POLI 134AA

FALL 2014

COMPARATIVE POLITICS OF LATIN AMERICA:

DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIZATION

Instructor: Peter H. Smith

364 Social Science Buildingphsmith@ucsd.eduOffice hours: Wednesday 3-5

COURSE WEBSITE

http://pages.ucsd.edu/~phsmith

OR go to UCSD and then:

Political Science

Faculty

Peter Smith

Homepage

Teaching

PS134AA

READINGS

Peter H. Smith, Democracy in Latin America: Political Change in Comparative Perspective, 2nd edition (2012)

Thomas E. Skidmore, Peter H. Smith, and James N. Green Modern Latin America, 8th revised edition (2014)

Selected Readings on Website

VIDEOS

“Battle of Chile”

“No” [Chile]

“Garden of the Forking Paths” [Argentina]

“In Women’s Hands” [Chile]

EXAMS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Mid-term Exam: Thursday, November 20 (33% of grade)

Analytical Paper: Thursday, December 11 (67% of grade)

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?

2014 ELECTION CYCLE

Costa RicaPanamaColombiaEl Salvador

Brazil (October 5 + 26)Bolivia (October 12)Uruguay (October 26 + November 30)

COURSE SCHEDULE

Oct 02: IntroductionOct 07: “Battle of Chile”Oct 09: Cycles and TransitionsOct 16: Changing Roles of the MilitaryOct 21: “No”Oct 23: Presidentialism and RepresentationOct 28: “Garden of the Forking Paths”Oct 30: The Role of Political Institutions Nov 04: Economic Policies and Performance Nov 06: Liberal and Illiberal Democracy

Nov 11: The Politics of Gender Nov 13: “In Women’s Hands”Nov 18: The Rise of the New LeftNov 20: MID-TERM EXAMNov 25: Country Brief: VenezuelaDec 02: What Now? Democracy and U.S.-Latin

American RelationsDec 09: Political Change in RetrospectDec 11: PAPER DUE

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!