Study Questions for 1/17
Term Paper Structure -- General Comments

Description:
The course will introduce students to important concepts and approaches for the study of politics in countries around the world, or "Comparative Politics."  In the first part of the course, we will study the rise of the nation-state system, the various forms that states take around the world, key political institutions, and the roles of societies in the politics of states.  In the second part of the course, we will analyze the concepts and structures we have studied through general "case studies" of several countries in Western Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America.  In the third part of the course, we will delve into a more detailed comparative study of two critical themes in the politics of states around the world: the role of courts and rights revolutions, and the relationship between gender, nationalism, and the state.

Grade Distribution:
10%    Participation
10%    Presentations
30%    Quizzes
50%    Term paper assignments:
            10%    First Draft of Term Paper (3 pages) and Presentation of Preliminary Research
            5%      Peer Reviews
            10%    Second Draft of Term Paper (5 pages)
            25%    Final Term Paper (10 pages)

Texts
1. Rod Hague, Martin Harrop, Shaun Breslin. Political Science: A Comparative Introduction.  2nd edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000.
2. W. Phillips Shively. Political Science: Comparative Governance.  McGraw-Hill, 2001.  Text created for CPO 2001, Woods.
3. Charles Epp. The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
4. Valentine M. Moghadam. Gender and National Identity: Women and Politics in Muslim Societies. Zed Books, 1996.

Textbooks are listed on the UF Textbook Adoptions website and will be available at bookstores around Gainesville.
Make sure to specify used or new (used books are available for most of these texts).
 

REQUIREMENTS

No late assignments.
No late work will be accepted, whether for assignments, quizzes, or exams.  If you have extraordinary circumstances (your plane from Baghdad was cancelled and you are unexpectedly not on the continent), you must contact me before the relevant assignment/quiz/exam to see if special arrangements can be made.

Participation and Attendance:
(1) You are expected to come to class having completed the readings for that day, having prepared any study questions or assignments, and to be ready to analyze readings for content, argument, assumptions, etc.  Students will develop these skills throughout the course of the class.   Participation means both attending and participating actively in discussions and other assignments.  You will be able to look at your participation grade at mid-term. (2) You cannot participate if you are not in class.  Therefore, missing more than five days in the semester will hurt your grade.  Every day missed over five days will reduce your grade by three points.  (3) Tardiness means that you are not participating and that you upset the flow of discussion by coming in late, thus tardiness will not be accepted and will also hurt your grade.

Study Groups:
You will be assigned to study groups for discussion work and exercises in class.  Study groups are encouraged to meet outside of class for at least one hour per week, but are not required to do so.  Meeting with your study group to discuss the readings will help bring class discussions to a higher level and make them more exciting.

Presentations:
Individuals and study groups will be asked to present to the class the central argument and major supporting pieces of evidence for a week’s readings.  We will discuss the assignment in more detail in class.  We will schedule the presentations in the first or second week of class.

Quizzes and Pop Quizzes:
There will be three scheduled in-class quizzes (see schedule below).  They will be multiple-choice and identification.

There will also be three writing quizzes; if it appears that students are not reading, they will be pop quizzes (and, in that case, there may be more than three).  As pop quizzes, they will be in-class writing quizzes on the readings for the day or the week as well as regular pop quizzes on our materials.  Writing quizzes generally will require the student to write a paragraph to a page explaining the argument of the scholar(s), to give a few pieces of evidence offered in support of that argument, and/or explain the main differences/similarities between arguments.  Quizzes will usually take between 10-20 minutes.  There will be no make-up quizzes.

Reading: All of your work in this class will be focused on reading, writing, participation, and presentations.  The readings for the class provide the basis for all other assignments.  All of these assignments (including participation) will be graded.  You will not be able to succeed in this class if you do not do the reading.

