Course Subject, Number and Title: Political Science 856, Field Seminar in Comparative Politics

Credits: 3

Canvas Course URL: https://canvas.wisc.edu/courses/119157

Course Designations and Attributes: SeminarCounts toward 50% graduate coursework requirementCounts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement

Meeting Time and Location:Fall 2018, Tuesdays 3:30PM - 5:25PM, North Hall 422

Instructional Mode: Classroom instruction, all face-to-face

How Credit Hours are met by the Course:Traditional Carnegie Definition – This class meets for one 115-minute class period each week over the spring semester and carries the expectation that students will work on course learning activities (reading, writing, studying, etc.) for about 7 hours out of classroom for every class period. The syllabus includes more information about meeting times and expectations for student work.

INSTRUCTORInstructor Title and Name: Yoshiko M. Herrera, Professor, Department of Political Sciencehttps://polisci.wisc.edu/people/faculty/yoshiko-m-herrera

Instructor Availability:Office hours by appointment: usually Thurs. 1:15-3:45, 316 North HallSchedule appointments here: https://calendar.wisc.edu/scheduling-assistant/Email me if you need to meet at other times

Instructor Email/Preferred Contact:yherrera@wisc.edu

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OFFICIAL COURSE DESCRIPTIONCourse Description from the Guide : A broad introduction to the field of comparative politics. It combines a theory-driven approach with a problem-driven approach to analyze key themes in comparative politics. Four paradigms in comparative politics--structural, cultural, rational-choice and institutional--will be reviewed.

Requisites: Graduate or professional standing

Additional Course description:This seminar is designed to serve five goals:(1) To acquaint students with many of the leading theories within the field of comparative

politics. Students will be made aware of the relevant literatures so that they will be able to connect their own research to broad disciplinary concerns.

(2) To provide examples of how best to prepare work for future submission to journals and top university publishers. Papers from the leading journals in the field and books from top publishers are included in the syllabus. Students should also peruse these journals, section newsletters, and publisher lists on a regular basis, not only to keep up with trends in the field, but also to learn the styles and forms of contributions to comparative politics. This is the best way to learn about what Comparative Politics "is" and what the key debates in the subfield are.

(3) To introduce and make students aware of the implications of research strategies. The seminar will emphasize the point that methodologies in the discipline are diverse, and that these methods, once chosen, have considerable import for both topic choice and the range of findings.

(4) To develop among students critical reading, writing, collaboration, and presentation skills. Students will be asked to explain core concepts from the readings to the class, will write short memos on the readings, and will collaboratively work on presentations. In addition, students will write an integrated paper connecting readings with their own research interests.

(5) To substantively introduce students to UW-Madison faculty in comparative politics. For many of the weeks, a guest faculty member will join the class discussion.

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Summary Class Schedule

Date Topics Guest Faculty

11-Sep Course Introduction

18-Sep Institutions and Institutional Change

25-Sep The State and Civil Society Eunsook Jung

2-Oct Regime Types: Definitions and Trajectories Scott Gehlbach

9-Oct Legislatures and GovernanceNils Ringe (introduction only)

16-Oct Parties, Voters, and Elections Eleanor Powell

23-Oct Law, Courts, and Judicial Politics Kathryn Hendley

30-Oct Contentious Politics Erica Simmons

6-Nov Ethnicity and Nationalism Nadav Shelef

13-Nov Violence and Ethnic Conflict

20-Nov No class (Tues before Thanksgiving)

27-Nov Social Identities, Culture, and Gender Aili Tripp

4-Dec Development and Growth Rikhil Bhavnani

11-Dec Other Economic Outcomes

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Class ScheduleWeek 1, Sept. 11Introduction to course: No assigned reading.

Week 2, Sept. 18Institutions and Institutional Change North, Douglass C. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance.

Cambridge University Press. Chp. 1-8, pp. 3-69. Pierson, Paul. 1996. “The Path to European Integration: A Historical Institutionalist

Perspective,” Comparative Political Studies, 29:2, 123163. Hall, Peter A., and Rosemary C. R. Taylor. 1998. "Political Science and the Three New

Institutionalisms." In Institutions and Social Order, ed. Karol Soltan, et al. University of Michigan Press.

