Political Economy of Industrial Societies

Political Science 4272 – Honors

Fall 2006

Monday and Wednesday 3:00- 4:15 -- Chemistry 133

Professor Sven Steinmo

Office: Ketchum 5d

Office Hours:  Monday 2-3,  Wednesday 1-3 and 4:30-5:30  or by appointment

tel. 303 492 1493       email: steinmo@colorado.edu

http://sobek.colorado.edu/~steinmo/4272.html

 

Second Midterm questions here:

 

 

PS 4272 Midterm exam  (in class exam) 

You will be allowed to bring in one page of notes during the class exam.

Fall 2006

 

Write on ONE of the following two questions:

 

1)  Sweden and the United States each moved away from classical economic theory in the 1930s in favor of policies which gave the government responsibility for managing major aspects of their macro and micro economies. In the 1980s elites in both countries had become skeptical of many of the policies adopted over the past 50 years and consequentially introduced a series of neo-liberal reforms. Still, while the broad policy directions appear similar in these two countries, the actual policies were substantially different. What accounts for these differences and how do you think these different policy regimes will affect each country's ability to succeed and compete in the globalizing world economy?

 

2)      Consider the following quote:

“Embedded liberalism has been under attack across the capitalist democratic world for more than two decades.  The recent elections in the US, however, demonstrate that this era is past and we are now about to embark in a new direction in this country and around the world.  November 2006 is an example of ‘double movement’ much like that of Polanyi’s time.”

 

Do you agree?  If so, why, if not, why not?  Whether you agree or not, what are the historical similarities and/or difference between the developments Polanyi analyzed and the current era? 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction:

 

This course is designed as an introduction to the political economy of advanced industrial nations. In this course we will compare the political and economic systems of several advanced capitalist states in order to better understand the issues and possibilities facing these countries. The first part of the course will be quite historical.  The goal here is to understand the origins of modern capitalism.  How and why did we develop the Liberal Democratic Capitalist states that now dominate the world economy.   The second part of the course is more comparative.  Here we will examine what is sometimes called the “Varieties of Capitalism.”  The purpose here is to understand how different types of capitalist democracy actually work in the modern world.  We will focus on four specific countries (Japan, Sweden, Germany and the United States) but our focus will not be exclusive to these states.

 

The last three weeks of the course will be devoted to student presentations of their own research on current political economic issues of concern to you today.  Students will choose their own topics, do independent research on these topics (see potential list below) and make joint presentations on these topics.  We will discuss these topics and my expectations about class presentations throughout the semester.  The idea will be to give the students the opportunity to focus on what they feel are the most interesting and pertinent topics to them today.  We have the enormous advantage of having a very small seminar this semester and we will take advantage of this fact to encourage maximum student participation. The idea will be to give the student a substantive grounding in how different capitalist democracies are run and operate and at the same time allow us to delve into specific issues that are of particular interest to the students in the class.

 

Requirements:

It is my hope to make this class as much of a student directed seminar as possible. This means that class involvement and class participation are both highly encouraged and rewarded. Students will be asked to make group presentations to the class and must also be actively engaged in class discussions throughout the semester. Each student will be held accountable to have done the required readings for each class session before class each week and be ready to discuss that week's reading in class.

 

Our readings will come from a variety of sources.  Two books are available for purchase, the rest of the readings are assembled in a class reader which is available for download from the CU library.  (Details to be added when available.)

 

Please purchase the following two books:

A)  Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, Beacon Press (latest edition)

B)  Mark Blyth, Great Transformations, Cambridge University Press, 2002.

 

Class Reader (available on line from library) contains the following materials: 

 

1) Gourevitch, Peter. 1986. Politics in Hard Times: Comparative Responses to International Economic Crises. Ithica: Cornell University Press.  (Chapter 4, pages 124-181)

2) Katzenstein, Peter J. 1978. Between Power and Plenty : Foreign Economic Policies of Advanced Industrial States. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.  (Chapters, 3, 4, 5, 6, -- pages 51-224)

3) Landes, David S. 1969. The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present. London,: Cambridge U.P.  (Chapter 1:  pages 1-40)

4)Pempel, T. J. 1979. "Japan: Corporatism without Labor?  The Japanese Anomoly." In Trends toward Corporatist Intermediation, edited by P. Schmitter and G. Lehmbruch. Beverly Hills: Sage.

5) Shonfield, Andrew. 1965. Modern Capitalism: The Changing Balance between Public and Private Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  (Chapters 6, 8, 11, 12, 13: pages 88-120, 151-175, 239-330))

6)  Graham Wilson, “Why there is no Corporatism in the US?”  From Schmitter and Lembruch, Trends

 towards corporatist Intermediation.  Sage, 1979

 

 

NOTE: ALL READINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. IN ORDER TO ADAPT THE COURSE TO THE SPECIFIC INTERESTS OF THE STUDENTS IN THE CLASS WE WILL CHANGE AND ADAPT THE READINGS REGULARLY. CHECK THE CLASS WEB SITE REGULARLY FOR THE CURRENT READING LIST EACH WEEK.