Term Paper:
The term paper topic must be derived from an issue, question, or debate that arises in our readings.  You are required to use at least four readings from class plus four readings from outside of class to build your analysis of the question or debate.  Initial topics must be approved by the end of Week III. Three drafts of the term paper must be turned in (see grade distribution schedule below). By the end of the draft-writing process, the final paper must include your own analysis (argument) of the question or debate. We will discuss the term paper throughout the semester, particularly at each assigned stage of writing. The term paper is a writing exercise requiring a specific structure that will also be discussed in class.

Draft 1 (3 pages) submitted 1/31, one copy to instructor, one to each member of study group.

Presentation of preliminary research and first draft 1/31 in class

You will write peer reviews of each of your study group members’ papers, due 2/14

Draft 2 (5 pages) submit a copy of drafts one, two, and peer reviews to instructor, due 3/14

Draft 3 (10 pages) submit a copy of drafts one, two, all peer reviews, and instructor comments to instructor, 4/25 by 5 p.m.

Important Announcement:
Accommodations for students with disabilities
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.
 
 

 SCHEDULED ASSIGNMENTS

PART ONE: INTRODUCING COMPARATIVE POLITICS
 I. Comparative Politics: Concepts and Processes

Week I:
Tuesday 1/8, Hague and Harrop, Chapter 1
Thursday 1/10, Hague and Harrop, Chapter 2

Week II:
Tuesday 1/15, Hague and Harrop, Chapters 3-4
Thursday 1/17, Hague and Harrop, Chapter 5-6

Week III
Tuesday 1/29, Quiz I (in-class, multiple choice and identification)
Thursday 1/24, Hague and Harrop, Chapters 8-9

Week IV
Tuesday 1/29, Hague and Harrop, Chapters 11-12
Thursday 1/31, First Draft of term paper (3 pages) due: bring one copy for instructor, and one for each member of your study group.  You will present your firs draft and preliminary research.

Week V
Tuesday 2/5, Hague and Harrop, Chapters 13-14-15
Thursday 2/7, Shively, Chapters 1-2
 

PART TWO: CASE STUDIES
II.  Case Studies: Britain, France, Egypt, Iran, Israel, India

Week VI
Tuesday 2/12, Shively, chapter on Britain
Thursday 2/14, Baumgartner (in Shively), chapter on France; Peer Reviews Due.  Bring one copy to the study group member and one copy to instructor (include full draft with comments as well as written paragraph summary of comments)

Week VII
Tuesday 2/19,  Springborg (in Shively), chapter on Egypt
Thursday 2/21, Milani (in Shively), chapter on Iran

Week VIII
Tuesday 2/26, Krislov (in Shively), chapter on Israel
Thursday 2/28, Manor (in Shively), chapter on India
 
 

March 4-8: Spring Break (no classes)

PART THREE: THEMES IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS
III.  Courts, Politics, and Rights Revolutions

Week IX
Tuesday 3/12, Epp, Chapters 1-2
Thursday 3/14, Epp, Chapters 5-6
Second Draft of term paper due (5 pages): bring one copy of drafts one, two, and all peer reviews of your paper to instructor

Week X
Tuesday 3/19, Quiz II (in-class, multiple-choice and identification)
Thursday 3/21, Epp, Chapters 7-8

Week XI
Tuesday 3/26, Epp, Chapter 11
Thursday 3/28, Discussion, in-class assignment

IV. Women, Politics, and the State in the Muslim World

Week XII
Tuesday 4/2, Moghadam, Chapter 1
Thursday 4/4, Bouatta (in Moghadam); Cherifati-Merabtine (in Moghadam)

Week XIII
Tuesday 4/9, Sobhan (in Moghadam)
Thursday 4/11, Moghadam, Chapter 5; Tohidi (in Moghadam)

Week XIV
Tuesday 4/16, Abdo (in Moghadam)
Thursday 4/18, Discussion.  Quiz III (in-class, multiple-choice and identification).

V. Conclusions

Week XV
Tuesday 4/23, Concluding discussion.

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Final Paper due Thursday 4/25 to my office by 5 p.m.

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