POLS 5230
Democratization and Regime Change
Spring 2017
Dr. Nadine Sika
Email: nadinesika@aucegypt.edu
Office: HUSS 2022
Office Hours: MT 12:00 -1:30 p.m or by appointment
Course Description
The advent of the third wave of democratization in the 1970s was an important
phenomenon for political science in general and for comparative politics in particular.
This democratization process introduced new theories in comparative politics, and
expanded debates on many aspects on political change in different countries. Old and
new questions have been addressed concerning the nature of authoritarian regimes,
when do these regimes fall, and how can a country move from authoritarianism to
democracy? What is the nature of regime transitions? How do different countries
build their institutions after authoritarian breakdown? Do all countries that witnessed
regime breakdown transition to transition to democracy?
This class is going to address these major questions and debates along with
other important concepts and challenges of regime change and democratization in the
world. Major theoretical issues are going to be analyzed, with empirical evidence
from different regions of the world.
The Text book is on reserve at the AUC library and is available as an e-book at the
Library website
Text Book
Jan Teorell, Determinants of Democratization (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2013).
Course Requirements
Participation
10 %
In-class presentation
10%
4 Critical Essays
15% each
1 Final Paper
20%
Students have the responsibility to actively participate in class, which means that ALL
READINGS HAVE TO BE DONE BEFORE class. Each student will have the
responsibility to actively present the materials of a week in class. In doing so the
student has to provide his/her class mates with critical analysis and oversight of the
topic under discussion.
Students are required to write four critical essays, (2000 words). These essays should
critically engage with the readings of any week they choose. A clear description of the
topic, including a summary of the readings should be provided. In addition, a
statement of the research question needs to be addressed in the essay.
The second part of the semester is based on case studies of different countries.
Students will engage with these case studies through in-class presentations. Each
student is required to present one case study of democratization/authoritarian
resilience during the first half of a class session.
Students present their paper topic in class to their colleagues. The presentation should
include, an abstract, a theoretical framework, methodology and an outline of the topic.
Based on the class’ input, students should start their research. The final paper is due
on the final examination date. This should be between 20-25 (5000 – 7000 words)
pages long, covering any topic of interest. The papers should be submitted through
Turnit-in.
Plagiarism will result in an F in the course.
GRADES ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE
Letter
Grade
A
AB+
B
Percentage
93+
90-92
87-89
83-86
Letter
Grade
BC+
C
C-
Percentage
80-82
77-79
73-76
70-72
Letter
Grade
D+
D
F
Percentage
67-69
60-66
Below 60
Course Outline
February 2
Introduction to the course and discussion of major theoretical foundations of
regime change and democratization
Part I Political Systems
February 9
Authoritarian and Democratic Regimes
Guillermo O’Donnel, “Bureaucratic-Authoritarian Political Systems in Contemporary
South America,” Modernization and Bureaucratic Authoritarianism (California:
Institute of International Studies, University of California Berkley, 1979), pp. 85-105
Jennifer Gandhi, Political Institutions under Dictatorship (Cambridge: Cambridge
UP, 2008), pp. 1- 40.
Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, “What Democracy Is . . . and Is Not,”
Journal of Democracy, 2 (1991), pp. 75–88
Robert Dahl, “Polyarchal Democracy,” in eds. Robert Dahl et.al. The Democracy
Sourcebook (Cambridge, MA: the MIT Press, 2003), pp. 48-54.
Gerardo Munck, “What is Democracy? A reconceptualization of the quality of
Democracy,” Democratization 23, no. 1 (2016), pp. 1-26.
Part II Approaches to the Study of Democratization
February 16
Transitology: Structural Approaches to the Study of Democratization
Lipset, Seymour M. “The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited,” American
Sociological Review 59, 1 (1993), pp. 1-22
Samuel Huntington, “Democracy’s Third Wave,” Journal of Democracy 2, no. 2
(1991), pp. 12-34.
Geddes, Barbara. “What Do We Know About Democratization after Twenty Years?”
Annual Review of Political Science 2 (1999), pp. 115-144.
Erica Frantz and Andrea Kendall-Taylor, “Pathways to democratization in
personalist dictatorships,” Democratization 24, no.1 (2017), pp. 20-40.
Toerell, Determinants of Democratization, pp. 39-76
February 23
Agency Approaches to “Transitology”
First Critical Essay Due
Bermeo, Nancy 1997, “Myths of Moderation: Confrontation and Conflict during
Democratic Transitions,” Comparative Politics, 29 (3), 305-322.
