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Political Science 263, European Political Economy |
Winter 1999-2000 |
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Professor: Alfred P. Montero |
Office: Willis 407 |
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Phone: x4085 (Office) x5407 (Home) |
Email: Amontero@carleton.edu |
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Office Hours: 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Tu-Fri |
Course Description
An introduction to the politics of the European region during the post-World War II period. The course will examine the historic class compromises and institutions that undergirded the emergence of advanced capitalism in the West European countries. Students will examine the political conditions that gave impetus to the creation, maintenance, crisis, and decline of Keynesian economic policies, social welfare states, social democratic partisan alliances, and cooperative patterns of industrial relations. The course will also examine the rise and reform of the project of European integration, including analyses of the common market, the pitfalls of regional governance (the "democratic deficit" of the European Union), and the project for monetary integration. The course will also address the particular problems faced by the East European countries as they attempt to make a transition from authoritarian, command economies to democratic, market-based economies. Students will assess whether these societies are ready for accession to the European Union.
What is Expected of Students
Students will be expected to read, think, criticize, and form arguments. That will require keeping up on reading assignments and attending class regularly. Students must be fully prepared at all times to discuss the readings and concepts from previous lectures. The best students will be critical but balanced in their assessments, and will develop coherent arguments that they can defend in their writing and their in-class discussion.
Reading Materials
The five required books for this course have been ordered and are presently on sale at the college bookstore. The texts are:
Peter J. Katzenstein. 1985. Small States in World Markets: Industrial Policy in Europe. Ithaca: Cornell.
Peter Hall. 1986. Governing the Economy: The Politics of State Intervention in Britain and France. New York: Oxford.
Peter J. Katzenstein, ed. 1997. Tamed Power: Germany in Europe. Ithaca: Cornell.
Loukas Tsoukalis. 1997. The New European Economy Revisited. New York: Oxford.
Valerie Bunce. 1999. Subversive Institutions: The Design and the Destruction of Socialism and the State. New York: Cambridge.
In addition to these texts, this course requires your study of a number of other readings from diverse sources. In order to facilitate your access to these materials, I have placed multiple copies on closed reserve at the library. Also, in order to reduce your costs, I have placed the required materials, including books, on closed reserve. Students are advised to make readable copies of these materials early during the course.
In addition to the readings, this course recommends your use of select multimedia materials. These items include assorted National Public Radio reports accessible through the class web page, CD-ROMs and videos produced and distributed by the European Union. Brief portions of these multimedia items will be presented during class as a part of the lectures, but you may view and listen to these materials in their entirety during off-class hours.
I will occasionally distribute handouts and clippings from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the Financial Times, the Minneapolis/St. Paul newspapers, and the internet at the beginning of class. Students are also invited to check out links to course relevant web pages on the professor's web page and the class page. Materials on the course's web page will be updated during the semester and will supplement rather than duplicate the substance of the lectures and the readings.
Grading
Assessment of the students in this course will be based on their performance on two short writing assignments, a single, long writing assignment, and in-class participation. The grade breakdown follows:
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Short Paper #1 |
15% |
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Short Paper #2 |
15% |
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The Long Writing Assignment |
25% |
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The Comprehensive Exam |
30% |
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Class Participation |
15% |
The Writing Assignments
The purpose of the writing assignments is to provide the students with an opportunity to reflect more thoughtfully on both the theories and empirical cases of the course. These assignments must be turned in before or on the due date specified below. Late work will receive no credit.
Paper #1: Students will select one of the following countries: Austria, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In a five-six page (typed, double-spaced, 12cpi, one-inch margins, paginated) essay, students will be asked to specify:
(1) the political economic regime(2) the dominant kind of economic policies
(3) the behavior of organized labor, and
(4) macroeconomic performance
Students will then be asked to assess the validity of the globalization argument in light of what they have discovered in their empirical analysis. In addition to the required readings, and in particular the Katzenstein book (Small States in World Markets), I will place files with materials covering each of these countries on closed reserve at the library. A brief handout will provide further details regarding this assignment at least one week before the paper is due. I encourage students to work on this assignment in small groups.
Paper #2: Students will select one of the countries from the first cohort listed above and one of the following countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Sweden. In a five-six page (typed, double-spaced, 12cpi, one-inch margins, paginated) essay, students will compare their two selected cases to determine which responded more effectively to the challenges posed by "globalization" in the 1970s-90s period. As with the first paper assignment, a brief handout will provide details at least one week before the paper is due.
