GOVT 1101.102:
From Social Movements to Political Parties (FWS)
Spring Term 2015
MW 2:55-4:10, Uris Hall 302
Instructor
Office Hours:
Steffen Blings
W 1:30-2:30 and by appointment
sb632@cornell.edu
White Hall B11
Course Description
Social movements and political parties have long been closely linked. Some movements like the environmental
movement in Western Europe have spawned their own (Green) parties, while others, like the Tea Party, have
worked within existing ones. This begs the question: why do some movements become parties, while others
don’t? What exactly is the link between movements and parties? This course offers an introduction to
movement parties and discusses issues like the conditions for the founding of these parties, their continued
interactions with the social movement they originated from and the determinants of their success, in elections
and with regard to public policy. This course draws on readings from journalistic, think-tank and academic
sources and in critically engaging with these sources students will develop the ability to conduct research
and write successfully on issues relevant to the social sciences and beyond.
Learning Goals
This First-Year Writing Seminar will encourage you to develop and demonstrate competency in the following
areas:
• Using Sources including the ability to locate, clearly summarize the central argument of, and appropriately cite a text
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• Constructing Persuasive Arguments including forming theses and clearly organizing and employing
evidence to support arguments
• Writing with Style including using proper mechanics, writing with clarity and concision, and employing
a variety of writing styles to suit different academic and professional pieces
• Preparatory writing strategies such as drafting, revising, and peer review
In addition to improving your writing, mastery of the material presented in this class will prepare you to:
• Understand the interactions between (movement) parties and social movements and how different
theoretical perspectives highlight different aspects of these interactions
• Become familiar with the methods used to analyze the development and relationship between movements and parties
• Gain an overview of different trajectories of various movements and movement party families across
contemporary democracies
Course Requirements
Attendance and participation
Attendance is vital to learning the material presented in this course and to facilitating the writing process,
and it is required. You have one free pass, meaning one unexcused absence for which you aren’t required
to notify me ahead of time that you will miss class. Each additional unexcused absence will reduce your
participation grade by one third of a letter. If you are unable to attend due to an illness or emergency, you
must notify me before class begins to have your absence excused.
Class participation will play a primary role in both assisting with the writing process and analyzing the
concepts we discuss in class. Please come to class prepared to engage thoughtfully, listen attentively, and
interact with your peers respectfully. Debating politics can be a divisive topic, but differences in opinion
and background provide an opportunity for intellectual growth. We all stand to benefit from being aware of
and welcoming these differences. Furthermore, we can only have a successful discussion if the classroom is a
comfortable space for all participants. Confrontational or disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated. If for
any reason you feel uncomfortable contributing in class, please visit my office hours so that we can discuss
strategies for increasing your class participation.
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In addition to regular attendance and active participation, two one-on-one meetings with the instructor
about your progress are required. While I hope you will take advantage of my office hours more frequently,
these two meetings are mandated by the Knight Institute and will contribute to your participation grade.
The first meeting will take place after the third assignment and the second will be held in early April.
Readings
All of the course readings will be made available on Blackboard. Compared to a “regular” seminar the
weekly readings for this class are scaled down to provide you with ample time to complete the writing
assignments. It is expected that you will complete all assigned reading before class on the day for which it
is assigned. Please bring the readings and your notes on them with you to class (either in hard copy format
or electronically).
Assignments and Grading
As per the requirements of the Knight Institute this course will have six major writing assignments, and
several of them will go through multiple stages of development including outlining, drafting, and peer review.
Assignments should be double-spaced, using font size 12 and 1-inch margins. Unless otherwise notified in
advance, all assignments should be handed in in hard copy. If you are submitting an assignment via e-mail
it must be in Microsoft Word or PDF format. Do not consider an e-mailed assignment turned in until you
have received written confirmation from me. Late assignments will be docked one third of a letter for each
24 hours or portion thereof after the due date they are turned in. If you feel that you will not be able to
submit an assignment on time due to illness, emergency, or a conflict with work required for other courses
please let me know as early as possible. I understand that your first year can be an incredibly stressful time,
and I am happy to work with you to make reasonable accommodations when necessary. Once grades are
returned there is a 24-hour “cooling off” period before I will entertain appeals.
