Plan Docente

Curso 2012-2013

  

  

Advanced Comparative Politics (21711)

 

 

Titulación/estudio: Grado en Ciencias Políticas y de la Administración

Curso: 3º/4º

Trimestre: 2º

Número de créditos ECTS: 4

Horas de dedicación del estudiante: 100

Lengua o lenguas de la docencia: English

Profesorado: Anastassia Obydenkova

 

 

 

 

 

1. Presentation of the Course

 

 

The course "Comparative Politics: Advanced" is an optional course in the profile of the formation of students of Political Science. It is meant to contribute to their specialization in political science in general and in the area of comparative politics in particular. The course will focus on new development in comparative political science across areas, issues, and methodological trends. The content of the course is divided into three main parts: the theory of comparative political research; the methodology of comparative analysis; and new trends in comparative political studies. To follow better the course, it is highly recommended to have taken course in comparative political and social science. While these factors are not a prerequisit, the previous basic knowledge of comparative analysis, methods, and comparative politics area an advantage. The course is meant to (a) to introduce students to the main questions and issues in comparative politics; (b) to make them familiar with the best answers to these question available in the most recent publications on the topic; and (c) to provide them with the tools to think critically about the answers. The specific objectives of this course include the following: (a) to be acquainted with new issues in contemporary political science; (b) to be acquainted with new methodological trends in political science; (c) to be able to analyze and to explain from comparative perspective the dynamics of contemporary political development. The benefit of this course is to increase ability to learn about and to respond to the changes in the field of comparative politics and the most recent literature in the field. The course also introduces students to the variety of methods that have been central to the study of comparative politics.

 

 

 

 

2. Learning Objectives

  

In more general terms, the course pursues the following general objectives: to increase the capacity of students to think critically and systematically about comparative issue of political science; to apply general analytical knowledge gained in this course to conduct an actual analysis within the comparative framework; to learn to apply comparative methods to explain differences and similarities across different issues and subjects of analysis.

General Competencies:

-     Capacity of Analysis and Synthesis

-     Capacity to organize and plan their work

-     Problem resolving capacity

Interpersonal Competencies:

-     Critical and Auto-critical Capacity;

-     Interpersonal communication capacity

-     Team-work capacity

 

 

 

3. Content of the Course

  

The content of the course is divided into two main parts: methodological issues of comparative political science and actual application of comparative analysis to the analysis of specific case-studies.  The content is based on the presentation of basic and new concepts for conducting a comparative analysis used in problem/puzzle-solving in comparative politics. It has yet another component of examination of different forms of conducting comparative political research and new emerging models in the area of comparative politics. Given that previous courses examined Western democracies and nation-states, this course, in contrast, focuses on the states in regime transition, democratization, hybrid regimes in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Moreover, the comparative analysis goes beyond the nation-state level, and is meant to demonstrate how to apply comparative analysis to supra-national and sub-national level across non-democratic states.

 

 

4. The Program of Class Activities

 

The program of class activities is organized according to the main two objectives of the course and of the content: the objective to increase methodological knowledge and skills of comparative politics and the objective to be able to apply this knowledge to current political processes and to understand them in all their complexity. Thus, the program of class activities is divided into two main parts: methodological issues of comparative political science and actual application of comparative analysis to the analysis of specific case-studies. Each session comprises an interactive lecture and seminar. The lectures introduce complex issues and place them in the context of comparative political science. The seminar is dedicated to the discussion of the issues raised during the lecture. The seminar takes form of group discussions, groups´ exercises, and individual presentations, followed by all-class discussion, and sometimes written assignments. 

 

Part I:  Methodology of Comparative Political Science

  

Session 1: Introduction to the Course and Approaches and Methodologies in Comparative Political Science; elaboration of the focus of the course; lead-in in advanced comparative politics issues: the evolution of comparative politics; approaches in comparative politics. Seminar: Groups´ exercises and Group discussions.

Session 2: Comparative Politics: Debates on Methodology. Seminar 2: Groups´ exercises and Group discussions.

Session 3: Comparative Methodology: Challenges, Mix-Methods, and Innovations. Seminar 3: Individual Presentations and In-class discussions.

Session 4: Research Design and a Concept in Comparative Politics. Seminar 4: Individual Presentations and In-class discussions.

Session 5: Case-Studies in Comparative Analysis and Beyond. Seminar 5: Individual Presentations and In-class discussions.

Session 6: Causal explanation and Process-Tracing / In-class written assignment Individual Presentations and In-class discussions.

Session 7: Research Strategy in Comparative Politics / In-class written assignment / Individual Presentations and In-class discussions.

