comp gov
Status Not started
2/10: Political Regimes: Concepts and Typologies
2/19: Political Regimes: Origins and Transitions
2/26: Mass Politics and Political Behavior
3/3: Patterns of Democracy
3/5: Presidentialism v. Parliamentalism
3/10: Electoral Rules
3/12: Parties and Party Systems
3/14 Discussion Session
3/17: Pluralism, Corporatism, Populism, Intermediation
3/19: Nondemocratic Politics
3/21 Discussion Sections
3/24: Electoral Authoritarianism
4/7: Violence and Political Order
4/9: Civil War and Insurgency
4/11: Discussion Section
4/14: Social Movements and Contentious Politics
4/16: Categories and Identities
4/18: Discussion
4/21: Representation and Accountability
4/23: Clientelism and Corruption
4/25: Discussion Section
4/28: Political Economy
4/30: Globalization
2/10: Political Regimes: Concepts and Typologies
Federal state: states where most rights lie with small regions, other sovereignty delegated upwards
Unitary states: sovereignty is delegated down, federal government delegates power down
comp gov 1
, All states have national minorities, some suppress or ignore minority population, other accept
Regimes: fundamental rules and norms that determine how sovereign authority is obtained and exercized,
relatively durable
States: compulsory organizations that have a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence within a given
territory, most durable
Government: teams of people that evercise sovereign authority: less durable
Major distinction between regimes: how sovereign authority is obtained
Join party, win elections: emocracy, ex. Italy, Taiwan, Colombia, Ghana
Inhererit from parent/ancestor: monarchy, ex. Saudi Arabia, Brunei
Defeat current sovereign in battle: military regime, ex. Niger, Myanmar
Rise in bureacratic ranks: bureacratic regime, single-party regime, ex. China, Nicaragua
Many regimes can’t be determined into a single regime, may have multiple characteristics
Can’t determine regime through self-given title
North Korea most likely open succession monarchy, Kim Jong Un killed older brother
Dahl on democracy: more democratic regimes must give people power to organize and oppose, not just
organize
Magna carta: document signed in 1215 that established limits of kings authority over nobles, established
principal of limited government, gave freedom and liberty to citizens of England
Didn’t actually illustrate new rules, only reinforced old rules
Nobles and priest have more power, threat of force if king didn’t sign it, magna carta wasn’t actually
inforced for 400 years after
Egypt after Arab Spring: previous region, led by Hosni Mubarak, collapsed, democratization began
Elections happened, elected Mohamed Morsi, military didn’t like him, seemed like fair competitive
election
Seemed very democratic, change in political regime
Eventually overthrown by military coup led by Adbed Fattah el-Sisi, wrote new Constitution, returned
military control of Egypt
Rules are endogenous, regimes are exogenous
Endogenous: coming from within the system, exogenous: coming from external sources, outside of
the system
Prelim:
Tests on material all the way until the 19th
Mc, short answer, essay
More focused on lecture, still focus on reading
Mainly focused on main terms and concepts and ideas
comp gov 2
, Lectures: terms and how they are applied
Less competition over land in Africa→state capacity and state building looked different, state building
conflict more focused on concentrated land
Democracy is a system in which the ruling party is a representation of the people, who can be held accountable
for their actions, and where power is not monopolized by one group.
2/19: Political Regimes: Origins and Transitions
Prelim: 1. Multiple choice, 2. short answer (1 paragraph each, choose 4 out of 5), 3. Essay (4-5 paragraphs,
choose 1 prompts out of 3)
Who is pzeworski
Time: ⅓ of time for each section, spend approximately 30 seconds on each MC question
What is a political regime?
When regime dies, is replaced by another regime, death of one regime is birth of another regime
Preconditionists: often believe that certain beliefs or types of people more conducive to democracy, certain
ways of living that make democracy more likely
Possible preconditions: economic structure, religious makeup, political culture (culture of disagreement
necessary), geography
Believed for while that Christianity necessary for democracy, used U.K, France, and U.S
Eventually proven wrong by newer democratic states, then shifted focus onto Islam and how it is
incompatible with demcoracy
Political culture: Tocquevillian idea→democracy in America possible because government
modeled around town halls?
Geography: many beleive democracy only possible in small areas, such as small city-states, etc.
