huber, Matthew Lange, Jonah D. Levy, Frank Nullmeier and
John D. Stephens, 116-130. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Spruyt, Hendrik. “The End of Empire and the Extension of the Westphalian System: The
Normative Basis of the Modern State Order.” International Studies Review 2, no. 2 (2000):
65-92.

Week 12 (August 6): Democratization and political development

Geddes, Barbara. “What Causes Democratization?” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative

Politics, edited by Carles Boix and Susan C. Stokes, 297-316. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press, 2007.

Huntington, Samuel. “Political Development and Political Decay.” World Politics 17, no. 3 (1965):
386-430.

Welzel, Christian and Ronald Inglehart. “Mass Beliefs and Democratic Institutions.” In The
Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, edited by Carles Boix and Susan C. Stokes,
317-339. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Week 13 (August 13): Course synthesis

Evans, Peter B., Dietrich Rueschemeyer and Theda Skocpol. “On the Road toward a More
Adequate Understanding of the State.” In Bringing the State Back In, edited by Peter B.
Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer and Theda Skocpol, 347-366. Cambridge, United
Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Mann, Michael. “Has globalization ended the rise and rise of the nation-state.” Review of
International Political Economy 4, no. 3 (1997): 472-496.

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Submission of final paper: Tuesday, August 13 by 1300 at the Political Science Department
(pigeon hole). Late papers receive a two-point deduction for every day past the deadline.

Week 14 (August 20): Exam week (no classes)