Sociology 510t: Sociology of Political and Economic Transition

Sociology of Political and Economic Transition

Week 1: Introduction to Course and Methodological Debates

Week 2: The International Setting

Week 3: State Centered Approaches

Week 4: Institutions and Interests

Week 5: Civil Society and Social Protest

Week 6: Culture and Intellectual Models

Week 7: What is Missing?






DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Sociology 510t: Sociology of Political and Economic Transition

Professor Miguel Angel Centeno
Spring 1997

This seminar will serve as an introduction into current work in the political sociology of developing societies. It focuses on the debate in "transitology"-- how do societies and states transform themselves into market oriented democracies? The empirical and theoretical literature just on the past decade is immense. Rather than cover all possible approaches and cases, the seminar will use this discussion to introduce the major themes of political sociology. Borrowing from Charles Lindblom's concept of political relationships involving authority, exchange or persuasion, I have defined three critical mechanism necessary for a successful transition: contracts, domination, and trust. We will use these categories to analyze how state structures, societal organizations, and cultural legacies shape and are shaped by political developments.

The course is structured so as to give students an introduction into both the substantive issues and the historiographical/theoretical debates. Readings tend to favor the most recent works on the debate, but some background materials are listed. You may also wish to supplement these readings with a more detailed empirical analysis of a single case (e.g. post-Franco Spain).

Each week, you will be asked to prepare a short (2-3 page) memo analyzing the required readings. Copies of these memos will be distributed to seminar participants the day before the seminar meets and will form the basis for our discussion.

Note: In this course, we will assume that both political democracy and economic growth via some form of markets are both desirable. There is obviously a HUGE debate on both of these issues and you do not necessarily have to accept either premise (I do-- with clarifications). Nevertheless, the only way we can begin to analyze the problems in achieving both goals is by avoiding discussions about whether to a priori abandon one or the other (we still may come to the conclusion that we may have to sacrifice one for the other--different question altogether).

Week 1: Introduction to Course and Methodological Debates

This initial session (you will be responsible for the readings) will focus on methodological issues. (NB: This course assumes some familiarity with the "classics" (meaning everything from Plato to Dahl via Marx). See me if you want a list of supplemental base readings.)

Required Readings:

  • Atul Kohli, et al., "The Role of Theory in Comparative Politics: A Symposium", World Politics, 48, 1, Ocotber 1995, pp. 1-49.
  • Edgar Kiser and Michael Hechter, "The Role of General Theory in Comparative-hisotrical Sociology", AJS, 97,1, July 1991, pp. 1-30.
  • Charles Tilly, "To Explain Political Processes", AJS, 100, 6, May 1995, pp. 1594-1610.
  • David Laitin, et al., "Symposium on King, Keohane, & Verba's Designing Social Inquiry", in APSR, 89, 2, June 1995.
  • Miguel A. Centeno, "Between Rocky Democracies and Hard Markets: Dilemmas of the Great Transformation". Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 20, 1994.
  • Samuel Brittan. 1975. "The Economic Contradictions of Democracy". British Journal of Political Science, 5:....
  • Andrew Martin. 1977. "Political Constraints on Economic Strategy". Comparative Political Studies 10: 323-54.

Some suggestions on the literature on transitions:

  • Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman. 1992. The Politics of Economic Adjustment. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 319-350 and their The Political economy of democratic transitions (1995).
  • Karen Remmer. 1990. Democracy and Economic Crisis. 1990. World Politics 42:315-335.
  • Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelynne Huber Stephens, and John D. Stephens, 1992. Capitalist Development and Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 12-39.
  • Dahrendorf, R. 1990. "Transitions: Politics, Economics and The Washington Quarterly, Summer :133-142.
  • Larry Diamond, et al. eds. 1989. Democracy in Developing Countries (4 Volumes). Lynne Rienner.
  • Guillermo O'Donnell, et al. eds. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule (4 volumes). Johns Hopkins.
  • E. Baylora, ed. 1987. Comparing New Democracies. Westview.
  • Scott Mainwaring, et al.eds. 1991. Issues and Prospects of Democratic Consolidation.
  • Nancy Bermeo, ed. 1991. Liberalization and Democratization: Change in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Johns Hopkins.
  • Ivo Banac, ed. 1992. Eastern Europe in Revolution. Cornell.
  • Joan Nelson, ed. 1989. Fragile Coalitions. Transaction
  • Joan Nelson, ed. 1990. Economic Crisis and Policy Choice. Princeton.
  • Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan, eds. 1978. The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes (4 volumes). Johns Hopkins.
  • E. Suleiman and J. Waterbury, eds. 1990. The Political Economy of Public Sector Reform and Privatization. Westview.
  • V. Nee and D. Stark, eds. 1989. Transforming the Economic Institutions of Socialism. Stanford.
  • Daedalus, China in Transformation. Spring 1993.
  • D. Rustow. 1970. "Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model". Comparative Politics 2: 337-63.
  • J Williamson, ed. 1990. Latin American Adjustment: How Much has Happened? Washinton: Institute of International Economics.

