History of Political Institutions (2235.YR.015280.1)

General information

Type:	OPT	Curs:	2	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	4 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 2	Daniel Hywell Nicholls	Derecho	ENG

Students should have studied introductory political science and International Relations courses.

A basic awareness of how key institutions function is useful.

Workload is divided between atendance of lectures, preparatory readings for lectures and production of assessed activities.

This course helps students to understand the role of institutions within global governance and public-good provision, and how they function as sites which maintain a balance of power between various societal actors.

The course takes students through the institutional arrangements of both domestic states and international society, analyzing both primary and secondary institutions and the organizing principles of these. The aim is for students to gain a thorough analytical understanding of why and how institutions have arisen through time, and how these respond to broad societal goals. The course studies both the vaguer primary institutions and more specific secondary institutions and looks at how these constrain, enable and constitute actors from a structural perspective, looking at both international and domestic arrangements. The analytical-critical approach of the course encourages students to think about whose interests institutions support and why they succeed or fail, to a greater or lesser extent, in different ambits.

1. Content A. Primary Institutions 1. From the State of Nature to the Tribe and then the State How did societies move from band-level to tribe. How to norms control behaviour in tribes? What are the roles of war, agriculture and property rights in the transition to states? How do statebuilders overcome resistance to hierarchical organization? How did Solon and Cleisthenes create shackled leviathans? What is the difference between pristine and competitive state formation? How did war contribute to state formation in China? What are the limits of Hobbes¿ social contract approach? 2. Religion in Europe and the Transition from Patrimonial to Modern State How do good enough rights differ from rule of law? What is the relevance of Caesaropapism? How did the Justinian Code contribute to statebuilding? How is taxation relevant? Why did accountability arise in some regions, and absolutism in others? How did industrialization affect societal mobilization? How do Liberals view law and property? Why did social classes and political parties become relevant? How did Mill, Mosca, Marx and Pareto view democracy as an institutions? What was the result of revolutionary wave of 1848 on institutions? Why do the adaptability, complexity, autonomy and coherence of institutions matter? Why do institutions decay? 3. Geographical Factors and Variations (1) How did Montesquieu interpret geography and institutions? How did European and US geography shape their institutions? Why do Egypt and Iraq differ? How did the lack of wars in Latin America determine institutions? Why do Costa Rica and Argentina not conform to geographical determinism? 4. Geographical Factors and Variations (2) What has shaped institutional development in Africa? How did French and British imperialism differ in Africa? How did Colonialism contribute to weak states? How do inclusive and extractive institutions differ? Why is Botswana different? 5. Westphalia, Sovereignty, Anarchy and Power Balancing Why does sovereignty matter as an underlying organising institution? Is sovereignty absolute or relative? Why is the Peace of Westphalia important? What is the role of anarchy as a primary institution? Why is the 19th century important as a constitutive period? Why do states balance each other, both externally and internally? What happens when balancing fails? What is the relevance of the Concert of Vienna? How does neutrality function as a political institution? 6. The Institutions of Liberalism How did Cicero and Seneca perceive Liberalism? What is the role of property rights and contract enforcement? How does the market operate as an institution? Why are the rule of law and accountability so important? Why does democracy persist? How should we interpret liberty, equality and justice? How can individual freedoms be upheld in hierarchical societies? B. Secondary Institutions 7. The Institutional Structure of the United States How were the United States¿ political institutions designed to limit concentrations of power? How did associations lead to the Bill of Rights? How did Madison and Jefferson disagree? What did Tocqueville think about US institutions? Why did the electoral college arise? Does the US system create an inbuilt conservative bias? Is the US becoming a plutocracy? 8. The Institutions of Security Why is there a veto in the UN? How does peacekeeping function? Can the UN stop genocide? What are collective security organisations, security communities and security cooperation organisations? Why was NATO created? What are public, private and club goods in security terms? What is the link between security umbrellas and economic growth? 9. The Bretton Woods System & International Order Why were the Bretton Woods institutions (International Monetary Fund and World Bank) set up? Who benefits from them? How do these institutions guarantee economic order? Are they a tool of US hegemony? How do Ikenberry and Mearsheimer view the US-led Liberal International Order? 10. The European Union Does the European Union guarantee peace through trade and democracy? What is the relevance of concepts such as accountability, representation, transparency and efficiency? Could the EU have functioned without a US security guarantee? What is the normative power of the EU? Is the EU a post-modern institution? How do Constructivist and Liberal interpretations differ? Is the EU a post-colonial institution? 11. The Future of the International Liberal Order Can the international liberal order survive? Why are we witnessing the rise of illiberal regimes and revisionist powers? How might Russia and China reconfigure the international order? How does modern balancing differ from Cold-War balancing? What are wedging and sharp power? What can long-cycle theory tell us about hegemony and hegemonic transition?

The course has been divided into thematic sections, to be covered over the term. The course lecturer will deliver a lecture for each session. There will be readings and other materials for each section, which students are expected to read prior to the session. Throughout the course there will be in-class seminar activities (in groups or individually) related to a specific area of institutions (analyse a particular institutions or issue, counterfactual history, argue in favour/ against a particular institution's actions etc.) These exercises must be uploaded to the course Moodle. They will not be graded as such, but participation in, and engagement with, these activities will count towards students' seminar grade.

Acemoglu, D. and Robinson J.A. (2019), The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies and the Fate of Liberty. New York: Penguin Press
Buzan, Barry. 2004. English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalisation. Cambridge: CUP (Ch. 6 - The Primary Institutions of International Society).
Buzan, Barry and Lawson, George (2015), The Global Transformation: History, Modernity and the Making of International Relations. Cambridge: CUP
Cairney, P. (2019), Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues. London: Red Globe Press
Fukuyama, F. (2011), The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
Fukuyama, F. (2014), Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalizaation of Democracy. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
Ikenberry, G. John. 2001. After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restrains and the Rebuilding of Order after Major Wars. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Peters, B. Guy. 2019. Institutional Theory in Political Science: The New Institutionalism. London: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Rhodes, R., Binder, S. & Rockman, B. (2006), The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. New York: OUP
Tilly, Charles. 1985. "War Making and State Making as Organized Crime.? In Bringing the State Back In. Peter Evans (ed.). Cambridge: CUP

Group	Teacher	Department
Year 2	Daniel Hywell Nicholls	Derecho