POLI 134AA: Comparative Politics of Latin America

Description

This course is an introduction to the politics of Latin America. In the first part of the course, we will trace the 20th century political development of Chile and Mexico, and we will pay particular attention to how each country democratized and the strategies that their governments adopted to promote economic development and mitigate the destabilizing effects of inequality. In the second part of the course, we will turn our attention to Venezuela and Brazil and we will use these cases to explore the causes and consequences of Latin America’s economic liberalization in the 1990s and the rise of the “New Left” in the 2000s. In the final part of the course, we will use examples from throughout the region to investigate the ways that political institutions shape politics in Latin America and the roles that populism, clientelism and ethnic politics play in mobilizing political support. Class meetings will consist of a mixture of lecture and small and large group discussion. Some class days will focus on the historical background of our four main cases, others will focus on major theoretical approaches in Latin American politics, while others will be devoted to analyzing current events, including this year’s elections in Mexico and Brazil and the economic and political crisis in Venezuela.

Syllabus

Slides

1 Introduction and Course Overview

Unit I: Chile: Democracy and Development in an Unequal Society

2 Chile in the 19th Century

3 The Social Question

4 The Revolution in Liberty

5 The Chilean Road to Socialism

6 Understanding the Breakdown of Chilean Democracy

7 Chile's Transition to Democracy

8 Human Rights and Transitional Justice

9 Chile Under the Concertación and Beyond

Unit II: Mexico: The Rise and Fall of Hegemonic-Party Rule

10 The Mexican Revolution and the PRI

11 The "Perfect Dictatorship"

12 The Decline of PRI Hegemony

13 Mexico's 2018 Election

Unit III: Venezuela and Brazil: Economic Reform and the “Pink Tide”

14 Venezuela after Punto Fijo

15 Brazil: The "Deadlocked Democracy"

16 Neoliberal Reforms and the Pink Tide

17 The Rise and Consolidation of Chavismo in Venezuela

18 Venezuela's Economic and Political Crisis

19 Brazil Under the PT

20 The Politics of Impeachment

21 Brazil's 2018 Election

Unit IV: Political Institutions

22 Electoral Systems

23 President and Congress

24 Federalism and Subnational Politics

Unit V: Politics On The Ground

25 Populism

26 Clientelism

27 Ethnic Politics

28 The Future of Latin American Democracy

Assignments

Midterm Paper (Due May 4)

Final Paper (Due June 15)