Helmke, Gretchen, and Steven Levitsky. 2004. "Informal institutions and comparative politics: A research agenda." Perspectives on Politics 2:4, 725-740.

Moe, Terry M. 2005. "Power and Political Institutions," Perspectives on Politics 3, 215-233. March, James G., and Johan P. Olsen. 2006. "The Logic of Appropriateness." In The Oxford

Handbook of Public Policy eds. Martin Rein Michael Moran and Robert E. Goodin. Oxford University Press, 1-39.

Berk, G., Galvan, D.C. and Hattam, V. eds., 2013. Political Creativity: Reconfiguring Institutional Order and Change. University of Pennsylvania Press. Introduction, pp. 1-26.

Week 3, Sept. 25The State and Civil Society Migdal, Joel. 1997. "Studying the State." In Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and

Structure, eds. Mark I. Lichbach and Alan S. Zuckerman. New York Cambridge University Press. Chp. 8, pp. 208-36.

Ziblatt, Daniel. 2004. "Rethinking the Origins of Federalism: Puzzle, Theory, and Evidence from Nineteenth-Century Europe," World Politics 57 (October), 70–98.

Blaydes, Lisa. 2017. "State Building in the Middle East." Annual Review of Political Science 20, 487-504.

Ganev, Venelin I. 2005. "Post-communism as an Episode of State Building: A Reversed Tillyan Perspective," Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38:4 (December), 425-45.

Staniland, Paul. 2012. "States, Insurgents, and Wartime Political Orders," Perspectives on Politics 10:2 (June), 243-264.

Berman, Sheri. 1997. "Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic," World Politics 49 (April), 401-439.

Jung, Eunsook. 2014. "Islamic organizations and electoral politics in Indonesia: the case of Muhammadiyah." South East Asia Research 22:1, 73-86.

Jung, Eunsook. 2016. "Campaigning for all Indonesians: The politics of healthcare in Indonesia." Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 38:3, 476-494.

Background readings on civil society; not for class discussion Putnam, R.D., Leonardi, R. and Nanetti, R.Y., 1994. Making democracy work: Civic

traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press.

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Week 4, Oct. 2Regime Types: Definitions and Trajectories Wedeen, Lisa. 1999. Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in

contemporary Syria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chp 1, pp. 1-31. Haber, Stephen. 2006. “Authoritarian Government.” In Oxford Handbook of Political

Economy, eds. Barry R. Weingast and Donald A. Wittman. New York: Oxford University Press. Chp. 38, pp. 693707.

Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. 2006. Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press. Chp. 2, pp. 15-47.

Ziblatt, Daniel. 2006. "How did Europe democratize?" World Politics, 58:2, 311-338. Magaloni, Beatriz. 2006. Voting for Autocracy: Hegemonic Party Survival and Its Demise in

Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press. Intro, pp. 1-43. Svolik, Milan W. 2012. The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. New York: Cambridge University

Press. Chp. 1-2, pp. 1-52. Gehlbach, Scott, Konstantin Sonin, and Milan Svolik. 2016. "Formal models of

nondemocratic politics." Annual Review of Political Science 19, 565-584. Gehlbach , Scott. 2017. "What's Next for the Study of Nondemocracy?" Unpublished

Manuscript. Levitsky, S. and Ziblatt, D., 2018. How Democracies Die. Crown, chapters TBA.

Background readings on measurement of democracy; not for class discussion Przeworski, A., Alvarez, M.E., Cheibub, J.A. and Limongi, F., 2000. Democracy and

development: political institutions and well-being in the world, 1950-1990. Cambridge University Press.

Cheibub, José A., Jennifer Gandhi, and James R. Vreeland. 2010. "Democracy and dictatorship revisited." Public choice, 143, 67-101.

Lindberg, Staffan I., Michael Coppedge, John Gerring, and Jan Teorell. 2014. "V-Dem: A New Way To Measure Democracy," Journal of Democracy 25:3 (July), 159-169.

