Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Course Information
Dr. Brandon Kinne E-mail: brandon.kinne@utd.edu
Class: Tuesday 1:00-3:45pm Office: GR 3.824
Location: CB3 1.304 Office Hours: Tuesday 9:00-11:30am
Course Prerequisites
Students must have graduate standing in the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences,
or permission from the instructor. Some background in political science, international studies, po-
litical economy, or the like is assumed.
Course Description
This course is a graduate-level introduction to the fields of comparative politics and international
relations, which together define the study of world politics. The course readings place particular
emphasis on commonalities and connections between the fields. We will review prominent em-
pirical issues and theoretical disputes, and explore how political, economic, and social dynamics
interact across domestic and international boundaries. Most of the readings are either established
or emerging classics. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints of the course, some classics must
be excluded. In such cases, other readings have been chosen to summarize important preceding
literatures.
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Required Textbooks and Materials
The first four weeks of the course focus on methodological and theoretical issues, while the remain-
der of the course focuses on substantive issues. Journal articles, available through online archives
like JSTOR, comprise the bulk of the readings. There are also five books to purchase, and a handful
of book chapters on electronic course reserve. In general, you should expect to read the equivalent
of five or six journal articles a week—less for dense readings, more for lighter readings. I may (read:
will) make minor changes to reading assignments over the course of the semester. Any such changes
will be announced in class. Unless arranged ahead of time, absence from class is not an acceptable
excuse for being unaware of changes to the reading assignments.
The following texts are required and are available for purchase at Off Campus Books:
• Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. 2009 (reprint). Economic Origins of Dictatorship
and Democracy. Cambridge.
• Beissinger, Mark. 2002. Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State. Cam-
bridge.
• Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, et al. 2004. The Logic of Political Survival. MIT Press.
• Lake, David, and Robert Powell. 1999. Strategic Choice and International Relations. Prince-
ton.
• http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=778
Participation
Since this is a seminar course, student participation is essential. There is no lecture. You should
come to class prepared to discuss the readings in depth. In addition to the assigned readings, you
should plan to read the student memos each week (see below). My expectation is that every student
will regularly contribute to the discussion—though, of course, quality always trumps quantity. If
you are uncomfortable with extemporaneous discussion, I recommend preparing some comments
and thoughts ahead of time. Attendance is mandatory, and any unexcused absences will substan-
tially lower your grade.
Reading Memos
Each week, three or four students (depending on enrollment) will be responsible for introducing
the week’s readings to the rest of the class and providing some questions for discussion. Students
assigned to the same day should decide between themselves who will cover which readings. These
are not formal presentations, but exercises in stimulating thoughtful discussion. Plan to spend
about five minutes in class introducing each reading (a bit longer for books or lengthy articles).
Keep your “presentation” short and concise. Just give us the essentials.
You will be required to circulate by email a short discussion memo to the rest of the class at
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least 24 hours prior to the class meeting (i.e., by 1:00pm Monday). Late memos will not be graded.
Your memo must contain two components:
1. Brief summaries of each of your chosen readings, wherein you answer the following three
questions: (1) What is the key claim or thesis? (2) Why do the authors think their claims
are correct, i.e., what causal explanations and supporting logic do they provide? (3) Does
the empirical evidence support the claim?
• Summaries must not exceed one page per article or chapter. I.e., if you are covering two
articles (or, say, an article and a book chapter), your total summary must not exceed two
pages. Feel free to use whichever spacing you wish, but please use a standard 10-12pt
font.
• Avoid superficial summaries that gloss over the readings. A good summary should
instead distill an article down to its most essential claims and unpack the logic of the
supporting arguments. When writing a memo, it is your responsibility to “make sense”
of the readings for your fellow students.
2. One or more questions to motivate seminar discussion. These should be questions that lend
themselves to discussion rather than, e.g., questions of clarification. Please take these ques-
tions seriously, as we will devote class time to discussing them.
• Your memo should include no more than one question per article or chapter. You may
wish, for example, to question the logic or coherence of an author’s claims, the relevance
of a theory to real-world politics, or the robustness of an article to the arguments and
findings of other readings (either from that week or previous weeks).