Week 2: The International Setting

To what extent are the problems faced by the countries undergoing a transition to democracy and the market and the subsequent outcomes determined by their international environment? What has happened to the dependency argument? How do we fit ideas into a world-system framework? Or should we abandon such over-determinist perspectives? How do we include "policy culture" in this perspective?

Required Readings:

  • Gary Gereffi and Miguel Korzeniewicz, eds. Commodity chains and global capitalism (Selections TBA).
  • G. Thernorn. 1977. "The Role of Capital and the Rise of Democracy". New Left Review, 103: 3-42.
  • Barbara Stallings, "International Influence on Economic Policy" and Miles Kahler, "External Influence, Conditionality, and the Politics of Adjustment", in Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman, eds. The Politics of Economic Adjustment , 1992.
  • John Meyer. 1980. "The World Polity and the Authority of the Nation State". In A. Bergesen, ed., Studies of the Modern World System. New York: Academic Press. pp.109-137.
  • Gary Gereffi. 1992. "New Realities of Industrial Development in East Asia and Latin America". In R. Appelbaum, and J. Henderson, eds. States and Development in the Asian Pacific Rim. Sage Publications.
  • Haggard, Stephan. 1986. "The Newly Industrializing Countries in the International System". World Politics 38: 343-370.

Some Suggested Readings:

  • Otto Hintze. [1975]. The Historical Essays of Otto Hintze. Oxford University Press.
  • Charles Tilly. 1990. Coercion, Capital, and European States. London: Basil Blackwell.
  • Gabriel Palma. 1978. Dependency: A Formal Theory of Underdevelopment or a Methodology....?" World Development 6:881-924.
  • Immanuel Wallerstein. 1980. "Imperialism and Development". In A. Bergesen, Studies of the Modern World System. Academic Press. pp. 13-23. (If you are really interested, you will need to look at the three volumes of his The Modern World System.
  • Arturo Valenzuela and J. Samuel Valenzuela. 1978. "Modernization and Dependency". Comparative Politics, 10: 535-557.
  • Laurence Whitehead. 1986. "International Aspects of Democratization." In Guillermo O'Donnell, et al., eds. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, Vol III: Comparative Perspectives. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
  • Paul Mosley, et al. 1991. Aid and Power: The World Bank and Policy Based Lending in the 1980s. London: Routledge.

Week 3: State Centered Approaches

One solution to the "accumulation" problem so central to the transition is to simply create a state that will do the bourgeoisie's work for it. Most of the attention on this new form of state (but, really, how new?) has focussed on the East Asian NIC's. Keep this in mind when we move on to the culturalist debates in a couple of weeks. The big issue here is whether such a state can be democratic.

Required Readings:

  • Peter Evans, Embedded Autonomy (Selections TBA)
  • Frederic Deyo, ed. 1990. The Political Economy of the New Asian Industrialism. Cornell. (Selections TBA).
  • Juan Linz and Arturo Valenzuela, The Failure of Presidential Democracy, (Selections TBA).

Some Suggested Readings:

  • K. Polanyi. 1957. The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press. (Pages TBA)
  • Ellen K. Trimberger. 1978. Revolution from Above. Transaction.
  • Guillermo O'Donnell. 1992. "Delegative Democracy", mimeo.
  • Ellen Comisso and Laura Tyson, eds. 1986. Power, Purpose and Collective Choice. Cornell.
  • L. Snider. 1990. "The Political Performance of Third World Governments and the Debt Crisis". American Political Science Review 84: 1263-1280.
  • Joel Migdal. 1988. Strong Societies and Weak States. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 259-277.
  • G. Poggi. 1990. The State: Its Nature, Development, and Prospects. Stanford University Press.
  • B. Badie and P. Birnbaum. 1983. The Sociology of the State. Chicago.
  • P. Evans, et al. 1985. Bringing the State Back In. Cambridge.
  • Richard Sanbrook. 1990. "Taming the African Leviathan". World Policy Journal: 673-701.
  • A. Kohli. 1989. "Politics of Economic Liberalization in India". World Development 17: 305-328.
  • Susan Shirk. 1989. "The Political Economy of Chinese Industrial Reform". In Nee and Stark, eds., Transforming the Economic Insittuions of Socialism. Stanford.
  • M. A. Centeno. 1993. "The New Leviathan". Theory and Society, Summer 1993; and Democracy Within Reason, 2nd ed..
  • Fred Block. 1981. "The Fiscal Crisis of the State". Annual Review of Sociology 7:1-27.
  • Alexander Gershenkron. 1962. Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Pages TBA)
  • Karl de Schweinitz, Karl. 1964. Industrialization and Democracy. New York: Free Press. (Pages TBA).
  • Samuel Huntington. 1968. Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven: Yale University Press. (pp 1-98).
  • Guillermo O'Donnell. 1979. Modernization and Bureaucratic Authoritarianism. IIS, California.
  • A. Amsden. 1979. "Taiwan's Economic History". Modern China 5:341-380.

