MODERN POLITICAL SCIENCE: INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS

Course Syllabus

Title of the course MODERN POLITICAL SCIENCE: INTRODUCTION TO

COMPARATIVE POLITICS

Title of the Academic

Comparative Politics of Eurasia
Program
Type of the course Core
Prerequisites The course is elaborated for magister students of the first year and is
taught from the beginning of the first module. For that reason the course
has no prerequisites as its main idea is to serve as an introduction and a
base for subsequent courses.
ECTS workload 3
Total indicative study Directed Study Self-directed study Total
hours
40 74 114
Course Overview Generally, the course is about the theory and practice of comparative
politics.
The first part (Block 1) covers the major concepts of political science,
and comparative politics in particular. The students learn how to work
with the major concepts like “power”, “authority”, “institutions”,
“development”, “modernization”, “political regime”. They also learn how
to methodologically correctly apply comparative method at different
scales.
The second part (Block 2) covers the basic issues and political process at
the Eurasian region in comparative perspective, in particular state and
nation-building processes, institution-building, increasing state capacity,
enhancing regional integration.
The teaching format is traditional and innovative at the same time.
Students will learn through lectures and through class-led debate. Most of
the intellectual work on this course will be done in the seminars, where
students will discuss the assigned readings for the course and link them to
major theories and policy dilemmas of comparative politics.

Intended Learning As the major learning outcome, we expect students to understand the
Outcomes (ILO) major concepts and theories of political science, and comparative method,
as well as to intelligently engage with these concepts and method..

Along with acquiring new knowledge on political science, students will

acquire skills in applying various theoretical approaches and comparative
method with regard to Eurasian region. The students learn to apply
comparative method at different scales: comparing states within Eurasia,
comparing regions and regional integration groups within Eurasia, and
finally, comparing Eurasia with other global regions.
Teaching and Learning The course consists of 10 lectures (20 hours) and 10 seminars (20 hours).
Methods The lectures are supported by Power Point presentations, which are then
made available to the students. Seminars follow an interactive format that
includes discussions of key readings, debates, group presentations, etc.
Content and Structure of the Course
№ Topic / Course Chapter Total Directed Study Self-directed
Study
Lectures Tutorial
s
1 What is politics and why study 10 2 2 6
politics?
2 Comparative method and 12 2 2 8
comparative politics

3 Institutionalism: sources, versions, 10 2 2 6

results and constraints
4 Politics and theories of international 12 2 2 8
development
5 The Region of Eurasia 10 2 2 6
6 Democracies and democratic 12 2 2 8
transitions: evidence from Eurasian
countries
7 Variations of authoritarian regimes 12 2 2 8
in Eurasia
8 Comparing nation and state-building 12 2 2 8
strategies in Eurasian countries

9 Measuring state capacity and state 12 2 2 8

quality: The cases of Eurasian
countries

10 The puzzles of Eurasia and agenda 12 2 2 8

for future research

Total study hours 114 20 20 74

Indicative Assessment The cumulative grade for this course is calculated as follows:
Methods and Strategy
50% for the seminar participation (participation in discussions and
debates, preparing presentations)
50% for the final exam.
Should a student get a cumulative grade of 6 or higher, he or she is
excused from taking the exam. The exam is a written test that consists
of questions discussed during the lectures and seminars.

The final mark for the course is worked out by this formula: 0.50 exam
 mark + 0.50 for the seminar participation.

Readings / Indicative BLOCK 1

Learning Resources
Lecture 1. What is politics and why study politics?
Structure of the course, assignments and evaluation.
The notion of politics. Why study politics? What is political science and
how to study politics. Concepts, models and theories in political science.
Subfields in political science. Arguments, evidence and conceptual
framework. The use of scientific method.
Our major concepts: power, authority, government, legitimacy, public
policy.

Seminar 1.
1. Give practical examples of “politics as arena” and “politics as a
process”.
2. Read Dahl‟s “The concept of power” and be able to discuss his
argumentation (course of reasoning).

