This comparative politics course discusses the most important features of the Western European Democracies. It is designed in four independent but complementary parts. The first part will introduce contemporary theoretical and analytical perspectives on the meaning, foundation and the present situation of democracy. Next, the macro context out of which modern European democracies emerged will be established. The third part will examine the most important element of representative democracy: elections. The final part of the course will focus on welfare state models with a particular emphasis on the differences between European and U.S. perspectives. By the end of the course, students should be able to make precise comparisons between the features of European countries and/or the U.S. on any of the topics in the syllabus.
Prerequisites:
It is highly recommended that students have a familiarity with some of the themes that will be covered by the course. Hence, it is mandatory to have taken at least introductory classes of political science on: American Politics, Electoral Politics, Contemporary European History, Comparative Politics or the European Union. The course is addressed to those majoring in political science.
Attendance policy:
Attendance is mandatory for all IES classes, including field studies. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course half a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course students should be able to:
• use the divergences between Europe’s political institutions, party systems, and policies to identify (at least) some differences between European and American societies;
• distinguish the different groups of European political systems like Scandinavian vs. continental, pluralist vs. corporatist, unitary vs. federal… according to relevant criteria like welfares states, interest representation strategies, and territorial division of power;
• appraise the value of linguistic, racial, and religious pluralism and the specific ways in which
European political systems take account of their increased importance.
Method of presentation:
LECTURES : the professor will provide the historical, political, and social context of the content of the course.
CLASS DISCUSSIONS : based on key texts compiled in the course reader. All required readings can be found in the course reading package. The readings listed for a particular session must be
completed BEFORE coming to class that day.
READER : all the required readings for the class will be included in the reader.
FIELD STUDIES : visits to significant sites related to the content and outcomes the course. CLASS PRESENTATIONS : students will contribute to running a part of each session with an oral presentation selected by them among the readings they had to do for that specific date.
CASE STUDIES : work on current issues relevant to Western European politics to define and analyze
similarities and differences between different European countries.
Each student will also be specialized in one Western European country and in one current political issue in that country. When the reading provides broad information, students will be asked to investigate the specific information with regards to their area of expertise and class debate will be based on comparison of similarities and differences among European states.
LANGUAGE OF PRESENTATION: English
Required work and form of assessment:
Midterm Exam (15%) Final Exam (15%), Class
Participation (20%), Final Project (50%)
• EXAMS: The midterm and final exams will consist of explanatory questions on the topics covered in the course. The midterm exam will cover topics covered in the first half of the course, while the final exam will cover topics covered at the end of the course.
• CLASS PRESENTATION & PARTICIPATION: Each student will be specialized in one Western European country and in one current political issue in that country. When the reading provides broad information, students will be asked to investigate the specific information with regards to their area of expertise
and class debate will be based on comparison of similarities and differences among European states. Participation includes attendance and participation in class, including discussions, pertinent questions and familiarity with the texts in the reader.
• TERM PAPER: The student and the teacher will choose a topic that is suitable for an essay. The teacher will help the student to find suitable sources (libraries, cultural institutions, etc). The essay will be on the chosen area of expertise where the student will display not only the information researched but the relation of the given subject to the broader themes and processes discussed in the course and will require critical evaluation of all these processes. The findings of the paper will also be presented to the classmates.
content:
Session 1: Introduction
Session 2: Contemporary Democracy: An overview of the study of the state
Required Reading:
Jessop, “The state and state building,” 111-131.
Session 3: History of European democracy: The Rise of the States System
Required Reading:
Poggi, The State, 34-67.
Session 4: History of European democracy: Societal Cleavages - Part I
Required Reading:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in Modern Europe, 262-305.
Session 5: History of European democracy: Societal Cleavages - Part II
Final project: Proposal is due
Required Reading:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in Modern Europe, 262-305.
Session 6: National Socialism and Fascism
Required Reading:
Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes, 109-142.
Session 7: Judging fascism
Required readings:
Final project: Tentative bibliography is due
Arendt, Responsibility and Judgment, 227-257.
Session 8: Parties & ideologies Part I
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 230-262.
Session 9: Parties & ideologies - Part II: Country specific information
Final project: Tentative bibliography is due
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 187-229.
Session 10: Electoral Campaigns, Electoral formulas, multiparty systems
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 340-380.
Session 11: Electoral actors: parties & candidates.
