| Week I: Introduction |
| 1 |
Introduction and Review of Syllabus, Discuss Final Exam, Pick Recitation Time |
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| Week II: The State and Regime Type |
| 2 |
What is Social Science?
Social Science Research?
Name Game
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Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| 3 |
What is a State and Why have One?
What is a Democracy and Why have One?
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Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| Week III: Social Structure |
| 4 |
Lens 1: The Construction of Political Cleavages (Class) |
Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| 5 |
Lens 1 (cont.): The Construction of Political Cleavages (Race, Religion, and Ethnicity) |
Notes (PDF) |
| Week IV: Culture and Institutions |
| 6 |
Lens 2: Culture and Beliefs
Discussion of Measurements of Culture in Articles
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Notes (PDF) |
| 7 |
Lens 3: Institutions
Wrap up on Lenses
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Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| Week V: Democratization |
| 8 |
Why do Countries Become Democratic? |
Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| 9 |
Does Economic Development Lead to Democracy?
Review of Lenses
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Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| Week VI: Case Study on the Breakdown of Democracy: Inter-war Germany |
| 10 |
Why did Democracy Break Down in Inter-war Germany? |
Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| 11 |
Class Debate: Why did the Weimar Republic Collapse? |
Notes (PDF) |
| 12 |
Wrap up on Weimar and Discussion of Federal Republic |
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| Week VII: Research Papers |
| 13-14 |
Interim Presentations on Research Papers |
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| Week VIII: Political Institutions and Economic Growth |
| 15-16 |
How do Political Institutions Affect Economic Growth? |
Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF - 1.7 MB)
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| Week IX: Why is Mexico so Corrupt? |
| 17-18 |
Corruption in Mexico
General Causes of Corruption and Proposed Solutions
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Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| Week X: Culture and Effective Governance |
| 19 |
Lecture: Culture and Democracy |
Notes (PDF)
Slides (PDF)
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| 20 |
Why is Northern Italy so Much, Well, Better? (Except for the Food)
Breakout Group Presentations on Putnam's Argument
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Slides (PDF) |
| Week XI: Class Presentations on Research Papers |
| 21 |
Class Presentations on Research Papers |
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| Week XII: The U.S. in Comparative Perspective |
| 22-23 |
What's Right and What's Wrong with the U.S. System?
Breakout Groups on Redesigning the U.S. Constitution
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| Week XIII: State-building, Ethnic Conflict, and "Democracy" in Iraq |
| 24 |
Attempts to Impose Democracy by Foreign Powers |
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| 25 |
Show and Tell on Iraq |
Slides (PDF - 1.3 MB)
2005 World Map of Political Stability and No Violence by Country
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| Week XIV: State-building, Ethnic Conflict, and "Democracy" in Iraq (cont.) |
| 26 |
Discussion of the Final Exam, Wrap-up of Semester, and Class Evaluations |
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