Dr. William M. Downs Office Hours: M, W 2:00-3:30

Department of Political Science 1013 General Classroom Building

Georgia State University Tel: 651-4841

Email: polwmd@panther.gsu.edu

The principal aim of this course is to achieve an advanced understanding of major theoretical, empirical, and substantive issues in contemporary European political systems. A comparative methodological approach will encourage critical thinking about key trends and controversies, and it will enable students to assess the performance of individual political systems in relation to broader patterns in both Europe and North America. Readings will introduce a variety of approaches and methods employed in comparative political analysis. Among the topics covered by readings and discussions will be the following:

• domestic influences on US-European relations (political, economic, military)
• party systems and coalition government
• right-wing extremism
• green politics (rise of ecologist or left-libertarian parties)
• promises and pitfalls of European welfare states
• political control over national economic policy making
• territorial decentralization
• pan-Europeanism (i.e., European integration)

Regarding the last item in this list, the course provides analysis of the political and economic rationales for the European Union, evidence on the development of trade and growth in the EU, details of the Single Market program, analysis of convergence and disparities within the EU and prospects for EU enlargement by integration of Central European economies. Focus will be on integration theory and measurement and analysis of EU policy making illustrated with current issues such as Economic and Monetary Union and employment.

TEXTS AND COURSE MATERIALS

The following texts are available for purchase at the Park Place Bookstore:

Lane, Jan-Erik and Svante O. Ersson. 1996. European Politics: An Introduction. Sage.

Taylor, Paul. 1996. The European Union in the 1990s. Oxford University Press.

Holmes, John W. 1997. The United States and Europe after the Cold War : a new alliance? Columbia, S.C. : University of South Carolina Press.

Anderson, Christopher. 1995. Blaming the Government: Citizens and the Economy in Five European Democracies. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.

Laver, Michael and Kenneth A. Shepsle. 1996. Making and Breaking Governments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Notes on Articles and Chapters: Additional readings will come from select journal articles and book chapters, which will be made available to you. Unless otherwise indicated, all required journal articles and book chapters are on reserve at Library South. Moreover, we may decide to distribute a copy of the following week's reading at each seminar session--allowing those who wish to then arrive at their own system for copying and circulation. Those for whom neither of the above systems works may be able to check materials out for 2 hour periods from the file holder on my office door.


COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING SYSTEM

"Review" Papers: Students will write two discussion papers (each approximately 1250 words in length) during the course of the quarter. The review essays will raise a single or a series of theoretical or methodological questions or criticisms on the work being discussed for that particular week. Assignments will be staggered so that several essays will be prepared each week. Each essay is due by 3:30 Wednesday, the day before each seminar session. Copies are to be given at that time to me and should also be distributed to all remaining seminar members via e-mail. At the seminar session itself, all essay writers will be allocated 15-20 minutes to present their argument.

Research Paper: An original research paper addressing one of the areas emphasized in this seminar is required and due at the end of the quarter (Tuesday, March 17 at 5:00). We will discuss the specifics of this project early in the Quarter.

FYI: You should periodically check my web page http://www.gsu.edu/~polwmd/page.html for assignment updates, useful resources, and class materials.

Grade: The final seminar grade will be determined on the basis of the following weights:

Review Essays 20%

Participation 20%

Research Paper 35%

Final Exam 25%

January 6 Introduction

January 8 History/Economics/Social Structure--Broad comparative dimensions

• Lane & Ersson, Chapters 1-3, 9 (83 pages)

Kesselman and Krieger, "Introduction," European Politics in Transition, 3^rd edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. (37 pages)

Week 2 Structuring Institutions: The Territorial Axis

January 13

• Lane & Ersson, Chapter 5 (20 pages)
• L. J. Sharpe. "The West European State: The Territorial Dimension." West European Politics ( ): 148-167.
• Alain-G. Gagnon, "The Political Uses of Federalism," in Burgess and Gagnon, eds., Federalism and Federation: Competing Traditions and Future Directions (1993): 15-44.