Final project: Country presentations
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 307-339.
Session 12: Executives in Presidential and Parliamentary Systems
Final project: Country presentations
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 24-40, 44-50, 54-55, 56-67, 74-6, 81-2.
Session 13: Mid-term exam.
Session 14: Electoral results: coalitions, minority governments, consociationalism.
Final project: Country presentations
Required readings:
Armingeon, “Interest Intermediation,” 143-165.
Session 15: Western Europe’s Common Trait? The Welfare State – Part I
Required readings:
Hacker, “The Welfare State,” 385-407.
Session 16: Western Europe’s Common Trait? The Welfare State – Part II
Required readings:
Esping-Andersen, “The Three Political Economies of the Welfare State,” 9-35.
Session 17: Cleavages and Welfare State
Required readings:
Manow and van Kersbergen, “Religion and the
Western Welfare State,” 4-28.
Session 18: Welfare States Compared I
Final project: Outline of argument / First draft due
Required readings:
OECD, Benefits and Wages, 11-59.
Session 19: Welfare States Compared II
Required readings:
Russell, Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States, 103-121, 155-160.
Session 20: European Models of Health Policy
Required readings:
Immergut, “Health Policy,” 6586-91.
Session 21: The Future of Welfare State
Final project: Presentations
Required readings:
Kitschelt et al., “Convergence and Divergence in
Advanced Capitalist Democracies,” 427-460.
Session 22: Contemporary Democracy: Issues, Problems, Ideas - I
Final project: Presentations
Required readings:
Rancière, Hatred of Democracy, 33-99
Session 23: Contemporary Democracy: Issues, Problems, Ideas – II
Final project: Presentations
Required readings:
Rancière, Hatred of Democracy, 33-99
Session 24: How Do Europeans See America? Do differences in European history, institutions, or
policies explain how Catalans, Spaniards and other
European perceive American politics?
Final project: Final Paper Due
Final Exam
Required readings:
Arendt, Hannah. Responsibility and Judgment. New York: Schocken Books, 2003. 227-257
Armingeon, Klaus. “Interest Intermediation: the Cases of Consociational Democracy and Corporatism,” in Comparative Democratic Politics. Ed. Hans Keman. London: Routledge, 2002. Pp. 143-165
Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press & Princeton
UP, 1990. 9-35
Gallagher, Michael, Michael Laver, Peter Mair. Representative Government in Modern Europe: Institutions, Parties, and Governments. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 2006. 24-40, 44-50, 54-55, 56-
67, 74-76, 81-2, 187-229, 230-262, 0262-305, 307-339, 340-380
Hacker, Jacob. “The Welfare State,” in The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Ed. Rod A. W.
Rhodes, Sarah A. Binder, Bert A. Rockman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Pp. 385-407.
Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991, London: Abacus,
1994.109-142
Immergut, Ellen. “Health Policy,” in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 10 (1992), pp. 6586-91.
Jessop, Bob. (2006) The state and state building, in in The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Ed. Rod A. W. Rhodes, Sarah A. Binder, Bert A. Rockman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. pp. 111-131.
Kitschelt, Herbert, Peter Lange, Gary Marks, and John D. Stephens. “Convergence and divergence in
advanced capitalist democracies,” in Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism. Ed.
Herbert Kitschelt, Peter Lange, Gary Marks, and John D. Stephens. Cambridge: Cambridge UP,
1999. Pp. 427-460.
Manow, Philip and Kees van Kersbergen. “Religion and the Western Welfare State: the Theoretical Context” in Religion, Class Coalitions and Welfare State Regimes. Ed. Philip Manow and Kees van Kersbergen. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. 4-28.
OECD, Benefits and Wages: OECD Indicators. Paris: OECD, 2004.
Poggi, Gianfranco. The State: Its Nature, Development, and Prospects. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990, pp 34-67.
Rancière, Jacques. Hatred of Democracy. London, New York: Verso, 2007. 33-99
Russell , James. . Double standard: social policy in Europe and the United States. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006, pp. 103-121, 155-160.
Recommended readings:
Armingeon, Klaus and Michelle Beyeler, (Eds.). The OECD and European Welfare States. Heltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004.
Nugent, Neill. The Government and Politics of the European Union. Durham: Duke University Press,
1999.
Lijphart, Arend. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries.