Compulsory Readings
Dahl, Robert “The concept of power”.
https://www.unc.edu/~fbaum/teaching/articles/Dahl_Power_1957.
pdf

Additional Readings
Jahn, Detlef “What is Comparative Politics? Standpoints and
Debates in Germany and The United States” http://www.phil.uni-
greifswald.de/fileadmin/mediapool/ipk/publikationen/jahn/zfvp20
07_jahn.pdf
Collier, David “The Comparative Method”// APSA 1993.
http://polisci.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/people/u3827/APSA-
TheComparativeMethod.pdf
Morton, Rebecca; Williams, Kenneth “Experimentation in
Political Science”// The Oxford Handbook of Political
Methodology.
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/politics/faculty/morton/ExpChapHa
ndbook5April06.pdf
Pallaver, Matteo “Power and Its Forms: Hard, Soft, Smart”
http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/220/1/Pallaver_Power_and_Its_Forms.pdf
Wearing, David “How scientific is political science?”//The
Guardian, March, 2010.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/08/political
-science-moral-ethical

Lecture 2. Comparative method and comparative politics

What is comparative analysis? Comparison as a method. Reasons for
comparison in social sciences. What is comparative politics? Ideographic
versus nomothetic approach, Tools for comparative political research -
quantitative VS qualitative methods. The guidelines of preparing for
research by means of comparative method: puzzle – theory(ies) – method
– selecting cases – selecting criteria.

Seminar 2.
Provide the examples (and be able to discuss them) of the types of
descriptive comparisons that are 1) nominal (shows presence or absence
of an attribute); 2) ordinal (measuring the grade of attribute intensity); 3)
quantitative (comparing continuing and quantifiable attributes).

Compulsory Readings
Caramani, Daniele (2008). Introduction to Comparative Politics,
Oxford: Oxford University Press
Geddes, Barbara (2006). Paradigms and Sand Castles; theory building
and research design in comparative politics, Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press
Additional Readings
Almond, Gabriel “Comparative political systems”//The Journal of
Politics, Vol. 18, No 3, pp. 391-409.
http://web.unair.ac.id/admin/file/f_23123_CP_Almond.pdf
Geddes, Barbara “How the cases you choose affect the results you
get: selection bias in comparative politics”
http://www.uky.edu/~clthyn2/PS671/Geddes_1990PA.pdf
Ragin, Charles “What is QCA?”
http://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/250/1/What_is_QCA.pdf
Mahoney, James; Goertz, Gary “A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting
Quantitative and Qualitative Research”// Political Analysis (2006)
14:227–249.
http://public.wsu.edu/~tnridout/mahoney_goertz20061.pdf
Lijphart, Arendt “Comparative Politics and the Comparative
Method”//The American Political Science Review, Vol. 65, No.3
(1971), pp. 682-693.
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~plambert/comp/lijphart.pdf

Lecture 3. Institutionalism: sources, versions, results and constraints

What are institutions, and why do they matter? The road to new
institutionalism. Three new institutionalisms. Rational Choice
Institutionalism. Historical Institutionalism. Sociological institutionalism.
Institutional change. Economic growth and development: the role of
economic and political institutions.
„Why Nations Fail‟ (2012) by Acemoglu and Robinson –“extractive”
institutions and “inclusive” institutions.
Seminar 3.

Which of the Eurasian states currently faces the problem of weak

institutions (find your example and be able to prove and explain it)?
Analyze it in accordance with the scheme below. Add your own criteria,
if necessary.

Source: Bochmann, 2012

Compulsory Readings
Acemoglu, Daron, and James Robison. 2012. Why Nations Fail: The
Origins of Power, Prosperity and Power, UK: Profile Books
North, D.C. 1990, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic
Performance, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Additional Readings
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., Robinson, J. 2005. „Institutions as the
fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth‟, in Handbook of Economic
Growth, eds. P. Aghion and S. Durlauf, North-Holland, Amsterdam
Greif, Avner; Laitin, David “A Theory of Endogenous Institutional
Change”//American Political Science Review, Vol. 98, No.4, 2004.
http://web.stanford.edu/~avner/Greif_Papers/2004%20A%20Theory%20
of%20Endogenous%20Instituitonal%20Change.pdf

Levi, M. 1990, „A Logic of Institutional Change‟ in Cook, K.S. and

Levi, M. (eds) The Limits of Rationality, Chicago University Press,
Chicago.
March, J.G. and Olsen, J. 1989, Rediscovering Institutions: The
Organisational Basis of Politics, New York: Free Press.
Lecture 4. Politics and theories of international development
The Problem of Development. Growth, Catch-up Theories and
Modernization. Underdevelopment Theories. Neoliberalism.
Developmental States. Poverty. Sustainable Development. Feminist and
Postcolonial Alternatives. Rights-Based Approaches. What Next for
Development?

Seminar 4.

Key Questions for discussion:

What are the historical origins (intellectual and institutional) of
development theory?
What is the relationship between international development and
colonialism?
What concerns about the relationship between „core‟ and „periphery‟
countries gave rise to dependency theory?
What kinds of development policies stemmed from dependency theory?
What relevance and resonances do these ideas have in the present day?