January 15

• Robert D. Putnam et al., "Explaining Institutional Success: The Case of Italian Regional Government." American Political Science Review 77 (1983): 55-74.
• Ingemar Elander. "Analysing Central-Local Government Relations in Different Systems: A Conceptual Framework and Some Empirical Illustrations." Scandinavian Political Studies 14:1 (1991): 31-58.

Week 3 Structuring Interests: Parties and Party Systems

January 20

• Lane & Ersson, Chapters 6, 10 (34 pages)
• Alan Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems, Introduction & Chapters 1-3 (123 pages)

January 22

• Herbert Kitschelt, The Radical Right in Western Europe, Chapters 1, 3, 7 (89 pages)

Week 4 Structuring Power: Making and Breaking Governments

January 27

• Lane & Ersson, Chapter 7 (21 pages)
• Laver and Shepsle, Chapters 1-5 (122 pages)

January 29

• Laver and Shepsle, Chapters 6-13 (163 pages)

Week 5 Politics, Economics and the Structure of Credit and Blame

February 3

• Anderson, Chapters 1-4

February 5

• Anderson, Chapters 5-9

Week 6 Public Sector Politics and the European Welfare State

February 10

• Lane & Ersson, Chapter 8 (19 pages)
• Vincent Wright, "Reshaping the State: The Implications for Public Administration." West European Politics 17:3 (July 1994): 102-137.
• B. Guy Peters, "What Future for the Welfare State?" in European Politics Reconsidered (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1991): 220-255.

February 12

• Jeffrey R. Henig et al., "The Politics of Privatization: A Comparative Perspective." Governance (1988): 442-468.
• Giandomenico Majone, "The Rise of the Regulatory State in Europe." West European Politics 17:3 (July 1994): 77-101.

Week 7 Integration and European Union Politics I

February 17

• Lane & Ersson, Chapter 4
• Taylor, Chapters 1-2

February 19

• Taylor, Chapters 3-5
• Geoffrey Garrett, "From the Luxembourg Compromise to Codecision: Decision Making in the European Union." Electoral Studies 14:3 (1995): 289-308.

Week 8 Integration and European Union Politics II

February 24

• Alec Stone Sweet and Wayne Sandholtz, "European Integration and Supranational Governance," in European Integration and Supranational Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998): 1-44.
• "The Euro." Europe (September 1997).
• David N. Balaam and Michael Veseth. "The European Union: The Economics and Politics of Integration," in Balaam and Veseth, Introduction to International Political Economy (1996): 217-240.

February 26

• John Fitzmaurice, "National Parliamentary Control of EU Policy in the Three New Member States." West European Politics 19:1 (1996): 88-96.
• Forum:
• a. George Tsebelis, "The Power of the European Parliament as a Conditional Agenda Setter," American Political Science Review 88:1 (1994): 128-142.
• b. Peter Moser, "The European Parliament as a Conditional Agenda Setter: What are the Conditions? A Critique of Tsebelis (1994)," American Political Science Review 90:4 (1996): 834-838.
• c. George Tsebelis, "More on the European Parliament as a Conditional Agenda Setter: Response to Moser," American Political Science Review 90:4 (1996): 839-84.

Week 9 US-EU Relations

March 3

• Holmes, Chapters 1-8

March 5

• Holmes, Chapters 9-11

Week 10

March 10 No Class

March 12 Exam

Week 11

March 17 Research Papers due

British Journal of Political Science

Comparative Political Studies

Comparative Politics

Electoral Studies

European Journal of Political Research

Foreign Affairs

German Politics

Governance

Government and Opposition

International Political Science Review

Journal of Common Market Studies

Journal of Comparative Economics

Parliamentary Affairs

Party Politics

Plural Societies

Revue française de science politique

Rivista de Estudios Politicos

Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica

Scandinavian Political Studies

Studies in Comparative Communism

West European Politics

World Politics