Political Parties and Democracy

Spring 2017

Prof. Mark Schneider

Mark_schneider@pitzer.edu

To understand the functioning of democracies, it is essential to understand the nature of political

parties and electoral behavior. Parties are central to fundamental political processes ranging from

representing societal interests, providing political alternatives, mobilizing voters, and channeling

conflict. Parties are also often the core institutions that connect voters to the state and often

powerfully shape voters’ attitudes about government. Political behavior, the study of voters’

attitudes and behaviors surrounding elections, is similarly important for understanding how

democracies function. Questions from why voters turn out to vote to why they vote against the

incumbent government are important for making sense of the dizzying array of election results

we’ve seen in recent years.

This course introduces students to the study of parties and electoral behavior with an emphasis

on party functioning in developing democracies. We will often explore influential readings that

apply to developed countries (the U.S., Europe) alongside studies of parties in developing

democracies where institutional contexts are quite different. We will cover topics such as voter

turnout, partisanship, electoral volatility, party organization, and consider of variety of types of

parties. We will also explore the functioning of elections and why this is important for

democratic quality and the nature of electoral competition.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Your final grade will be based on the following components:

20% - Class Participation. Attendance is obligatory. An active role in discussions by everyone

enrolled in the course is expected, as is the completion of the required readings before the

session for which they are assigned. Each student is permitted one unexcused absence (i.e.

without a written note from a doctor or a dean). If you miss any class, you will write a three-page

make-up response paper that critiques that session’s readings.

20% - Country/Region Case Study Presentations –I will ask each student to complete one

presentation on a country (or party within a country) as it applies to the course theme of that

particular session. The presentation should last about 10 minutes. The goal of the presentation is

to get you to think about the theoretical arguments addressed in a class session and to apply this

to a country (or party) case. All presentations should address theoretical arguments including

course readings and additional readings relevant to your case and apply that theory through a

case study that includes a presentation of evidence.

10% - Response Papers – You will write one 4-5-page (double spaced) response paper. In the

response paper, you will be asked to critically engage required readings from a week of class.

The response paper should not be a summary of readings. Instead, you may contrast conceptual

and methodological approaches across readings or identify issues left unanswered by the

readings.

50% - Final Paper – For the final paper you will be asked to write a longer (approximately 20

pages) substantive research paper. Your paper could develop an analysis of a single party or you

could develop an analysis of multiple parties/party systems. Regardless of your topic, each

student should clear their topic by me no later than the 8th

class session.

Readings

This course requires you to carefully read all assigned readings before class. Generally, 4 articles

or book excerpts are assigned for each class meeting. Make sure that you not only understand the

basic argument, but give yourself time to think critically about the readings before class. I also

encourage you to complete the reading worksheet linked below for each reading.

Books for Purchase:

Chandra, Kanchan. 2004. Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in

India. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Kalyvas, Stathis. 1996. The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University

Press.

Course Schedule and Readings

Session 1: Course Introduction:

Session 2: What are political parties and are they essential to democracy?

Lipset, Seymour. 2000. “The Indispensability of Political Parties.” Journal of Democracy, 11(1)

48-55.Randall, V. and L. Svsand. 2002. “Political Parties and Democratic Consolidation in

Africa.” Democratization, 9(3) 30-52.

Part 1: The Conduct of Elections

Session 3: Elections in Non-Democracies I

Levitsky, Steven and Luciane Way. 2002. “The rise of competitive authoritarianism.” Journal of

democracy, 13(2) 51-65.

Lehoucq, Fabrice. 2003. “Electoral Fraud: Causes, Types, and Consequences.” Annual Review of

Political Science, 6: 233-56.

Session 4: Elections in Non-Democracies II

Frye, Timothy, Reuter, O. J., and David Szakonyi. 2014. “Political Machines at Work: Voter

mobilization and electoral subversion in the workplace.” World Politics, 66(2), 195-228.

TBA Short Reading on Russian Elections

Session 5: What Makes Elections Free and Fair: The Logistical Challenge

Schmitter, Phillip and Terry Lynn Karl. 1991. “What democracy is... and is not.” Journal of

democracy, 2(3) 75-88.

Sridharan, E. and Milan Vaishnav. Election Commission of India. Presented at the Conference on

Building an Indian State in the 21st Century.

