Fall 2003
Room: 134 N. Kedzie
5:00-7:50 PM Thursday
Office hours: M, W 11:00-12:00
or by appointment
Prof. Brian D. Silver
Office: 337 South Kedzie
Phone: 355-2237
email: bsilver@msu.edu
Political Science 850
Proseminar in Comparative Politics
Required Readings
Books
Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune. The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. Krieger.
Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy. Yale University Press.
Charles Ragin, The Comparative Method. Univ. of California Press.
Adam Przeworski et al., Democracy and Development. Cambridge University Press.
Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture. Sage Publications.
Robert D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work. Princeton Univ. Press.
Norris, Pippa. Critical Citizens. Oxford Univ. Press.
Additional Readings and Sources:
The bulk of read materials will be found in the above books or on the web. Some additional readings will be
handed out in class. Required readings are marked with an asterisk (*) below.
You should also familiarize yourself with JSTOR, which has back issues of 26 Political Science journals. It also
has many “area studies” journals (on Latin America, Africa, Asia, etc.). For many of the readings, I have tried
to insert direct links to JSTOR or other on-line sources of the material, such as OCLC First Search. Using
these links you should be able to download and print most of the articles that we shall discuss.
The Field of Comparative Politics
The field of comparative politics has an ambiguous definition. On the one hand, it is concerned with the
politics or government of “foreign countries” (i.e., countries other than the one in which the researcher lives).
On the other hand, it is concerned with comparing all countries or settings in an effort to discover general or
universal laws of political behavior. Scholars who use the first approach often use qualitative research
methods (though many use quantitative methods) and sometimes use a more eclectic or descriptive or
interdisciplinary approach that draws heavily on “contextual” information to understand or interpret events
and behaviors.. Scholars who use the second approach tend to adopt quantitative research methods (though
they may also use qualitative methods) and to regard different societies as “laboratories” to test hypotheses
about general political phenomena. By no means are these two approaches absolute or mutually exclusive.
For example, most single-country research is strongly theoretically driven and it is often quantitative; but
sometimes different orientations toward the field lead to conflict over how faculties ought to be organized and
students ought to be trained.
-1-
This proseminar illustrates some of the main ways of contending in the field of comparative politics. It
focuses more on how we go about conducting comparative analysis, and on core concepts, than it does on
extant theories. Students should have some background in general issues in research design, such as can be
gained from taking PLS 800 or by a reading of Campbell and Stanley, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental
Designs, or King, Keohane, and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry.
Another goal is this course is to provide brief exposure to some of the founding behavioral literature in
comparative politics. Literacy as a comparativist means that students should be familiar with the origins of
certain concepts that are widely used today but that sometimes appear to have been ripped away from their
roots. The idea of political support, for example, comes from the systems analyses proposed by David Easton,
Gabriel Almond, and others writing in the 1950’s and 1960s. It is debatable whether later scholars have added
substantially to our understanding of the concept.
A third important goal of this seminar is to familiarize students with the multi-country data sets as well as with
methods of “operationalizing” some of the central concepts in the comparative politics literature.
1.
COMPARATIVE POLITICS: What is it? Why do we do it? What skills do we need?
* (book) Przeworski and Teune, The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry, Introduction, chaps. 1 and 2.
* Jackman, R. “Cross-National Statistical Research and the Study of Comparative Politics,” American Journal of Political
Science 29 (Feb. 1985): 161-182. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00925853%28198502%2929%3A1%3C161%3ACSRATS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L
* (book) C. Ragin, The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies.
*Steven Kotkin, “A World War Among Professors,” New York Times, Sept. 7, 2002 (available here).
*Sharla Stewart, “Revolution from Within,” University of Chicago Alumni Magazine 95 (June 2003). Avaiilable at
http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0306/features/index.shtml
2.
COMPARATIVE DESIGN: What Makes for a Good “Comparative” Research Resign?
