PS 134AA: COMPARATIVE POLITICS OF LATIN AMERICA, or DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN LATIN AMERICA Winter 2010

Instructor: Peter H. Smith 364 Social Science Building Office hours: Tuesday 3-5 TA/Grader: Kristen Parks 352 Social Science Building Office hours: Monday 1-3

REQUIRED READING Peter H. Smith, Democracy in Latin America: Political Change in Comparative Perspective (2005) Thomas E. Skidmore, Peter H. Smith, and James N. Green Modern Latin America, 7 th revised edition (2010) Course Reader: – –“STUDENTS BUY HERE” in “Student Store” –Create an account of login –Follow instructions

EXAMS AND ASSIGNMENTS Mid-term: Wednesday, February 10 (33% of grade) Final: TBA (67% of grade) Optional paper: Wednesday, March 3 (30% of course grade, reducing mid-term to 20% and final to 50%)

KEY QUESTIONS What explains the spread of democracy in Latin America? Given authoritarian past? What kind of democracy? What quality? What’s new about the current phase of democratic change? How does it compare to prior periods? What role (if any) for the United States? What implications for U.S. relations with Latin America?

COURSE SCHEDULE Jan 06: Introduction Jan 13: Cycles and Transitions Jan 20: Changing Roles of the Military Jan 27: Presidentialism, Parties, and Legislatures Feb 03: Economic Policies and Governmental Performance

SCHEDULE (cont.) Feb 10: MIDTERM Feb 17: Liberal and Illiberal Democracy Feb 24: Politics of Gender Mar 03: The Rise of the New Left Mar 10: What Now? Democracy and U.S.- Latin American Relations

NONDEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS Types of Authoritarian Regime ________________Power Structure___________________ Personalist Institutionalized Leadership ___________________________________ __________ Traditional Caudillo or Collective Junta or Military“Man on Horseback” Bureaucratic-Authoritarian Regime Technocratic State or One-Party State or CivilianSultanistic DespotismCorporatist Regime

FRIENDLY ADMONITIONS 1. Try to put yourself in the place of a Latin American citizen, 2. Imagine how the world feels, not only how it looks, 3. View course material as relevant to political change in other regions and parts of the world, 4. Take videos seriously, and 5. Have fun!