Others believe that democracy only capable in colder, inhospitable place because requires
people to work together to survive
History: need specific historical events to happen for democracy to be stable and enduring
For example, need to introduce public to political competition first, then expansion of
franchise, elite compete with each other first then exapdn political participation
Soft v. hard universalist
Hard: preconditions are wrong, believe any country can be democracy and existence of countries out of
preconditions disproves preconditions
Soft: some factors make democracy more likely, but doesn’t have to be undemocratic just because they
don’t have preconditions
Data findings
Correlation between GDP per capita and how democratic a country is
Dividing by world region, correlation only holds up well in Eastern Europe, post-USSR, and Latin
America, ME/North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa don’t follow correlation at all
comp gov 3
, Dividing by colonization by west or not, larger correlation by countries never colonized by
western countries, smaller correlation in countries never colonized by west
Colonization has large impact on democracy
ethnic diversity/ethnic fractionalization (high fractionalization if there are many ethnic groups that
are very small, low fractionalization is monoethnic): weak negative correlation, larger ethnic
fractionalization less democratic, still weak
Economic equality: measured by share of income held by top 1% of wealth : not strong correlation
between economic inequality and democracy
Many argue that economic inequality causes disputes between rich and poor, unlikely to have
democracy
Large income inequality not same as GDP/wealth of country
How do we observe political regimes?
Where do political regimes come from?
Majority of data don’t support preconditionalist, democracy has risen in various countries, major support
would be relationship between GDP of country and amount of democracy, more wealthy countries are more
democratic
Can be evidence that economic development causes democracy
Prosperity causes democracy, democracy causes prosperity (democratic governments have better
resources for economic growth), or something else causes both?
Fourth interpretation of data: factors that cause country to be democratic different from factors that
help regime stay in power
Most democratic regimes don’t last long, but some last pretty long
Military regimes tend to not last very long
Single-party regimes can last longer, still pretty short
Not many monarchies, but can last pretty long
Conclusion: democracy lasts longer than dictatorships
Probability of democratic transition and income decile: poorer countries more likely to transition to
democracy, wealthy countries very unlikely to transition to democracy
Regime durability and GDP per capita
Democracies: wealthier countries are more durable, for democracies, wealth predicts stability
Other regimes: GDP cannot predict durability, monarchies has negative correlation between wealth and
stability
GDP doesn’t cause democracy, but can make democracy last long
Poor countries democratize: dont’ stay democratic for long time
comp gov 4
Status Not started
2/10: Political Regimes: Concepts and Typologies
2/19: Political Regimes: Origins and Transitions
2/26: Mass Politics and Political Behavior
3/3: Patterns of Democracy
3/5: Presidentialism v. Parliamentalism
3/10: Electoral Rules
3/12: Parties and Party Systems
3/14 Discussion Session
3/17: Pluralism, Corporatism, Populism, Intermediation
3/19: Nondemocratic Politics
3/21 Discussion Sections
3/24: Electoral Authoritarianism
4/7: Violence and Political Order
4/9: Civil War and Insurgency
4/11: Discussion Section
4/14: Social Movements and Contentious Politics
4/16: Categories and Identities
4/18: Discussion
4/21: Representation and Accountability
4/23: Clientelism and Corruption
4/25: Discussion Section
4/28: Political Economy
4/30: Globalization
2/10: Political Regimes: Concepts and Typologies
Federal state: states where most rights lie with small regions, other sovereignty delegated upwards
Unitary states: sovereignty is delegated down, federal government delegates power down
comp gov 1
, All states have national minorities, some suppress or ignore minority population, other accept
Regimes: fundamental rules and norms that determine how sovereign authority is obtained and exercized,
relatively durable
States: compulsory organizations that have a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence within a given
territory, most durable
Government: teams of people that evercise sovereign authority: less durable
Major distinction between regimes: how sovereign authority is obtained
Join party, win elections: emocracy, ex. Italy, Taiwan, Colombia, Ghana
Inhererit from parent/ancestor: monarchy, ex. Saudi Arabia, Brunei
Defeat current sovereign in battle: military regime, ex. Niger, Myanmar
Rise in bureacratic ranks: bureacratic regime, single-party regime, ex. China, Nicaragua
Many regimes can’t be determined into a single regime, may have multiple characteristics
Can’t determine regime through self-given title
North Korea most likely open succession monarchy, Kim Jong Un killed older brother
Dahl on democracy: more democratic regimes must give people power to organize and oppose, not just
organize
Magna carta: document signed in 1215 that established limits of kings authority over nobles, established
principal of limited government, gave freedom and liberty to citizens of England
Didn’t actually illustrate new rules, only reinforced old rules
Nobles and priest have more power, threat of force if king didn’t sign it, magna carta wasn’t actually
inforced for 400 years after
Egypt after Arab Spring: previous region, led by Hosni Mubarak, collapsed, democratization began
Elections happened, elected Mohamed Morsi, military didn’t like him, seemed like fair competitive
election
Seemed very democratic, change in political regime
Eventually overthrown by military coup led by Adbed Fattah el-Sisi, wrote new Constitution, returned
military control of Egypt
Rules are endogenous, regimes are exogenous
Endogenous: coming from within the system, exogenous: coming from external sources, outside of
the system
Prelim:
Tests on material all the way until the 19th
Mc, short answer, essay
More focused on lecture, still focus on reading
Mainly focused on main terms and concepts and ideas
comp gov 2
, Lectures: terms and how they are applied
Less competition over land in Africa→state capacity and state building looked different, state building
conflict more focused on concentrated land
Democracy is a system in which the ruling party is a representation of the people, who can be held accountable
for their actions, and where power is not monopolized by one group.
