New York University

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Politics
Summer 2007
DEMOCRACY and DICTATORSHIP V53.0160
Ayda Erbal
Department of Politics
19 West 4th St. Suite 204
Office Hours: By appointment only, either Mondays 12:30 -1:30 or (T/R 5-5:30)
Email: ayda@nyu.edu
Course Description:
Why do governments in some countries rule through democratic means and others
through authoritarian systems? Why does the frequency of democracies vary across
different parts of the world and different historical epochs? Are democracies established
through bottom-up, popular revolutions or are they un-intended consequences of
constitutional compromises meant to alleviate elite conflicts? What factors account for
the relative stability of regimes in different countries? Under what conditions do regime
types change? We will explore these questions reading the work of political scientists,
political theorists and historians. The readings will focus on particular case studies as
well as broader theoretical arguments.
Requirements:
Students are required to attend each class and to read the syllabus selections assigned for
each class session on time since the lectures will serve merely as outlines for the
readings. Students are also responsible for all readings on the syllabus, regardless of
whether or not we cover all of the assigned readings. If you miss class, you are
responsible for finding out what you missed, including handouts, announcements, etc.
Students are encouraged to raise important issues in class and to make comments on the
readings. Students also should expect some random in class short exams which will count
towards their participation grade. Class participation will be worth 20 % of your
overall grade.
Students will also be given a mid-term and a final exam. These exams will be in-class,
composed of identifications and essays. The mid-term is worth 40% and the final
exam is worth 40%. The exams will require students to be able to assess and critique the
various arguments presented by the authors. As such, students are encouraged to take
notes on the readings since they are dense and long.

Class Attendance and Participation

The objective of Democracy and Dictatorship is to create an open environment in which
students can further and challenge their knowledge through readings and discussion.
Consequently, your participation is essential. But participation does not mean to inundate
the class with some random Thomas Friedman or NYT article you have to participate
having done the readings.
Because of the emphasis on participation, attendance is essential. Your attendance grade
will decrease automatically if you miss or fail in more than one of the random exams.
Readings
You will be asked to carefully read anywhere from 150-200 pages a week (occasionally
more or less). Reading is an integral element of this course and will constitute a regular
basis of class discussion. It complements and does not duplicate what we cover in class.
If you think you will not be able to read weekly assignments and discuss them in
class, please do not take the course.
For updates and changes to the syllabus, please check blackboard regularly, and make
sure you are receiving emails from Blackboard system
Course pack
Students must purchase a course pack for the course, composed of a selection of chapters
from various texts. It will be available at New University Copy and Graphic- 11 Waverly
Place. (212) 473-7369. If a certain reading is not in the course pack, its available online.
Online Articles
Please note that there will be selected articles online. Please follow the links to read the
articles online. If the link is unavailable, look up the article by the full citation listed on
the syllabus. You can access an electronic copy of the syllabus online under the
COURSE DOCUMENTS tabs of the Blackboard.
Remote Access to NYU Libraries and Online Sources
Students can gain access to NYU research engines through NYU Home. Log in to your
account and follow the research link. If NYU Home is down, you can still access the
library information sources from a computer system attached to NYUs network,
NYUNET. If you would like to access NYU libraries and some of the online journals
from a remote area (like home), you will need to configure your internet browser to
permit full access from an external connection using NYUs proxy server. See attachment
below for detailed instructions on how to do this. It is easy. If you need assistance,
contact ITS by phone at (212) 998-3333 or by email at its.clientservices@nyu.edu
Go to:
http://www.nyu.edu/its/faq/connecting/proxy.html

Other basics
* Try not to fall asleep in class (if youre really in trouble, feel free to stand up and
stretch).
* Please dont read newspapers, books, or use headphones or other electronic devices in
class. You may use computers to take notes at my discretion; if they are being used (or
seem to be being used) for anything other than this, or if they become distracting, I will
ask you to turn them off.
* PLEASE TURN OFF CELL PHONES!
* Eating and drinking is fine, but try not to bring anything too messy or too smelly.
* Make sure all your work is your own and that you properly cite all sources. Also make
sure you know the difference between paraphrasing, summarizing and quoting and when
they are necessary. If you do not know how to paraphrase somebody elses argument
properly and think plagiarism is fair game, make sure you check several internet
resources on the subject including but not limited to these sources
http://www.utoronto.ca/ucwriting/paraphrase.html ;
http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/hc/plagiarism.html Plagiarism is grounds for
failure of a given piece of work, the entire course; it could also result in expulsion.
* If you have a physical, perceptual, or learning disability, please contact the NYU
Center for Students with Disabilities @ http://www.nyu.edu/osl/csd/ and inform me as
soon as possible so we can provide appropriate accommodation.

Course Schedule
Week One
I- Regime Types: What is Democracy?
Introduction and Overview The Ancients
Monday, June 25
Introduction to the course
Terence Ball and Richard Dagger, eds., Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader, (HarperCollins,
1991): Euripides, Democracy and Despotism,; Machiavelli, Whats Wrong with
Princely Rule?; John Adams, What is a Republic?; Alexis de Tocqueville,
Democracy and Equality,; JS Mill, Democratic Participation and Political
Education,; Michael Walzer, Town Meetings and Workers Control,.
Wednesday, June 27
Held, David. 1996. Models of Democracy. Chapter 1.

