Political Science 3531
Political Parties
 FALL 2007



Readings


Week 1 (Sept. 6-11)
Why parties?
Dalton, Russell and Wattenberg, Martin, eds. Parties Without Partisans, ch 1.
Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems, Introduction (pp. 1-13)
LaPalombara and Weiner, "The Origins of Political Parties" in Peter Mair, ed., The West European Party System, ch. 1
Weber, "The Advent of Plebiscitarian Democracy" in Mair, ed., ch. 2.

Points for discussion:
Political parties barely existed before the 19th century but are ubiquitous in contemporary liberal democracies. What explains the invention of parties, or to take the title of book on reserve, Why Parties? (John Aldrich, 1993) What is that parties do? Do they perform certain tasks or functions? How can we tell? What, if anything, would happen if they didn't perform these tasks? To what extent do parties reflect either the institutions under which they operate or the societies which they try to represent?

Week 2 (Sept. 13-18)
Varieties of parties

Ware, chs. 1-2
Dalton, Russell, Citizen Politics, 4th ed., ch. 7
Jenson, Jane and Brodie, Janine, "Piercing the Smokescreen: Stability and Change in Brokerage Politics" in Gagnon, Alain and Brian Tanguay, Canadian Parties in Transition, 3rd ed., ch. 2

Points for discussion
: To what extent do political parties reflect distinct ideologies or, failing that, find their roots in certain ideological or spiritual families? Are there links between the ideologies around which some parties organize and the positions which they take? In what ways are parties in Canada and the United States different from parties in Europe? What kinds of incentives do parties use in order to attract members and supporters?

Week 3(Sept. 20-25
Party Organization: Earlier Forms

Ware, ch. 3
Epstein, Political Parties in Western Democracies, ch. 5
Duverger, Maurice, "Caucus and Branch, Cadre Parties, and Mass Parties" in Mair, ed., ch. 3
Neumann, Sigmund, "The Party of Democratic Integration" in Mair, ed., ch. 4
Katz, Richard and Robin Kolodny, "Party Organization as an Empty Vessel in Katz, Richard and Peter Mair, eds., How Parties Organize, ch. 2

Points for discussion:
Why do parties organize in the ways which they do? What are the principal differences among cadre and mass parties? Why do some parties confine themselves to electoral roles while others try to shape the lives and thinking of their members? How viable and common are parties like this today? What accounts for the differences in the ways in which political parties in Europe and those in the United States and Canada have organized? What is the dispute between Epstein and Duverger? To what extent do forms of party organization reflect organizational needs? Available campaign technology?

Week 4 (Sept. 27-Oct. 2)
Party Organization: Contemporary Forms

Ware, ch. 9 Kirchheimer, "The Catch-all Party" in Mair, ed., ch. 5
Katz and Mair, "The Cartel Party," in Wolinetz, ed, Political Parties, [Newfoundland Room] ch. 20, or (r,d)
Scarrow, Susan, "Parties Without Members" in Dalton and Wattenberg, eds., ch. 5
Hernnson, Paul, "National Party Organization at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century" in Maisel, Sandy, ed., The Parties Respond, 4th ed., ch. 3

Points for discussion:
In what ways are cartel parties different from cadre, mass, or catch-all parties? What factors account for the rise of catch-all parties? Why, in Katz and Mair's view, have cartel parties emerged? What evidence is there for the phenomena of cartelization? How strong is it? How have parties in the United States changed? What impact has public finance had on parties and how they operate?

Week 5 (Oct. 4-11)
Election Campaigning

Ware, chs. 10
Farrell and Webb, "Political Parties as Campaign Organizations" in Dalton and Wattenberg, ch. 6
Dulio, David, "Inside the War Room: Political Consultants in Modern Campaigns," in Watson, Robert and Campbell, Colton, eds. Campaigns and Elections, ch. 1
Thurber, James A., "the Transformation of American Campaigns in the Twenty-First Century" in Thurber and Nelson, ed., Campaigns and Elections American Style, ch. 1

Points for discussion:
What do we know about parties in elections? What factors determine the strategies and tactics which parties use? Does party type make a difference? Does the number of parties make a difference? Or are campaign strategy and tactics a function of available techniques and funds?

PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SELECTION OF PAPER TOPICS: due Thursday, October 11th


Week 6 (Oct. 16-18)
Parties in Newer Democracies: A Preliminary View
Ware, ch. 4
Carothers, Thomas, Confronting the Weakest Link: Aiding Political Parties in New Democracies, chs 2, 3
Kopecky, Petr and van Biezen, Ingrid, "The State and the Parties: Public Funding, Public Regulation, and Rent-Seeking in Contemporary Democracies" (r,d)

Points for discussion:
How do parties in newer democracies differ from parties in older democracies? What factors account for their apparent weaker institutionalization?

MIDTERM EXAM: Thursday, October 18th


Week 7 (Oct. 23-25)
Party Systems: A Preliminary Introduction

Ware, chs. 5-6
Sartori, Giovanni, "A Typology of Party Systems" in Mair, ed., ch.24
Dahl, Robert, "Party Systems and Patterns of Opposition" in Mair, ed., ch. 21
Duverger Maurice, "The Two-Party System and the Multiparty System" in Mair, ed. The West European Party System, ch 20

Points for discussion: What is a party system? How do party systems differ from each other? How do we count parties? What difference does this make? Is the problem the number of parties, or their size, weight, position, and ability to work with or obstruct each other? Why does Sartori insist that the number of parties be counted properly? What is the difference between moderate and polarized pluralism?

Week 8 (Oct .30-Nov 2)
Electoral Systems and Party Systems

Birch, Sarah, "Electoral Systems and Party Systems in Europe East and West" Blais, A., and Massicotte, L, "Electoral Systems" in LeDuc, Lawrence, et al., Comparing Democracies, ch. 2
Farrell, David, Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction, chs. 8,9
Carty, R.K., "Regional Responses to Electoral Reform" (r,d)
Reilly, Benjamin, "Political Engineering in Conflict-Prone Societies" (r,d)

Points for discussion:
What factors determine the number of political parties contesting elections? Does the number of parties reflect the electoral law, and particularly the use of proportional representation, or does the use of proportional representation reflect the number of parties? What other factors shape the number of parties? What other effects do electoral systems have? And what difference does the number of parties make?

Week 9 (Nov 6-8)
Forming Governments

Ware, ch. 11
Mair, Peter, "Party Systems and Structures of Competition" in LeDuc, et al., Comparing Democracies, ch. 3.
Strøm, Kaare, "Parties at the Core of Government" in Dalton and Wattenberg, ch. 9

Points for discussion:
How do coalitions come to be formed? Does the process translate popular preferences into government policy or detract from it?

Week 10 (Nov. 13-15)
Party System Change

Ware, ch. 7
Sartori, "Structuring the Party System" in Mair, ed., ch. 7
Dalton, Citizen Politics, 4th ed., chs. 8, 9
Dalton, et al., "The Consequences of Partisan Dealignment" in Dalton and Wattenberg, eds., Parties Without Partisans, ch 3

Points for discussion:
In what ways and to what extent do parties structure of mass beliefs? What factors account for the apparent continuity of electoral alignments from the 1920s to the 1960s? Should we expect similar patterns of continuity in the present? Why or why not?

OUTLINES OF PAPERS OR PROJECTS DUE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH


Week 11 (Nov. 20-22)
The Far Right: New Kids On The Block?

Eatwell, Roger, "The Rebirth of the 'Extreme Right' in Western Europe" (r,d)
Ignazi, Piero, "Changing the Guard on the Italian Extreme Right"(r,d)
Falland, Franz, "Are Right-wing Populism and Government Participation Incompatible? The Case of the Freedom Party of Austria" (r,d)
Dorussen, Han, "Pim Fortuyn and the `New' Far Right in the Netherlands" (r,d)
Hainsworth, Paul, "The Extreme Right in France: The Rise and Rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National" (r,d)

Points for discussion:
What do new right parties stand for? What accounts for their success in some countries but not in others? What happens when they govern? Are these parties extremist?

Week 12 (Nov. 27-29)
Governing and electoral accountability

Ware, ch. 12
Rogers, "From Membership to Management? The Future of Political Parties as Democratic Organizations" (r,d)
LeDuc, "Elections and Democratic Governance" in LeDuc, et al., Comparing Democracies, ch. 14
Dalton and Wattenberg, "Partisan Change and the Democratic Process" in Dalton and Wattenberg, ch. 12

Points for discussion:
What role do parties play in the process of governing? What impact do parties have? What do parties have to facilitate electoral accountability? Do parties facilitate accountability or detract from it? Is liberal democracy possible without political parties? With them?

Research projects due Thursday, November 29th


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