• It is also acceptable—and in some cases, perhaps, desirable—to include one broad ques-
tion covering multiple readings in lieu of individual questions for each reading. In any
case, please do not exceed one question per article/chapter.
Students should expect to write three memos during the semester, though that number may change
depending on enrollment. The memos collectively account for 35% of your grade. Memo grades are
determined primarily by the quality of your summary. However, your in-class introduction to the
reading(s) and your discussion question(s) will also affect your memo grade. You must complete at
least one memo before mid-term. If needed, I will post additional guidelines for the reading memos
to our class web page.
For those class meetings when you are not writing a memo (i.e., the majority of the meetings), you
are responsible for reading the memos circulated by your classmates, thinking about their discus-
sion questions, and preparing to contribute to the discussion.
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Grading Policy
January 12 – Introductions
• Frieden, Jeffry, and David Lake. 2005. “International Relations as Social Science: Rigor
and Relevance,” in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 600(1):
136-156.
• Braumoeller, Bear, and Anne Sartori. 2004. “The Promise and Perils of Statistics in In-
ternational Relations,” in Models, Numbers, and Cases: Methods for Studying International
Relations, ed. Detlef Sprinz and Yael Wolinsky-Nahmias, 129-151. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press. Electronic course reserve.
• Geddes, Barbara. 1990. “How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection
Bias in Comparative Politics,” in Political Analysis 2(1): 131-150.
• Moravcsik, Andrew, and Jeffrey W. Legro. 1999. “Is Anybody Still a Realist?” in Interna-
tional Security 24(2): 5-55.
• Wendt, Alexander. 1992. “Anarchy Is What States Make of It,” in International Organization
46(2): 391-425.
• Krasner, Stephen. 1976. “State Power and the Structure of International Trade,” in World
Politics 28(3): 317-347.
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• Schelling, Thomas. 1978. “Micromotives and Macrobehavior,” in Micromotives and Mac-
robehavior, 11-43. New York: W. W. Norton. Electronic course reserve.
• Hopf, Ted. 2002. Social Construction of International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univer-
sity Press. Chapter 1. Electronic course reserve.
• Putnam, Robert. 1988. “Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games,”
in International Organization 42(3): 427-460.
• Gourevitch, Peter. 1978. “The Second Image Reversed: The International Sources of Do-
mestic Politics,” in International Organization 32(4): 881-912.
• Pierson, Paul. 2000. “Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics,” in
American Political Science Review 94(2): 251-267.
• Greif, Avner, and David Laitin. 2004. “A Theory of Endogenous Institution Change,” in
American Political Science Review 98(4): 251-267.
• Stokes, Susan. 1999. “Political Parties and Democracy,” in Annual Review of Political Science
2: 243-267.
• Cox, Gary. 1999. “Electoral Rules and Electoral Coordination,” in Annual Review of Political
Science 2: 145-162.
• Boix, Carles. 1999. “Setting the Rues of the Game: The Choice of Electoral Systems in
Advanced Democracies,” in American Political Science Review 93(3): 609-624.
February 16 – Nationalism
• Beissinger. Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State. Read chapters 1-5.
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March 2 – Origins of Regimes II: External Influences
• Schmitter, Philippe. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Prospects for Democracy.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Chapter 1 (pp. 3-11). Electronic course
reserve.
• Brinks, Daniel, and Michael Coppedge. 2006. “Diffusion Is No Illusion: Neighbor Emulation
in the Third Wave of Democracy,” in Comparative Political Studies 39(4): 463-489.
• Gleditsch, Kristian, and Michael Ward. 2006. “Diffusion and the International Context of
Democratization,” in International Organization 60(4): 911-933.
• Pevehouse, Jon. 2002. “Democracy from the Outside In? International Organizations and
Democratization,” in International Organization 56(3): 515-550.
• Finkel, Steven E., Anibal Perez-Linan, and Mitcell Seilgson. 2007. “The Effects of US Foreign
Assistance on Democracy Building, 1990-2003,” in World Politics 59(3): 404-439.
