Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Prerequisites

None

Course Description

This course deals with the organization of political power and the dynamics of political change in four major European countries: Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. We will focus especially on the structure of political power within the state and on important institutions that form the link between state and society (especially political parties and interest organizations).

The organization of political power within the state and society vary across our four countries in ways that reflect divergent outcomes of previous political conflicts. We will review critical aspects of the historical development of each country that sent them along different "paths," to understand how political power becomes entrenched in particular institutions. However, most of the course will focus on the contemporary institutions of political governance and current political developments in each country.

Course Readings and Requirements

You will be responsible for about 125 pages of reading per week. The books listed below are the main sources of readings for the course.

Geoghegan, Thomas. Were You Born On the Wrong Continent?: How the European Model Can Help You Get A Life. The New Press, 2011. ISBN: 9781595587060.

Katzenstein, Peter J. Policy and Politics in West Germany: The Growth of a Semisovereign State. Temple University Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780877222644.

Kesselman, Mark, Joel Krieger, et al. European Politics in Transition. Wadsworth Publishing, 2008. ISBN: 9780618870783. [Preview with Google Books]

Moore, Barrington. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. Beacon Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780807050736.

The remaining readings come from a variety of sources and are detailed in the Readings section.

Grading