Case Studies, Small N Studies, Multi-Country Studies
* A. Lijphart, “Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method,” American Political Science Review 65 (Sept. 1971): 682693. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28197109%2965%3A3%3C682%3ACPATCM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I
T. Skocpol and M. Somers, “The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry,” Comparative Studies in Society and
History 22 (April 1980): 174-197. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00104175%28198004%2922%3A2%3C174%3ATUOCHI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
Bollen, K., B. Entwisle, A. Alderson, “Macrocomparative Research Methods,”Annual Review of
Sociology 19. (1993): 321-351.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0360-0572%281993%2919%3C321%3AMRM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S
* Edgar Kiser and Michael Hechter, “The Role of General Theory in Comparative-Historical Sociology,” American Journal
of Sociology 97 (July 1991): 1-30. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00029602%28199107%2997%3A1%3C1%3ATROGTI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X
.
*Geddes, “How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics,” in James
A. Stimson, Ed., Political Analysis 2 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press): 131-150. (Distributed in class)
* S. Lieberson, “Small N’s and Big Conclusions: An Examination of the Reasoning in Comparative Studies Based on a
Small Number of Cases,” Social Forces 70 (Dec. 1991): 307-320.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-7732%28199112%2970%3A2%3C307%3ASNABCA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0
Barrington Moore, Jr. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Boston: Beacon Press, 1966.
Michael Hechter, Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British National Development, 1536-1966. Berkeley: Univ. of
California Press, 1975.
3.
CONCEPT FORMATION AND OPERATIONALIZATION
* Giovanni Sartori, “Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 64 (Dec., 1970):
1033-1053. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28197012%2964%3A4%3C1033%3ACMICP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A
* R. Adcock and D. Collier, “Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research,”
American Political Science Review 95 (Sept. 2001): 529-546.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000081410992&Fmt=4&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=1&Sid=1&RQT=309
-2-
* D. Javeline, “Response Effects in Polite Cultures - A Test of Acquiescence in Kazakhstan,” Public Opinion Quarterly 63
(Spring 1999): 128.http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000041020948&Fmt=4&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=2&Sid=1&RQT=309
C. Osgood, P. Tanenbaum, and G. Suci. The Measurement of Meaning. University of Illinois Press, 1957.
H. Cantril. The Pattern of Human Concerns. Rutgers: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1965.
4.
SOME FOUNDATION LITERATURE: Founding behavioral literature in comparative politics from the
1950s and 1960s is important not only because of the theoretical foundations that it laid but also because many important
concepts from that literature continue to be used by political scientists, sometimes unwittingly out of the context and
spirit of the original theory. Examples are the idea of “political culture,” “cross cutting cleavages,” “political support,”
“interest articulation and interest aggregation,” and “political institutionalization.”
* D. Easton, “An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems, World Politics 9 (April 1957): 383-400.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8871%28195704%299%3A3%3C383%3AAATTAO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
* D. Easton, “A Re-Assessment of the Concept of Political Support,” British Journal of Political Science 5 (Oct. 1975): 435457.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0007-1234%28197510%295%3A4%3C435%3AAROTCO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I
* G. A. Almond, “Comparative Political Systems,” Journal of Politics 18 (Aug., 1956): 391-409.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3816%28195608%2918%3A3%3C391%3ACPS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
G. A. Almond, “An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems,” in G. Almond and J. Coleman, Eds., The Politics of
the Developing Areas (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960).
* G. A. Almond, “A Developmental Approach to Political Systems,” World Politics 17 (Jan. 1965): 183-214.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8871%28196501%2917%3A2%3C183%3AADATPS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M
* S. M. Lipset, “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy,” American
Political Science Review 53 (March, 1959): 69-105.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28195903%2953%3A1%3C69%3ASSRODE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D
* S. M. Lipset, “The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited,” American Sociological Review: 59 (Feb., 1994): 1-22.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-1224%28199402%2959%3A1%3C1%3ATSRODR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
5.
MASS ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR
Political Culture and its Descendents (“types” of culture, social trust, social capital, etc.)
* G. A. Almond, “Comparative Political Systems,” Journal of Politics 18 (August 1956): 391-409.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3816%28195608%2918%3A3%3C391%3ACPS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
* (book) G. A Almond and S. Verba. Civic Culture. Princeton University Press, 1963.
