PS 2607 – Democratic Theory and Democratization
Prof. Michael Goodhart (goodhart@pitt.edu)
Office hours: Wed. 10-Noon and by appointment
Office: 4615 Posvar Hall
The field of democratic theory is
vast: anything like a
comprehensive survey is
impossible in a single semester.
This course aims to introduce PhD
students in political science and
related disciplines (e.g., history,
sociology, philosophy, public
policy) to some of the key
historical, conceptual, and analytic
debates about democracy and
democratization. It provides a
perspective informed by classical
sources and by the evolution of
debates about democracy within
the social sciences.
We begin with a few readings in the classical tradition of democratic theory: John
Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Alexis de Tocqueville. This brief foray into classical
theory helps to establish the conceptual parameters within which modern democratic
theory developed. We next consider important 20th century challenges to the classical
tradition from empirically-minded scholars as well as the theorists’ responses to those
challenges. This unit concludes with a consideration of minimalist theories of democracy, in
which we’ll try to evaluate their normative and empirical advantages and limitations. The
aim of this unit is to think about what classical democratic theory can tell us about how
modern political institutions (in the broadest sense) operate, as well as what democratic
theory can and should learn from the empirical study of politics.
Next, we look at several important concepts in the contemporary field of democratic
theory: representation, accountability, republicanism, and deliberation. We’ll briefly survey
the literature on these topics, again following our approach of trying to bring the normative
and the empirical together fruitfully – both in an analytic and a critical sense.
Finally, in the last third of the course we look at leading theories of democratization –
class, modernization, and transition theories – subjecting them to careful empirical and
normative critique. We shall also consider the problem of democratization both as a
supranational phenomenon (in the context of the EU) and as a process of democratic
deepening.
Structure of the Course
We shall follow a standard seminar format – attendance and participation are required (25
percent of your grade). Each week, you will write a one-page, single-spaced analytic essay
focusing on what you take to be the most interesting or problematic aspect of the week’s
readings. These SHOULD NOT be summaries or book reviews. Essays should be submitted
by Noon on the day of class, via email, to the instructor. (The best 10 of these essays will
count for 25 percent of your grade). Students should be prepared to talk about their essays
in class. In addition, each student will write a slightly longer (4-6 page) essay that brings
ideas in the course into critical engagement with something you are reading or writing for
another course or for your thesis or dissertation (25%). Finally, there will be a one-hour
individual oral exam with the instructor (25% of your grade). You will be asked to
demonstrate your familiarity with the texts and your ability to synthesize and reflect on the
material we have covered.
Required Readings
The following required texts are on order at the campus bookstore. I’ve tried to order the
absolute cheapest editions.
Dahl, Robert A. Polyarchy (Yale)
Linz, Juan, and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation
(Johns Hopkins)
Locke, John Second Treatise of Government (Hackett)
Pateman, Carole, Participation and Democratic Theory (Cambridge)
Pettit, Philip, Republicanism (Oxford)
Pitkin, Hannah, The Concept of Representation (California)
Reuschemeyer, Dietrich, Evelyne Huber Stephens, and John Stephens, Capitalist
Development and Democracy (Chicago)
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, The Basic Political Writings (Hackett)
de Sousa Santos, Boaventura, ed. Democratizing Democracy: Beyond the Liberal Democratic
Canon. Verso (2007
de Tocqueville, Alexis, Democracy in America, Mansfield and Winthrop, trans. (Chicago)
Additional readings will be posted on the courseweb page.
Course Schedule
Classical Democratic Theory
January 4, 2012
Introduction and Overview of the Course
Discussion of course requirements
January 11
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origins of Inequality; The Social Contract
January 18
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pp. 3-15, 27-75, 80-98, 105-7, 128-30, 141-2,
146-170, 172-202, 205-6, 210-51, 264-384, 399-410, 415-24, 426-44, 458-63, 479-524, 53055, 558-65, 567-87, 589-99, 604-17, 623-25.
Classical Democratic Theory in Question
January 25- Democratic revisionism
Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York: Harper (1942),
chs. 20-23.
Robert Michels, “Oligarchy” selections from Political Parties. New York: Free Press
(1966), pp. 61-62, 65-73, 81-84, 87-89, 99-100, 103-4, 109-11, 167-68, 170-71,
172-73, 177-80, 364-71.
