Syllabus

Purpose of the course

Welcome! This course satisfies the Latin American politics core requirement for the MPIA. As such, its principal aims are:

•To offer an overview of contemporary political trends in the region

•To foster an understanding of key recent and current political issues and processes in major countries of the region

•To situate contemporary political processes in the context of legacies of the distant and not-so-distant past, including inequality, authoritarianism, populism, and revolutionary upheaval.

The explicit goal of each session is to consider Latin American countries comparatively (i.e. relative to one another, as well as to the United States and countries in other regions of the world) and to try to solve riddles about why countries vary in the ways in which their political processes are structured, and in how they perform. While we will strive for region-wide coverage, some countries (e.g. Argentina, Mexico, Brazil) will receive extra attention due to their relevance to illustrating larger concepts and relationships, and their intrinsic importance as large countries.

Because of the comparative and skills-oriented aims of this course, students whose regional specialization is other than Latin America are welcome to take the course.

Prerequisites: It is assumed that students have taken IRCO 400 (Policy-making Processes) or are familiar with the basic paradigm of that course.

Structure of the Course and Evaluation

• Participation in class: 10%

Everyone is expected to come to class and actively participate. Although participation is voluntary, I reserve the right to call you to participate if needed. Occasionally, I will make “attendance” quizzes (simple question with full credit if you answer), which I will use as guides for your attendance in class. The other part will be my own assessment of your participation in class discussions.

An effort has been made to keep the quantity of reading manageable. Students are responsible for knowing the essential points raised in all required readings, but not every detail. One of the skills of this course, and professional education more generally, is for you to refine your ability to draw the most relevant points out of a wide range of sources and under time pressure.

• Country / region specialization: 35%

Each student will form part of a group (size depends on enrollment) for which you be the “experts” on. This means:

• Have knowledge of basic government structure: Powers of the President, legislature, number of parties, levels of decentralization,

• Have knowledge of basic economic indicators and current issues — highly indebted? Income per capita? Inequality?

The groups will be in charge of a news feed for the website on their region of expertise, some news or summary of news that have to do with the subject being discussed for class that day. Division of labor within the group is up to the members (remember, collective action!). However, everyone will be evaluated equally on the quality of the information and relevance of the newsfeed. You can ask questions, propose comparisons, or just be creative. This information should be useful for other students to make comparisons with their own country/region of expertise.

Regions and Countries (This list can include other countries if you are interested):

• Central America

• Mexico

• Brazil

• Argentina

• Chile

• Venezuela

• Colombia

• Perú, Bolivia and Ecuador

At the end of the class, the group would be in charge of presenting to the class a report on future democratic prospects for the case analyzed, main challenges and success stories. The format for this presentation will be given to you the second week of class.

Weekly Reports: 20% of the grade

Presentation and report *(maximum 15 pages, one space): 15% of the grade.

• Literature review or Extend Paper topic: 20%

Students are required to choose one session’s topic and write a critical essay going in greater depth on the debates of that particular class. You could “evaluate” the effectiveness or efficiency of a certain policy given the institutional constraints — let’s say efforts on tax collection and the constraints of judicial courts, or analyze the potential of accountability of a certain agency given the political nominations or structure in comparative perspective. You could also choose to go “more academic” and review the debate in the literature on a certain topic.

You should meet with me after emailing me a basic paragraph with your subject. I expect the emails to be in my inbox by the end of the second week of class. Meeting will be done over my office hours.

This paper should not exceed 10 pages, double spaced, 12 font. Students will present their basic argument in class and some evidence for the puzzle, or gravity, or whatever you are interested in highlight.

• Review of other student Extended Paper Topic: 5%

It is important to be a critical writer and reader. In this class, you will review, in addition to a lot of literature, your colleagues’ work. The review should contain a discussion of the basic argument of your assigned extended paper, giving thoughts on the issue based on the material seen in class. This review cannot be longer than two pages, single passed. You will have one week to finish the assignment once the review is given to you. Please let me know via email which weeks you might be interested in (give two choices or three, please). I will assign the extended papers randomly among you.

• Final Policy paper: 30%

The policy paper is your opportunity to go more in depth on a country or on a topic that extends across two or more countries. You may not do the same one country for all three assignments; if you do the extended topic paper and group paper/ presentation on different countries, you may do the policy paper comparatively on an issue of relevance to both countries.

Your paper should be written as a detailed memo to a government official, an NGO, etc. regarding the feasibility – effectiveness of any of the policies in the list (choose one only) viewed in comparative perspective:

• Innovation and Competitiveness: Protecting Intellectual Property Rights

• Public campaign funding

• Representation of Minorities: ( Indigenous groups, women, black)

• Nationalization of Private Enterprises

• Migration

• Unorganized violence

• Issues of Institutional design ( could be in any branch, governors or mayors, legislators, presidents (Chavez, Uribe, etc))

• Free trade agreements with the US (analyzing the passage through the legislature, referendum)

You may tailor the topic to your own individual interests (choose countries of interest, or an specific part of the policy). Whatever the topic, it must be rigorously researched, based on both course readings and outside materials. The topic must be approved in writing no later than the fifth week of the quarter. The due date for the finished paper will be announced later.