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The seminar module offers a more extensive and more thorough analysis of a topic from within political science. To this end, the seminar module provides an overview and a critical discussion of the literature and the issues relevant for the topic of the seminar.
The objectives for this module are:
Among the competences to be achieved for the student in this course are:
A quick glance at the world's developing countries reveals striking differences in the levels of development, and a corresponding variation in the state's contribution to the process of development - ranging from so called predatory states like Mugabe's Zimbabwe, plundering and preying on their own citizenry, to the developmental states of the Asian Tigers, playing a key role in the industrial transformation of their countries. In this course we will take a closer look at the factors put forward to explain this pattern - both in terms of the institutional foundations of development success and failure, as well as their political origins.
During the last decades scholars of economic development have become increasingly avid students of political and economic institutions. Institutional explanations figure prominently when seeking to answer, why some countries got rich, yet most countries stay poor. However, there is far from agreement about, which institutions matter (i.e., are most critical for economic development) and why. An exploration into this debate will serve as the starting point for the course.
Moreover, there is a growing awareness that these institutions themselves are endogenous to some deeper political processes, motivating a closer look at the politics underlying these institutions. Here we will, firstly, explore which configurations and coalitions of social and political forces have demanded and established respectively opposed and prevented them. This is done by turning to approaches focusing on intra-elite and elite-mass alignment patterns as well as more class based perspectives.
The above furthermore raises the question, where these configurations and coalitions come from. Consequently, we will explore their origins, namely which factors (such as colonial legacy) are emphasized in the literature as having furthered respectively undermined the possibility of establishing these configurations and coalitions. Linking together the different elements - from structures to development outcomes - then becomes the final exercise of the course.
During the course experiences from a number of developing countries from different regions will be presented. By applying comparative analysis to selected cases we will be able to gain confidence in some hypothesis, while weaken our trust in others. As most of the approaches are developed around one or more cases from the Asian Pacific rim, special attention will be given to this area.
Applicants must be at Master level
Florian Langbehn
The assessment method is 6-hours written exam.
External examiner/Graded marking.
The seminar module requires active participation of students. At the beginning of the seminar module the lecturer and the students agree on specific "activity requirements" that the students have to fulfill.
The classes are based on (inter)active participation (discussions and presentations), and each student is expected to read widely on each of the topics, to participate actively in the discussions in general and the exercises in particular, and on one or two occasions to hand in a short written assignment on a particular topic.
The module compendium consists of about 1,200 pages.
The full compendium will be made available prior to the beginning of the seminar and include contributions such as:
Davis, Diane. 2004. Discipline and Development: Middle Classes and Prosperity in East Asia and Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Doner, Richard, Bryan Ritchie and Dan Slater. 2005. "Systemic Vulnerability and the Origins of Developmental States: Northeast and Southeast Asia in Comparative Perspective," International Organization 59, pp. 327-3 61.
Evans, Peter. 1998 . " Transferable Lessons? Re-examining the Institutional Prerequisites of East Asian Economic Policies." Journal of Developmental Studies 34 (6): 66-86.
Haggard, Stephan. 2004. "Institutions and growth in East Asia." Studies in Comparative International Development. 38 (4): 53-81.
Kohli, Atul. 2004. State-Directed Development . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Przeworski, Adam (2004). "Institutions Matter?", Government and Opposition 39 (4), pp. 527-540.
Stubbs, Richard. 2009. "What Ever Happened to the East Asian Developmental State? The Unfolding Debate." The Pacific Review 22 (1): 1-22.
Vu, Toung. 2007. "State Formation and the Origins of Developmental States in South Korea and Indonesia". Studies in Comparative International Development , vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 27-56
