MIDTERM: Names, Concepts, and Events to Review

Be sure to know meanings of these concepts/events and to support your reasoning with facts or examples.

Comparative Politics (CP): subject and method

Central questions of CP. Emergence and three stages of CP development. CP method and Sartori’s dilemma.

Lichbach & Zuckerman

Three schools - Rationalism, Culturalism and Structuralism - and their differences.

State

Definition and key features. Alternatives to the state. European origins of the state. Role of war and politico-economic interests in formation of the modern state. Waves and causes of state expansion.

O’Neil

State (institutions) vs. regime (norms) vs. government (elites). Legitimacy and centralization.

Weber

Three types of legitimacy/domination. Professionalization/rationalization of politics.

Rotberg

Failed state and its core features. Examples of failed states. Preventative measures.

Nation and Society

National identity and boundaries. Ethnic vs. national identity. “Bottom up” and “top down” approaches to sources of ethnic conflicts. Ideology and pace of change. Three classical ideologies. Political values and attitude. Parties and social movements.

Herbst

Role of external wars in state formation in Europe and Africa. Taxes and popular identity as tools of state-building. Is there a substitute to an external war?

Huntington

Essentialist view of culture and identity: clash of civilizations, torn countries, and multi-cultural world order. Examples

Sen

Non-essentialist view of culture and identity: dialogue, overlaps and mupltiple affiliations. Examples

Political Economy (PE)

State role in the economy: coordination, development, and planning. Market and public goods. Social actors: labor and business. PE types. International PE and the role of state. British PE and key differences between Keynes and Thatcher.

Smith

Division of labor and why it is beneficial. Human nature: self-love and propensity to trade. Enterpreneurs vs. beggars.

Ricardo

Perfectly free commerce and the idea of comparative advantages.

Alesina et al

Size of welfare in US and Europe. Differences in taxation and safety nets. Explaining the difference: history, politics, and perception of poverty.

Political System: Democracy (D)

Political system, its performance and main sources of stability. Role of bureaucracy, military, and other institutions. D and its key features. The importance of rule of law. Sources of D stability: security and middle class. Types of D: liberal, social democratic, delegative and restrictive. Parliamentary and presidential democracy. Party systems: PR and majoritarian. Key differences between German and American democracy.

Zakaria

Individual liberty as a precondition of liberal democracy. Main stages of struggle for liberty in the West. Applicability of the argument to East Asian and South Asia.

Putnam

Social capital and evidence of its decline in America. The role of TV/technology and alternative theories of decline of social capital.

Berman

Role of associationism and civil society in the rise of NSDAP. Role of great inflation, middle class suffering, and state weakness.

Political System: Authoritarianism (A)

Definition and key features of A. Main sources: underdevelopment, non-democratic culture, and lack of security. Types of A: cult of personality, one party rule, military regime, tribal system or ethnocracy, theocracy, and delegative democracy. Main features of the Soviet system.

O’Neil

Totalitarianism vs. A. Means of A. control: cooptation, coercion, and personal charisma. Types of cooptation: corporatism, clientelism, and rent-seeking. Is A in retreat today?

Kagan

Examples of autocracy and its international appeal. Why Russia and China are viable alternatives to liberal democracy.

Globalization (G)

Definition. Ideational and material roots of G. Contemporary proponents. G and state. Economic, political, and military forms of G.

Fukuyama

The meaning of the “End of history.” Alternatives to liberal democracy as the “final form of human government,” and F. response to them. 

Hoffman

Hoffman’s critique of globalization and Hungtinton’s “clash of civilizations” thesis

Economist

Key arguments in defense of globalization