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Class # In-Class Activities Readings Online Resources
1 Housekeeping
2 Map Test
  • Huntington, Samuel P. "What?" In The Third Wave. Pp. 3-26.
  • Karl, Terry, and Philippe C. Schmitter. "What Democracy is...and is Not."
  • Diamond, Larry. "Is the Third Wave of Democratization Over?"
  • Zakaria, Fareed. "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy."

Maps of the World
3
  • Dahl, Robert. "Does Polyarchy Matter?"
  • Diamond, Larry. "Defining and Developing Democracy."
  • Huntington, Samuel P. "What?"
  • Machiavelli, Niccolo. "The Masses are Wiser and More Constant than a Prince." The Discourses, Book 1.
  • Madison, James. "Numbers 10 and 51."
  • Huntington, Samuel P. "The Political Gap."
  • Dahl, Robert. Democracy and Its Critics. Pp. 52-79.
  • Sen, Amartya. "Democracy as a Universal Value."
  • Dugger, Cecilia. "Why Democracy Means So Little to Pakistan's Poor."
  • Onishi, Norimitsu. "Political Reforms Reach Nigeria's Gasoline Pumps."
4

Class Debate: Does Democracy Matter?

Paper #1 due three days after class 4
  • Freedom in the World. Chapter on Singapore.
  • Kingsbury, Damien. "Singapore: The Corporate State". In South-East Asia: A Political Profile. Pp. 325-351.
  • Zakaria, Fareed. "Culture is Destiny: A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew."
  • Jung, Kim Dae. "Is Culture Destiny? The Myth of Anti-Democratic Values. A Response to Lee Kuan Yew."
  • Fukuyama, Francis. "Confucianism and Democracy."
  • Mydans, Seth. "Soapbox Orators Stretch the Limits of Democracy."

For Further Reading (Not Required):

  • Bell, Daniel A. East Meets West.
  • Emmerson, Donald K. "Singapore and the 'Asian Values' Debate."
  • Lanser, Thomas R. "Rights, Respect, and 'Asian Values'."
  • Freeman, Michael. "Human Rights, Democracy, and 'Asian Values'."

MIT Writing Center

Freedom House

Amnesty International

Human Rights Watch

Government of Singapore
5
  • Huntington, Samuel P. The Third Wave. Pp. 31-108.
  • Rustow, Dankwart. "Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model."

For Further Reading (Not Required):

  • On Economic Development
  • Lipset, Seymour Martin. Political Man. Pp. 27-30.
  • Haggard, Stephan., and Robert R. Kaufman. The Political Economy of Democratic Transition. Pp. 25-44.
  • Dahl, Robert A. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. Pp. 82-80.
  • On Social Cleavages:
    • Dahl, Robert A. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. Pp. 81-123.
  • On Political Culture:
    • Putnam, Robert. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Pp. 3-12, 148-162.
    • Almond, Gabriel, and Sidney Verba. The Civic Culture. Pp. 1-44, 307-315.
    • Dahl, Robert A. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. Pp. 124-188.

    • Freedom House

    6 Film: Herod's Law
    • Lawson, Chappell. "Mexico's Unfinished Transition: Democratization and Authoritarian Enclaves in Mexico." Pp. 267-287.
    • Cornelius, Wayne A. Mexican Politics in Transition: The Breakdown of a One-Party Regime. Pp. 1-29, 51-98.
    • Camp, Roderic Ai. Politics in Mexico: The Decline of Authoritarianism. Pp. 179-205, 225-252.
    • Freedom in the World. Chapter on Mexico.

    Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies

    7 Video: Tableau Ferraille
    • Freedom in the World. Chapter on Brazil.
    • Schaffer, Frederic. Democracy in Translation: Understanding Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture. Pp. ix-xii, 1-20, 54-138.

    For Further Reading (Not required):

    • Galvan, Dennis. "Political Turnover and Social Change in Senegal."

    Freedom House

    African Development Bank

    World Bank

    MIT Writing Center

    8 Paper #2 due three days after class 8
    • Schaffer, Frederic C. "Clean Elections and the 'Great Unwashed': Class Divide and Electoral Reform in the Philippines."
    • Anderson, Benedict. "Cacique Democracy in the Philippine."
    • Pinches, Michael. "The Working Class Experience of Shame, Inequality, and People Power in Tatalon, Manila."
    • Lande, Carl H. "The Return of 'People Power' in the Philippines."
    • Tordesillas, Ellen. "EDSA Tres."
    9 Video: Central Station
    • Coronel, Sheila S. "Cavite: The Killing Fields of Commerce."
    • Holston, James. "The Misrule of Law: Land and Usurpation in Brazil."
    • Colburn, Forrest D. "Crime in Latin America."

    Transparency International

    10

    Video: Kiss of the Spider Woman

    Class Debate: Prosecute and Punish, or Forgive and Forget?

    • Huntington, Samuel P. "The Torturer Problem" and "The Praetorian Problem."
    • Stepan, Alfred. Rethinking Military Politics: Brazil and the Southern Cone. Pp. 68-127.
    • Hunter, Wendy. "Politicians Against Soldiers: Contesting the Military in Post-Authoritarian Brazil."
    • Langguth, A. J. Hidden Terrors: The Hidden Truth About U.S. Police Operations in Latin America. Pp. 160-165.
    • Freedom in the World. Chapter on Brazil.

    Recommended Readings (for debate):

    • Transitional Justice:
      • Mendez, Juan. "Accountability for Past Abuses."
      • Zalaquett, Jose. "Balancing Ethical Imperatives and Political Constraints: The Dilemma of New Democracies Confronting Past Human Rights Violations."
      • Benomar, Jamal. "Justice After Transitions."
      • Malamud-goti, Jamie. "Transitional Governments in the Breach: Why Punish State Criminals?"
      • Rosenberg, Tina. "Overcoming the Legacies of Dictatorship."
      • Amnesty International. "Policy Statement on Impunity."
    • Human Rights Abuses Under Military Rule:
      • Weschler, Lawrence. A Miracle, A Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers. Pp. 7-79.
      • Languth, A. J. Hidden Terrors: The Truth About U.S. Police Operations in Latin America. Pp. 117-122.
      • Timmerman, Jacobo. Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number.
    • Civil Military Relations:
      • Rial, Juan. "Armies and Civil Society in Latin America."
      • Rizzo de Oliveira, Eliezer. "Brazilian National Defense Policy and Civil-Military Relations in the Government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso."
      • Bitencourt, Emilio Luis. "Civil-Military Relations in the Americas for the 21st Century: A Latin American Perspective."

    Amnesty International

    Human Rights Watch

    11
    • Freedom in the World. Chapter on Nigeria.
    • Achebe, Chinua. A Man of the People.
    • Ibelema, Minabere. "Nigeria: The Politics of Marginalization."

    For further reading (not required):

    • "Nigeria: Strength Through Unity."
    • Coleman, James S. Nigeria: Background to Nationalism. Pp. 10-60.
    12 Paper #3 due three days after class 12
    • Freedom in the World. Chapter on India.
    • Lipjhart, Arend. "The Puzzle of Indian Democracy: A Consocianational Interpretation."
    • Kohli, Atul. "Enduring Another Election."
    • Manor, James. "Making Federalism Work."
    • Varshney, Ashotosh. "Why Democracy Survives."
    • Sathe, Vasant. "For a Directly Elected President of India."

    MIT Writing Center

    13 Current Events Discussion