New Haven: Yale UP, 1999.
This comparative politics course discusses the most important features of the Western European Democracies. It is designed in four independent but complementary parts. The first part will introduce contemporary theoretical and analytical perspectives on the meaning, foundation and the present situation of democracy. Next, the macro context out of which modern European democracies emerged will be established. The third part will examine the most important element of representative democracy: elections. The final part of the course will focus on welfare state models with a particular emphasis on the differences between European and U.S. perspectives. By the end of the course, students should be able to make precise comparisons between the features of European countries and/or the U.S. on any of the topics in the syllabus.
It is highly recommended that students have a familiarity with some of the themes that will be covered by the course. Hence, it is mandatory to have taken at least introductory classes of political science on: American Politics, Electoral Politics, Contemporary European History, Comparative Politics or the European Union. The course is addressed to those majoring in political science.
Attendance is mandatory for all IES classes, including field studies. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course half a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade.
By the end of the course students should be able to:
• use the divergences between Europe’s political institutions, party systems, and policies to identify (at least) some differences between European and American societies;
• distinguish the different groups of European political systems like Scandinavian vs. continental, pluralist vs. corporatist, unitary vs. federal… according to relevant criteria like welfares states, interest representation strategies, and territorial division of power;
• appraise the value of linguistic, racial, and religious pluralism and the specific ways in which
European political systems take account of their increased importance.
LECTURES : the professor will provide the historical, political, and social context of the content of the course.
CLASS DISCUSSIONS : based on key texts compiled in the course reader. All required readings can be found in the course reading package. The readings listed for a particular session must be
completed BEFORE coming to class that day.
READER : all the required readings for the class will be included in the reader.
FIELD STUDIES : visits to significant sites related to the content and outcomes the course. CLASS PRESENTATIONS : students will contribute to running a part of each session with an oral presentation selected by them among the readings they had to do for that specific date.
CASE STUDIES : work on current issues relevant to Western European politics to define and analyze
similarities and differences between different European countries.
Each student will also be specialized in one Western European country and in one current political issue in that country. When the reading provides broad information, students will be asked to investigate the specific information with regards to their area of expertise and class debate will be based on comparison of similarities and differences among European states.
LANGUAGE OF PRESENTATION: English
Midterm Exam (15%) Final Exam (15%), Class
Participation (20%), Final Project (50%)
• EXAMS: The midterm and final exams will consist of explanatory questions on the topics covered in the course. The midterm exam will cover topics covered in the first half of the course, while the final exam will cover topics covered at the end of the course.
• CLASS PRESENTATION & PARTICIPATION: Each student will be specialized in one Western European country and in one current political issue in that country. When the reading provides broad information, students will be asked to investigate the specific information with regards to their area of expertise
and class debate will be based on comparison of similarities and differences among European states. Participation includes attendance and participation in class, including discussions, pertinent questions and familiarity with the texts in the reader.
• TERM PAPER: The student and the teacher will choose a topic that is suitable for an essay. The teacher will help the student to find suitable sources (libraries, cultural institutions, etc). The essay will be on the chosen area of expertise where the student will display not only the information researched but the relation of the given subject to the broader themes and processes discussed in the course and will require critical evaluation of all these processes. The findings of the paper will also be presented to the classmates.
Session 1: Introduction
Session 2: Contemporary Democracy: An overview of the study of the state
Required Reading:
Jessop, “The state and state building,” 111-131.
Session 3: History of European democracy: The Rise of the States System
Required Reading:
Poggi, The State, 34-67.
Session 4: History of European democracy: Societal Cleavages - Part I
Required Reading:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in Modern Europe, 262-305.
Session 5: History of European democracy: Societal Cleavages - Part II
Final project: Proposal is due
Required Reading:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in Modern Europe, 262-305.
Session 6: National Socialism and Fascism
Required Reading:
Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes, 109-142.
Session 7: Judging fascism
Required readings:
Final project: Tentative bibliography is due
Arendt, Responsibility and Judgment, 227-257.
Session 8: Parties & ideologies Part I
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 230-262.
Session 9: Parties & ideologies - Part II: Country specific information
Final project: Tentative bibliography is due
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 187-229.
Session 10: Electoral Campaigns, Electoral formulas, multiparty systems
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 340-380.
Session 11: Electoral actors: parties & candidates.
Final project: Country presentations
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 307-339.
