Short course on quantitative methods in political science
American University, Cairo, June 3-6, 2012
Professors John Huber, Robert Shapiro and Jack Snyder
Columbia University
Department of Political Science
New York, NY 10027
June 3, 18.00-20.00: “The Social Science of Political Development: A Window on
the Arab Spring”
**
June 4, 10.00-12.00: "Democracy and development: Understanding relationships
between two variables"
Readings:
Seymour Martin Lipset. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy:
Economic Development and Political Legitimacy.” The American
Political Science Review, Vol. 53, No. 1(March 1959): 69-105.
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. 2006. Economic Origins of
Dictatorship and Democracy, chapter 3, "What do we know about
democracy." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
June 4, 13.00-15.00: "Democratization and Islam: Understanding multivariate
models"
Readings:
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. 2006. Economic Origins of
Dictatorship and Democracy, chapter 2, "Our argument." Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
M. Steven Fish. “Islam and Authoritarianism,” World Politics 55 (October
2002): 4-37.
June 4: 15.30-17.00: Optional breakout session
**
June 5, 10.00-12.00: "Two examples of robustness of statistical results: Islam and
Women's empowerment, and ethnic voting."
Readings
Michael L. Ross, “Oil, Islam, and Women,” American Political Science
Review 102 (February 2008) : 107-123; and “Reply: What’s So Special
about the Arabian Peninsula? A Reply to Groh and Rothschild.”
Quarterly Journal of Political Science 7 (2012): 89-103.
Mathew Groh and Casey Rothschild, “Oil, Islam, Women, and
Geography: A Comment on Ross (2008).” Quarterly Journal of Political
Science 7 (1, 2012): 69-87.
John D. Huber. "Measuring Ethnic Voting: Do Proportional Electoral
Laws Politicize Ethnicity?" American Journal of Political Science, in
press.
June 5, 13.00-15.00: "Institutional context and mass political behavior: Limited
dependent variables and interactions"
Readings.
Christopher Anderson and Christine A. Guillory. “Political Institutions
and Satisfaction with Democracy: A Cross-National Analysis of
Consensus and Majoritarian Systems.” American Political Science Review
91 (March 1997): 66-81.
John D. Huber, Georgia Kernell, and Eduardo Leoni, “Institutional
Context, Cognitive Resources and Party Attachments Across
Democracies.” Political Analysis 13 (2005): 365-386.
June 5: 15.30-17.00: Optional breakout session
**
June 6: 10.00-12.00: "Democratization and civil conflict: Time series and
identifying causal mechanisms"
Readings
Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder, “Democratization and Civil War.”
Jack Snyder, In Power and Progress: International Politics in Transition.
New York: Routledge, 2012. Pp. 175-200. (Also Saltzman Working Paper
No. 5, February 2008)
Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder, “Does War Influence
Democratization?” in Elizabeth Kier and Ronald Krebs, eds., In War’s
Wake: International Conflict and the Fate of Liberal Democracy
(Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Dawn Brancati and Jack Snyder, “Time to Kill: The Impact of Election
Timing on Post Conflict Stability,” February 6, 2011, forthcoming in
Journal of Conflict Resolution, with a short policy spinoff, “The Libyan
Rebels and Electoral Democracy: Why Rushing to the Polls Could
Reignite Civil War,” Foreign Affairs, “snapshot” piece, September 2,
2011.
Recommended:
John E. Mueller. “Presidential Popularity from Truman to Johnson.”
American Political Science Review 64 (March 1970), 18-34.
Robert Y. Shapiro and Bruce M. Conforto. "Presidential Performance, the
Economy, and the Public's Evaluation of Economic Conditions." Journal of
Politics 42 (February, l980): 49-67.
June 6, 13.00-15.00: "Democracy and inequality: Using instruments to identify causal
effects"
Readings
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. “Colonial
Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation.”
American Economic Review 91 (5, 2001): 1369-1401.
John D. Huber, Thomas K. Ogorzalek, and Radhika Gore. “Democracy,
Targeted Redistribution and Ethnic Inquality.” Columbia University, April
18, 2012.
June 6, 15:30-17.00: Optional breakout session.