Van Ham, C. and Stephan Lindberg. 2015. “From Sticks to Carrots: Electoral Manipulation in

Africa, 1986–2012.” Government and Opposition, 50(03), 521-548.

Optional: Hasen, Richard. 2012. “Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election

Meltdown.” In The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown. Yale

University Press.

Session 6: Campaign Finance in Comparative Perspective: How it Works

Ansolabehere, Stephen. 2007. “The scope of corruption: lessons from comparative campaign

finance disclosure.” Election Law Journal, 6(2), 163-183.

Eswaran Sridharan and Milan Vaishnav. Forthcoming. “India.” In Understanding Political

Finance. Oxford University Press.

Cases: India, U.S.

Session 7: Campaign Finance in Comparative Perspective: Consequences for Democracy

Vaishnav, Milan. When Crime Pays, Chapter 1.

Bartels, Larry. 2016. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age.

Introduction.

Part II: Parties, Party Systems, and Theory

Session 8: What Do Parties Do? Interest Aggregation and Collective Action

Stokes, Susan. 1999. “Political Parties and Democracy.” Annual Review of Political Science, 2

(1) 243-267.

Gunther, Richard and Larry Diamond. 2001. “Types and Functions of Parties” in Larry Diamond

and Richard Gunther (eds.) Political Parties and Democracy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins

University Press: 3-39.

Aldrich, John. 1995. Why Parties: The Origin and Transformation of Party Politics in America.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press: Chapter 3.

Session 9: When Cleavages Shape Party Systems

Lipset, Seymour and Stein Rokkan. 1990. “Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter

Alignments: An Introduction.” In Peter Mair (ed) The West European Party System. Oxford:

Oxford University Press: 91-138.

Cox, Gary. 1997. Making Votes Count. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: Chapter 11.

Session 10: When Parties Mobilize New Cleavages

Posner, Daniel N. 2004. “The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and

Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi.” American Political Science

Review. 98(4) 529-545.

Chhibber, Pradeep and Mariano Torcal. 1997. “Elite Strategy, Social Cleavages, and Party

Systems in a New Democracy: Spain.” Comparative Political Studies, vol. 30(1) 27-54.

Session 11: Party System Institutionalization

In this class session, we discuss the concept of party system institutionalization and consider

cases that provide variation on this concept.

Mainwaring, Scott and Timothy Scully, eds. 1995. Building Democratic Institutions: Party

Systems in Latin America: Introduction.

Hicken, Allen and Erik Martinez Kuhonta. 2011 “Shadows From the Past: Party System

Institutionalization in Asia.” Comparative Political Studies, 44 (5) 572–597.

Mainwaring, Scott and Edurne Zoco. 2007. “Political Sequences and the Stabilization of

Interparty Competition: Electoral Volatility in Old and New Democracies.” Party Politics, vol.

13 (2) 155-178.

Session 12: The Problem of Weakly Institutionalized Parties

Wilkinson, Steven. 2015. “Where’s the Party? The Decline of Party Institutionalization and

What (if Anything) that Means for Democracy.” Government and Opposition, 50(03), 420-445.

Desposato, Scott. 2006. "Parties for Rent? Careerism, Ideology, and Party Switching in Brazil's

Chamber of Deputies." American Journal of Political Science, 50 (1) 62–80.

Session 13: Party-Voter Linkages: Partisanship in Comparative Perspective

In this class session, we discuss mainstream theory of partisanship and discuss partisan

dynamics in Russia and Latin America.

Campbell, Angus, Philip E. Converse, Warren E. Miller, and Donald E. Stokes. 1960. The

American Voter. New York: Wiley Press: Chapters 1 and 2.

Brader, Ted and Josh Tucker. 2001. “The Emergence of Mass Partisanship in Russia: 1993-

1996.” American Journal of Political Science, 45 (1) 69-83.

Samuels, David. 2006. “Sources of Mass Partisanship in Brazil.” Latin American Politics and

Society, 48 (2) 1–27.

Recommended: Ishiyama, John, and Krystal Fox. 2006. “What Affects the Strength of Partisan

Identity in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Politics and Policy, 34 (4) 748–73.

Session 14: Looking Under the Hood: Party Organization

In this class session, we look under the hood of party organizations and party machines engaged

in voter mobilization.