Bernard R. Berelson, Paul F. Lazarfeld, and William N. McPhee, “Democratic Practice
and Democratic Theory,” in Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a
Presidential Campaign. Chicago (1954)
*Robert Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory, Chicago (1956), chaps. 1-4
Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper and Row
(1957), chaps. 1-3
Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five
Nations. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. (1965), chs. 1, 8
Feb 1 - The reply to revisionism
T.B. Bottomore, “The Insufficiency of Elite Competition.”*
Henry S. Kariel, “The Pluralist Norm.”*
Christian Bay, “The Concern with Pseudopolitics.”*
Graeme Duncan and Steven Lukes, “Democracy Restated.”*
Lane Davis, “The Cost of the New Realism.”*
Jack L. Walker, “Normative Consequences of “Democratic” Theory.”*
Robert E. Agger, Daniel Goldrich, and Bert E. Swanson, “Politics and Polyarchy.”*
Carole Pateman, Participation and Democratic Theory, 1-66
* These essays appeared in Henry S. Kariel, ed., Frontiers of Democratic Theory. New York:
Random House (1970). They are available as a single pdf on courseweb, “Kariel”
Feb. 8– Minimal conceptions of democracy
Robert Dahl, Polyarchy. Yale (1971)
Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, “What Democracy Is… and Is Not,” Journal of
Democracy 2.3 (Summer 1991), 75-88
Adam Przeworski, “Minimalist conception of democracy: a defense,: in Ian Shapiro and
Casiano Hacker-Cordón, eds., Democracy’s Value. New York: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 23-55.
Pamela Paxton, “Women’s Suffrage in the Measurement of Democracy: Problems of
Operationalization” Studies in Comparative International Development 35.3 (Fall
2000), 92–111.
Key concepts
Feb. 15 – Representation
Hannah Pitkin, The Concept of Representation
Andrew Rehfeld, (paper from APT on Pitkin).
Feb. 22 – Accountability
In Przeworski, Stokes, and Manin, eds., Democracy, Accountability, and Representation
Dahl, R. (1999). Can International Organizations Be Democratic? A Skeptic's View.
Democracy's Edges. Ian Shapiro and Casiano Hacker-Cordón. Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press: 19-36.
David Held (2004). “Democratic Accountability and Political Effectiveness from a
Cosmopolitan Perspective.” Government and Opposition 39(2): 364-91.
Ruth W. Grant and Robert O. Keohane (2005). “Accountability and Abuses of Power in World
Politics.” American Political Science Review 99(1): 29-43.
Goodhart, M. (2011). “Democratic Accountability in Global Politics: Norms, not Agents.”
Journal of Politics 73(1): 45-60.
Feb. 28– Republicanism
Pettit, P. (1997). Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government. Oxford, Oxford
University Press.
Habermas, J. (1996). “Three Normative Models of Democracy.” Democracy and Difference:
Contesting the Boundaries of the Political. S. Benhabib. Princeton, Princeton
University Press.
Wall, S. (2001). “Freedom, Interference and Domination.” Political Studies 49(2): 216-230.
March 7&14 – No Class
March 21 – Discourse and Deliberation
James Bohman and William Rehg (1997). Deliberative Democracy: Essays on Reason and
Politics. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press (selections)
Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, Why Deliberative Democracy?
Democratization
March 28 – Class based theories
Karl Marx, “The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon”; “The Paris Commune”
Barrington Moore (1966), Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Boston: Beacon
Press
April 4– Modernization theories
Seymour Martin Lipset, “Some Social Requisites of Democracy,” APSR 53.1 (1959)
Seymour Martin Lipset, “The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited: 1993 Presidential
Address,” American Sociological Review 59.1 (February 1994).
Rueschemeyer, Stephens, and Stephens, Capitalist Development and Democracy,
chapters 1-5, 7.
April 11– Democratic transitions and consolidation
Dankwart Rustow, “Transitions to Democracy,” Comparative Politics 2,3 (1970)
Linz and Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation
April 18 – Democracy and the EU
Lord, C. and D. Beetham (2001). “Legitimizing the EU: Is there a 'Post-parliamentary Basis' for
its Legitimation?” Journal of Common Market Studies 39(3): 443-462.
Eriksen, E. O. (2000). Deliberative Supranationalism in the EU. Democracy in the European
Union: Integration through Deliberation? E. O. Eriksen and J. E. Fossum. London,
Routledge: 42-64.
Moravcsik, A. (2002). “In Defence of the 'Democratic Deficit': Reassessing Legitimacy in the
European Union.” Journal of Common Market Studies 40(4): 603-624.
Bohman, J. (2004). “Constitution Making and Democratic Innovation: The European Union
and Transnational Governance.” European Journal of Political Theory 3(3): 315-337.
Bellamy, R. (2003). Sovereighty, Post-sovereignty, and Pre-Sovereignty: Three Models of the
State, Democracy, and Rights in the EU. Sovereignty in Transition. N. Walker. Oxford,
Hart Publishing: 167-189.
Goodhart, M. (2007). “Europe’s Democratic Deficits Through the Looking Glass: The
European Union as a Challenge for Democracy.” Perspectives on Politics 5(3): 567-84.
April 25 – Democratizing democracy
Carole Pateman, “Democracy and Democratization,” International Political Science Review
17.1 (1996), pp. 5-12.
Boaventura de Sousa Santos, ed. Democratizing Democracy: Beyond the Liberal Democratic
Canon. Verso (2007). (selections)
APSA Presidential Task Force: “Participatory Governance” (draft report).
Oral exams will be scheduled for April 24 and 25