Stepan, Alfred 1997: “Democratic Opposition and Democratization Theory,”
Government and Opposition 32, no.4 (1997), pp. 657-673.
Tiago Fernandes, “Rethinking pathways to democracy: civil society in Portugal and
Spain, 1960s-2000s” Democratization 22, no. 6 (2015), pp. 1047-1104.
George Deranopolous et.al. “Are coups good for democracy?” Research and Politics
(2016), pp. 1-7
Toerell, Determinants of Democratization pp. 100-116
March 2
Democratic Consolidation
Schedler, Andreas 2001 “Measuring Democratic Consolidation,” Studies in
Comparative International Development, Spring, 66-92.
Merkel, Wolfgang, “The Consolidation of Post-Autocratic Democracies: A Multilevel Model” Democratization 5, no. 3 (2010), 33-67.
Linz, Juan and Alfred Stepan “Toward Consolidated Democracies,” Larry Diamond,
Marc Plattner and Philip Costopoulos, Debates on Democratization (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), pp. 3-22.
Guillermo O’Donnel, “Illusions about Consolidation,” in eds Larry Diamond, Marc
Plattner and Philip Costopoulos, Debates on Democratization (Baltimore, The Johns
Hopkins University Press), pp. 23-40.
Florian Bieber and Irena Ristic, “Constrained Democracy: The Consolidation of
Democracy in Yugoslav Successor States,” Southeastern Europe 36 (2012), pp. 373397.
March 9
Second critical essay due to be written on Hybrid Regimes
Hybrid Regimes
Diamond, Larry 2002: “Thinking About Hybrid Regimes,” Journal of Democracy, 13
(2), 21-35.
Merkel, Wolfgang 2004: “Embedded and Defective Democracies,” Democratization,
11 (5), 33-58.
Wigell, Mikael 2008: “Mapping ‘Hybrid Regimes’: Regime Types and Concepts in
Comparative Hybrid Regimes,” International Political Science Review, 30 (1), 7-31.
Gilbert, Lea and Payan Mohesni, “Beyond Authoritarinism: the Conceptualization of
Hybrid Regimes,” Studies in Comparative International Development 46 (2011), pp.
270-297.
March 16
The End of the Transition Paradigm?
Carothers, Thomas 2010 “the End of the Transition Paradigm,” Journal of Democracy
13, no. 1 (2002), pp. 5-21.
Edward Mansfield and Jack Snyder, “The Sequencing “Fallacy,” Journal of
Democracy 18, no. 3 (2007), pp. 5-10.
Larry Diamond et.al., “Reconsidering the Transition Paradigm,” Journal of
Democracy 25, no. 1 (2014), pp. 86-100.
Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk, “the Signs of Deconsolidation,” Journal of
Democracy 28, no. 1 (2017), pp. 5-15.
March 23
The Resilience of Authoritarianism
McFaul, Michael 2002: “The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Post-communist World,” World Politics, 54 (2), 212244.
Gandhi, Jennifer 2008 Political Institutions under Dictatorships, pp. 163-188.
Köllner, Patrick andn Steffen Kailitz, “Comparing Autocracies: Theoretical Issues
and Empirical Analysis,” Democratization 20, no. 1 (2013), pp. 1-12.
Alexander Dukalskis, “North Korea’s Shadow Economy: A Force for Authoritarian
Resilience or Corrosion?” Europe-Asia Studies 68, no. 3 (2016), pp. 487-507.
Jasmin Lorch and Bettina Bunk, “Using civil society as an authoritarian legitimation
strategy: Algeria and Mozambique in comparative perspective,” Democratization
(2016): DOI
http://www.tandfonline.com.libproxy.aucegypt.edu:2048/doi/pdf/10.1080/13510347.2
016.1256285?needAccess=true.
March 30
The Role of International Actors in Regime Change and Resilience
Toerell, Determinants of Democratization pp. 77-99.
Tezcur, Gunes Murat (2012) “Democracy promotion, authoritarian resiliency and
political unrest in Iran Democratization 19 (1), pp. 120-140.
Poast, Paul and Johannes Urpelainen, (2015) “How International Organizations
Support Democratization: Preventing Authoritarian Reversals or Promoting
Consolidation?” World Politics 67 (1), pp. 72-113.
Bak, Daehee and Chungshik Moon, (2016) “Foreign Direct Investment and
Authoritarian Stability,” Comparative Political Studies pp. 1-40.
Kneuer, Marianne and Thomas Demmelhuber, “Gravity centers of authoritarian rule:
a conceptual approach,” Democratisation 23, no. 5 (2016), pp. 775-796.