Week 5, Oct. 9Legislatures and Governance North, Douglass C., and Barry R. Weingast. 1989. "Constitutions and Commitment: The

Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England." The Journal of Economic History XLIX:4, 803-32.

Gandhi, Jennifer, and Adam Przeworski. 2006. ”Cooperation, Cooptation, and Rebellion under Dictatorships.” Economics and Politics 18:1, 1-26.

Malesky, Edmund and Paul Schuler. 2010. "Nodding or Needling: Analyzing Delegate Responsiveness in an Authoritarian Parliament." American Political Science Review 104:3, 482-502.

Egorov, Georgy and Konstantin Sonin. 2011. "Dictators and Their Viziers: Endogenizing the Loyalty–Competence Trade-off." Journal of the European Economic Association 9:5, 903-930.

Reuter, Ora J. and Graham B. Robertson. 2014. "Legislatures, Cooptation, and Social Protest in Contemporary Authoritarian Regimes." The Journal of Politics 77:1, 235-248.

Manion, Melanie, 2017. "'Good types' in Authoritarian Elections: The Selectoral Connection in Chinese Local Congresses." Comparative Political Studies 50:3, 362-394.

Ringe, Nils, and Jennifer N. Victor. 2013. “Solutions to Informational Collective Action Dilemmas: Theorizing the Benefits of Legislative Member Organizations.” In Bridging the Information Gap: Legislative Member Organizations as Social Networks in the United States

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and the European Union, eds. Nils Ringe and Jennifer N. Victor (with Christopher J. Carman). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Chp. 2, pp18-49.

Bhavnani, Rikhil R., 2017. Do the Effects of Temporary Ethnic Group Quotas Persist? Evidence from India. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 9:3, 105-23.

Week 6, Oct. 16Parties, Voters, and Elections Aldrich, John. 1995. Why Parties? The Origins and Transformation of Party Politics in

America. University of Chicago Press. 3-61. Meguid, Bonnie M. 2005. “Competition Between Unequals: The Role of Mainstream Party

Strategy in Niche Party Success,” American Political Science Review, 99:3, 347359. Svolik, Milan W. 2012. The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. New York: Cambridge University

Press. Chp 6, pp. 162-195. Duch, Raymond M., and Randolph T. Stevenson. 2008. The Economic Vote: How Political

and Economic Institutions Condition Election Results. Cambridge University Press. Introduction and Conclusion, 1-36, 337-358.

Greene, Kenneth. 2011.  "Campaign Persuasion and Nascent Partisanship in Mexico’s New Democracy," American Journal of Political Science 55:2, 398-416.

Thachil, Tariq. 2014. “Elite Parties and Poor Voters: Theory and Evidence from India,” American Political Science Review 108:2, 454-77.

Lupu, Noam. 2014. “Brand Dilution and the Breakdown of Political Parties in Latin America,” World Politics 66:4, 561-602.

Gehlbach, Scott and Philip Keefer. 2011. "Investment Without Democracy: Ruling-Party Institutionalization and Credible Commitment in Autocracies." Journal of Comparative Economics 39:2, 123-139.

Butler, Daniel M., and Eleanor Neff Powell. 2014. "Understanding the Party Brand: Experimental Evidence on the Role of Valence," The Journal of Politics 76:2, 492-505.

Week 7, Oct. 23Law, Courts, and Judicial Politics Hirschl, Ran. 2006. “The New Constitutionalism and the Judicialization of Pure Politics

Worldwide,” Fordham Law Review 75:2, 721-53. Sezgin, Yuksel, and Mirjam Kunkler, 2014. “Regulation of ‘Religion’ and the ‘Religious’: The

Politics of Judicialization and Bureaucratization in India and Indonesia,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 56:2, 448-78.

Ginsburg, Tom. 2011. “Pitfalls of Measuring the Rule of Law,” Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 3:2, 269280.

Solomon, Peter. 2007. “Courts and Judges in Authoritarian Regimes,” World Politics 60:1, 122-45.

