PS4:IntroductiontoComparingPoliticalSystems

LectureSchedule:
MondaysandWednesdays,1112:30AM
LectureLocation:
EncinaHall,Room202
Instructor:

JonathanRodden
Email:

jrodden@stanford.edu
OfficeHours:
Mondays,1:003:00PM
OfficeLocation:
EncinaCentral,Room444

TeachingAssistant:
KennedyOpalo
Email:

kopalo@stanford.edu

1.IntroductiontotheCourse

Thiscoursewillprovideanoverviewofthemostbasicquestionsinthecomparativestudyofpolitical
systems,andwillintroducetheanalyticaltoolsthatcanhelpusanswerthem.Bytheendofthecourse,
studentswillunderstandcontemporaryresearchonthemostcentraltheoreticalandempirical
questionsincomparativepolitics:Whyhavesomecountriesdevelopedandmaintaineddemocratic
systems,whileothershavenot?Whataretheconsequencesofdemocracyforeconomicdevelopment
andothersocialoutcomes?Amongdemocracies,howdoinstitutionsandsocialcleavagesinteractto
shapethenatureofrepresentation?Whatexplainscrosscountryandwithincountryvariationsinfiscal
policies,redistribution,andtheprovisionofpublicgoods?

Thefocusisonlargethemesandanalyticaltoolsratherthanindepthstudiesofspecificcountriesor
historicalperiods.Studentswillgainsomebasicfamiliaritywithtechniqueslikegametheory,
experiments,andquantitativeanalysis.Studentswillgettheirhandsondata,andseehowitcanbe
usedtoevaluatetheoreticalarguments.

Ouroverviewwillbeguidedbyatextbook,PrinciplesofComparativePolitics,byWilliamClark,Matt
Golder,andSonaGolder.Thetextbookwillbesupplementedwithacademicarticlesthatpresentresults
ofrelevantempiricalresearch.Sincethiscourseservesasaspringboardtoothercoursesincomparative
politicsatStanford,wewillfocusinparticularonarticlespublishedbyStanfordprofessors.

2.Requirements

Studentsarerequiredtoattendlecturesanddiscussionsections.Bothtypesofmeetingswilloften
covermaterialthatisnotinthetextbook.Pleaseprepareforbothlecturesandsectionmeetingssothat
youcanaskandanswerquestionsaboutthereadings.Theformatforthelectureswillinvolve
considerablediscussion.Slidesandlecturenoteswillnotbepostedonline.

Gradedassignmentsinclude:

1)HomeworkAssignmentI: 5%
2)HomeworkassignmentII: 10%
3)Inclassmidterm:
20%
4)Analyticalassignment:
25%
5)FinalExamination:
25%
6)Participation

15%


3.Materials

Thefollowingbooksareavailableforpurchaseatthecampusbookstore:

Clark,WilliamRoberts,MattGolder,andSonaNadenichekGolder.2009.PrinciplesofComparative
Politics.CongressionalQuarterlyPress.

Pollock,PhilipIII.2011.AStataCompaniontoPoliticalAnalysis(secondedition).Congressional
QuarterlyPress.

STATAisavailableonmanycampuscomputers,anda1yearlicenseforsmallSTATA11canalsobe
purchasedbyStanfordstudentsthroughtheuniversityfor$29.Gotothiswebpage:
https://itservices.stanford.edu/service/softwarelic/stata/order
ClickonorderinformationandthengradplanMethod3.

Papers,bookchapters,andotheradditionalreadingmaterials,alongwithsomedatasets,willbe
availableonthecourseworksite.

4.DetailedSchedule

Part1:BuildingBlocks

January3
Lecture:Introduction

Principles,Chapter1

January5
Lecture:WhatisScience?

Principles,Chapter2

January6
Section:

Almond,GabrielandStephenGenco.1977.Clouds,Clocks,andtheStudyof
Politics.WorldPolitics29(4):489522.

1) Discussion:Cantherebeascienceofpolitics?Whatarethemostimportant
questionsthatshouldbeaddressedbypoliticalscientists?Aretheymorelike
Poppersclocksorclouds?

2) Anintroductoryprimerongametheory

January10
Lecture:WhatisPolitics?

Principles,Chapter3

Riker,WilliamandPeterOrdeshook.1973.AnIntroductiontoPositivePolitical
Theory.PrenticeHall.Chapter1.


January12

Lecture:TheState:ItsOriginsandFunctions

Principles,Chapter4

Readquicklyforthekeyargumentsineachofthefollowing:

Herbst,Jeffrey.2000.StatesandPowerinAfrica.Chapter1andconclusion.

Centeno,Miguel.2002.BloodandDebt:WarandtheNationStateinLatin
America.Chapter1.

Fearon,JamesandDavidLaitin.2003.Ethnicity,Insurgency,andCivilWar.
AmericanPoliticalScienceReview97(1):7590.

January13

Section:
1) Continuediscussionofthestate,especiallyoutsideWesternEurope.Some
questions:
a. Whydosomestatesseemtobestrongerthanothers?
b. IstheEuropeanprocessofstatebuildingunique?
c. Whatistheroleofcolonialism?

2) Furtherworkongametheory

HOMEWORKASSIGNMENT1DISTRIBUTEDONJANUARY14,DUEONJANUARY19INCLASS

January17
NOCLASS,MLKDAY

Part2:DemocracyanditsAlternatives

January19
Conceptualizingandmeasuringdemocracy.

Principles,Chapter5.

Karl,TerryLynnandPhilippeSchmitter.1991.WhatDemocracyIs..andisNot.
JournalofDemocracy2(3):7588.