The Long Writing Assignment - Students will be required to prepare one 8-10 page (typed, double-spaced, 12cpi, one-inch margins, paginated) paper on a book-length study of a European political economic issue and/or country. The scope and purpose of the paper are limited by the following:
Beyond these constraints the student is free to select a topic/work, but consultation with the professor during the first two weeks of the course is required. The purpose of the long writing assignment is to give the students an opportunity to develop their knowledge of a particular country, issue, or scholarly work while exploring an analytical problem or question. An explanatory handout of the assignment and of the required bibliographic format will be distributed at least two weeks before the assignment is due.
The Comprehensive Exam
This exam will be a cumulative, take-home essay exam. Students must choose two of four questions. The answer to each question must be five-six typewritten pages (double-spaced, 12cpi, one-inch margins, paginated). As a capstone exam for the course, it will be graded with higher expectations, hence the slightly larger grade percentage. The questions will be distributed one week before the last class. Students will be required to work in study groups during this time. I will offer a couple of discussion sections prior to the due date to facilitate group study.
Students should study comprehensively for this exam as its main purpose is to assess the students' progress in learning the theories, concepts, and empirical cases presented in the course. However, the exam will emphasize knowledge and application of broad approaches more than the details of empirical cases. The exam will also test the ability of students to critique and present their own arguments.
Class Participation
Communicating your insight into the subjects analyzed in this course is an integral part of the learning experience. In no way do I consider class participation a residual category for subjectively determining the final grade. In this course, I will evaluate your performance in both formal, scheduled presentations and informal class discussion. All oral arguments and presentations will be assessed on structure, relevance, insight, and style.
Although I will lecture at the beginning of our study of each new topic area, I will do less lecturing as you read more on the subject and are better able to discuss materials, issues, and approaches in class.
The Grading Scale
I will be using the following grading scale in this course:
98-100 A+
94-97 A
91-93 A-
88-90 B+
83-87 B
79-82 B-
76-78 C+
72-75 C
68-71 C-
67/below D/F
Academic Misconduct
Given the fact that academe relies upon the ethical conduct of scholars, students are held to the same standards in their own work. Any act of academic dishonesty or misconduct will be referred to the Office of the Associate Dean. For further information, see Carleton College's Academic Honesty in the Writing of Essays and Other Papers and the section on "academic honesty" in Academic Regulations and Procedures, 1999-00. Both are available in Laird 140.
Special Needs
Students requiring access to learning tools/special schedules approved by Student Support Services should contact me at the beginning of the course.
NOTE: Readings must be completed for the dates assigned below.
THE POST-WAR II EUROPEAN POLITICAL ECONOMY
Session 1: The Class Compromise of "Embedded Liberalism"
The Antecedents of Class Compromise: Historical Causes of Social Democracy (Jan. 6, Thurs.)Patterns of Adjustment to the Great Depression: The Large and Small West European Economies Compared (Jan. 11, Tues.)
Katzenstein, Small States in World Markets, Chapter 4.
Keynesian Demand Management and Industrial Policy (Jan. 13, Thurs.)
Katzenstein, Small States in World Markets, Chapter 2.
The Political Institutions of "Democratic Corporatism" and the Keynesian Welfare State (Jan. 18, Tues.)
Katzenstein, Small States in World Markets, Chapter 3.
Session 2: Stagflation and Globalization: The Crisis of the Keynesian Welfare State Model
The Crisis of Keynesian Demand Management and the Globalization Argument (Jan. 20, Thurs.)
John Gerard Ruggie. 1995. "At Home Abroad, Abroad at Home." Millenium: Journal of International Studies v. 24: 507-26.
Paulette Kurzer. 1993. Business and Banking: Political Change and Economic Integration in Western Europe. Ithaca: Cornell, Chapter 3.
Rebuttals to the Globalization Argument (Jan. 25, Tues.)
Geoffrey Garrett and Peter Lange. 1991. "Political Responses to Interdependence: What's "Left" for the Left?" International Organization v. 45 (Autumn): 539-64.
Paul Pierson. 1996. "The New Politics of the Welfare State." World Politics v. 48 (January): 143-79.
Group Assessment of Garrett and Lange's and Pierson's Rebuttals (Jan. 27, Thurs.)
