Global Comparative Politics (1)

1. Global Comparative Politics (1) Luca Verzichelli University of Siena Master Program Public and Cultural Diplomacy (LM-81)

2. What this course is about • - a course in political science • Informative goal: socializing the students with the transformation of politics around the world • Formative goal: addressing questions and theories about current problems and challenges • Focused on a truly global perspective • Dealing with the topic of political regimes and particularly with the notions of democracy and democratization

3. Regimes, Democracy, democratization:relevant concepts in different career tracks • Policy analysts • International cooperators • Public and private managers • Travellers and Media people • Experts in international relations latu sensu

4. Main subjects • The nature of comparative politics and the comparative study of democracy • The shape of democracy in the classic «Western hemisphere» • The current democratic experiences in other world areas • The challenges to current democracies: mediatisation, populism, globalization and immigration

5. Assignments • Participation (10%) • Any question from classes 1-9 • Assignments in class (50%) • Presentation on core readings • Exercise at the end of the course • Term paper (40%) • 6/7000 words (topic to be defined with the teaching staff) • Non attending students • Contact the instructor in due time • Oral exam based on 1) One text book in comparative politics 2) (at least) on volume to be selected from the recommended readings

6. Genenral text books in comparative politics(background readings) • Caramani, D. (ed.), Comparative Politics, Oxford University Press, 2014. New editionforthcoming March 2017 • Bingham Powell G., R. J. Dalton, K. Strom (eds.) Comparative politicstoday. A World view. Pearson • (in Italian): Vassallo, S. (a cura di), Sistemi politici comparati, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016. New edition just published

7. Comparative politics as a method • Large N analyses vs. case studies? An old discussion about inference potential and appropriateness of comparison • Qualitative or quantitative data? Multivariate statistics, QCA and/or mixed methods. The path of formalization of political science outcomes and the growth of the set of statistic and methodological tools • Alternative routes - simplifying the world comparing different “patterns” of political systems (ex. Kesselman et al. 2013). Usual descriptive task - theorizing “patterns” in order to test hypotheses about comprative explanation of different democratic phenomena (ex. Lijphart 1984-2012) • Classic institutionalism and focus of political variables. Important drivers of PS theory . Ex. Presidentialism is dangerous • How to trust cultural and geo-political theories? Ex. Difficult democratization in the Islam area • Studying politics in time. Longitudinal vs. synchronic analyses Ex.: the different approaches in the study of social capital

8. A reductive but illustrative definition of Comparative Politics (Kesselman et al. 2013) The field within political science that focuses on domestic politics and analyzes patterns of similarity and difference among countries • Not focussed on methodological implications • analysing patterns: illustrative rather than interpretative • Among countries: assuming an equation political system = country • Focus on domestic politics: assuming that the system of interaction and the multilevel system of policy making is less relevant in identifying similarities and dissimilarities

9. Comparative politics and the classification of political regimes • History and critical junctures • Political economy and development • Governance and Policy making • Representation and participation • Current features Patterns of modern (democratic) polity • Consolidated democracy (UK, Fra, Ger, Jap, US) • Transitional democracy (Russia, Bra, SA, Mex, Nig) • Authoritarian regimes (Iran, China) Easy illustration but weak explanation Western-centred analysis Pedantic output of the classification

10. A more developed classification The Almond-Powell framework for the study of political system • Political culture and socialization • Interest articulation • Interest aggregation and political parties • Government and policy making • Public policy Studying politics in Britain, France Germany, Japan Russia, China Mexico, Brazil Iran, India Nigeria, US

11. Comparative Politcs today (Powell et al. 2014, ch. 2) • Drivers of change • New wave of democratization post-1989 • Socio-economic modernization • Globalization • Consequences of change • Growing inequalities • New conflicts due to internal ethnic and religious tensions

12. Changes in Human Development Index by region improvements in life conditions in many regions of the world over the past three decades However, the “usual suspects” grow more stably East Asia and South Asia have made substantial improvements since 1980 (South Korea and Taiwan) China improved from a low HDI in 1975 to a good one Living conditions in sub-Saharan Africa have also recently begun to improve. But the difference by macro-area remain very evident

13. Political Regimes of the world (Freedom House 2016) Freedom House index of democracy Pros: A simple summary of a complex distribution; monitor of the existence of political rights, pluralism and functioning of government. Multiple sources of information on political rights, civil liberties and institutional checks and balances Cons: lack transparency (no replicability or double-check on the reliability of the coding decisions). No chance to check the correlation among the different indicators. Stable definition of the weights of each indicator. The concepts of freedom not equivalent to democracy.