Michelson, E., 2007. Lawyers, political embeddedness, and institutional continuity in China’s transition from socialism. American Journal of Sociology 113:2, 352-414.

Hendley, Kathryn. 2011. “Resolving Problems among Neighbors in Post-Soviet Russia: Uncovering the Norms of the Pod”ezd," Law & Social Inquiry 36:2 (Spring), 388–418.

Hendley, Kathryn. 2015. “Justice in Moscow?” Post-Soviet Affairs 32:6, 491-511.Background readings on legal systems; please read to familiarize yourself with different legal traditions (civil law or Islamic legal traditions). Not for discussion in class: Merryman, John H., and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo. 2007. The Civil Law Tradition: An

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Introduction to the Legal Systems of Europe and Latin America. Stanford University Press. Chp. 1 & 4-6, pp. 1-6, 20-38.

Quraishi, Asifa. 2008. “Who Says Shari’a Demands the Stoning of Women? A Description of Islamic Law and Constitutionalism,” Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern & Islamic Law 1, 163177.

Week 8, Oct. 30Contentious Politics Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of

Groups. Harvard University Press. Intro. and Chp. 1, sec. A-C, & F, pp. 1-22, 43-52. McAdam, Doug, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly. 2001. Dynamics of Contention.

Cambridge University Press. Chp. 1, pp. 3-37. Goldstone, Jack. 2001. “Toward a Fourth Generation of Revolutionary Theory,” Annual

Review of Political Science 4, 139187. 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, eds. Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Chp. 1, pp. 3-30.

Gould, Deborah. 2004. "Passionate Political Processes: Bringing Emotions Back into the Study of Social Movements." In Rethinking Social Movements: Structure, Meaning, and Emotion, eds. Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Chp. 11, 155-176.

King, Gary, Jennifer Pan, and Margaret E. Roberts. 2013. “How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression.” American Political Science Review 107:2, 326-343.

Fu, Diana. 2017. "Disguised collective action in China." Comparative Political Studies 50:4, 499-527.

Simmons, Erica. 2016. Meaningful Resistance: Market Reforms and the Roots of Social Protest in Latin America. Cambridge University Press. Chp. 1, 1-36.

Week 9, Nov. 6Ethnicity and Nationalism Gellner, Ernest. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Cornell University Press. Chp. 1-7, pp. 1-

109. Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of

Nationalism. Verso. Chp. 1-5 & 10, pp. 1-82, 163-185. Beissinger, Mark. 2002. Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State. New

York: Cambridge University Press. Chp. 1, pp. 1-46. Chandra, Kanchan, ed. 2012. Constructivist Theories of Ethnic Politics. New York: Oxford

University Press. Chp 2, 51-96. Herrera, Yoshiko. 2010. "Imagined Economies: Constructivist Political Economy,

Nationalism, and Economic-Based Sovereignty Movements in Russia," in R. Abdelal, M. Blyth and C. Parson, eds. Constructing The International Economy, Cornell University Press. Chp. 5, pp. 114- 134.

Shelef, Nadav G. 2010. Evolving Nationalism: Homeland, Identity, and Religion in Israel 1925-2005. Cornell University Press, Introduction & Conclusion, 1-24, 189-210.

Marquardt, Kyle L. and Yoshiko M. Herrera. 2015. "Ethnicity as a Variable: An Assessmentof Measures and Data Sets of Ethnicity and Related Identities," Social Science Quarterly

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96:3 (September), 689-716. Shelef, Nadav. 2016. "Unequal Ground: Homelands and Conflict." International

Organization, 70:1, pp. 33-63.