Geoffrey Garrett. 1998. Partisan Politics in the Global Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press, Chapter 6.
NATIONAL PATTERNS OF REFORM AND RETRENCHMENT
Session 3: Between Liberalism and Étatisme: The United Kingdom and France
Two Distinct Patterns of Reform?: The U.K. and France (Feb. 1, Tues.)
Peter Hall, Governing the Economy, Chapters 4 & 7 (chapters 3 & 6 recommended).
SHORT PAPER #1 IS DUE (Feb. 1, Tues.)
Comparative Observations of Institutional Adjustment in the U.K. and France (Feb. 3, Thurs.)
Peter Hall, Governing the Economy, Chapters 5 & 8 (chapter 10 recommended).
Session 4: Reforming Capital-Labor Relations in Germany
Reforming Germany's "Social Market Economy" (Feb. 8, Tues.)
Klaus Gretschmann. 1994. "Germany in the Global Economy of the 1990s: From Player to Pawn?" In Political Economy and the Changing Global Order, eds. Richard Stubbs and Geoffrey R. D. Underhill. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Peter Hall, Governing the Economy, pp. 234-42.
Jutta Helm. 1991. "Workplace Democracy in Germany." In Managing Modern Capitalism, eds. M. Donald Hancock, John Logue, and Bernt Schiller. New York: Praeger.
Bargaining for Rights: Capital, Labor, and the State in Germany (Feb. 10, Thurs.)
Wolfgang Streeck. 1984. "Neo-Corporatist Industrial Relations and the Economic Crisis in West Germany." In Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism, ed. John H. Goldthorpe. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lowell Turner. 1998. Fighting for Partnership: Labor and Politics in Unified Germany. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, Chapter 7.
Simulation #1: Tripartite Collective Bargaining in Germany
Session 5: Rebuilding Social Democracy in Sweden
The Rise, "Fall," and Return of Swedish Social Democracy (Feb. 15, Tues.)
Jonas Pontusson. 1992. "At the End of the Third Road: Swedish Social Democracy in Crisis." Politics & Society 20, no. 3 (September): 305-32.
Bargaining for Rights: Party System and Welfare State Reform in Sweden (Feb. 17, Thurs.)
Geoffrey Garrett. 1993. "The Politics of Structural Change: Swedish Social Democracy and Thatcherism in Comparative Perspective." Comparative Political Studies 25, no. 4 (January): 521-47.
Simulation #2: Partisan Bargaining Over Welfare Reform in Sweden
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Session 6: The Institutions of the European Union
The Slow Evolution of the Project of European Integration (Feb. 22, Tues.)
Loukas Tsoukalis, The New European Economy Revisited, Chapters 2-3.
SHORT PAPER #2 DUE (Feb. 22, Tues.)
The Maastricht Convergence Agenda and Domestic Interests (Feb. 24, Thurs.)
Loukas Tsoukalis, The New European Economy Revisited, Chapter 7.
Choose two of the following from Katzenstein's Tamed Power: Germany in Europe:
Jeffrey J. Anderson, "Hard Interests, Soft Power, and Germany's Changing Role in Europe."
Paulette Kurzer, "Placed in Europe: The Low Countries and Germany in the European Union."
Michael P. Marks, "Moving at Different Speeds: Spain and Greece in the European Union."
Christine Ingebritsen, "Pulling in Different Directions: The Europeanization of Scandinavian Political Economies."
Negotiating Change in a Multiple-Level Game: The Council of Ministers, the Commission, and the European Parliament (Feb. 29, Tues.)
Loukas Tsoukalis, The New European Economy Revisited, Chapters 5-6 & 9 (choose one chapter depending upon role in simulation).
Simulation #3: Bargaining in the EU
THE TRANSITIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMIES OF EAST AND CENTRAL EUROPE
Session 7: Surviving the Past: The Path-Dependency of Socialist Institutions (March 2, Thurs.)
Bunce, Subversive Institutions, Chapters 1-2 & 4.
Session 8: Integrating East-Central Europe into the European Union (March 7, Tues.)
Wlodek Aniol et al., "Returning to Europe," in Katzenstein, Tamed Power.
Debate: EU Enlargement
LONG PAPER DUE and Comprehensive Exam Questions Distributed (March 9, Thurs.)
Final Assessment (March 9, Thurs.)
COMPREHENSIVE EXAM DUE (March 14, Tues.)