POL 30520
Professor Richard Robyn
Section 001
306 Bowman Hall., x. 28944
3 credits
E-mail:
rrobyn@kent.edu
T Th 1:45-3:00
Website:http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rrobyn/
SAT 122
Office hours: MW 2:00-4:00 pm
TR 3:00-5:00 pm
Course Syllabus
EUROPEAN POLITICS
Since 1945, Europeans have twice had to reconstruct
their economic and political institutions from the ground up. These
massive undertakings occurred in Western Europe following the Second World
War (and one that is on-going, some might argue, with the construction
of the European Union) and in Eastern Europe this last decade with the
fall of Communism. While it is always an interesting time to study European
politics, it may be even more so now with these remarkable changes underway.
Course Requirements:
Prerequisites: Although the course
assumes no specific prior knowledge about the region, you should have taken
POL 10500 (World Politics) before taking this course. Be sure and
see me if you have not taken this course.
Attendance and Participation: You are
required to attend classes. You are permitted 3 absences -- after that
your grade will suffer (please note: attendance is 10% of your final grade).
If you have an emergency that precludes your coming to class, please let
me know as soon as you can. The course will be part lecture and part discussion
and as such I will place a heavy emphasis on your participation.
To facilitate this, I will ask that you come prepared with at least one
question related to the readings. These questions will be collected
and utilized in our discussions. They will not be graded as such, but they
will be used to form your overall grade for participation.
Readings: All readings listed
in the syllabus are required and should be read before the class
session for which they are assigned. Lectures and class discussions
will follow from, build on, or provide background for, the reading material,
but they generally will not duplicate it. You are responsible for all material,
whether from class or the readings.
Texts: The following required texts are available in
the college bookstore.
$ European Politics Today. Almond, Dalton & Powell
(eds.) 2002. (New York: Longman).
$ Annual Editions: Comparative Politics 01/02, 19th
Edition.Christian Soe, ed. 2001. (Guilford, CO: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill).
Handouts:
Occasionally required readings will be handouts distributed in class.
I will indicate which readings will be fair game for exams.
Since this course is built around questions of European
politics, often in the daily news, it is expected that you will keep up
with current events. Most classes will begin or end with a brief discussion
of what is happening in the world. Fairly regular reading of newspapers
such as
The New York Times or watching CNN or The Lehrer Hour on
PBS are highly recommended.
Assignments: In addition to attendance,
there will be five graded assignments in this course. You must complete
all five assignments in order to earn a passing grade.
Exams: There
will be two mid-term exams and a final exam for this course,
made up from material from readings and lectures (which do not always coincide).
Exams are usually identification/short answer/essay type, and so require
that you purchase and bring a blue book. There may on occasion be a small
quiz or two, particularly if participation in class seems to be flagging
due to inattention to readings.
Country
Report. The country report will offer you the opportunity to
integrate in a more formal way the information learned in the course. The
paper, of approximately 10 pages in length, will be your opportunity to
examine in some detail a country of your choosing other than the ones we
cover in class (i.e., Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Russia and Poland).
The
paper should cover the major issues in that country’s political life, both
domestically and in its foreign policy. I realize that each country has
many major issues.
You
should read first about the country and then select what you consider to
be the most important. Since many of the issues we’ll be discussing in
class are of concern across Europe, you should also relate debates on these
issues to what we discuss in class. You should include the positions of
major political parties on the issues, as well as differing viewpoints
across the political spectrum. You should use published sources and Web
sources. We’ll devote part of one class to discussions of European
politics on the Web. The paper will be evaluated on the basis of content,
clarity of argument, and writing style (including grammar, spelling, and
punctuation). DUE: in class, Tuessday, December 4. One full grade will
be deducted for every day (including Saturday and Sunday) that the paper
is late. I recommend (but do not require) that you submit a draft
of your paper well before it is due so that you can receive timely feedback.
The
process of writing the paper will not be accomplished in one step but (as
with all good writing) will be done in stages. The critical components
of this process are:
Topic:
Before writing a paper, you need to figure out what question you are
attempting to answer. In this assignment, you are to hand in a statement
of your basic research question. (Details to be discussed in class.) This
assignment is to be submitted in class on Tuesday, October 9. It
will not be graded, but 2 points will be deducted from the final paper
for every day it is late.
Annotated
Bibliography: Before writing a paper, you need as well to research
the subject matter. In this assignment, you are to hand in a short, annotated
bibliography containing both Internet and other sources for your paper.
(Details to be discussed in class.) This assignment is to be submitted
in class on Tuesday, November 13. It also will not be graded, but
2 points will be deducted from the final paper for every day it is late.
NB: If you must miss any assignment,
you must discuss this with me in advance and receive permission
to take a make-up. Unless there are reasonable extenuating circumstances,
failure to arrange this
in advance will result in a failing grade
for that assignment.