In order to facilitate peer editing and review, as well as to learn from and about each other’s academic
interests, writing styles, and techniques more generally, all writing assignments done for this class may be
shared with and read by all members of the class.
The six writing assignments, which are described in more detail below, together account for 80% of your
grade, while participation (composed of regular attendance, active classroom participation, and the two
instructor meetings) constitutes the remaining 20% of the final grade.
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1. Essay 1: a 2-3 page essay on your interest in the class: what is the movement of particular interest to
you that you would like to conduct research on over the course of the semester? Ungraded. Due on
01/26.
2. Essay 2: a 2-3 page op-ed on a contemporary topic related to the interaction of social movements and
parties. 10% of final grade. Due on 02/04.
3. Essay 3: a 4-5 page review essay on two readings (McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald (1996) and Goodwin
and Jasper (2004) ) with different conceptions about how to conceptualize social movement theory.
15% of final grade. Draft due on 02/13; final version on 02/25.
4. Essay 4: a 2-3 page peer review of a fellow student’s final paper concept. 10% of final grade. Due on
03/18.
5. Essay 5: a 4-5 page essay that critically evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of different forms
of organizations with respect to the goal of policy change. This essay should answer the question of
whether movements, parties, or hybrid forms will be most successful in achieving that goal. 20% of
final grade. Draft due on 03/25; final version on 04/13.
6. Final Paper: a 10-12 page research paper. 25% of final grade. Concept due on 03/11; draft due
on 04/22; final version due date TBA.
Other Course Information
Email policy
Feel free to email me with questions or to set up an appointment. Longer discussions and all conversations
about grades must take place in person. I will guarantee a response to emails within 24 hours during the
week. However, do not wait until the last minute. While I typically check emails several times a day, there
is no guarantee that I will receive, read and be able to respond to last minute requests or questions.
Note to students with disabilities
If you have a disability-related need for reasonable academic adjustments in this course, please provide me
with an accommodation notification letter from Student Disability Services. Students are expected to give
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two weeks notice of the need for accommodations. If you need immediate accommodations or physical access,
please arrange to meet with me within the first two class meetings.
Campus Resources
Knight Institute’s Walk-in Service: The Writing Walk-In Service (WWIS) provides support for individuals
at any stage of the writing process. It is a free resource designed for undergraduates working on nearly
any kind of writing project: applications, presentations, lab reports, essays, papers, and more. Tutors
(trained undergraduate and graduate students) serve as responsive listeners and readers who can address
questions about the writing process or about particular pieces of writing. They can also consider questions
of confidence, critical reading, analytic thought, and imagination. Many writing tutors also have experience
working with non-native speakers of English.
The WWIS operates out of several campus locations. During the academic year, the WWIS is open
Sunday through Thursday from 3:30-5:30pm and from 7:00-10:00pm. Writers can schedule appointments
or drop in at a convenient time. For more information or to schedule an appointment: http://www.arts.
cornell.edu/writing.
Cornell University Learning Strategies Center: The Learning Strategies Center offers students a variety of
resources for improving basic study skills, learning time management strategies, and managing the academic
experience at Cornell. According to a study commissioned by the college, the overwhelming majority of
students who make use of the Learning Strategies Center have higher GPAs than students who don’t engage
with the center’s resources. You can find more information online at http://lsc.cornell.edu/aboutLSC.
html.
Student Disability Services: Students with disabilities may contact Student Disability Services, Cornell
University, 420 CCC, 254-4545. Cornell University is committed to assisting those persons with disabilities
who have special needs. Other questions or requests for special assistance may also be directed to this office.