Reading:

• Chari, S. & Corbridge, S. (2008) The Development Reader

• Chambers, R. (2005) Ideas for Development. London: Earthscan.
• Ravallion, M. (2016) The Economics of Poverty: History, Measurement
and Policy
• McMichael, P. (2012) Development and Social Change 2nd edition
• Peet, R. and E. Hartwick (2009) Theories of Development. Contentions,
Arguments, Alternatives
• Rist, G. (2008) The History of Development: from Western Origins to
Global Faith

Lecture 5. The Region of Eurasia

What is Eurasian region: the borders problem. Not only geography, but a
metaphor.
Eurasia as a construction. Eurasian macro-region in comparative
perspective.
Western and Eastern Eurasia: historical differences and their political
effects. The Heartland theory and the present-day geopolitical structure of
Eurasia. The Planet‟s Pivot Area in Mackinder‟s Theory. The concept of
empire. Empires in Eurasia. The concept of failed state. Failed states in
Eurasia. Asymmetries and conflicts as “Eurasian imperative”.

Seminar 5.
Topics for discussion:
- how Eurasia is structured – geographically and politically
- what is empire and can it survive in the present days
- failed states: what could be the remedy

Reading:
Kathleen J. Hancock, Alexander Libman. The Forgotten Region: Russia
and Eurasia (pdf file available)
The Heartland Theory and the Present-Day Geopolitical Structure of
Central Eurasia (pdf file available)
Trenin, Dmitri. The End of EURASIA: Russia on the Border Between
Geopolitics and Globalization, Carnegie Moscow Center (pdf file
available)

Lecture 6. Democracies and democratic transitions: evidence from

Eurasian countries

Defining political regime. Democracy: conceptualization and

operationalization. Types of democracy: liberalism as a variable. What is
(democratic) transition? Huntington: three waves of democratization.
Transition paradigm. No longer good: the end of transition paradigm.
Transition and Socioeconomic Modernization. How we study
democratization. What happens after the start: „J-curve‟ and
democratization outcomes. Democratization outcomes: evidence from
Eastern European countries.

Seminar 6.
Read the Winners Take All: The Politics of Partial Reforms by Joel
Hellman, and be ready to discuss the article
(https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1997-811-01-Hellman.pdf)

Compulsory Readings
Carothers, Thomas. 2002. “The End of the Transition Paradigm.” Journal
of Democracy, 13:1 (January): 5-21 (17).

Geddes, Barbara. 2009. “What Causes Democratization?” In The Oxford

Handbook of Comparative Politics, ed. by Carles Boix and Susan Stokes,
Oxford University Press

Przeworski, Adam and Fernando Limongi. 1997. Modernization:

Theories and Facts, World Politics, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 155-183

Additional Readings
Acemoglu, Daron and James A. Robinson. 2005. Economic Origins of
Dictatorship and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Related online version (cited 17 June 2009):
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gzdbfu55IGgC.
Bremmer, Ian. 2007. The J-Curve: A New Way to Understand Why
Nations Rise and Fail. US: Simon & Schuster

Epstein, David, Robert Bates, Jack Goldstone, Ida Kristensen and Sharyn
O‟Halloran. 2006. Democratic Transitions. American Journal of Political
Science. 50: 551-569, doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00201.x.
Huntington, Samuel. 1991. “Democracy‟s Third Wave‟. Journal of
Democracy, Vol.2, N2

Rodrik, Dani; Wacziarg, Romain. 2004. Do Democratic Transitions

Produce Bad Economic Outcomes?
https://www.sss.ias.edu/files/pdfs/Rodrik/Research/do-democratic-
transitions.pdf

Lecture 7. Variations of authoritarian regimes in Eurasia

Types of autocracy. Personalist, military, single-party regimes. Case:

North Korea. Case: Republic of Belarus. Hybrid political regimes. Cases:
post-communist countries. Elections without democracy, Neo-
patrimonialism and the role of vested interests. Cases: political regimes in
Russia and China and its dynamics.

Seminar:
Key questions for the discussion:
- compare trajectories of different authoritarian regimes in Eurasia
(their dynamics)
- can authoritarian regimes be effective and stable over time?
- the effects of authoritarian regime on foreign policy

Compulsory Readings
Diamond, Larry (2002) “Thinking about Hybrid Regimes,” Journal of
Democracy 13(2): 21–35.