A. Inkeles, “Making Men Modern: On the Causes and Consequences of Individual Change in Six Developing Countries,”
American Journal of Sociology 75 (Sep., 1969): 208-225. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00029602%28196909%2975%3A2%3C208%3AMMMOTC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M
* J. Granato, R. Inglehart, and D. Leblang, “The Effect of Cultural Values on Economic Development: Theory,
Hypotheses, and Some Empirical Tests,” American Journal of Political Science 40 (August 1996): 607-631.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0092-5853%28199608%2940%3A3%3C607%3ATEOCVO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2
* R. W. Jackman and R. A. Miller, “The Poverty of Political Culture,” American Journal of Political Science 40 (August 1996):
697-716. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0092-5853%28199608%2940%3A3%3C697%3ATPOPC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
* (book) R. D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work. Princeton Univ. Press, 1993.
* R. Inglehart, “The Silent Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-Industrial Societies,” American Political
Science Review, Vol. 65 (Dec., 1971): 991-1017. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00030554%28197112%2965%3A4%3C991%3ATSRIEI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W
* R. J. Inglehart, “The Renaissance of Political Culture,” American Political Science Review 82 (Dec., 1988): 1203-1230.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28198812%2982%3A4%3C1203%3ATROPC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4
* P. R. Abramson and R. J. Inglehart, “Generational Replacement and Value Change in Eight West European Societies,”
British Journal of Political Science 22 (Apr. 1992): 183-228. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00071234%28199204%2922%3A2%3C183%3AGRAVCI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
R. W. Jackman and R. A. Miller, “A Renaissance of Political Culture?” American Journal of Political Science 40 (August 1996):
632-659. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0092-5853%28199608%2940%3A3%3C632%3AAROPC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3
* D. W. Davis, K. M. Dowley, and B. D. Silver, “Postmaterialism in World Societies: Is It Really a Value Dimension?”
American Journal of Political Science 43 (July 1999): 935-962. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00925853%28199907%2943%3A3%3C935%3APIWSII%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O
-3-
* B. D. Silver, and K. M. Dowley, “Measuring Political Culture in Multi-Ethnic Societies: Reaggregating the World Values
Survey,” Comparative Political Studies 33 (May 2000): 517-550.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000053814943&Fmt=4&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=10&Sid=1&RQT=309
* R. G. Putnam, “Bowling Alone,” Journal of Democracy 6 (Jan. 1995): 65-78.
http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/journal_of_democracy/v006/putnam.html.
* P. Norris. Critical Citizens. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
* K. Dowley and B. Silver, “Social Capital, Ethnicity and Support for Democracy in the Post-Communist States,” EuropeAsia Studies 54 (June 2002): 505-527. (This will be put on line for the class.)
S. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Ethnic Politics: Primordialism, Constructivism, Conflict and Cooperation
D. Rae and M. Taylor, “An Analysis of Crosscutting between Political Cleavages,” Comparative Politics 1 (July 1969): 534547. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-4159%28196907%291%3A4%3C534%3AAAOCBP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U
S. Verba, “Organizational Membership and Democratic Consensus,” Journal of Politics 27 (Aug. 1965): 467-497.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3816%28196508%2927%3A3%3C467%3AOMADC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
C. Geertz, “ The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civil Politics in the New States” in Geertz, Ed.,The
Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973): 254-310.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983.
L. Binder, “National Integration and Political Development,” American Political Science Review 58 (Sept. 1964): 622-631.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28196409%2958%3A3%3C622%3ANIAPD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z
A. Lijphart, “Consociational Democracy,” World Politics 21 (Jan., 1969): 207-225.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8871%28196901%2921%3A2%3C207%3ACD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E
P. Roeder, “Peoples and States after 1989: The Political Costs of Incomplete National Revolutions,”Slavic Review 58
(Winger 1999): 854-882.
P. Roeder, “Clash of Civilizations and Escalation of Domestic Ethnopolitical Conflicts,” Comparative Political Studies 36,
No. 5 (June 2003): 509-540.
