POLS 3311
M-W 2:30-4
Spring 2010
Room: AH 322
Professor Ernesto Calvo
Office Hours: Fri 11-12
PGH 447 C – ecalvo@uh.edu
Class Syllabus and Electronic Readings:
http://calvo.polsci.uh.edu/pols_3311.htm
POLS 3311: Introduction to Comparative Politics
This course will provide a general introduction to Comparative Politics and
comparative methods. The first part of the course will be more theoretical in nature,
providing an introduction to basic political concepts and problems. The second part of the
course will be dedicated to understanding the practice of comparative politics through
both case studies and cross-national comparisons.
Course meetings will combine the format of lectures and discussion sessions of
the readings assigned. Students are expected to attend all lectures, do all the assigned
readings for the week, and participate in class discussion. The course has a midterm
exam, a final exam and a short paper discussing Simone de Beauvoire All men are
Mortal. Please familiarize yourself with the academic honesty policy of the University of
Houston. Plagiarism in the paper will result in an F in the class and a note in your
academic record (http://www.uh.edu/dos/hdbk/acad/achonpol.html). Collaborative papers
require a joint 10 minute presentation on the last week of classes (only groups of two
students will be allowed). Individual papers do not require a separate presentation. The
exams will be based on assigned readings as well as lectures and class discussions.
Registering in Turnitin.com
An e-class has been created in www.turnitin.com in order for you to deposit the
class papers or any other assignment. It will also provide me with an email to contact
everyone in case of an emergency or to make class changes. In order to register go to:
www.turnitin.com and follow the registration instructions.
The information needed to register for this class is:

Class ID: 3083673

Password: calvo
Learning Outcomes:
• Student will master basic concepts, theories and methods pertaining to the comparative
study of political institutions.
• Students will write an original discussion paper describing how our understanding of
comparative political institutions has changed over time.
• Students will be able to understand how the study of comparative politics fits within the
field of Political Science in general.
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Books Required:
[A&P] Almond, G; Powell, G; Strom, K; Dalton, R. 2004. Comparative Politics
Today. Longman.
Simone de Beauvoire. All Men Are Mortal. W.W. Norton. NY.
Week 1: Introduction
Weber, Max. Politics as Vocation. (There are many editions of this conference by Weber.
Also in C Wright Mills and Hans H. Gerth. 1999. From Max Weber. Oxford University
Press. Part IV). [EV]
Week 2: Representation
[A&P] Chapter 4
Przeworsky, Manin and Stokes. Democracy, Accountability, and Representation.
Cambridge U.P. Introduction and Chapter 1.
Week 3: Corporatism
[A&P] Chapters 5 and 10, Germany
Week 4: Presidentialism and Parliamentarism
[A&P] Chapter 6 and 8, England
Samuels, David. 2006. Presidentialism and Accountability for the Economy in
Comparative Perspective. APSR, 98(3): 425-436.
Week 5: Democratization
O’Donnell and Schmitter. 1985. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative
Conclusions. John Hopkins.
Week 6: Legislatures
Cox, Gary. 2004. The organization of democratic Legislatures.
George Tsebelis and Jeannette Money. Bicameralism. Cambridge U.P. Part I.
Week 7: Review and Midterm examination
MIDTERM
Week 8: Parties
Octavio Amorin Neto and Gary W. Cox, 1997."Electoral Institutions, Cleavage
Structures, and the Number of Parties
[A&P] Chapter 15, Brazil
Week 9: Within-Countries and Accross Countries Comparissons
Richard Snyder. 2001. The Sub-national Comparative Method. [EV]
[A&P] Chapter 17, India
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Week 10: De-colonization
[A&P] Chapter 18
Week 11: After Socialism
[A&P] Chapter 13
Kitschelt, Mansfeldova, Markowski, Toka. 1999. Post-communist party systems.
Cambridge U.P. Chapters 1 and 2.
Week 12: Comparing Federations
Stepan, A. Toward a New Comparative Analysis of Democracy and Federalism:
Demos Constraining and Demos Enabling Federations. [EV]
Week 13: Review.
Beauvoire, All Men are Mortal.
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