 

Part II:  Comparative Democratization, Regime Transition, Hybrid Regimes

Area Focus: Central-Eastern Europe, Russia, Eurasia

  

Session 8: Comparative Democratization and the Levels of Analysis

-          Supra-national, Cross-National, Sub-National levels

-          Cross-national comparative analysis

-          The 4rth wave of Democratization

-          Post-Communist Transition

-          Comparative Regionalization, Marketization, (De-)centralization, Democratization

  

Session 9: Cross-National Level of Comparison: Fourth Wave of Democratization

-          The Role of International Dimension and External Factors in Sub-National Democratization

-          European and Asian Dimension in Comparative Perspective

 

Session 10: Comparative Regime Transition: Supra-National and Sub-National Levels of Analysis / Overview and Conclusion of the Course

-           Supra-national Level: Comparative Regionalism (regional international organizations: the CIS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Asian Regionalism vs. European Regionalism; Informal Governance.

-          Sub-National Level: European vs. Asian External Influence

-          Juncture of Comparative Methodology and Its´ Application

-          Understanding the political heterogeneous regimes world-wide from comparative perspective;

-          Conclusion on the Course;

-          Guidelines for Final Exam.

 

5.  Assessment of the Students

  

The assessment of the students incorporates two mechanisms: continuous evaluation and final evaluation. The combination of both makes a final grade. The continuous evaluation includes:

 

-     Regular participation in the seminars

-     Presentation (15 minutes)

-     Mid-term in-class written assignment

 

These three aspects all together account for 50 % of the final grade.

 

The final evaluation is based on the final exam that covers all material learned during the course (including lectures, seminars, and presentations) and constitutes another 50% of the final grade.

 

According to the UPF evaluation system, there is a possibility of recuperation for students that did not pass the course. Students that failed the course will have to meet two conditions: 1) they should have fulfilled 50% of the continuous evaluation and 2) they should have been presented at the final exam. The recuperation will consist of one exam subdivided into two parts: one part of the exam will test the knowledge of theory (lectures) of this course and second part will relate to the components of the continuous evaluation. The students with right for recuperation will examined accordingly to the parts they previously failed.

 

6. Bibliography

  

Main Bibliography:

Daniele Caramani  (2008)  Comparative Politics New York: Oxford University Press

Clark, W., Matt Golder, Sona N. Golder (2009) Principles of Comparative Politics Washington: CQ Press

Carles Boix and Susan Stokes (2007) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics Oxford University Press

Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating (2008; 2010) Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Science: A Pluralist Perspective Cambridge University Press

  

Recommended Bibliography:

Newton, Kenneth (2010) Foundation of Comparative Politics: Democracies of Modern World. Cambridge, New York; Cambridge University Press

The Sage Handbook of Comparative Politics (2009) London: Sage

Clark, W. (2009) Principles of Comparative Politics Washington: CQ Press

Comparative Politics (2008) New York: Oxford University Press

Landman, Todd (2008) Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics: an introduction

Mahler, G. (2008) Comparative Politics: An institutional and cross-national approach Pearson: Prentice Hall

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics (2007) Oxford University Press

Newton, K. (2005) Foundations of Comparative Politics: democracies of the modern world. Cambridge University Press

Boulder, W. (2002) New Directions in Comparative Politics, Westview, 3^rd edition

Theen, Rolf H. W. (2001) Comparative Politics: An Introduction to seven countries. Prentice Hall

Comparative Politics: the problem of equivalence (1998) London: Routledge

Peters, B. Guy (1998) Comparative Politics: theory and methods. Macmillan Press

Comparative Politics: rationality, culture, and structure (1997) Cambridge University Press

Wilson, Frank L. (1996) Concepts and Issues in Comparative Politics: an introduction to comparative analysis. Prentice Hall

Mayer, Lawrence (1996) Comparative Politics: Nations and Theories in a Changing World. Prentice Hall

Lane, Ruth (1997) The Art of Comparative Politics. Prentice Hall. Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Kamrava, Mehran (1996) Understanding Comparative Politics: A Framework for Analysis. Routledge

Lane, Jan-Erik (1994) Comparative Politics: an introduction and new approach Cambridge: Polity Press

 

Journals:

Comparative Political Studies

Comparative Politics

World Politics

American Journal of Political Science

American Political Science Review

Journal of Democracy

Politics and Society

Democratization

European Journal of Political Science

European Journal of Political Review

  

  

7. Methodology

  

The methodology is based on a combination of lectures and seminars. Each week is dedicated to the analysis of specific issue and a number of related questions should be answered in the framework of seminars. Lectures are meant to provide analytical understanding and critical re-thinking of readings within the context of broader literature on the topic. Students are encouraged to raise questions to clarify concepts and theoretical premises. Seminars are meant to provide students with the opportunity to discuss in-depth assigned topics, to raise disputable issues, to learn to defend their point of view within the framework of academic discourse. Seminars are also meant to provide the chance to present their own work and to discuss with the rest of the class issues raised in the presentation. Students are expected to make 15-minute presentation on one of the readings of the syllabus. Presentation should be followed in-class discussion.