You can find more information online at http://sds.cornell.edu/.
Statement of Nondiscrimination
It is the policy of Cornell University actively to support equality of educational and employment opportunity.
No person should be denied admission to any educational program or activity or be denied employment on the
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basis of any legally prohibited discrimination involving, but not limited to, such factors as race, color, creed,
religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability. The university is committed to the
maintenance of affirmative-action programs that will assure the continuation of such equality of opportunity.
Sexual harassment is an act of discrimination and will not be tolerated.
Academic integrity
All the work you submit in this course must have been written for this course and not another and must
originate with you in form and content with all contributory sources fully and specifically acknowledged.
Carefully read Cornell’s Code of Academic Integrity. The Code is contained in The Essential Guide to
Academic Integrity at Cornell, which is distributed to all new students during orientation. In addition to
the Code, the Guide includes Acknowledging the Work of Others, Dealing with Online Sources, Working
Collaboratively, a list of online resources, and tips to avoid cheating. You can view the Guide online at
http://newstudentprograms.cornell.edu/Initiatives/upload/AcademicIntegrityPamphlet.pdf. In
this course, the normal penalty for a violation of the code is an “F” for the term.
Course Schedule
• Week 1: Class introduction
– Wednesday, January 21
∗ No Required Reading
• Week 2: Movements and Parties I
– Monday, January 26: The Tea Party: Media Sources
∗
∗
∗
∗
Essay 1 due
Parker (2012)
Weisman (2014)
Nocera (2014)
– Wednesday, January 28: Occupy: Think Tank Sources
∗ Hersh and Dechter (2011)
∗ McNamara (2011)
• Week 3: Movements and Parties I (continued)/Social Movements I
– Monday, February 2: Republicans and the Tea Party in Political Science
∗ Williamson, Skocpol, and Coggin (2011)
∗ Medzihorsky, Littvay, and Jenne (2014)
∗ McNitt (2014)
– Wednesday, February 4: Collective Action and Origins of Social Movements
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∗ Essay 2 due
∗ Tarrow (1998), pages 10-25
• Week 4: Social Movements II
– Monday, February 9: Analyzing Social Movements I
∗ McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald (1996)
∗ Goodwin and Jasper (2004)
– Wednesday, February 11: Analyzing Social Movements II
∗ Tilly (2004)
∗ Draft Essay 3 due by Friday, February 13
• Week 5: Social Movements III
– Monday, February 16: NO CLASS - February Break
– Wednesday, February 18: Definitions of Success
∗ Gamson (1990), pages 28-37
• Week 6: Political Parties I
– Monday, February 23: Origins of Political Parties I
∗ Downs (1957), pages 21-35
∗ Aldrich (2011), pages 16-26 and 102-129
– Wednesday, February 25: Origins of Political Parties II
∗ Essay 3 due
∗ Lipset and Rokkan (1967), pages 1-23
• Week 7: Political Parties II
– Monday, March 2: Library Instruction Session
∗ We will meet in the Uris Library classroom
∗ No Required Reading
– Wednesday, March 4: The Emergence of New Parties
∗ Hug (2001), pages 1-10 and 37-64
• Week 8: Political Parties III
– Monday, March 9: Development of Political Parties I
∗ Michels (1915), pages 23-40
– Wednesday, March 11: Development of Political Parties II: Empirical Examples I
∗ Final Paper Concept due
∗ Przeworski and Sprague (1986), pages 29-56 OR Hunter (2007)
• Week 9: Political Parties IV
– Monday, March 16: Development of Political Parties III: Catch-all and Cartel Parties
∗ Katz and Mair (1995)
– Wednesday, March 18: Development of Political Parties IV: Empirical Examples II
∗ Essay 4 due
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∗ Burchell (2001)
• Week 10: Movements and Parties II
– Monday, March 23: Movement or Party?