Duverger, Maurice. 1954. Political Parties (New York: Whiley Publishers) 17-27; 62-71.

Levitsky, Steven. 2003. “From Labor Politics to Machine Politics: The Transformation of Party-

Union Linkages in Argentine Peronism.” 1983-1999.” Latin American Research Review, 38(3)

3-36.

Thachil, Tariq. 2011. “Embedded Mobilization: Non-State Service Provision as Electoral

Strategy in India.” World Politics, 63(3) 434-469.

Part III: Party Linkage Strategies and Political Behavior

Session 15: Clientelism

Kitschelt, Herbert and Steven Wilkinson. 2007. “Citizen-Politician Linkages: An Introduction”

in Herbert Kitschelt and Steven Wilkinson (eds), Patrons, Clients, and Policies. New York:

Cambridge University Press: 1-46.

Schaffer, Frederic and Andres Schedler. 2007. “What is Vote Buying?” In Schaffer, Frederic, ed.

Elections for Sale: The Causes and Consequences of Vote Buying. Boulder, CO: Lynne Riener

Press: Chapter 2.

Session 16: Clientelism on the Ground: Latin America

Auyero, Javier. 2000. “The Logic of Clientelism in Argentina: An Ethnographic Account.” Latin

American Research Review, 35(3) 55-82.

Van de Walle, N. (2007). Meet the new boss, same as the old boss? The evolution of political

clientelism in Africa. Patrons, clients and policies: Patterns of democratic accountability and

political competition, 50-67.

Recommended: Calvo, Ernesto, and Maria Victoria Murillo. 2013. "When Parties Meet Voters:

Assessing Political Linkages Through Partisan Networks and Distributive Expectations in

Argentina and Chile." Comparative Political Studies, 46(7) 851-882.

Session 17: Ethnic Parties

Chandra, Kanchan. Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India.

New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004, Selected chapters.

Session 18: Religious Parties

Kalyvas, Stathis. The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University Press,

1996. Emphasis on Introduction, Chaps. 1-2 and 5.

El-Ghobashy, Mona. 2005. “The Metamorphosis of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers.”

International Journal of Middle East Studies, 37(3) 373-395.

Session 19: Populist Parties

In this session, we will discuss the concept of populism and populist political parties. Barr,

Robert. 2009. “Populists, Outsiders, and Anti-Establishment Politics.” Party

Politics, 15 (1) 29-48.Roberts, Kenneth. 2006. “Populism, Political Conflict, and Grassroots

Organization in Latin America.” Comparative Politics, 38(2) 127-48.

Hawkins, Kirk. 2003. Populism in Venezuela: The Rise of Chavismo.” Third World Quarterly,

24(6) 1137–1160.

Session 20: Workshop on Student Papers

In this class session, we will break into groups according to topic and discuss paper proposals

or drafts.

Session 21: Political Behavior in Comparative Perspective: Turnout

In this class session, we discuss theory on voter turnout and economic voting. We engage this

theory with research from India and Africa.

Aldrich, John H. 1993. "Rational Choice and Turnout." American Journal of Political Science,

37(1) 246-78.

Banerjee, Mukhelika. 2014. Why India Votes. Chapters 1, 5.

Session 22: Why do people vote the way they do? Understanding Retrospective Voting

Chhibber, Pradeep and Irfan Nooruddin. 2008. “Unstable Politics: Fiscal Space and Electoral

Volatility in the Indian States.” Comparative Political Studies, vol. 41 (8) 1069- 1091.

Posner, Daniel and David Simon. 2002. “Economic Conditions and Incumbent Support in

Africa's New Democracies: Evidence from Zambia.” Comparative Political Studies, vol. 35 (3)

313-336.

Session 23: Strategic Voting in Comparative Perspective

Readings TBA

Session 24: Parties, Party Systems, and Distribution

In this final class session, we review the key arguments of the class. We also discuss the

implications of party systems and competition on distributive strategies.

Chhibber, Pradeep and Irfan Nooruddin. 2004. “Do Party Systems Count? The Number of

Parties and Government Performance in the Indian States.” Comparative Political Studies, vol.

37(2) 152-187.

Gilens, Marty. “Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness.” Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 69

(5) 778-796.

Session 25: Course Conclusion

Final Paper Due at the beginning of class.