Week 10, Friday Nov. 13Violence Fearon, James D., and David D. Laitin. 2003. "Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War,"

American Political Science Review 97:1 (February), 75-90. Cederman, L.E. and Girardin, L. 2007. "Beyond fractionalization: Mapping ethnicity onto

nationalist insurgencies," American Political science review 101:1, 173-185. Fearon, James D., Kimuli Kasara, and David D. Laitin. 2007. "Ethnic minority rule and civil

war onset," American Political science review 101:1, 187-193. Wood, Elisabeth J. 2008. "The Social Processes of Civil War: The Wartime Transformation

of Social Networks," Annual Review of Political Science 11:1, 539-561. Kalyvas, Stathis, 2003. “The Ontology of Political Violence,” Perspectives on Politics 1:3,

475-494. Straus, Scott. 2015. Making and Unmaking Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide in

Modern Africa, Cornell University Press. Intro. and Chp. 1-3, 1-86. Bhavnani, Rikhil R. and Bethany Lacina. 2015. “The Effects of Weather-Induced Migration

on Sons of the Soil Riots in India,” World Politics 67:4, 760–794.  Finkel, Evgeny. 2015. "The phoenix effect of state repression: Jewish resistance during the

Holocaust," American Political Science Review 109:2, 339-353.

November 20th, Thanksgiving week, NO CLASS

Week 11, Nov. 27Social Identities, Culture, and Gender Wedeen, Lisa. 2002. "Conceptualizing Culture: Possibilities for Political Science," American

Political Science Review 96:4 (December), 713-738. Abdelal, Rawi, Yoshiko M. Herrera, Alastair Iain Johnston, and Rose McDermott. 2006.

"Identity as a Variable," Perspectives on Politics 4:4 (December), 695-711. McDermott, Rose. 2009. "Psychological Approaches to Identity: Experimentation and

Application." In R. Abdelal et al., eds. Measuring Identity: A Guide for Social Scientists. New York: Cambridge University Press. Chp. 12, pp. 345-367.

Hawkesworth, Mary. 2003. "Congressional Enactments of Race–Gender: Toward a Theory of Raced–Gendered Institutions." American Political Science Review 97:4, 529 550.

Karpowitz, Christopher F., Tali Mendelberg, and Lee Shaker. 2012. "Gender Inequality in Deliberative Participation." American Political Science Review 106:3, 533 547.

Tripp, Aili M., 2015. Women and power in post-conflict Africa. Cambridge University Press. Preface & Chp. 1 & 2, pp. xxi-1, 1-44.

One additional reading on gender or class TBAWeek 12, Dec. 4Development and Growth Pritchett, Lant. 1997. "Divergence, Big Time." The Journal of Economic Perspectives 11:3,

3-17. Acemoglu, Daron, Naidu, S., Restrepo, P. and Robinson, J.A., 2014. "Democracy does

cause growth," National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 20004.

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Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2001. “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation,” American Economic Review 91:5, 13691401.

Bates, Robert H. 2001. Prosperity and Violence: The Political Economy of Development. New York: Norton. Chp. 1, 4 & 6, pp. 17-29, 70-83, 101-116.

Banerjee, Abhijit, and Lakshmi Iyer. 2005. “History, Institutions and Economic Performance: The Legacy of Colonial Land Tenure Systems in India,” American Economic Review 95:4, 119213.

Bates, Robert H. and Steven A. Block. 2013. “Revisiting African Agriculture: Institutional Change and Productivity Growth,” The Journal of Politics 75:2, 372-384.

Earle, John S. and Scott Gehlbach. 2015. “The Productivity Consequences of Political Turnover: Firm-Level Evidence from Ukraine’s Orange Revolution,” American Journal of Political Science 59:3, 708-723.

Bhavnani, Rikhil R. and Alexander Lee. 2017. " Local Embeddedness and Bureaucratic Performance: Evidence from India." Forthcoming in Journal of Politics

Background readings; not for class discussion Bates, Robert H. 1981. Markets and States in Tropical Africa: The Political Basis of

Agricultural Policies. University of California Press, Introduction and part II (Chp. 5-7), pp. 1-8, 81-132.

Week 13, Dec. 11Other Economic Outcomes: Redistribution, Inequality, and Corruption Ahlquist, John S., and Christian Breunig. 2009. "Country Clustering in Comparative Political

Economy," Discussion Paper: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne. Estevez-Abe, Margarita. 2006. "Gendering the Varieties of Capitalism: A Study of

Occupational Segregation by Sex in Advanced Industrial Societies," World Politics 59:1 (October), 142-175.

