Thinking Politics
Keith Fitzgerald
Office Hours: 2-4 Monday & 10:30 12 Thursday
College Hall 204
941-359-4325
fitzgerald@ncf.edu
Required Texts:
Barrington Moore, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy.
Hendrik Spruyt, The Sovereign State and its Competitors.
Martin Shefter, Political Parties and the State.
Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work.
Additional readings will be available on reserve (indicated below by [R]), or through JSTOR (part of the virtual library and indicated below by [J]). Some of the classic readings are in the public domain and are available on the Web. These are indicated by "web" below.
Expectations:
·
All deadlines are firm: I will grant no incompletes or deadline extensions except in cases of genuine emergencies. Academic problems do not qualify as emergencies. Late work must be completed but will be considered automatically unsatisfactory and may not receive the same depth of evalauation.·
Pay attention to form: assignments that do not follow instructions on form will be returned without an evaluation.·
Class participation and attendance are required: I will take attendance and excessive absences may lead to an unsatisfactory evaluation. Participation will be a criterion for evaluation. Quality is more important than quantity.
Assignments:
1: Response paper--6-7 page critical essay that uses one of the shorter readings from the power section to analyze Barrington Moore’s approach to power
2: Annotated bibliography--use the Social Science Citation Index to locate articles that respond to Spruyt’s book (no book reviews allowed.) Select at least five to annotate.
3: Book review—write a critical book review of Shefter’s book.
4. Analytical paper—using Putnam, generate a hypothesis, and specify how you would test it using a comparative method. This should take no more than 7 pages.
5: Portfolio: gather all of your original writing exercises (and evaluations) and return them with a thoughtful cover letter evaluating your work this semester. Rewrites or addendums may be included.
Date Assignment
August 27 R. Dahl, Who Governs (selections in class)
August 30 P. Bachrach & M. Baratz, "Two Faces of Power" [J]
September 3 Labor Day (no class session)
September 6 J. Isaac, Power and Marxist Theory, Chs. 1&3 [R]
September 10 Library Use Day (meet in library)
September 17 B. Moore in Part III of Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Chs. 7 & 8
September 20 Moore, Part III, Chs. 9 & Epilogue
September 24 Moore, Part I, one of the three chapters (assigned previous class)
September 27 Moore, Part II, one of the three chapters (assigned previous class)
October 1 Lisa Wedeen, "Acting ‘as if’—Symbolic Politics and Social Contract
in Syria" [R]
October 4 1st paper due, Aristotle, Book 1 Politics; Machiavelli, The Prince (selections) [R & web]
October 8 Spruyt—Part I
October 11 Spruyt—Part II
October 15 Fall Break
October 18 Fall Break
Spruyt—Part III
October 22 D. Laitin, "Hegemony and Religious Conflict" [R]
October 25 C. Ansell and S. Weber, "Organizing International Politics" [R]
October 29 2nd Paper due, A. de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (selections); J. S. Mill, On Liberty [R 7W]
November 1 Shefter—Ch. 1 & Part I
November 4 Shefter—Part II
November 8 G. Waylen, "Women in Democratization" [J]; E. Bellin, "Contingent Democrats" [R & web]
November 11 Slack day –a chance to catch up—class will meet
November 15 3rd Paper Due, Madison, "Federalist 10" [R & web]; Pateman, Participatory Democracy, selctions [R]
November 19 Putnam—Chs. 1 & 2
November 22 Thanksgiving Day
November 26 Putnam—Chs. 3 & 4
November 29 Putnam—Chs. 5& 6
December 3 J. Widner, "Researching Social Capital in Africa" [R]
December 6 4th Paper Due, wrap up
December 12 Portfolio Due, noon in Social Science Office