∗ Farrer (2014)
– Wednesday, March 25: Movement Parties
∗ Draft Essay 5 due
∗ Cowell-Meyers (2014)
• Week 11: Spring Break
– Monday, March 30: NO CLASS
– Wednesday, April 1: NO CLASS
• Week 12: Movement Parties I
– Monday, April 6: Movement-Party Interactions
∗ McAdam and Tarrow (2010)
∗ Heaney and Rojas (2011)
– Wednesday, April 8: Definitions of Movement Parties
∗ Kitschelt (2006)
• Week 13: Research Papers & Movement Parties II
– Monday, April 13: Writing a research paper
∗ Essay 5 due
∗ Hjortshoj (2009), 164-192
– Wednesday, April 15: Activist Recruitment in Movements and Movement Parties
∗ Ramiro and Morales (2014)
• Week 14: Movement Parties III
– Monday, April 20: Communication and Organization
∗ Segerberg and Bennett (2011)
– Wednesday, April 22: Movement Parties in Europe I: Regionalist and Green Parties
∗ Draft Final Paper due
∗ Kitschelt (1988)
∗ Lynch (2006)
• Week 15: Movement Parties IV
– Monday, April 27: Movement Parties in Europe II: Right-wing populist and Pirate Parties
∗ Art (2011), pages 1-28
∗ Erlingsson and Persson (2011)
– Wednesday, April 29: Movement Parties in Latin America
∗ Madrid (2012), pages 1-34
• Week 16: Movement Parties V
– Monday, May 4: Movement Parties in Africa
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∗ Lebas (2011), pages 3-19
– Wednesday, May 6: Movement Parties in the Arab World
∗ Lynch (2011)
• Exam Period
– Exam Day, Final Paper due
Course Readings
Aldrich, John H. 2011. Why Parties? A Second Look. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Art, David. 2011. Inside the Radical Right. The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
Burchell, Jon. 2001. “Evolving or conforming? Assessing organisational reform within European green
parties.” West European Politics 24 (3): 113–134.
Cowell-Meyers, Kimberly B. 2014. “The Social Movement as Political Party: The Northern Ireland Women’s
Coalition and the Campaign for Inclusion.” Perspectives on Politics 12 (1): 61–80.
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper Collins.
Erlingsson, Gissur Ó., and Mikael Persson. 2011. “The Swedish Pirate Party and the 2009 European Parliament Election: Protest or Issue Voting?” Politics 31 (3): 121–128.
Farrer, Benjamin. 2014. “A theory of organizational choice: Interest groups and parties as substitutable
influence mechanisms.” Party Politics 20 (4): 632–645.
Gamson, William. 1990. The Strategy of Social Protest. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Goodwin, Jeff, and James M. Jasper. 2004. “Caught in a Winding, Snarling Vine: The Structural Bias
of Political Process Theory.” In Rethinking Social Movements, Structure, Meaning and Emotion, ed. Jeff
Goodwin, and James M. Jasper. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield pp. 3–30.
Heaney, Michael T., and Fabio Rojas. 2011. “The Partisan Dynamics of Contention: Demobilization of the
Antiwar Movement in the United States, 2007-2009.” Mobilization 16 (1): 45–64.
Hersh, Adam, and Gadi Dechter. 2011. “The Right-Wing Assault on the 99 Percent.”.
URL: http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/economy/news/2011/11/21/10660/the-right-wingassault-on-the-99-percent/
Hjortshoj, Keith. 2009. The Transition to College Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Hug, Simon. 2001. Altering Party Systems. Strategic Behavior and the Emergence of New Political Parties
in Western Democracies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Hunter, Wendy. 2007. “The Normalization of an Anomaly: The Workers’ Party in Brazil.” World Politics
59 (3): 440–475.
Katz, Richard S., and Peter Mair. 1995. “Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy.”
Party Politics 1 (1): 5–28.