Haber, Stephen, and Victor Menaldo. 2011. “Do Natural Resources Fuel Authoritarianism? A Reappraisal of the Resource Curse,” American Political Science Review, 105:1, 126.

Piketty, Thomas, and Emmanuel Saez. 2014. "Inequality in the long run." Science 344:6186, 838-843

Intrator, J., Tannen, J. and Massey, D.S. 2016. Segregation by race and income in the United States 1970–2010. Social science research, 60, 45-60.

Tajima, Yuhki, Krislert Samphantharak, and Kai Ostwald. 2018. "Ethnic Segregation and Public Goods: Evidence from Indonesia." The American Political Science Review 112:3, 637-53. 

Pan, Jennifer, and Kaiping Chen. 2018. "Concealing Corruption: How Chinese Officials Distort Upward Reporting of Online Grievances." The American Political Science Review 112:3, 602-20. 

Final Paper due Dec. 12th, 11:59 pm

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LEARNING OUTCOMESCourse Learning Outcomes:Learning outcomes for this course correspond to the five Political Science B.A. Learning Outcomes:1. Develop an understanding of and appreciation for the methods and approaches of diverse

subfields in Political Science—American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory—and their relevance to important theoretical and pragmatic questions.

2. Analyze different forms and practices of governance both democratic and non‐democratic.3. Argue effectively and defend propositions with intellectual integrity, while considering a

range of alternative points of view and evidence.4. Analyze relations among individuals, civil society, political institutions, and states.5. Analyze the motivations and consequences of political decision‐making and activities.

See additional course goals under the section "Additional Course description" above

GRADING Summary of course requirements and grading (see details below)1. Reading, preparation, and participation in class (2.5% x 12) 30%2. Discussion questions (1% x 4) 4%3. Bi-weekly memos (5% x 6) 30%4. Group presentations (3% x 2) 6%5. Final Paper 30%

100%

Grade scale Range Single grade value

A100% to 94% 100%

AB < 94% to 88% 90%B < 88% to 82% 85%

BC < 82% to 76% 80%C < 76% to 70% 75%D < 70% to 60% 65%F < 60% to 0% 0%

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK, SOFTWARE & OTHER COURSE MATERIALS Most readings are available online via the library or will be on the course website

EXAMS, QUIZZES, PAPERS & OTHER MAJOR GRADED WORK For each week, students will sign up for either a presentation, discussion question, or memo. There are 12 assignments (2 presentations, 4 discussion questions, and 6 memos). The schedule for these will be set up on the first day of class.

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1) Reading, Preparation, and Participation: (2.5% x 12; 30% of final grade) This is a discussion-based class and active participation is essential. Mere attendance is not

full participation. Active participation means being prepared by doing all of the readings for each class and thinking about the material so that you can ask and answer questions related to the course material. Students bring the readings to class in order to aid in discussion.

I will call on a few students during each class meeting; you should be prepared to answer questions about each of the assigned readings.

Students are expected to attend for the full class period; arriving late or leaving the room during class will result in a lowered participation grade.

It is fine to use a tablet or laptop in class to take notes and access readings, but doing other computer activity unrelated to the course during class will result in a lowered participation grade.

Grading rubric for participation in class discussionsA Attended and actively participated, seemed in command of readings and material; able

to explain concepts to the class.B Attended and spoke, demonstrating adequate engagement with the readings, but

infrequently.C Attended but did not speak, or was engaged in non-course-related activities online, or

arrived late or left during class. F Did not attend.

2) Discussion questions (1% x 4; 4% of final grade):In four of the weeks, each student will post 1 question for discussion to the course website, by 2:30 pm on Tuesday. We will discuss these in class. Discussion questions must be based on the course readings, be of broad interest, and be no longer than 75 words.

The grading rubric for discussion questions: A Question asks about the course readings, and connects to a broad theme in the set of

course readings, and is under 75 words.B Question asks about the course readings, but is narrow or not quite on topic.C Question is not directly related to course readings.F Question not posted by 2:30 pm.