Week 4: Institutions and Interests

Institutions is the leading "buzz-word" in current American political science. This category includes a wide variety of perspectives. The main point here is not the acceptance of its methodological principles, but a way of concentrating on the kinds of devices which might be created to resolve some of the dilemmas raised above. Is it possible to "bring culture back in" to this perspective?

Required Readings:

  • Adam Przeworski. 1991. Democracy and the Market. Cambridge. (Selections TBA)
  • Robert Bates. 1990. "Macropolitical Economy in the Field of Development." In James Alt and K. Shepsle, eds. Perspectives on Positive Political Economy. Cambridge. pp. 31-56.
  • Arend Lijphart and Carlos Waisman, eds. 1996. Institutional design in new democracies : Eastern Europe and Latin America

Some Suggested Readings:

  • A. Downs. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. Harper and Row.
  • D.C. North and R. Thomas. 1973. The Rise of the Western World. Cambridge.
  • Robert Bates, ed. 198? Toward a Political Economy of Development. California.
  • Barry Ames. 1986. Political Survival. California. (Pages TBA)
  • Barbara Geddes. 1992. The Politicians' Dilemma. California.
  • Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Rise and Decline of Nations. New Haven: Yale University Press. (Pages TBA)
  • T.N. Srinivasan. 1985. "Neoclassical Political Economy, the State and Economic Development". Asian Development Review 3: 38-58.

Week 5: Civil Society and Social Protest

Everyone is now talking about civil society (and everyone is defining it in different ways). In this section will discuss various mechanisms through which "society" can impact the direction and form of the transition. (NB: This list does not include references to the massive literature on revolutions which would require its own seminar--tentatively scheduled for next fall.)

  • Victor Perez-Diaz The Return of Civil Society (Selections TBA)
  • Jan Kubik, The Power of Symbols Against the Symbols of Power (Selections TBA)
  • Maria Lorena Cook, Organizing dissent : unions, the state, and the democratic teachers' movement in Mexico. (Selections TBA)
  • Susan Stokes, Cultures in Conflict: Social Movements and the State in Peru. (Selections TBA)

Suggested Readings:

  • Roberto Franzosi, The Puzzle of Strikes (Selections TBA)
  • Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work
  • McAdam, Doug, Political process and the Development of Black Insurgency.
  • J. Craig Jenkins, "Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements", Annual Review of Sociology, 9, pp. 527-553.
  • William Gamson. "Political Discourse and Collective Action", International Social Movement Research, 1, 1988, pp. 210-244. NB: See Civil Society reading group list for details.

Week 6: Culture and Intellectual Models

This represents a return to the oldest tradition of political sociology. If the initial analysis of political culture tended to ignore the question of power, new approaches analyze how an "imagined community" may be created which would allow different sectors of the population to trust each other enough to commit their efforts toward a transition. Will this produce a new Gaventa or just more "neo-modernization"?

Required Readings:

  • Samuel Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations" Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993, v72, n3.
  • Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development (Selections TBA)
  • Gary Gereffi and Donald Wyman., eds. 1990. Manufacturing Miracles. Princeton. (Chapters by Fajnzylber and Dore.)
  • Peter Berger, Hsin Hunag Michael Hsio, eds. 1988. In Search of an East Asian Development Model. Transaction. (Chapter by Munakata).
  • Ken Jowitt. 1992. "The Leninist Legacy". In Ivo Banac, ed. Eastern Europe in Revolution. Cornell.
  • Erazim Kohak. 1992. "Ashes, Ashes...Central Europe After Forty Years". Daedalus 121: 197-215.
  • M. Kahler. 1990. "Orthodoxy and Its Alternatives". In Joan Nelson, ed., Economic Crisis and Policy Choice. Princeton.

Some Suggested Readings:

  • Peter Hall, ed. 1989. The Political Power of Economic Ideas. Princeton.
  • A. Hirschman. 1991. The Rhetoric of Reaction. Cambridge.
  • Frank Dobbin. 1994. Designing Industrial Policy. Cambridge.
  • Alejandro Foxley. 1983. Latin American Experiments in Neo-Conservative Economics. California.
  • H. J. Wiarda. 1973. "Toward a Framework for the Study of Political Change...". World Politics 25: 206-36.
  • E. J. Hobsbawn. 1990. Nations and Nationalism Since 1780. Cambridge.
  • P. DiMaggio and W. Powell, eds. 1992. The New Institutionalism in Organizational Theory. Chicago.
  • Miguel Angel Centeno and Deborah A. Kaple. 1995. "Voices from the Underground", mimeo.

Week 7: What is Missing?

This informal session will be devoted to a discussion of what has NOT been covered in the previous 6 weeks. One obvious question is whatever happened to class? These and other items should give us enough to talk about over dinner or whatever.