Session 12: Executives in Presidential and Parliamentary Systems
Final project: Country presentations
Required readings:
Gallagher et al., Representative Government in
Modern Europe, 24-40, 44-50, 54-55, 56-67, 74-6, 81-2.
Session 13: Mid-term exam.
Session 14: Electoral results: coalitions, minority governments, consociationalism.
Final project: Country presentations
Required readings:
Armingeon, “Interest Intermediation,” 143-165.
Session 15: Western Europe’s Common Trait? The Welfare State – Part I
Required readings:
Hacker, “The Welfare State,” 385-407.
Session 16: Western Europe’s Common Trait? The Welfare State – Part II
Required readings:
Esping-Andersen, “The Three Political Economies of the Welfare State,” 9-35.
Session 17: Cleavages and Welfare State
Required readings:
Manow and van Kersbergen, “Religion and the
Western Welfare State,” 4-28.
Session 18: Welfare States Compared I
Final project: Outline of argument / First draft due
Required readings:
OECD, Benefits and Wages, 11-59.
Session 19: Welfare States Compared II
Required readings:
Russell, Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States, 103-121, 155-160.
Session 20: European Models of Health Policy
Required readings:
Immergut, “Health Policy,” 6586-91.
Session 21: The Future of Welfare State
Final project: Presentations
Required readings:
Kitschelt et al., “Convergence and Divergence in
Advanced Capitalist Democracies,” 427-460.
Session 22: Contemporary Democracy: Issues, Problems, Ideas - I
Final project: Presentations
Required readings:
Rancière, Hatred of Democracy, 33-99
Session 23: Contemporary Democracy: Issues, Problems, Ideas – II
Final project: Presentations
Required readings:
Rancière, Hatred of Democracy, 33-99
Session 24: How Do Europeans See America? Do differences in European history, institutions, or
policies explain how Catalans, Spaniards and other
European perceive American politics?
Final project: Final Paper Due
Final Exam
Arendt, Hannah. Responsibility and Judgment. New York: Schocken Books, 2003. 227-257
Armingeon, Klaus. “Interest Intermediation: the Cases of Consociational Democracy and Corporatism,” in Comparative Democratic Politics. Ed. Hans Keman. London: Routledge, 2002. Pp. 143-165
Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press & Princeton
UP, 1990. 9-35
Gallagher, Michael, Michael Laver, Peter Mair. Representative Government in Modern Europe: Institutions, Parties, and Governments. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 2006. 24-40, 44-50, 54-55, 56-
67, 74-76, 81-2, 187-229, 230-262, 0262-305, 307-339, 340-380
Hacker, Jacob. “The Welfare State,” in The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Ed. Rod A. W.
Rhodes, Sarah A. Binder, Bert A. Rockman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Pp. 385-407.
Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991, London: Abacus,
1994.109-142
Immergut, Ellen. “Health Policy,” in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 10 (1992), pp. 6586-91.
Jessop, Bob. (2006) The state and state building, in in The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Ed. Rod A. W. Rhodes, Sarah A. Binder, Bert A. Rockman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. pp. 111-131.
Kitschelt, Herbert, Peter Lange, Gary Marks, and John D. Stephens. “Convergence and divergence in
advanced capitalist democracies,” in Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism. Ed.
Herbert Kitschelt, Peter Lange, Gary Marks, and John D. Stephens. Cambridge: Cambridge UP,
1999. Pp. 427-460.
Manow, Philip and Kees van Kersbergen. “Religion and the Western Welfare State: the Theoretical Context” in Religion, Class Coalitions and Welfare State Regimes. Ed. Philip Manow and Kees van Kersbergen. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. 4-28.
OECD, Benefits and Wages: OECD Indicators. Paris: OECD, 2004.
Poggi, Gianfranco. The State: Its Nature, Development, and Prospects. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990, pp 34-67.
Rancière, Jacques. Hatred of Democracy. London, New York: Verso, 2007. 33-99
Russell , James. . Double standard: social policy in Europe and the United States. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006, pp. 103-121, 155-160.
Armingeon, Klaus and Michelle Beyeler, (Eds.). The OECD and European Welfare States. Heltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004.
Nugent, Neill. The Government and Politics of the European Union. Durham: Duke University Press,
1999.
Lijphart, Arend. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries.
New Haven: Yale UP, 1999.