Contemporary World Politics: Theory and Case

Fall 2021 / Young Nam Cho (趙英男)

yncho@snu.ac.kr / Tel: 880-5811

Course Description

This seminar explores governments of various countries in the world and international politics. In the first part of the course, main concepts and theories of comparative politics will be examined including political culture and socialization, political recruitment and structure, interest groups, political parties, government and policymaking, and political development. The second part will analyze case studies of politics in developed, developing and reforming socialist countries. This class is designed for students who have not majored in political science during their college years but wish to understand concepts and theories of political science. Each student is expected to complete weekly readings, participate in presentation and class discussion, write weekly reports, and submit mid-term and final papers. Korean will be the main medium of communications for this course.

Evaluation: Class presentation (20%), and mid-term and final papers (80%)

Key words: Comparative politics, structural functionalism, political system, system function, process function, policy function, country studies

1. Introduction (Sept. 7)

Part One: Understanding of Comparative Politics

2. Introduction to Comparative Politics: Issues and Concepts in Comparative Politics (Sept. 14)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Kaare Strom, and Russell J. Dalton (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (Updated 7th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2002), Chapters 1 and 2

3. Political Culture and Political Socialization / Political Structure and Recruitment (Sept. 28)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Kaare Strom, and Russell J. Dalton (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (Updated 7th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2002), Chapter 3

Gabriel A. Almond and G. Bingham Powell Jr. (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (6th Edition) (New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1996), Chapter 4

4. Interest Articulation / Interest Aggregation and Political Parties (Oct. 5)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Kaare Strom, and Russell J. Dalton (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (Updated 7th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2002), Chapters 4 and 5

5. Government and Policymaking / Public Policy (Oct. 12)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Kaare Strom, and Russell J. Dalton (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (Updated 7th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2002), Chapters 6 and 7

6. Political Development (Oct. 19)

David Potter, David Goldblatt, Margaret Kiloh, and Paul Levis (eds.), Democratization (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1997), Chapter 1, pp. 1-40

Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi, “Modernization: Theories and Facts,” World Politics 49 (January 1997), pp. 155-183

Thomas Carothers, “The End of the Transition Paradigm,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 1 (January 2002), pp. 5-21

7. Mid-Term Paper (Oct. 26)

Part Two: Country Studies

8. Britain and the United States (Nov. 2)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Russell J. Dalton, and Kaare Strom (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (9th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2008), Chapters 8 and 19

9. France and Germany (Nov. 9)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Russell J. Dalton, and Kaare Strom (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (9th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2008), Chapters 9 and 10

10. Japan and India (Nov. 16)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Russell J. Dalton, and Kaare Strom (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (9th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2008), Chapters 11 and 17

11. Mexico and Brazil (Nov. 23)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Russell J. Dalton, and Kaare Strom (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (9th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2008), Chapters 14 and 15

12. Iran and Nigeria (Nov. 30)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Russell J. Dalton, and Kaare Strom (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (9th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2008), Chapters 16 and 18

13. Russia and China (Dec. 7)

Gabriel A. Almond, G. Bingham Powell Jr., Russell J. Dalton, and Kaare Strom (eds.), Comparative Politics Today: A World View (9th Edition) (New York: Longman, 2008), Chapters 12 and 13

14. Transition of Socialist Countries (Dec. 14)

Minxin Pei, From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998), Chapter 1

Richard Crockatt, “The End of the Cold War,” in John Baylis and Steve Smith (eds.), The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations (2nd Edition) (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 92-110

15. Term Paper (Deadline: Dec. 21)