The American University in Cairo
Department of political science
12609: Introduction to Comparative Politics
Fall 2014
Instructor: Ahmed Abd Rabou
Office Horus (Office 2001): Mondays 2 :00-3 :00, Thursdays 2 :00-3 :00; and by
appointement
abdraboh@aucegypt.edu
Course Description:
Comparative politics is one of the traditional three subfields of Political
Science (the other two being International Relations and Political Theory).
People can mean different things with the term “comparative politics”, but the
definition we will tend to use is that it is the scientific study of politics and
political processes within nations (as opposed to international relations, which
concerns politics between nations).
Why have some countries, such as Nicaragua and Georgia, successfully
transitioned to democracy, while other countries such as Cuba and Kazakhstan
and here in Egypt have not? Does economic development cause democracy, or
do they merely occur together? Why are there nearly 80 parties in Egypt, 20
parties in Papua New Guinea, but only two parties in UK and US? These are all
questions that interest those who study comparative politics (“comparativists”).
Politics, according to pioneering political scientist Harold Laswell is defined as
“who gets what, when and how.” We will consider each of these parts in turn—
the “who”, the “what”, the “when” and the “how.” In general, comparative
politics is concerned with what governments do, how and why they do it, and
who decides what they do. In order to do this scientifically (we will discuss
what science means for our purposes early in the course), we must compare
countries. We make comparisons in comparative politics in part because we are
interested countries for their own sake, but primarily because only through
systematic comparison, can we understand the effects (or causes) of different
systems of government. This course equips you with the tools that you need to
compare the politics and government of different countries. We will learn
about the sort of things that vary between different countries (election systems,
political parties, political culture etc.) and also theories that explain why they
vary.
Throughout the semester, we will study three topics; first, we will study the
method of comparative politics; second, we will study a variety of concepts in
comparative politics; and finally we will tackle a number of processes with
regard to comparative politics.
1
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to: 1) understand the
basic tools used by comparativists to study the politics and governments of
different countries; 2) have a command of the basic stylized facts regarding the
major forms of government observed in the world (e.g. parliamentary versus
presidential systems); and 3) to use theories covered in the course to explain
the causes and consequences of variation in political systems, electoral systems
and political cultures.
Readings:
There are three essential readings for this course (all are available via Blackboard):



Michael Thies (Composer). 2011. Principles of Comparative Politics. UCLA
Custom edition. UCLA Political Science 50. UCLA Press. (Hereafter referred to
as “ UCLA”).
Todd Landman. 2008. Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics: An
Introduction. London: Routledge Press. (Hereafter referred to as “ Todd”).
John T. Ishiyama. 2012. Comparative Politics: Principles of Democracy and
Democratization. UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publication. (Hereafter referred to as
“Ishiyama”).
Attendance
Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class, and each day of attendance
counts as one point, coming 10 minutes late to the class will be recorded as half
point, while failing to come during the first 20 minutes of the class will equal zero.
A student who misses more than the equivalent of three weeks of class meetings
during a semester for any reason may be assigned a reduced grade for the course —
including the grade of “F” — solely on the basis of inadequate attendance,
regardless of excuse... Students who miss fewer than three weeks of class sessions
may not be penalized on the grounds of attendance alone... Students are personally
responsible for making up any academic tasks and assignments missed due to their
absence.
Blackboard
All members of the class must enter their AUC email addresses on Blackboard.
Assignments
There will be two reaction papers on the assigned readings stand for 10% each of the
grade, a med-term exam that stands for 20%, class participation and attendance
stand for 20%, and a final paper to be based on the assigned readings augmented by
some independent research stands for 20% (oral interview is essential). Additional
instructions will be provided approximately 6 weeks before the due date. The
remaining 20% will be counted for your final exam.
2
Grades
All grades are based on a 100 point scale where 93-100=A, 89-92=A-, 85-88=B+, 8084=B, 73-79=C, 65-72= C-, 50-64=D, less than 50=F, etc. In case of late submissions,
penalties will be applied
Academic Integrity Policy: The Political Science Department has a policy of zerotolerance for plagiarism and academic dishonesty. Read the University Code of
Ethics
and
check
the
webpage
on
academic
integrity
at:
http://www.aucegypt.edu/resources/acadintegrity/. Trip Gabriel, in an article
entitled “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age” for The New York Times
August 1, 2010 wrote that these days “many students simply do not grasp that using
words they did not write is a serious misdeed.” He saw a disconnect “growing in the
Internet age as concepts of intellectual property, copyright and originality are under
assault.” Not only does digital technology make it easy to copy and paste, he
argued, but the internet “may also be redefining how students — who came of age
with music file-sharing, Wikipedia and Web-linking — understand the concept of
authorship and the singularity of any text or image.“ Yet students and professionals
need to respect authorship and the importance of citing sources. As Patrick Pexton
wrote in the Washington Post on January 18, 2013 about a case of (perhaps
inadvertent) plagiarism by a reporter for his newspaper, even though it sometimes
seems that “technology made us all plagiarists,” it is a firm principle of research,
writing, and fact-checking that “we give credit where credit is due. Every day, every
time.” We will attend to these issues not only to avoid accusations of cheating but in
order to appreciate and implement the high standards of documentation in
academic and professional writing. Sources of information and methodologies for
gathering and analyzing information matter a great deal.
In other words: full correct citations are required on all work submitted, and the
paper you submit must be in your own words except as credited to other authors.
Date
Topic
Reading
1st week
Introduction to the
course
Course Outline.
(Methodology)
2nd week
(Methodology)
Why and How we
Compare Politics
3rd week
-Federalism
(Concepts)
-Bicameralism
Todd. Ch.1
Todd. Ch.2
UCLA. Ch.1
3
4th week
-Constitutionalism.
(Concepts)
- Veto Player theory
UCLA. Ch.1
(1st reaction paper)
5th week
(Concepts)
6th week
(Concepts)
Democratization
and Global
Environment.
Ishiyama. Ch. 6
Does Democracy
Make the
Difference?
UCLA. Ch. 2
7th week
Midterm
examination
8th Week
Issues in Comparative
Parliamentary
Systems
(Processes)
UCLA. Ch.3
(Call for the term
paper)
9th week
Issues in Comparative
Presidential Systems
UCLA. Ch. 3
Issues in Comparative
Mixed Systems
UCLA. Ch. 3
(Processes)
10th week
(Processes)
(2nd reaction paper)
11th week
Issues in
Comparative
Electoral Systems.
UCLA. Ch. 4
UCLA. Ch. 5
(Processes)
Issues in
Comparative Party
Systems.
13th week
Issues in
Comparative Party
Systems.
(Processes)
12th week
UCLA. Ch. 5
Revisions, and oral
4
14th week
Interviews.
(term paper due).
5