Final Readings Flashcards
What is Levitsky and Way’s article “The Rise of Competitive Authoritariansim” about?
In Levitsky and Way’s article they discuss the categorization of competitive authoritarianism, its definition, and how it violates four minimum criteria that modern democratic regimes meet with such frequency that they uneven the playing field between government and opposition. They offer four areas where opposition may contest the government: the electoral area, the legislative area, the judicial area, and the media.
What is Barrington Moore’s “Social Orginis of Dictatorship and Democracy” about?
Barrington Moore discusses three major political actors in the origins of dictatorships: landowners, commercial and industrial interests (aka the bourgeoisie), and peasants. The fascist regimes in Germany and Japan emerged from a path in which historically powerful economic elites (especially landowners) prevented the commercial and industrial classes from leading economic and political modernization. This “revolution from above” was reactionary and exclusionary, culminating in fascism. In Russia and China, the urban classes were weak and the peasantry was large, which served as a recipe for communist revolution to overthrow the old regime as a pathway to the modern world. These paths to dictatorship contrast with the recipe for eventual democracy found in England, France, and the US: a “bourgeois” revolution led by commercial interests, merchants, and the like. “No bourgeoisie, no democracy”, meaning without this social class, dictatorship emerged.
Acemoglu and Robinson’s “Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy”.
Discusses the political development of Britain, Argentina, Singapore, and South Africa.
Daniel J. Elazar’s “Exploring Federalism”
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John Kincaid’s “Comparative Observations”
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Hannah Pitkin’s “The Concept of Representation”
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Scott Morgenstern’s “Explaining Legislative Politics in Latin America”
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Mainwaring and Shubart’s “Presidentialism and Democracy: A Critical Appraisal”
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Arend Lijiphart’s “Constitutional Design for Divided Societies”
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Cas Mudde’s “The Future of Dutch Democracy”
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Benedict Anderson’s “Imagined Communities”
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Carles Boixs “Yes to Catalan Independence”
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“Language and Nationalism: Catalonian Confusion”
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