M. Olsen. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1965.
J. Fearon and D. Laitin, “Explaining Interethnic Cooperation,” American Political Science Review 90 (Dec. 1996): 715-735.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28199612%2990%3A4%3C715%3AEIC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8
T. R. Gurr, Minorities at Risk: A Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts. Washington, DC: USIP, 1993.
Voting Participation: Institutional and Societal Factors
* G. B. Powell, Jr., “American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective,”American Political Science Review 80 (Mar., 1986):
17-43. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28198603%2980%3A1%3C17%3AAVTICP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N
* R. W. Jackman, “Political Institutions and Voter Turnout in the Industrial Democracies,” American Political Science Review
81 (June 1987): 405-424. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28198706%2981%3A2%3C405%3APIAVTI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R
G. B. Powell and G. D. Whitten, “A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting: Taking Account of the Political
Context,” American Journal of Political Science 37 (May 1993): 391-414.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0092-5853%28199305%2937%3A2%3C391%3AACAOEV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z
R. Dalton, Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies, 3rd Edn. New Yor: Chatham
House.
Political Violence and Collective Action
* T. R. Gurr, “A Causal Model of Civil Strife,” American Political Science Review 62. (Dec. 1968): 1104-1124.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28196812%2962%3A4%3C1104%3AACMOCS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E
T. R. Gurr, Why Men Rebel. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
J. Davies, “Toward a Theory of Revolution,” American Sociological Review 27 (Feb., 1962): 5-19.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-1224%28196202%2927%3A1%3C5%3ATATOR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7
M. Olsen. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1965.
6.
POLITICAL CHANGE (Modernization, Development, and Democratization and
“Transitions”)
K. W. Deutsch, “Social Mobilization and Political Development,” American Political Science Review 55 (Sept. 1961): 493514. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28196109%2955%3A3%3C493%3ASMAPD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O
* S. Huntington, “Political Development and Political Decay,” World Politics 17 (Apr. 1965): 386-430.
*
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8871%28196504%2917%3A3%3C386%3APDAPD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E
-4-
* S. Huntington, “The Change to Change: Modernization, Development, and Politics,” Comparative Politics 3 (Apr. 1971):
283-322. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-4159%28197104%293%3A3%3C283%3ATCTCMD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L
* D. A. Rustow, “Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model,” Comparative Politics 2 (Apr., 1970): 337-363.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-4159%28197004%292%3A3%3C337%3ATTDTAD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X
* S. Huntington, “How Countries Democratize,” Political Science Quarterly 106 (Winter, 1991-2): 579-616.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0032-3195%28199124%2F199220%29106%3A4%3C579%3AHCD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2
* M. Bratton and N. Van de Walle, “Neopatrimonial Regimes and Political Transitions in Africa,” World Politics 46 (July
1994): 453-489. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8871%28199407%2946%3A4%3C453%3ANRAPTI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K
P. Roeder, “Varieties of Post-Soviet Authoritarian Regimes,” Post-Soviet Affairs 10 (Jan.-Mar 1994): 61-101.
7.
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
New Institutionalism
J. G. March and J. P. Olsen, “The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life,” American Political Science
Review 78 (Sep., 1984): 734-749.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28198409%2978%3A3%3C734%3ATNIOFI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J
* K. Remmer, “Theoretical Decay and Theoretical Development: The Resurgence of Institutional Analysis,” World Politics
50 (Oct., 1997): 34-61. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v050/50.1remmer.html
Classifying Political Systems
* Ted Robert Gurr. 1974. “Persistence and Change in Political Systems 1800-1971,” American Political Science Review 68:
1482-1504.
* Ted Robert Gurr, Keith Jaggers and Will H. Moore. 1990. “The Transformation of the Western State: The Growth of
Democracy, Autocracy, and State Power Since 1800,” Studies in Comparative International Development, 25:73-108.
* Keith Jaggers and Ted Robert Gurr. 1995.“Tracking Democracy’s Third Wave with the Polity III Data,” Journal of Peace
Research, 32:469-482. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3433%28199511%2932%3A4%3C469%3ATDTWWT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
Democracy and Democratization
J. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Demcracy, 3rd Edn. New York: Harper, 1947. Chapters 21 and 22.