3) Bi-weekly Memos (5% x 6, 30% of final grade)For one half of the weeks, each student will prepare a short memo based on the readings. The goals are to categorize the readings, to figure out what the contribution of each reading is, to find points of criticism in the readings, and to make connections between readings.

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All memos should include four clearly marked sections:1. Categories: Sort the readings into categories; this is an important conceptual skill. The

categories can be based on topic, independent or dependent variables, methods, etc. You should provide clear descriptive category labels, then list the author name & year, for all assigned readings, next to or below each label.

2. A key contribution: In 150 words or less discuss an important contribution from one or more works that you think is noteworthy. This should not be merely a restatement of the abstract or main argument. Say why it's a contribution.

3. A point of criticism: in 150 words or less discuss something you found lacking or something you disagreed with in one or more of the readings.

4. Connections among the readings: In 150 words or less discuss a connection between two or more readings. Something they have in common, some way in which they contradict or can be contrasted with each other, etc.

Other requirements: All memos should: Include your name, the date, and a descriptive title for the memo Be one page or less (12-point font, 1-inch margins) Sections 2-4 should be written in prose, not bullet points Be posted on the class website as a PDF by 1:30 pm on Tuesday. Late memos marked

down 2 points for up to 90 minutes late; memos will not be accepted after 3:00 pm.

Memo grading rubric:Reasonable categorization 2Contribution is clear and important 2Criticism is reasonable and accurate 2Made connections between 2 or more readings 2No errors or typos 2Total points 10

4) Group Presentations: (3% x 2, 6% of final grade)Presentations should be modeled on the role of a discussant at a professional conference. Through this activity, students will improve their presentation skills and the ability to concisely analyze, categorize, and orally discuss work in comparative politics. Students should work together to develop an integrated presentation; do not just divide up

the reading. The structure of the presentation should be based on substantive themes or theories, rather than just dividing works arbitrarily;

Presentation should highlight key contributions and some criticisms, and should make connections between readings.

Slides should include 2 short discussion questions, plus the 4 submitted questions from others students.

Presentations must include all assigned readings; should not be longer than 10 minutes; and should include slides (but no more than 5 maximum).

Presenters should engage with the class and not simply read notes. Group presentation dates will be set at the first class meeting. Each student will participate

in two (with 1-2 other students), from different broader themes (e.g. political economy, institutions, identity, conflict).

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Presentation grading rubricThematic organization of readings 2Innovative analysis, including key contributions and criticisms 2Makes connections between readings 1Relevant and broad discussion questions 1Delivery was engaging; made eye contact, did not read from notes or written text, clear and loud enough voice, etc. and all students spoke 2Slides were attractive; not too much text, correct fonts, sizes, etc. 1Stayed within 10 minutes and included all readings 1

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5) Final Paper: (30% of final grade)The final paper will be a paper of no more than 2500 words (approximately 4-5 single-spaced pages), not including citations or tables/figures (if any). The goal of this paper is to draw connections between readings in the course and your research goals, which hopefully will help you develop your dissertation research question and embed your dissertation in existing literature. You should be considering your own research interests as well as sources for this project throughout the semester. The paper should have 2 sections: A discussion of your own research interests (500 words). A discussion of two topics from the course that are related to your research interests

(approximately 1000 words each).The goal is nuanced engagement with the course readings, and an integrated link between your research interests and topics in the course.

Paper requirements:1. Title: Give your project a title that describes your research topic. When people ask you

"what are you interested in?" or "what do you work on?" this should be your answer.2. Define your field of interest in approximately 500 words. This should describe what you

plan to study. Do not just summarize a literature.  Say explicitly what you plan to work on within a literature (or literatures), so that the topics in the second part follow from the description of your interests.  