14. Questions on the comparative study of modern democracy conceptual question Classificatory question Classificatory question • Is there a universal definition of democracy? • How many categories we should use to describe the world of non democratic regimes? • Should we distinguish among political regimes by dichotomous or continuous classifications? • Using the FH Index, what is the average degree of democracy outside the Western Hemisphere reached at the beginning of the XXI century? • What is the relationship between the degree of economic growth and the degree of democratic consolidation? • What are the determinants of the trend of increasing democratization occurred after WW2? • Is there a perfect set of democratic institutions? OR what is the most performing model of democratic system? Methodological question Interpretative question Question generating a proposition Cognitive question Normative question Question generating a proposition conceptual question Interpretative question Methodological question Normative question Cognitive question

15. Democracy in historical perspective • Classic divide: Ancient Greek vs. moderndemocracy • Republicanism vs. evolutive vision ofdemocracy (for or against the State?) • Liberal democracy: differentvisions • Marxists, neo-Marxist, post Marxistdemocracy(ies) • Cosmopolitandemocracy, No-Statedemocracy and deliberative democracy • The debate on post-democracy.

16. The legacy of the XX century comparative politics • The debate on the nature of democracy: elitism vs. egalitarianism • The contribution of empirical political science: Dahl and the the «minimal definition of democracy» • Dynamics of democratisation and transitionalisms: Linz • The waves of democratization: Huntington

17. The third wave of democracy

18. Explaining the massive waves of Democratization (Norris) • Social and structural factors • Societal modernization (Lipset) • Economic inequality / Crises • Country size • Religious / Social fragmentation • Colonial heritage • Political culture • International diffusion / development • Institutional structural factors • Constitutional frameworks • Consensus or majoritarian institutions • Role of types of electoral systems, executives, federalism, judiciary, legislatures, and other institutions • Strategic actors • Bottom-up forces

19. An attempt to explain the recent democratization (Teorell 2006) Statistical analysis of plural determinants of regime change in 165 + 9 case studies Argentina, Bolivia, Hungary, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Uruguay. The research • What determinants of democratization? • Different theoretical approaches • Mixed method • Indexes of democratization computed from different measures (Polity IV + FH) • Cross-national time-series models • Longitudinal analysis in 165 countries from 1972-2006 • Discussion of several series of models • Findings • democracy is promoted by long-term structural forces (economic prosperity) + peaceful cultural incentives (popular uprisings) • short-run: key role of elite actors • Theoretical and pragmatic repercussions on theories of democratization and for the practices of good governance at the supranational level

20. Exercises Discuss the notion of democracy Propose a definition of democracy Read the two definitions from the following two slides Discuss the differences between your definition and what you have found Discuss a recent dynamics of regime change Choose one country where, in your knowledge, you can evaluate a changing degree of democracy Measure the degree of democracy (using the Freedom House Index of political rights and civil liberties) in this country, since the beginning of the XXI century. www.freedomhouse.org → Regions (choose the country) → Research and reports → Freedom in the world 3. Compute a trend and discuss what explains in your view this trajectory

21. Dahl: dimensions of democracy(democracy and its critics) Effective participation: citizens must have both the ability and the opportunity to provide questions, give suggestions, provide reasoning, and indicate preferences that can be found on the political agenda. Voting equality at the decisive stage. Every member of the democracy must know that each citizen's votes will be counted as equal with the next citizen.  Further, this equality must be a reality and not just a spoken idea. Enlightened understanding. There must be ways for citizens to learn about the different choices provided them.  In this way, each citizen can make a decision as to which idea will best serve his or her interest. Each citizen is "enlightened" with "understanding" as to what the best decision might be. Control of the agenda. Citizens should have the ability to help form the actual agenda.  Citizens should be allowed to indicate both general and specific matters that should be discussed and eventually decided upon. Inclusiveness. The democratic process must be available to every human being, in other words, all citizens within the democratic country or state.

22. Schumpeter: proceduralist definition of democracy (Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy) The democratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions which realizes the common good by making the people itself decide issues through the election of individuals who are to assemble in order to carry out its will.