*Munck, G. L, and J. Verkuilen. “Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: Evaluating Alternative Indices,”
Comparative Political Studies 35 (Feb. 2002): 5-34. And following articles by M. Coppedge, MG. Marshall, T. R. Gurr
and others. Go here in MSU library resources to retrieve all of these articles:
http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/WebZ/FSQUERY?dbname=ECO:next=html/issue_records.html:bad=html/issue
_records.html:format=BI:searchtype=issuecontents:entitytoprecno=1:entitycurrecno=1:numrecs=10:key1=Page:t
ermECO2=0010-4140:indexECO2=sn%3a:entityJournalIssn=00104140:termECO3=2002:indexECO3=yr%3a:entityIssueYear=2002:termECO4=35:indexECO4=zb%3a:entityIssue
Volume=35:termECO5=1:indexECO5=za%3a:entityIssueIssue=1:entityIssueDisp=1%2C+2002:sessionid=sp03s
w13-52331-dk6fji61-8hua6y:entitypagenum=2:
Bollen, K., and R. Jackman, “Democracy, Stability, and Dichotomies,” American Sociological Review 54 (Aug. 1989): 612621. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-1224%28198908%2954%3A4%3C612%3ADSAD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y
* S. Huntington, “How Countries Democratize,” Political Science Quarterly 106 (Winter, 1991-1992): 579-616. (“The Third
Wave”) http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0032-3195%28199124%2F199220%29106%3A4%3C579%3AHCD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2
*D. A. Rustow, “Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model,” Comparative Politics 2 (Apr., 1970): 337-363.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-4159%28197004%292%3A3%3C337%3ATTDTAD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X
*S. Huntington, “How Countries Democratize,” Political Science Quarterly 106 (Winter, 1991-2): 579-616.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0032-3195%28199124%2F199220%29106%3A4%3C579%3AHCD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2
* (book) A. Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.
S. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman: Univ. Of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
M. Bratton and N. Van de Walle, Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge:
Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997.
Democracies and Economics
* (book) Przeworski, et al. Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950-1990. Cambridge:
Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000.
-5-
G. Tsebelis, “Decision Making in Political Systems: Veto Players in Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, Multicameralism
and Multipartyism,” British Journal of Political Science 25 (July 1995): 289-325.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0007-1234%28199507%2925%3A3%3C289%3ADMIPSV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J
Electoral Systems
D. Rae, The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1971.
* A. Lijphart, “The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws,” American Political Science Review 84 (June 1990): 481-496.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28199006%2984%3A2%3C481%3ATPCOEL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O
Taagepera, R., and M. Shugart, Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems. Yale University Press, 1989.
G. Cox, Making Votes Count: Strategic Coordination in the World’s Electoral Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997.
Parties and Party Systems
M. Duverger, Political Parties: Their Organization and Activity in the Modern State, 3rd Edn. London: Methuen, 1964.
* M. Laakso and R. Taagepera, “Effective Number of Parties: A Measure with Applications to Western
Europe,” Comparative Political Studies 12 (1979): 3-27.
* J. Molinar, “Counting the Number of Parties: An Alternative Index,” American Political Science Review 85 (December
1991): 1383-1391.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28199112%2985%3A4%3C1383%3ACTNOPA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0
* O. Neto and G. Cox, “Electoral Institutions, Cleavage Structures, and the Number of Parties,” American Journal of
Political Science 41 (Jan., 1997): 149-174.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0092-5853%28199701%2941%3A1%3C149%3AEICSAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M
-6-
RESEARCH/WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
1. Project 1. Sept. 15. Multi-Country Data Source Report
-- see class website www.msu.edu/~bsilver/PLS850BASE.HTM
-- To be presented in class as well.
2. Project 2: Oct. 9 and later. Design a Constitution (teams – in competiton).
-- to be presented and defended in class.
3. Project 3: Term paper. Topic and statement of problem, basic research
design (4-8 pages) due no later than October 16th. I will be happy to discuss
and review possible topics earlier and help you to address design issues.
-- designs to be presented briefly in class
-- papers to be turned in to instructor at end of semester
Test a hypothesis, using data (research) from more than one country, drawing on
extant literature. I strongly urge use of one of the standard data sets, preferably
testing a hypothesis that links mass politics (behavior, culture, cleavages) to political
institutions. But I am open to good ideas for topics that you may have.
-7-