• Kelley, Judith. 2008. “Assessing the Complex Evolution of Norms: The Rise of International
Election Monitoring,” in International Organization 62(2): 221-255.
• Bueno de Mesquita et al. The Logic of Political Survival. Read chapters 1-5, and 7 (skip
chapter appendices).
• Clarke, Kevin A., and Randall W. Stone. 2008. “Democracy and the Logic of Political
Survival,” in American Political Science Review 102(3): 387-392.
• Morrow, James D., et al. 2008. “Retesting Selectorate Theory: Separating the Effects of W
from Other Elements of Democracy,” in American Political Science Review 102(3): 393-400.
• Kalyvas. The Logic of Violence in Civil War. Read chapters 1-7. Skim chapters 8 and 9.
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• Fearon, James. 1995. “Rationalist Explanations for War,” in International Organization
49(3): 379-414.
• Smith, Alastair. 1995. “Alliance Formation and War,” in International Studies Quarterly
39(4): 405-425.
• Wimmer, Andreas, and Brian Min. 2006. “From Empire to Nation-State: Explaining Wars
in the Modern World, 1816-2001,” in American Sociological Review 71(6): 867-897.
• Lake, David. 2007. “Escape from the State of Nature: Authority and Hierarchy in World
Politics,” in International Security 32(1): 47-79.
• Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, et al. 1999. “An Institutional Explanation of the Democratic
Peace,” in American Political Science Review 93(4): 791-807.
• Rosato, Sebastian. 2003. “The Flawed Logic of Democratic Peace Theory,” in American
Political Science Review 97(4): 585-602.
• Forum articles from August 2005 issue of American Political Science Review, pp. 453-472:
• Ward, Michael D., Randolph M. Siverson, and Xun Cao. 2007. “Disputes, Democracies, and
Dependencies: A Reexamination of the Kantian Peace,” in American Journal of Political
Science 51(3): 583-601.
• Abbott, Kenneth, and Duncan Snidal. 1998. “Why States Act through Formal International
Organizations,” in Journal of Conflict Resolution 42(1): 3-32.
• Koremenos, Barbara, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal. 2001. “The Rational Design of
International Institutions,” in International Organization 55(4): 761-800.
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• Voeten, Erik. 2005. “The Political Origins of the UN Security Council’s Ability to Legitimize
the Use of Force,” in International Organization 59(3): 527-557.
• Hathaway, Oona. 2007. “Why Do Countries Commit to Human Rights Treaties?” in Journal
of Conflict Resolution 51(4): 588-621.
• Hiscox, Michael J. 2002. International Trade and Political Conflict: Commerce, Coalitions,
and Mobility. Selected chapters. Electronic course reserve.
• Alt, James, et al. 1996. “The Political Economy of International Trade: Enduring Puzzles
and an Agenda for Inquiry,” in Comparative Political Studies 29(6): 689-717.
• Rogowski, Ronald. 1987. “Political Cleavages and Changing Exposure to Trade,” in American
Political Science Review 81(4): 1121-1137.
• Scheve, Kenneth, and Matthew Slaughter. 2001. “What Determines Individual Trade Policy
Preferences?” in Journal of International Economics 54(2): 267-292.
• Mayda, Anna Maria, and Dani Rodrik. 2005. “Why Are Some People (and Countries) More
Protectionist than Others?” in European Economic Review 49(6): 1393-1691.
April 27 – Globalization
• Evans, Peter. 1997. “The Eclipse of the State? Reflections on Stateness in an Era of
Globalization,” in World Politics 50(1): 62-87.
• Hicks, Alex, and Christopher Zorn. 2005. “Economic Globalization, the Macro Economy,
and Reversals in Welfare: Expansion in Affluent Democracies, 1978-1994,” in International
Organization 59(3): 631-662.
• Neumayer, Erik, and Indra de Soysa. 2005. “Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment,
and Child Labor,” in World Development 33(1): 43-63.
• Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou, and Nina Pavcnik. 2007. “Distributional Effects of Globaliza-
tion in Developing Countries,” in Journal of Economic Literature 45(1): 39-82.
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