Entry requirements

Political Science advanced course or equivalent education.

Learning outcomes

After completion of the course the students are expected to:

- The course aims at providing a good understanding of research in the field of comparative politics. The students should acquire a deeper understanding and knowledge of: institutional theories in social and political science; about commonalities and differences between the three varieties of institutionalism (historical, rational choice, and sociological); and about the point of institutionalist theories compared to other theories and how they matter and are used in empirical research regarding, for example economic growth, democracy, and equality in different parts of the world.

- more thoroughly understand the importance of legacies for contemporary politics

- be acquainted with the research done by senior scholars in comparative politics in the department

- be able to apply and/or discuss the theories in a smaller study ('Final paper').

Content

The course builds on insights about political impact of institutions the students have gained from the A level course on "Citizens, the state and politics" and from the B level course on "Problems of democracy". The course discusses the commonalities and differences between the three varieties of institutionalism: historical, rational choice, and sociological. After finishing the course the students are expected to have a deeper understanding about the point of institutionalist theories, their common traits and disagreements, and how they matter and are used in empirical research.

The second overarching aim of the course is to study and discuss the importance of legacies, and bottom-up processes that may determine outcomes for contemporary politics. In any given time actors are influenced, constrained, and helped by structures they have not chosen but inherited. Be it cultural values, class structures, elite patterns, organisation of political economies, or gender-based hierarchies – such legacies influence politics, the nature of conflict and democratic quality. Nevertheless, it is obvious that such constraints can be broken under certain conditions when rapid political change occurs. Such examples will be studied as well and used to determine strengths and weaknesses in institutionalist theories.

The focus on institutions has an important backdrop in recent advances in political science. "Institutions now stand at the heart of much theorising and explanation in political science", says Paul Pierson (2004). We take institutions to mean the 'rules of the game' in politics; rules that can be formally drafted in a constitution or informally given by tradition; they can be in place and valid for a whole polity or restricted to a village or a small profession. Institutions can be changed; indeed, political conflict is often about actors' attempts to alter them. Several articles deal with institutional change.

Legacies and institutions, sometimes closely intertwined, are first discussed more generally and theoretically and then in relation to gender, transitions to democracy in East and Central Europe, and finally in relation to development in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Part I: Top-Down and Bottom-Up Perspectives on Development – How far can we go with institutional theories?

Lecturer: Sten Widmalm

In this first part of the course we begin with an introduction to the course, and a presentation with a rather broad perspective on institutions and development. We look at what creates or breaks development in other parts, especially poor ones, of the world, and we discuss how far we can go with institutionalist oriented theories. We will look at research contributions arguing strongly in favour of such perspectives, and we will look at a number of contributions that pose several problems to them. The question posed here is: How far can institutionalist oriented theories take us when trying to understand and pursue development?

Part II: Institutionalist theories

Lecturer: Hans Blomkvist

This theme discusses the difficulties and incentives for collective action (cooperation) through Scott Barrett's book on global public goods, including the problem of climate change. Through Paul Pierson's influential book and several often-quoted articles we will discuss the three varieties of institutionalism and the research agenda they present. We will also address the questions of how institutions can facilitate cooperation and perhaps the least understood problem in institutional analysis: how and why do institutions change?

Part: III:

Gender and political institutions

Lecturer: Christina Bergqvist

This theme deals with the welfare state institutions, legacies and public policies from a gender perspective. The field of feminist comparative policy seeks to study empirically and theorise gender. How are states, public policy and gender-based hierarchies in public as well as private domains related? What driving forces do we find behind gender equal policies? We will especially focus on recent discussions about policies to reconcile work and family life and the consequences for birth rates, market participation, and gender equality.

Part IV: State and Nation-building in Post-Communist Europe

Lecturer: Li Bennich-Björkman

This theme focuses the state, responses to state-building and nation-building in Russia and other post-communist and post-Soviet states. Not least will the interaction between successes and failures of state-building and legacies of national identity be dwelled upon since it played a crucial role in bringing down the Soviet empire.

Part V: The 2004 "Orange revolution" in Ukraine

Lecturer: Astrid Hedin

Case study: The 2004 "Orange revolution" in Ukraine. In this part of the course, we look at a post-communist democratisation in Eastern Europe as an example of institutional change. Which long term and short term variables, actors and structures were most crucial? Students practice analytical skills with a case study of the 2004 "Orange movement" in Ukraine.

Instruction

The course consists of lectures and seminars.

Assessment

The course consists of a mixture of lectures and smaller group seminars. Attendance at the seminars is compulsory and students are expected to take an active part in the discussion. The course – being an advanced course open to Master's level as well as PhD students – places great emphasis on the ability of students to work and discuss the course readings independently, both in written and oral form.

The requirements of the course are:

- Handing in a number of reading reports (about 1700 words) which are due at the seminars. In the reading reports, students are expected to survey the literature and critically discuss its strengths and weaknesses. Please note that these reports should not be handed in electronically, but rather at the seminar in a printed – and stapled – version. 1)

- A final course paper of 10–12 pages (i.e. maximum length of 4,500 words). The deadline will be announced. The topic can be chosen freely, but the paper should discuss research questions covered during the course and make active use of the course readings.

- Attendance and active participation at the group seminars.

Grades will be given both according to the Swedish three-level system (Vg, G and U) 2) and the European (ECTS) standard using a seven-step scale (A–F). The course grade will reflect a combination of all requirements, where the reading reports will make up about 40 % of the grade, the final paper 50 %, and seminar participation corresponds to about 10 %.

As stated above, the topic for the final paper can be chosen freely, but the paper should discuss research questions covered during the course and make active use of the course readings, and it should focus on one of the themes in the course. You can discuss the outline of the paper with one of the course teachers. Also, you may also hand in a synopsis (max. 2 pages long) that will be discussed at a special seminar (see the schedule). The final paper should be about 10-12 pages, a maximum of 4,500 words (excluding list of references). If your paper is longer than 4,500 words it will not pass. 3) If you would like to write your paper so that it forms a part of your D-essay (D-uppsats) or Research plan for your PhD ("introduktionspromemoria") that is no problem; on the contrary, we encourage you to do just that. But in that case your paper must still be an independent contribution in relation to your coming D-level/master-thesis (i.e. you cannot simply copy the whole or any parts of this contribution and include it in your coming D-level/master-thesis). These are things we look at when we grade the contributions:

To what extent

1) Is a question explicitly formulated?

2) Is the paper organised around that question?

3) Is (part of) the course literature used to address the question?

4) Is the question formulated so that a meaningful and relevant answer can be retrieved from the course literature?

5) Is the question answered?

6) Is the paper well written, i.e. is it easy to follow the line of argument?

Some examples of final papers will posted on the web.

In case you need to get in touch with any of the professors before or after their classes, the easiest way is to send an email to their address: Firstname.Secondname@statsvet.uu.se

*****

1) In the unlikely event of a student missing a seminar, an additional make-up assignment will be handed out for that particular seminar. If you miss a seminar, it is also unlikely that you will be able to obtain a A – B (VG) grade for that particular part of the course

2) Vg = Pass with distinction, G = Pass, and U = Fail.

3) This may seem harsh, but it is important to learn how to focus and limit a text, an ability that is valuable not least in many different jobs.

Course level in relation to degree requirements

The course provides the students with the opportunity to practice independent evaluation and critical treatment of institutional theories by relating these theories both to empirical contexts and to theoretical discussions.