Students will use concepts and theory from economics, political science, etc. to understand some of the root causes and consequences of inequality. Similar tools will help students to evaluate possible policies.

The course examines the consequences of democratic and dictatorial regimes in

a comparative perspective. We will explore how these broad types of regimes

are defined in the literature, how they structure political participation by citizens,

how they change over time and as a result from demands from the people, and

what effects regimes have on relative performance. In addition we'll work with

comparative public opinion datasets commonly used in social science research.

Class meetings: The class will meet once a week. Students should complete

the reading assigned in the syllabus and the homework before each meeting.

Each class period will be devoted to a discussion of the main ideas encountered

in the reading and students are expected to fully participate in the discussions.

Term Papers: 2 term papers will be assigned – one critical review and a final

paper. Both will incorporate the concepts studied in the class. Think of each

paper as an exam – I do. Make sure that you use them to show what you have

learned from the readings and lectures. The final paper is due on the last day of

class.

Critical Review Essay: Semester participants will write 1 paper on any of

the topics covered in this class. These papers are not supposed to be mere

summaries of the readings. Rather, they should be thoughtful critiques of the

assigned readings.

Research Paper: Each seminar participant will prepare a final paper.

Ideally this paper will be an empirical analysis using data from the World Values

Survey (http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp) or the European Values Study

(http://www.europeanvaluesstudy.eu/) datasets. The topic of this paper is up to

you. Alternatively, students can write a literature review of a topic addressed in

this class (see the Gandhi and Lust-Okar article for an example).

Schedule

Week 1 (Sept 7) Course Introduction
Week 2 (Sept. 14) Summarizing Regime Types
Week 3 (Sept. 21) Measuring Regime Characteristics
Week 4 (Sept 22) Value Change and Postmaterialism
Week 5 (Oct. 12) Political Life in Democracies
Week 6 (Oct. 26) Political Participation in Authoritarian Systems
Week 7 (Nov. 2) Civil Society [Will meet in Pinni B 4113]
Week 8 (Nov. 9) Social Welfare
Week 9 (Nov. 16) Economic Performance
Week 10 (Nov. 23) Corruption
Week 11 (Nov. 30) Protection of Human Rights and Personal Integrity
Week 12 (Dec. 7) War and Regime Type
Week 13 (Dec. 14) Prospects for Democratic Transitions

Grades: Grades will be weighted in the following manner:
Participation 30%
1st paper 30%
Final paper 40%

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Public Choice

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Global and Transnational Studies, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

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The course can also be taken within the Degree Programme in Politics,

when it will compensate 5 ECTS from one of the following Political

Science study units: POLVOS23 Civil Society and Political Participation

(https://www10.uta.fi/opas/opintojakso.htm?rid=9428&idx=2&uiLang=en&lang=en&lvv=2015),

or POLVOS27 Political Systems

(https://www10.uta.fi/opas/opintojakso.htm?rid=9428&idx=6&uiLang=en&lang=en&lvv=2015).