Thucydides, 1928 [431 B.C.], Pericles Funeral Oration, in The Internet Classics
Archive: The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, The Second Book,
ChapVI, pp.12-16, at http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.2.second.html
B. Constant, The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns, from
Political Writings, translated and edited by Biancamaria Fontana, Cambridge: CUP,
1988, pp 309-328

Week Two
Social and Economic Origins of Democracy
Monday, July 2nd
Potter, David, David Goldblatt, Margaret Kiloh and Paul Lewis. 1997. Democratization.
Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Phillips, Kevin. 2002. Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich.
Chapter 7 and skim Chapter 8.
Wednesday, July 4th NO CLASS

Week Three
Contemporary Theories of Democracy
Monday, July 9
Ware, Alan, "Liberal Democracy: One Form or Many?" Political Studies, XL, Special
Issue, pp. 130-145.
Philippe Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, "What Democracy is...and is Not," Journal of
Democracy, Volume 2, No. 3, Summer 1991, pp. 75-87.
Mann, Michael. 2005. Argument & Genocidal Democracies, The Dark Side of
Democracy.
Potter, David, David Goldblatt, Margaret Kiloh and Paul Lewis. 1997. Democratization.
Chapter 3

II- Regime Types: What is Dictatorship?

Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes
Wednesday, July 11
Linz, Juan J. and Alfred Stepan. 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and
Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe. Johns
Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, pp. 38-65.
Stepan, Alfred. 1978. The State and Society: Peru in Comparative Perspective. Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, selections in the course pack
Held, David. Chapter 6.

Week Four
Social and Economic Origins of Authoritarian Regimes
Monday, July 16
Moore, Barrington, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Chapter VIII.
Wintrobe, Ronald. 1998. The Political Economy of Dictatorship. New York: Cambridge
University Press. Chapters 1-7, 9-10.
Przeworski, Adam and Fernando Limongi. 1993. "Political Regimes and Economic
Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 7, pp. 51-69
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=618105101&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=
10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1150760428&clientId
=9269

III- Doxa and Praxis: Cases of Authoritarian Regimes

Russia
Wednesday, July 18
Karl Marx. 1977. The Communist Manifesto in David McLellan, ed., Karl Marx:
Selected Writings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 221-246.
Karl Marx. 1977. Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 David McLellan,
ed., Karl Marx: Selected Writings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 75-96.
Lenin and The Russian Revolution

Readings: William Henry Chamberlin. 1965. The Russian Revolution, 1917-1921, Vol 1.
New York: Grosset and Dunlap. pp. 1-17.
Robert Tucker. 1974. Lenin as Revolutionary Hero in Robert Tucker Stalin as
Revolutionary. Norton. pp. 18-63.
Lenin, V. I. 1986. What Is To Be Done? Political Leadership: A Source Book. Ed.
Barbara Kellerman. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Pp. 445-448.

Week Five
Monday, July 23
Stalin and Stalinism
Robert Tucker. 1974. The Emergence of Stalinism in Robert Tucker Stalin as
Revolutionary. New York: Norton. pp. 395-420.
Robert Tucker. 1965. Introduction in Robert Tucker and Stephen F. Cohen, eds., The
Great Purge Trial. New York: Grosset & Dunlap. pp. IX-XLVIII.
Suny, Ronald Grigor. 1997. Stalin and Stalinism: Power and Authority in Soviet Union,
1930-1953, in Ian Kershaw and Moshe Lewin, eds., Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships
in Comparison, pp. 26-53.

Cases of Authoritarian Regimes Continued

Germany
The roots of Fascism
Wednesday, July 25
Mussolini, Benito. 1968. Fundamental Ideas in Benito Mussolini Fascism: Doctrine
and Institutions. New York: Howard Fertig. pp. 7-31.
Hitler, Adolf. 1986. (selection from) Mein Kampf. Political Leadership: A Source
Book. Ed. Barbara Kellerman. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Pp. 438-444.
Weber, Max. 1947. IV. Charismatic Authority. The Theory of Social and Economic
Organization. Ed. Talcott Parsons. New York: Free Press. Pp. 358-363.
Chirot, Daniel. Social Change in the 20th Century. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, Inc. Pp. 89-119.
Henry Ashby Turner, Jr. 1972. Fascism and Modernization World Politics 24:4. July
1972, pp. 547-564.

Lindholm, Charles. 1990. The Possessed Servant: Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Charisma. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, pp. 93-116.
Kershaw, Ian. 1997. Working Towards the Fuhrer: Reflections on the Nature of Hitler
dictatorship in Ian Kershaw and Moshe Lewin, eds., Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships
in Comparison, pp. 88-107 (will distribute in class)

Week Six
IV- Hybrid Regimes?
A New-Wave of Semi Authoritarianism
Monday, July 30
Ottaway, Marina. 2003. Democracy Challenged: The Rise of Semi-Authoritarianism,
selections coursepack
Diamond, Larry, Thinking about Hybrid Regime, Journal of Democracy, April 2002.
Levitsky, Steve and Lucan Way, The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism, Journal of
Democracy, April 2002.
Tilly, Charles. 2006. Democratization & De-Democratization in Democracy.

V- Problems and Prospects: The Future of Democracy

Wednesday, August 1st
Tilly, Charles. 2006. Pasts and Future of Democracy in Democracy.

Final EXAM