3. Choose ten readings from the syllabus, from at least two different weeks, that are related to your research interests. In approximately 2000 words total, you should discuss how each reading is connected to your research interests, as well as to the broader literature (i.e. the readings are a link between your research and the larger literature). Develop subheadings for the discussion; they need not be the same as on the

syllabus, but should be descriptive. In discussing specific sources, you should not just summarize main arguments, but

explain why is it important and what it adds that other readings don’t. For example:o "This book is a foundational work on state formation, which is well cited in the

literature.  I disagree with the argument for reasons X, Y, and Z, but think it provides a useful foil for my argument."

o "This article links civil society and violence, focusing on decentralization, and is the only one to put those three variables together, and hence is innovative."

o "This book looks at national identity in Latin America, and I'm interested in Africa, but I thought I could learn from the Latin American experience."

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o "This article has a data set on political violence, which is unique.  I want to compare it with some other case studies."

4. Other important requirements: Your discussion should be based on readings on the syllabus, but you may go

beyond the chapters that were assigned for books on the syllabus. Include your name, date, and title and subheadings as described above, and cite all

your sources fully and properly. 12-point font, single-spaced, 1-inch margins, include page numbers. The final paper is due as a PDF posted to the class website on Wednesday, Dec.

12th, 11:59 pm. Late papers marked down 2 points for up to 24 hours late; papers not accepted after December 13th.

Final paper rubric:Title and subheadings are sensible 2Discussion of field of interest makes the potential research contribution clear 3Discussion of the topics and readings from the course is innovative as well as accurate in making connections between the readings and your field of interest; 3Proper citation of sources; no typos or errors; within the word limit. 2

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HOMEWORK & OTHER ASSIGNMENTSSee above

OTHER COURSE INFORMATION:

Absence and Make-up PolicyAbsences will be excused due to religious conflicts, medical issues, or university-related business. Make-up policy for excused absences: 1. Absence must be excused: Contact me by email as soon as possible if you anticipate

missing a class or assignment. I will confirm in writing that the absence is excused. If you do not contact me, and I do not confirm, the absence is considered "not-excused", the missed class will be counted as F (0 points), and no late work will be accepted.

2. With excused absence, missed class participation will be excluded from final grade total (no grade for that day, e.g. there will be only 11 rather than 12 grades for class participation).

3. Online discussion questions and memos must be submitted online by normal due date, unless the reason for the excused absence precludes doing the online work by the normal deadline (e.g. medical emergency). In this case, memos and discussion questions will be accepted up to one week beyond the deadline.

4. If you anticipate missing a class where you are signed up for a presentation, you should switch beforehand if possible.

5. Policy for missing more than 3 classes: Missing more than 3 classes, even if excused, will result in a 5% reduction in points for the final grade. This reflects the fact that this is a discussion seminar and class participation is important to learning outcomes.

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RULES, RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIESSee the Guide’s to Rules, Rights and Responsibilities

ACADEMIC INTEGRITYBy enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UW-Madison’s community of scholars in which everyone’s academic work and behavior are held to the highest academic integrity standards. Academic misconduct compromises the integrity of the university. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, and helping others commit these acts are examples of academic misconduct, which can result in disciplinary action. This includes but is not limited to failure on the assignment/course, disciplinary probation, or suspension. Substantial or repeated cases of misconduct will be forwarded to the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards for additional review. For more information, refer to studentconduct . wiscweb . wisc . edu / academic - integrity / .

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIESMcBurney Disability Resource Center syllabus statement: “The University of Wisconsin-Madison supports the right of all enrolled students to a full and equal educational opportunity. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Wisconsin State Statute (36.12), and UW-Madison policy (Faculty Document 1071) require that students with disabilities be reasonably accommodated in instruction and campus life. Reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities is a shared faculty and student responsibility. Students are expected to inform faculty [me] of their need for instructional accommodations by the end of the third week of the semester, or as soon as possible after a disability has been incurred or recognized. Faculty [I], will work either directly with the student [you] or in coordination with the McBurney Center to identify and provide reasonable instructional accommodations. Disability information, including instructional accommodations as part of a student's educational record, is confidential and protected under FERPA.” http :// mcburney . wisc . edu / facstaffother / faculty / syllabus . php

DIVERSITY & INCLUSIONInstitutional statement on diversity: “Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background – people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.” https://diversity.wisc.edu/

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