Acemoglu,DaronandJamesRobinson.2006.EconomicOriginsofDictatorshipand
Democracy.CambridgeUniversityPress,Chapter3.

HOMEWORKASSIGNMENT1DUEINCLASSJANUARY19

January20
Section:IntroductiontoStata,descriptivestatistics,andsimplecomparisons

StataCompanion,Chapters1,2,and4

January24
Lecture:EconomicDevelopmentandDemocracy

Principles,Chapter6.

Ross,MichaelLewin.2001.DoesOilHinderDemocracy?WorldPolitics53:325
361.

Haber,StephenandVictorMenaldo.2010.DoNaturalResourcesFuel
Authoritarianism?AReappraisaloftheResourceCurse.Workingpaper,Stanford.

HOMEWORKASSIGNMENT2DUEINCLASSJANUARY24:

Usingtheworld,states,andoildatasets,dothefollowing:

CreateahistogramofGDPpercapitaacrosscountries.Createahistogramofper
capitaincomeacrossU.S.states.Whatdothesedistributionsmean?Isincome
distributedmoreequallyacrossU.S.statesoracrosscountries?
GenerateabarchartthatcontraststheGDPpercapitaofheavyoilexportersversus
othercountries.Dothesamefortwoorthreeothervariablesintheworlddataset
thatcorrespondtoargumentsintheresourcecurseliterature.Whatlightmight
thesebarchartsshedontheresourcecurse?Whatmightbewrongwiththistype
ofanalysis?

January26
Lecture:CultureandDemocracy

Principles,Chapter7.

January27
Section:

1) Furtherdiscussionofdemocracy,culture,anddevelopment
2) Experimentsinpoliticalscience

Habyarimana,James,MacartanHumphreys,DanielPosner,andJeremyWeinstein.
2007.WhyDoesEthnicDiversityUnderminePublicGoodsProvision?American
PoliticalScienceReview101(4):709725.

January31
Lecture:DemocraticTransitions

Principles,Chapter8.

Acemoglu,DaronandJamesRobinson.2006.EconomicOriginsofDictatorshipand
Democracy.CambridgeUniversityPress,Chapter2.

February2
INCLASSMIDTERM

February3
Section:DoesDemocracyMakeaDifference?

Principles,Chapter9,pages311331.

Section3:VarietiesofDemocracy

February7
Lecture:Decisionmakingindemocracies

Principles,Chapter10

February9
Lecture:ParliamentaryandPresidentialDemocracy

Principles,Chapter11andpages742760.

Bagehot,Walter.TheEnglishConstitution:TheCabinet.InArendLijphart,ed,
ParliamentaryversusPresidentialGovernment.Oxford,pages6671.

Wilson,Woodrow.CommitteeorCabinetGovernment?InArendLijphart,ed,
ParliamentaryversusPresidentialGovernment.Oxford,pages7274.

February10 Section:

1)Furtherdiscussionofexecutivelegislativerelations

2)Makingandinterpretingscatterplots

StataCompanion,pages139147.

February14 Lecture:ElectionsandElectoralSystems.

Principles,Chapter12.

February16 Lecture:SocialCleavagesandPartySystems.

Principles,Chapter13.

delaO,AnaandJonathanRodden.2008.DoesReligionDistractthePoor?
IncomeandIssueVotingaroundtheWorld.ComparativePoliticalStudies41(45):
43776.

February17 Section:Whyaresomecleavagespoliticizedandnotothers?

Posner,Daniel.2004.ThePoliticalSalienceofCultureDifference:WhyChewas
andTumbukasareAlliesinZambiaandAdversariesinMalawi.AmericanPolitical
ScienceReview98:529545.

UNGRADEDHOMEWORKASSIGNMENTDUEFEBRUARY17:MAKEASCATTERPLOT(ANYTWO
CONTINUOUSVARIABLESTHATAREOFINTERESTTOYOU)

February21 NOCLASS,PRESIDENTSDAY

February23 Lecture:Federalism,Bicameralism,andtheJudiciary

Principles,Chapter14
Rodden,Jonathan.2006.ThePoliticalEconomyofFederalism.InBarryWeingast
andDonaldWitman,eds.,OxfordHandbookofPoliticalEconomy.

February24 Section:Discussionofanalyticalassignment

ANALYTICALASSIGNMENTDUEFEBRUARY24

Usingoneoftheonlinedatasetsoranyotherdataofinterest,generateascatterplotthatrelatestoa
comparativepoliticstheorythatinterestsyou.Answerthefollowingquestions:

Whatisthetheorythatinspiredthisgraph?
Whatdowelearnfromthisgraphaboutthetheory?
Whataresomereasonsforskepticismabouttheusefulnessofthisgraph?
Takeacloserlookatoneofthecasesthatdoesnotfitthetheory.Explainwhyit
doesnotfit.
Withalargeramountoftimeandresources,whatwouldbeabetterwaytotestthe
theory?

Write12paragraphsinresponsetoeachquestion,around34pagestotal.

February28 Lecture:ConsequencesofDemocraticInstitutions,PartI:RepresentationandFiscal
Policy

Principles,Chapter15,pages675724.

March2
Lecture:Consequences,PartII:Redistribution

Aleseina,Alberto,EdwardGlaeser,andBruceSacerdote.2001.WhyDoesntthe
U.S.HaveaEuropeanStyleWelfareState?HIERPaperNo.1933.

March3
Section:Consequences,PartIII:InstitutionsandEthnicConflict

Principles,Chapter15,pages723742.

March7
TBA

March9
FinalLecture:ReviewandWrapup

FINALEXAMWILLCOVERONLYMATERIALSFROMTHESECONDHALFOFTHECOURSE,ANDWILLTAKE
PLACEDURINGEXAMPERIOD