2/19: Political Regimes: Origins and Transitions
Prelim: 1. Multiple choice, 2. short answer (1 paragraph each, choose 4 out of 5), 3. Essay (4-5 paragraphs,
choose 1 prompts out of 3)
Who is pzeworski
Time: ⅓ of time for each section, spend approximately 30 seconds on each MC question
What is a political regime?
When regime dies, is replaced by another regime, death of one regime is birth of another regime
Preconditionists: often believe that certain beliefs or types of people more conducive to democracy, certain
ways of living that make democracy more likely
Possible preconditions: economic structure, religious makeup, political culture (culture of disagreement
necessary), geography
Believed for while that Christianity necessary for democracy, used U.K, France, and U.S
Eventually proven wrong by newer democratic states, then shifted focus onto Islam and how it is
incompatible with demcoracy
Political culture: Tocquevillian idea→democracy in America possible because government
modeled around town halls?
Geography: many beleive democracy only possible in small areas, such as small city-states, etc.
Others believe that democracy only capable in colder, inhospitable place because requires
people to work together to survive
History: need specific historical events to happen for democracy to be stable and enduring
For example, need to introduce public to political competition first, then expansion of
franchise, elite compete with each other first then exapdn political participation
Soft v. hard universalist
Hard: preconditions are wrong, believe any country can be democracy and existence of countries out of
preconditions disproves preconditions
Soft: some factors make democracy more likely, but doesn’t have to be undemocratic just because they
don’t have preconditions
Data findings
Correlation between GDP per capita and how democratic a country is
Dividing by world region, correlation only holds up well in Eastern Europe, post-USSR, and Latin
America, ME/North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa don’t follow correlation at all
comp gov 3
, Dividing by colonization by west or not, larger correlation by countries never colonized by
western countries, smaller correlation in countries never colonized by west
Colonization has large impact on democracy
ethnic diversity/ethnic fractionalization (high fractionalization if there are many ethnic groups that
are very small, low fractionalization is monoethnic): weak negative correlation, larger ethnic
fractionalization less democratic, still weak
Economic equality: measured by share of income held by top 1% of wealth : not strong correlation
between economic inequality and democracy
Many argue that economic inequality causes disputes between rich and poor, unlikely to have
democracy
Large income inequality not same as GDP/wealth of country
How do we observe political regimes?
Where do political regimes come from?
Majority of data don’t support preconditionalist, democracy has risen in various countries, major support
would be relationship between GDP of country and amount of democracy, more wealthy countries are more
democratic
Can be evidence that economic development causes democracy
Prosperity causes democracy, democracy causes prosperity (democratic governments have better
resources for economic growth), or something else causes both?
Fourth interpretation of data: factors that cause country to be democratic different from factors that
help regime stay in power
Most democratic regimes don’t last long, but some last pretty long
Military regimes tend to not last very long
Single-party regimes can last longer, still pretty short
Not many monarchies, but can last pretty long
Conclusion: democracy lasts longer than dictatorships
Probability of democratic transition and income decile: poorer countries more likely to transition to
democracy, wealthy countries very unlikely to transition to democracy
Regime durability and GDP per capita
Democracies: wealthier countries are more durable, for democracies, wealth predicts stability
Other regimes: GDP cannot predict durability, monarchies has negative correlation between wealth and
stability
GDP doesn’t cause democracy, but can make democracy last long
Poor countries democratize: dont’ stay democratic for long time
comp gov 4