Kitschelt, Herbert. 1988. “Left-Libertarian Parties: Explaining Innovation in Competitive Party Systems.”
World Politics 40 (2): 194–234.
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Kitschelt, Herbert. 2006. “Movement Parties.” In Handbook of Party Politics, ed. Richard S. Katz, and
William Crotty. London: Sage Publications pp. 278–290.
Lebas, Adrienne. 2011. From Protest to Parties: Party Building and Democratization in Africa. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Lipset, Seymour Martin, and Stein Rokkan. 1967. “Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments: An Introduction.” In Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives, ed. Seymour Martin Lipset, and Stein Rokkan. New York: Free Press pp. 1–64.
Lynch, Marc. 2011. “After Egypt: The Limits and Promise of Online Challenges to the Authoritarian Arab
State.” Perspectives on Politics 9 (2): 301–310.
Lynch, Peter. 2006. “The Scottish National Party: the Long Road from Marginality to Blackmail and
Coalition Potential.” In Autonomist Parties in Europe. Identity Politics and the Revival of the Territorial
Cleavage, ed. Lieven De Winter, Margarita Gómez-Reino, and Peter Lynch. Barcelona: ICPS pp. 227–251.
Madrid, Raúl. 2012. The Rise of Ethnic Politics in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McAdam, Doug, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer N. Zald. 1996. “Introduction: Opportunities, mobilizing
structures, and framing - towards a synthetic, comparative perspective on social movements.” In Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements. Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural
Framings, ed. Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer N. Zald. New York: Cambridge University
Press pp. 1–20.
McAdam, Doug, and Sidney Tarrow. 2010. “Ballots and Barricades: On the Reciprocal Relationship between
Elections and Social Movements.” Perspectives on Politics 8 (2): 529–542.
McNamara, Joseph D. 2011. “You Say You Want A Revolution.”.
URL: http://www.hoover.org/research/you-say-you-want-revolution
McNitt, Andrew D. 2014. “The Tea Party Movement and the 2012 House Election.” Political Science &
Politics 47 (4): 799–805.
Medzihorsky, Juraj, Levente Littvay, and Erin K. Jenne. 2014. “Has the Tea Party Era Radicalized the
Republican Party? Evidence from Text Analysis of the 2008 and 2012 Republican Primary Debates.”
Political Science & Politics 47 (4): 806–812.
Michels, Robert. 1915. Political Parties. A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern
Democracy. London: Hearst International Library.
Nocera, Joe. 2014. “Chamber of Commerce Lost Its Way in Right Turn.”.
URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/opinion/joe-nocera-chamber-of-commerce-lost-its-way-inright-turn.html
Parker, George. 2012. “Karen Jaroch’s Party.”.
URL: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/08/karen-jaroch-tampa-tea-party.html
Przeworski, Adam, and John Sprague. 1986. Paper Stones. A History of Electoral Socialism. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Ramiro, Luis, and Laura Morales. 2014. “Examining the ’demand’ side of the market for political activism:
Party and civil society grassroots activists in Spain.” Party Politics 20 (4): 506–520.
Segerberg, Alexandra, and W. Lance Bennett. 2011. “Social Media and the Organization of Collective
Action: Using Twitter to Explore the Ecologies of Two Climate Change Protests.” The Communication
Review 14 (3): 197–215.
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Tarrow, Sidney. 1998. Power in Movement. Social Movements and Contentious Politics. 2nd ed. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Tilly, Charles. 2004. “Wise Quacks.” In Rethinking Social Movements, Structure, Meaning and Emotion, ed.
Jeff Goodwin, and James M. Jasper. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield pp. 31–37.
Weisman, Jonathan. 2014. “On Immigration, G.O.P. Starts to Embrace Tea Party.”.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/us/politics/immigration-house-republicans-tea-party.html
Williamson, Vanessa, Theda Skocpol, and John Coggin. 2011. “The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism.” Perspectives on Politics 9 (1): 25–43.
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