Part III: Case Studies in Democratization and the Resilience of Authoritarianism
April 6
Democratization in Latin America
Barrett, Patrick 2000: “Chile’s Transformed Party System and the Future of
Democratic Stability,” Latin American Politics and Society 42, no. 3 (2000), pp. 1-32.
Fuentes, Claudio: “After Pinochet: Civilian Policies Toward the Military in the 1990s
Chilean Democracy,” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, 42, no.
3(2000), 111-142.
Bogaards, Matthijs, “Microscope or Telescope? The Study of Democratisation across
World Regions,” Political Studies Review (2016), pp. 1-11.
DOI: 10.1177/1478929916645360
Macrory, Robbie. “Dilemmas of Democratization: Media Regulation and Reform in
Argentina” Bulletin of Latin American Research, 32 no. 2 (2012), pp. 178-193
Lucardi, Adrian, “Bbuilding Support from Below?” Comparative Political Studies
49, no. 4 (2016), pp. 1855-1895
April 9-17 Spring Break
April 20
Democratization in Eastern Europe
Third Critical Essay due
Ishiyama, John 1995 “Communist Parties in Transition: Structures, Leaders, and
Processes of Democratization in Eastern Europe” Comparative Politics 27, no.2
(1995), pp. 147-166.
Kopstein Jeffrey and Jason Wittenberg, “Beyond Dictatorship and Democracy:
Rethinking National Minority Inclusion and Regime Type in Interwar Eastern
Europe,” Comparative Political Studies 43, no.8/9 (2010), pp. 1089-1118.
Ekiert, Grzegorz, “Demomcracy in Central and Eastern Europe One Hundred Years
On, East European Politics and Societies and Cutlures 27, no. 1 (2013), pp. 90-107.
Petrova, Tsveta. “Diffusion and the Production of Eastern Europe,” Societies and
Cutrlures 29, o. 2 (2015), pp. 487-503.
Carter, Jeff et.al. “Communist Legacies and Democratic Survivial in a Comparative
perspective,” East European Politics and Societies and Cutlures 30, no. 4 (2016), pp.
830-854.
April 27
Colored Revolutions
David Lane, “Coloured Revolution’ as a Political Phenomenon,” Journal of
Communist Studies and Transition Politics 25, no. 2-3 (2009), pp. 113-135.
Evgeny Finkel and Yitzhak Brudny, “No more colour! Authoritarian regimes and
colour revolutions in Eurasia,” Democratization 19, no. 1 (2012), pp. 1-14.
Radnitz, Scott, “Oil in the family: managing presidential succession in Azerbaijan,”
Democratization 19, no. 1 (2012), pp. 60-77
Fisun, Oleksandr, “Rethinking Post-Soviet Politics from a Neopatrimonial
Perspective,” Demokratizatsiya 20, no. 2 (2012), pp. 87-96.
Ishiyama John et.al., “Colored Revolutions, Interpersonal Trust and Confidence in
Institutions: The Concequences of Mass Uprisings,” Social Science Quarterly 97, no.
3 (2016), pp. 748-770.
May 4
Class Cancelled
4th Critical Essay Due to be written on the Middle East
May 11
The Resilience of Authoritarianism in the Middle East
Ellen Lust, “Opposition Cooperation and Uprisings in the Arab world,” British
Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 38, no. 3 (2011), pp. 425-434.
Imad Salamay and Frederic Pearson, “The Collapse of Middle Eastern
Authoritarianism: Breaking barriers of fear and power,” Third World Quarterly 33,
no.5 (2012), pp. 931-948.
Morten Valbjorn and Frederic Volpi, “Rethinking Theories of Arab Politics in the
Aftermath of the Arab Uprisings,” Mediterranean Politics 19, no 1 (2014), pp. 134136.
Martin Beck and Simone Hüser, “Jordan and the ‘Arab Spring’ No Challenge, No
Change? Middle East Critique, 24, no. 1 (2015) pp. 83-97.
Bertold Scheitzer, “Modelling Mechanisms of Democratic Transition in the Arab
Uprisings,” Middle East Critique24, no. 1 (2015), pp. 44-66
Edward Randall, “Libya after Qaddafi: Development and Democratization in Libya,”
The Middle East Journal 69, no. 2 (Spring 2015), pp. 199-221.
Jamie Allinson, “Class forces, transition and the Arab Uprisings: a comparison of
Tuisia, Egypt and Syria” Democratisation 22, no. 2 (2015), pp. 294-314.
Final Paper Due on Final examination date