Political Science 120, Comparative Political Regimes Winter Term 2005
Session 3: Communist and Post-Communist States: States and Social Revolutions
I. The Importance of the State for Democracy
A. What is "the State?"(graphic)
B. State Capacity
C. The Rule of Law and Democracy
II. State-building as Organized Crime
A. What Makes a State? (graphic)1) Coercive Exploitation2) Capital Accumulation
B. State-Making and Nation-Building
1) What is the "Nation?"2) Where Do Nations Come From? (graphic)
3) The Problems of Nation-Building in Polyethnic Societies
III. The Weaknesses of the Russian State (graphic) (graphic)
Handouts:
The Russia Simulation
Paper 2 Handout
Key Concepts: Weberian definition of the state, state capacity, despotic and infrastructural power, rule of law, coercive exploitation, war-making, state-making, extraction, capital accumulation, sovereignty, the law as "institutionalized violence," bureaucratic autonomy (esprit de corp), nation-building, "imagined communities," nation-states, ethnicity and the colonial mission to "divide and conquer," the "martial races," ethnic cores, consociationalism, hyperpresidentialism, decree powers.
Key Individuals: Max Weber, Michael Mann,Charles Tilly, Benedict Anderson, Anthony D. Smith.
Study Questions:
(February 9 & 11, Wednesday & Friday)
What institutions of the Russian policy-making process contribute to the central state's weakness? Be prepared to discuss at least three.
What elements of the party system contribute to state weakness? Be prepared to discuss at least three.
If you were creating a new democracy for Russia, what elements of the British and German cases would you utilize as models? Be sure to specify particular institutions of policy-making and of the party system.
(February 14, Monday)
Can democracy survive in Russia? Place yourself in the position of an optimist, and point out at least three elements of Russian politics that might favor the continuation and strengthening of democracy.
Floating Comprehensive Exam Questions: Answer One (Due February 22, Tuesday)
(A) Identify three aspects of state capacity in Russia that you believe Putin's reforms have improved. Assess the costs and benefits of Putin's "improvements" relative to how the Russian state functioned under Yeltsin.
(B) Compare Putin's approach to building democracy in Russia with that of the Germans after WWII. Focus on 2-3 "lessons" that you believe both the Russians and the Germans "learned" and specify 1-2 that they did not learn.
Note: If you choose not to answer one of these questions, you will have two more sets of exam questions to satisfy the two question requirement. If you have not answered any comprehensive exam questions after this point, you will be obligated to answer the next two. Difficulty level continues to increase with each set.
Political Science 120, Comparative Political Regimes Winter Term 2005
Session 3: Communist and Post-Communist States: States and Social Revolutions
Chinese and Russian Economic Reform
IV. The Chinese State
A. Social Origins of the Chinese StateB. The Revolutionary Period
V. Why Chinese Economic Reform Has Succeeded and Russian Reform Has Not
A. What Economic Reform in Communist/Post-Communist Cases Must Change (graphic)B. Why Reform Was Initiated
1) Explanation #1: Economic Crises Prompted ChangeC. Why Reform Succeeded in China and Failed in Russia (graphic)
D. The Limits of Chinese Economic Reform (video)
Handouts:
Debate #2: The China-Human Rights Debate
Keywords: the honeycomb pattern of Chinese society, the rural Chinese gentry, tax farming, the weblike pattern of the Chinese revolutionary state, sunk investments/costs, the Central Statistical Administration (CSA) (USSR), the State Statistical Bureau (SSB) (China), the problem of hidden information, centrifugal v. centripetal tendencies in Russia and China, town and village enterprises (TVEs), shock therapy versus gradualism in economic reform.
Key Individuals: Janos Kornai, Vivienne Shue, Yasheng Huang, Barry Naughton, Susan Shirk.
Study Questions:
(February 16 & 18, Wednesday & Friday)
Can the Chinese state be seen as “strong?” What indicators (e.g., events, processes, institutions and their effectiveness) suggest that it is strong and what indicators suggest it might be weak? Be prepared to list at least three indicators of strength and three of weakness.
Specify the major areas of the Chinese economy that have been transformed by Deng’s reforms. Be prepared to discuss at least two. How have these changes affected individual freedom?
If you could envision a peaceful transition to democracy in China, how would you change the policy-making process and representative institutions to make this change possible?
(February 21, Monday)
Should China prioritize human rights and democratization over economic development? Be prepared to participate in the debate on this subject.
Floating Comprehensive Exam Questions: Answer One (Due March 1, Tuesday)
(A) How has Chinese economic reform transformed the capacity of the central state to govern its society? How does this experience differ from the Russian example of economic reform? Based on this analysis, discuss two major variables that might be useful in understanding economic reform and its effect in post-Communist societies.
(B) What aspects of the reform agenda in China might promote the political liberalization of the regime and might even lead to a full-blown process of democratization? Identify institutional changes, socioeconomic trends, perhaps even events that support your view. Then compare how these or similar factors performed in the Russian case.
Note: If you choose not to answer one of these questions, you will have one more set of exam questions to satisfy the two question requirement. If you have not answered any comprehensive exam questions up to this point, you must answer one of these two questions. Difficulty level continues to increase with each set.