Levitsky, Steven, and Lucan A. Way (2010). Competitive

Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. New York:
Cambridge University Press.

https://ahkyee.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/levitsky-2010-competitive-
authoritarianism.pdf

Additional Readings

Kimitaka Matsuzato. Competitive Authoritarianism and Its Peculiar

Substitute: Russia and China (pdf file available)

Shevtsova, Lilia. (2015). Forward to the past in Russia, Journal of

Democracy, Vol.26, N 2 (pdf file available)

Lecture 8. Comparing nation and state-building strategies in

Eurasian countries
Building a nation and building a state: what does that mean, and what
comes first. The concept of state and the concept of political regime:
analytical differences. The concept of nation-state. Western European
cases: France and Germany. State and nation building: the effects of
colonization (the cases of India and China). Nation and state building in
authoritarian regimes by authoritarian rulers – the cases of Turkey, and
post-Soviet countries. Russia: Putin‟s state-building strategy, its internal
and external (geopolitical) outcomes.

Seminar:
Discussion on state-building strategy in Russia at various time periods:
- Russian Empire
- Soviet state
- 90s (Yeltsin)
- 2000 onwards (Putin state-building staretgy)

Compulsory reading:

Gel‟man, Vladimir. 2016. Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-

Soviet Regime Changes, Pittsburgh University Press

Additional reading:

Busygina, Irina. 2016. Putin‟s State-Building Strategy, Russian

Politics, N1: 70-94.
Brown, Archie. 2001. “Introduction”. In: Gorbachev, Yeltsin,
Putin: Political Leadership in Russia’s Transition, edited by,
Archie Brown and Lilia Shevtsova, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace

Lecture 9. Measuring state capacity and state quality: The cases of

Eurasian countries

What is state capacity? Concepts related to state capacity: state

autonomy, quality of governance, good (bad) governance, quality of
institutions. Dimensions of state capacity: extractive, coercive,
administrative. Democracy and state capacity. The effects of economic
transition on state capacity. State capacity: the case of Czech Republic.
State capacity: the case of Ukraine. State capacity in authoritarian
regimes. The case of Kazakhstan. State capacity and the problem of
competitiveness in global economy.

Seminar:
Key questions for discussion:
- how to measure state capacity?
- how the level of state capacity influences political regime (and
vice versa)?
- can the country with bad governance be competitive in global
world?

Compulsory reading:
 Fukuyama, Francis. 2013. What is Governance? Center for Global
Development, Working Paper 314
Hamm, Patrick, David Stuckler & Lawrence King. 2010. The
Governance Grenade: Mass Privatization, State Capacity and
Economic Growth in Post-Communist Countries, PERI
Lough, John and Iryna Solonenko. 2016. Can Ukraine Achieve a
Reform Breakthrough? Chatham House Papers, April.

Additional reading:

Huntington, Samuel. 2006. Political Order in Changing Societies,

Yale University Press.
Olson, Mancur. 1982. The Rise and Decline of Nations. Economic
Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
Schleifer, Andrei and Daniel Treisman. 2014. Normal Countries:
The East 25 Years After Communism, Foreign Affairs,
November/December.

Lecture 10. The puzzles of Eurasia and agenda for future research

“Eurasian century” - The Eurasian Moment in Global Politics?

Globalization and the place of Eurasia in the global world. Big powers in
Eurasia, their strategies and their future political trajectories. Coalition-
building: regional integration in Eurasia. The future of the European
Union. Eurasian Economic Union: Russia turns East. The “New Silk
Road”. Is the level of connectivity within the Eurasian region increasing?

Seminar:

Discussion on comparison of modes of regional integration in Eurasia –

the European Union and Eurasian Economic Union.

Reading:
Evgeny Vinokurov. From Lisbon to Hanoi: the European Union and the
Eurasian Economic Union in Greater Eurasia (pdf file available)
Vladislav Inozemtsev. Russia turns east: Eurasian integration, regional
development, and the West as East (pdf file available)
Tenin Dmitry. Post-Imperium: A Eurasian Story (pdf file available)

Indicative Self- Study Type +/– Hours

Strategies
Reading for seminars / tutorials (lecture + 40
materials, mandatory and optional resources)
Assignments for seminars / tutorials / labs + 40
E-learning / distance learning (MOOC / -
 LMS)
Fieldwork -
Project work -
Other (please specify) -
Preparation for the exam + 20
Academic Support for Academic support for the course is provided via LMS, where students can
the Course find: guidelines and recommendations for doing the course; guidelines
and recommendations for self-study; samples of assessment materials
Facilities, Equipment For the lectures and Seminars a class with a laptop, a film projector and a
and Software sound system is required.
Course Instructor Prof. Irina Busygina (ibusygina@hse.ru, ira.busygina@gmail.com)