 

Grading:

The course grades will be derived from five equally weighted variables: 2 “Midterm” exams, student class presentation, research paper, class participation.

Each will count for 20% of the class grade.

The first midterm will be a take home exam.  I will give you the exam questions on Monday morning Oct. 2.  They will be due at 4:30 on October 4.  There will be no class that day.

The second “midterm” will be an in class exam. Students will be provided exam questions one week in advance.  The exam will be held in class on November 15.

The final research paper should be a 10-15 page paper on a specific topic agreed to in advance between the professor and each student. The ‘final paper’ will be due at the end of the last class – December 13.

Students will make class presentations based on their research. Ideally, students will present group projects. The details of these presentations will be discussed on the first day of class.  I strongly encourage innovative presentations and topics.  Let’s talk.

 

Weekly course calendar (SUBJECT TO CHANGE):

 

Week 1           (August 28)  Introduction: Why are we here, what do we hope to get

out of this course?

(August 30), Origins of Modern Capitalism - I

Read: Polanyi, Chapter 1-2.

 

Week 2 –        (Sept. 4) Labor Day – No Class

                        (Sept. 6)  Origins – The Satanic Mills and Private Property

Read: Polanyi, Chapter 3-10

 

Week 3 –        (Sept. 11) Technology and Change.. what drives what?

Read:  D. Landes, chapter 1

                        (Sept. 13)  The Birth of the Liberal Creed

Read:  Polanyi, Chapters 11-14

 

Week 4 –        (Sept.18)  Self-Government

Read:  Polanyi, chapters 19-21

                        (Sept. 20)  Breaking with Orthodoxy

Read: P. Gourevitch, chapter 4

 

Week 5 -         (Sept. 25) – Embedding Liberalism – The role of Ideas

Read: Byth, chapter 1-2

                        (Sept. 27) – America… capitalism’s last haven

Read:  Shonfield, chapter XIII

 

Week 6           (Oct. 2) -  Embedding Liberalism – Exam discussion

Read:  Blyth, chapter 3

                        (Oct. 4) – Take-home midterm exam – no class meeting

                                                Exam questions will be made available on Oct. 1

                                                To be turned in by Wed, Oct. 4, 4:30pm.

 

 

Week 7           (October 9) – Public Power and Planning in maturing capitalism

Readings:  Shonefield,  chapters VI--VIII

                        (October 11)    Britain and France Compared

Readings:  S. Blank, in Katzenstein, chapter 4

 

Week 8           (October 16) – Germany – Organized Capitalism

Readings:  Shonefield,  chapters XI-XII

                        (October 18) – Germany – The Politics of Productivity

Readings:  M. Kriele, in Katzenstein (chapter 6).

 

Week 9           (October 23)  - The Japanese Economic Miracle

Readings:  T. J. Pempel, „Creative Conservativism

                        (October 25) – Japan Inc?

Readings:  T. J. Pempel, in Katzenstein, (chapter 5)

 

Week 10         (October 30) –  The Politics of Compromise:  Sweden

Readings:  Blyth:  chapter 4

                        (November 1) – Sweden in a Global Economy

Readings:  Steinmo, “Bucking the Trend” available on web

 

Week 11         (November 6) –  American Exceptionalism

Readings:  Wilson, Why is there no corporatism in America?

                        (November 8) – The Return of the Market

Readings:  Blyth, chapters 5 - 6

 

Week 12         (November 13) – Disembedding Liberalism – America

(midterm 2 exam questions will be made available before class on the 13th.

Readings: 

                        (November 15) Second Midterm exam: (In class) November 15.

 

Week 13 (November 20-22) –  Fall Break

 

Week 14 (November 27 - 29) –          Student presentations

Week 15 (December 4 - 6) –             Student presentations

Week 16 (December 11 -13)              Student presentations  (class papers due in class Dec. 13.)

 

Possible student presentation/research topics (some suggestions):

 

Globalization/Outsourcing my future?

 

The Media in Modern Society

 

Values (Moral Politics?)

 

Immigration / Multi-Culturalism

 

The European Union as a new Super-State?

 

The rise of the Global Corporation

 

The causes and consequences of growing inequality.


The Environmental Movement

Required Notices:

 

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, and www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices

 

Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, {{insert your procedures here}} See full details athttp://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Students who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Faculty have the professional responsibility to treat all students with understanding, dignity and respect, to guide classroom discussion and to set reasonable limits on the manner in which they and their students express opinions. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gendervariance, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records. See polices at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html

 and at

 http://www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_code

 

All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council

(honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the Honor Code can be found at

http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html

 and at

http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/

 

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(http://www.colorado.edu/policies/discrimination.html, the University of

Colorado policy on Sexual Harassment and the University of Colorado policy on

Amorous Relationships applies to all students, staff and faculty. Any student,

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discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, national origin, sex, age,

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