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Political Science 1321 Latin American Politics Fall 2004 (05-1)
Instructor: Aníbal S. Pérez-Liñán Office: 4616 Posvar Hall Phone: 412-648- E-mail: asp27@pitt.edu Office hours: Wednesday and Friday 2:30 to 4:00 pm, and by appointment.
Class time and location: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 1:00-1:50 p.m., LAWRN 105 Course web site: http://courseweb.pitt.edu/ Credit hours: 3.0 (CRN 41882)
Course Description: This course offers a basic introduction to the dynamics of political regimes in Latin America. We will examine the main political issues of contemporary Latin America, the major forms of government in the region, and the ways in which social groups and classes participate in politics in order to address a central puzzle: Why was it so difficult to build stable democracies in Latin America during the Twentieth Century? In the first part of the semester we will discuss the historical experience of Latin American countries with democracy. In the second part, we will focus on different explanations for the emergence and survival of democratic regimes. We will use the analytical tools provided by political science to illuminate the political history of Latin America.
Course Objectives: By the end of this semester, you will be able to:
1. Identify some of the major theories about the emergence and survival of democracy in
developing countries,
2. Describe and compare different ways (e.g., populism, elite pacts, revolution) in which Latin
American politicians attempted (and many times failed) to democratize their societies,
3. Analyze the different factors that may promote or hinder the survival of democracy in Latin
America during the next decade, and
4. Discuss and evaluate alternative policies towards the region.
Readings: John Charles Chasteen. 2001. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. New York: W.W. Norton. (ISBN: 0-393-97613-0)
Roderic Ai Camp, ed. 1996_. Democracy in Latin America. Patterns and Cycles_. Wilmington, Delaware: SR Books. (ISBN: 0-8420-2513-8)
Additional readings:
Access electronic journals through course web site (“Web Sites” section) or directly at http://ug4fn7ck2h.search.serialssolutions.com/ (Search using the title of the journal )
Evaluation
Evaluation of your work is based on your preparation of the readings, your participation in class, an exam to be given on October 25, and a second exam on December 6. Your final grade will be distributed as follows:
Reading 25%; Class Participation 15%; First exam 30%; Second exam 30%.
Readings (25%) Starting on September 8, every Monday and Wednesday I will post two multiple-choice questions in the course web site (look under “Assignments”). The questions are very simple and they are intended to help you with the readings, they are not tests of your knowledge and they are not tricky. You are welcome to have the book in front of you as you answer them—but note that you will only have five minutes, so you need to do the readings before you log-in.
The quizzes will deal with the readings due on that date and must be answered by Wednesday and Friday at 5:00 p.m., respectively—after that time they will be removed from the web site. If you fail to answer the questions by that time (because you cannot connect to courseweb , you have not been able to do the readings on time, or any other reason) I will not be able to post “make-up” questions. However, every student in the class will be allowed to skip two quizzes (i.e., the equivalent of one week) so that unexpected problems with the server or any other complications will not hurt his or her grades. Servers occasionally go down and network problems may eventually prevent your answers from being recorded, so take advantage of this policy in a wise manner.
Because no quizzes will be posted on Fridays, readings due on a Friday may appear on the following Monday’s quiz.
Quizzes are graded in the following way: each question is worth 1 point, so you may collect 2 points for every quiz posted. At the end of the term I will add up all the points you have collected—this will be the numerator to determine the percentage of the answers correct. The denominator will be equivalent to the total number of points possible minus 4 points (two sessions) that you are allowed to miss. Let us say that you collected 20 points over the course of the term and that the maximum possible is 24. You would have a score of 100% or 20/(24-4).
Participation (15%) I expect that we will have an engaging discussion in class and we will regularly have class activities designed to encourage your active participation. Sometimes I will anticipate the questions or issues that we will discuss in class so that you can prepare in advance. I will expect you to think about those questions seriously because we will address them during our meeting. Other times, I will give you small tasks (e.g., go on the web and find a news story on Latin America) that will laid the ground for the discussion in our next session. During that session, I may collect the output of the exercise (e.g., printouts of the news stories) as proof that you prepared for our meeting.
Exams (30% each) Exams will typically consist of four essay questions. I will post a study guide on the course web site before each exam. Depending on the questions, I may decide to give the exams in class or as 48-hour take-homes.