Grading: Course grades will
be assigned on the following basis:
Attendance & Participation
10 %
Exam #1
20 %
Exam #2
20 %
Country Report
30%
Final exam
20 %
________________________________________
Total
100 %
The grading scale I use
is:
A
100-90
B
90-80
C
80-70
D
70-60
F
below 60
Students with Disabilities: In accordance
with University policy, if you have a documented disability and require
accommodations to obtain equal access, please contact the instructor at
the beginning of the semester or when given an assignment for which an
accommodation is required.
Schedule of Events and Assignments
DATE
ACTIVITIES & ASSIGNMENTS
PART
1.INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN POLITICS
T 8/28 Orientation
to course. What is Europe? 10,000 Years of History in One Hour (Or So).
R 8/30 The
“New” Europe? What is Europe Thinking Now?
Assignment:
ADP
:
Chapter 1. AE
#21, “Europe’s New Left”.
T 9/4 Concepts
in Comparative Politics
Assignment:
ADP: Chap 2.
R 9/6
The Governments of Europe. European Politics on the Web. Country
Profiles writing.
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 3. AE: #51, “Capitalism and Democracy”.
PART II.
COUNTRY STUDIES: THREE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACIES
T 9/11 United Kingdom: Historical
Legacies and Political Culture
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 4 (pp. 85-110)
R 9/13
UK (cont’d): Policies and Practices
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 4 (pp. 110-137). AE: #2, “Rule Blairtannia”.Handouts: TBA.
T 9/18 France: Historical Legacies and Political Culture
Assignment: ADP: Ch. 5 (pp. 138-151)
R 9/20 France (cont’d): Policies and
Practices.
Assignment: ADP: Ch.5 (pp. 151-194). AE: #10, “Forces of Change
in a Conservative Society”. Handouts: TBA.
T 9/25 Germany: Historical Legacies and Political Culture
Assignment: ADP:
Ch. 6 (pp. 197-217)
R 9/27 Germany: Policies and Practices. Discussion
and review.
Assignment: ADP:
Ch. 6 (pp. 217-251). AE: #7, “Midterm, Schröeder Seems on a Roll;
#9, “Identity Crisis of the German Left”.
T 10/2 Examination
1.
PART III. PROBLEMS IN DEMOCRATIZATION:
THREE MORE COUNTRY STUDIES
R 10/4 Liberal vs. Illiberal Democracy.
Spain and the Transition to Democracy
Assignment: Rose, Ch. 3, “Democratization in Europe”(ON
RESERVE). AE: #49, “The Global State of Democracy”. ADP: Ch. 7.
T 10/9 Spain (cont’d).
Assignment: no additional
readings.
PAPER TOPIC DUE
R 10/11 Russia: Towards a New Society
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 8 (pp. 307-329).
T 10/16 Russia: Is it a Democracy?
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 8 (pp. 329-354).
R 10/18 Poland: Transition to Democracy
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 9 (pp. 354-397)
T 10/23 Poland: Policy Making in
a New Democracy
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 9 (pp. 397-407)
MID-TERM COURSE EVALUATION
PART IV: CURRENT ISSUES
IN EUROPE
R 10/25 Globalization and the
Political Economy of Europe
Assignment: AE:
#51 (reread), “Capitalism and Democracy”; #40, “Globalization’s Double
Edge”.
T 10/30 What is the Future of the
European Welfare State?
Assignment:
Rose, Ch. 11, “Public Policy and Welfare” (ON RESERVE).
R 11/1 The European Welfare State
(cont’d). Discussion and Review.
Assignment: AE: #34, Europe’s Cheaper Rx for Health”.
T 11/6 Examination 2
R 11/8 Nationalism and European
Right-Wing Parties
Assignment:
AE: # 22, “Europe: The Fascist Response to Globalization”. Handouts:
TBA.
T 11/13 Nationalism and European
Right-Wing Parties (cont’d)
Assignment:
AE: #33, “Europe’s Love-Hate Affair With Foreigners”.
ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
R
11/15 Ethnic Conflict
Assignment:
AE: #52, “Cultural Explanations: The Man in the Baghdad Café”; #53,
“Jihad and McWorld”.
T 11/20 Ethnic Conflict (cont’d)
Assignment:
AE: #54, “Other People”. Handouts: TBA.
THANKSGIVING
– HAPPY TURKEY DAY
PART V: UNITY
IN EUROPE?
T 11/27 History and Challenge
of European Integration
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 11 (pp. 455-469)
R 11/29 The EU: Structure, Politics
and Policies
Assignment:
ADP: Ch. 11 (pp. 469-502). AE: #31, “A Survey of Europe”.
T 12/4 The EU: On-Going and Current
Issues
Assignment: AE:
#41, “European Union Reform: After 5 Days, a Yawn”. Handouts: TBA.
COUNTRY REPORT DUE
R 12/6 Wrap-Up. Discussion
and review.
Assignment:
no additional readings.
T 12/11
Final Exam Time (12:45-3:00 pm).
