CPO 3303 - INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS
Spring 2009
Philip J. Williams
Email: pjw@polisci.ufl.eduTel: 273-2369
Office Hours: M 8:45-11:45 am, T 10:30-11:30 am, 1:00-2:00 pm, Th 10:30-11:30 am, 221 Anderson
Homepage: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/pjw/
Course Objectives
The purpose of the course is to give the student a clearer understanding and
appreciation of Latin American politics. After a general introduction to the
historical processes underlying contemporary Latin American politics and the
current challenges facing the region, we will then focus in depth on a number
of selected themes. In Part II we will explore the issue of economic
modernization without democracy in the case of
Examinations and Course Requirements
Students are expected to complete all assigned readings on time and to attend class. Your grade will consist of regularly scheduled quizzes (20%), three in-class exams (20% each) and a seven page research paper (20%). The paper will be due on Friday, April 24 by 12 noon. Late papers will lose one full letter grade for each weekday they are late. There are no make-ups for missed quizzes. Students are expected to arrive to class on time and not to leave until class is over. Entering class 10-15 minutes late is disruptive and disrespectful of the instructor and other students. Students have a responsibility to show respect for the opinions expressed by their classmates. I expect all students to adhere to the university’s standards of academic honesty in their class work. In the event that a student is found cheating or knowingly plagiarizing, he/she will receive a grade penalty - automatic "E" in the course - and will be reported to Student Judicial Affairs.
Links to film festival: Caribbean Migration to Florida
Required Reading
The following required books can be purchased at Goerings,
Schedule and Reading Assignments
Week 1
January 6: Introduction and Course Overview
January 8: The Colonial Legacy
Vanden and Prevost (VP) Ch. 1-2.
Week 2
January 13: Independence, its Aftermath, and the Search for Development
VP,
January 15:
Political Actors, Institutions, and Culture
VP,
Week 3
January 20: Gender and Politics
VP,
Film: In Womens’
Hands
January 22: Race, Ethnicity, and Indigenous Peoples
VP,
Week 4
January 27: Religion and Politics
VP,
Film: Miracles are Not Enough
January 29: Revolutionary Change and Social Movements
VP,
Week 5
February 3: Exam #1
February 5: Thinking about Development
Levy and Bruhn (LB), Ch.1.
Week 6
February 10: Stability without Democracy
LB, Ch. 2-3.
Paper Topics Due
February 12: Obstacles to Democratic Development
LB,
Week 7
February 17:
LB, Ch. 5-6.
Film: Continent on the Move
February 19: Issues in US-Mexican Relations
LB, Ch. 7.
Week 8
February 24: The 2000 Elections and Beyond
Andreas Schedler - The Democratic Revelation - Journal of Democracy 11:4
LB, Ch. 8.
February 26: Revolution by the General Staff
Deborah Poole and Gerardo Rénique and, “A
Nation for the Few.”
Week 9
March 3:
Philip Mauceri, “The Transition to ‘Democracy’ and the Failures of Institution-Building.”
Film: Fire in the Mind
March 5:
Carlos Ivan Degregori, “Harvesting Storms: Peasant Rondas and the Defeat of Sendero Luminoso in Ayacucho.”
Week 10
March 17: The Rise and Fall of Alberto Fujimori
John Crabtree, “The Collapse of Fujimorismo: Authoritarianism and its Limits,” Bulletin of Latin American Research 20:3 (2001). http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118988210/PDFSTART
Ernesto Garcia Calderon - Peru's Decade of Living Dangerously - Journal of Democracy 12:2 (2001)
Bibliography Due
March 19:
Cynthia McClintock, “An Unlikely Comeback in Peru,” Journal of Democracy 17:4 (2006) http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v017/17.4mcclintock.html
Week 11
March 24: Exam #2
Part IV - Dictatorship, Uneven Development, and
Democracy in Brazil
March 26: Historical Patterns in Brazilian Politics
Montero, Ch. 1-2
Week 12
March 31: Challenges to Democratization
Montero, Ch. 4-5.
April 2: Civil Society and Democratization?
Week 13
April 7: No class
April 9: No class
Week 14
April 14: Brazil in the World
Montero, Ch, 7.
Film: Capital Sins
April 16: Lula and Beyond
Lourdes Sola, “Politics, Markets,
and Society in Lula’s
19:2 (2008) http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v019/19.2sola.html
Week 15
April 21: Exam #3
Papers Due: April 24 by 12 noon