Class Schedule
Historical Background
Monday, August 30 - Introduction No readings. Wednesday, September 1 – No class: APSA Annual Conference / No office hours today Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 1)^1 Friday, September 3 – No class, APSA Annual Conference / No office hours today Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 2)
Monday, September 6 – No class, Labor day Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 3) Wednesday, September 8 – The Wars of Independence [First quiz posted on-line] Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 4) Friday, September 10 – Politics in the 19 th^ Century Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 5)
Monday, September 13 – Politics in the 19 th^ Century Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 6) Wednesday, September 15 – Politics in the 19 th^ Century Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 7) Friday, September 17 – The Spanish-American War -- Download guided notes from the course website and bring them to class -- Readings: Library of Congress: “The World of 1898” www.lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/
Patterns of Failed Democratization, 1930-
Populism Monday, September 20 – Mass Politics Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 8) Wednesday, September 22 – Populism: Peronism Readings: Ranis, Peter. 1979. “Early Peronism and the Post-Liberal Argentine State.” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 21 (3): 313- Download from Electronic Journals (JSTOR database) Friday, September 24 – Peronism Readings: Little, Walter. 1973. "Party and State in Peronist Argentina, 1945-1955." The Hispanic American Historical Review 53 (4):644-662. Download from Electronic Journals (JSTOR database)
Revolution and Repression Monday, September 27 – The Age of Revolution Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 9) Recommended:^2 Williamson, Edwin. 1992. "Cuba: Dependency, Nationalism and Revolution." Chapter 12 in The Penguin History of Latin America (pages 436- 58). London: Allen Lane.
(^1) Readings from Chasteen’s book are labeled “Chasteen (2001)” with an immediate reference to
the corresponding chapter. (^2) “Recommended Readings” are not mandatory and will not be included in the quizzes.
Wednesday, September 29 – Revolution: Cuba Readings: Dominguez, Jorge I., and Christopher N. Mitchell. 1977. "The Roads Not Taken: Institutionalization and Political Parties in Cuba and Bolivia." Comparative Politics 9 (2):173-195. Download from Electronic Journals (JSTOR database) Friday, October 1 – Military Regimes Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 10)
Monday, October 4 – Military Rule: Brazil, 1964- Readings: Weis, W. Michael. 1997. "Government News Management, Bias, and Distortion in American Press Coverage of the Brazilian Coup of 1964." Social Science Journal 34 (1):35-55. (Download from electronic journals -- Expanded Academic ASAP : http://monitor.library.pitt.edu:9696/articles/database_info/exp_academ.html) Wednesday, October 6 – The Age of Revolution: Brazil, 1964- -- Download guided notes from the course website and bring them to class -- Readings: Alves de Abreu, Alzira. 1997. "Brazil's Guerrilla Trap." History Today 47 (12):35-41. (Download from electronic journals -- Expanded Academic ASAP ) Friday, October 8 – Foreign Policy Dilemmas: Brazil, 1969 -- Download guided notes from the course website and bring them to class -- Barreto, Bruno. 1997. Four Days in September. Burbank, CA: Miramax Films and Pandora. Recommended: Wright, Thomas C. 2001. Latin America in the Era of the Cuban Revolution. Westport: Praeger. (Chapter 3: Fidelismo and the Radicalization of Latin American Politics).
Elite Pacts Monday, October 11 – Mass Politics in Colombia, 1930- Readings: Stoller, Richard. 1995. "Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo and Liberal Radicalism in 1930s Colombia." Journal of Latin American Studies 27 (2):367-397 (download) Wednesday, October 13 – Coalition Rule, 1958- Readings: Hartlyn, Jonathan. 1984. "Military Governments and the Transition to Civilian Rule: The Colombian Experience of 1957-1958." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 26 (2):245-281 (download) Friday, October 15 – Colombia after the National Front Readings: Hartlyn, Jonathan. 1984. "Military Governments..."
Monday, October 18 – The 1980s: Transitions to Democracy Readings: Remmer (1990) [Camp, ch. 13]^3 Wednesday, October 20 – The 1980s: The Debt Crisis Readings: Remmer (1990) [Camp, ch. 13] Friday, October 22 – Review session
Monday, October 25 – First Exam Wednesday, October 27 – The 1990s: Neoliberal Reform Readings: Chasteen (2001, ch. 11)
(^3) Articles from Camp’s reader are labeled with the author’s surname and year of the original
publication, followed by a reference to the chapter in the reader.
