COMPARATIVE POLITICS OF
LATIN AMERICA:
DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIZATION
POLI 134AA
FALL 2014
Instructor: Peter H. Smith
364 Social Science Building
phsmith@ucsd.edu
Office hours: Wednesday 3-5
COURSE WEBSITE
http://pages.ucsd.edu/~phsmith
OR go to UCSD and then:
Political Science
Faculty
Peter Smith
Homepage
Teaching
PS134AA
READINGS
 Peter H. Smith, Democracy in Latin America:
Political Change in Comparative Perspective, 2nd
edition (2012)
 Thomas E. Skidmore, Peter H. Smith, and James N.
Green Modern Latin America, 8th revised edition
(2014)
 Selected Readings on Website
VIDEOS
 “Battle of Chile”
 “No” [Chile]
 “Garden of the Forking Paths” [Argentina]
 “In Women’s Hands” [Chile]
EXAMS AND ASSIGNMENTS
 Mid-term Exam: Thursday, November 20 (33% of
grade)
 Analytical Paper: Thursday, December 11 (67% of
grade)
KEY QUESTIONS
 What explains the spread of democracy in Latin


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
America? Given authoritarian past?
What kind of democracy? What quality?
What’s new about the current phase of democratic
change? How does it compare to prior periods?
What role (if any) for the United States?
What implications for U.S. relations with Latin
America?
2014 ELECTION CYCLE
 Costa Rica
 Panama
 Colombia
 El Salvador
 Brazil (October 5 + 26)
 Bolivia (October 12)
 Uruguay (October 26 + November 30)
COURSE SCHEDULE
 Oct 02: Introduction
 Oct 07: “Battle of Chile”
 Oct 09: Cycles and Transitions
 Oct 16: Changing Roles of the Military
 Oct 21: “No”
 Oct 23: Presidentialism and Representation
 Oct 28: “Garden of the Forking Paths”
 Oct 30: The Role of Political Institutions
 Nov 04: Economic Policies and Performance
 Nov 06: Liberal and Illiberal Democracy
 Nov 11: The Politics of Gender
 Nov 13: “In Women’s Hands”
 Nov 18: The Rise of the New Left
 Nov 20: MID-TERM EXAM
 Nov 25: Country Brief: Venezuela
 Dec 02: What Now? Democracy and U.S.-Latin
American Relations
 Dec 09: Political Change in Retrospect
 Dec 11: PAPER DUE
FRIENDLY ADMONITIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Try to put yourself in the place of a Latin American
citizen,
Imagine how the world feels, not only how it looks,
View course material as relevant to political change in
other regions and parts of the world,
Take videos seriously, and
Have fun!