History of Political Institutions (2225.YR.015280.1)

Datos generales

Tipo:	OPT	Curso:	2	Periodo:	S semestre
Créditos ECTS:	4 ECTS

Profesorado:

Grupo	Profesor	Departamento	Idioma
Year 2	Daniel Hywell Nicholls	Derecho	ENG

Students should have completed introductory courses in political science and international relations

A general awareness of the role and functioning of institutions.

The workload is spread between on-site lectures, preparation for lectures (readings) and various course activities which have to be completed.

This course gives students a greater understanding of political organisation from both a historical and theoretical perspective, showing how governance has been carried out over time both domestically and internationally.

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,m 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. Tha Ancient Greeks, Hobbes and Leviathans How were social conflicts managed? This session looks at early social contracts and the forces that led to them. How did Solon respond to societal pressures? Why do some societies resist central authority in favour of norms? What conditions favour the creation of a shackled, despotic or absent leviathan? How can powerful actors be prevented from amassing more power? What are the costs of this transition? Are there alternative paths to social order? 2. From Absolutism to Democracy Why and how did absolutist monarchies give way to democracies? This session looks at the social forces which restructured relations of privilege and created political mechanisms which limited the powers of monarchs, both through revolutionary and more gradual processes of change. 3. Westphalia and Sovereignty This session examines the concept of sovereignty, from its Westphalian origins to contemporary conceptions. The session looks at why sovereignty is so important as an underlying organising principle and looks at absolute versus relative interpretations of sovereignty and what these mean for the way domestic and international society function. 4. War and the State What role has war played in making states? This session looks at war as a mechanism for solving differences, looking at historical cases where states have evolved both as a result of war and in the absence of it. 5. Power-balancing and Concerts Why do states balance each others¿ power, both internally and externally? Power-balancing is significant in an anarchic world as it prevents system domination by a single actor. But what happens when balancing fails, and what are the results of this? 6. Forms of Democracy Why do different states have different mechanisms for decision-making? How do direct and representative democracy differ? What is deliberative democracy? How do electoral systems differ? What are the consequences of this? B. Secondary Institutions 7. The Institutional Structure of the United States This session looks at how the United States¿ political institutions were designed to limit concentrations of power, with in-built checks and balances to keep political power as close to the people as possible. 8. Wilsonian Idealism, the League of Nations and the United Nations This session looks at the logic of the League of Nations as an institution designed to guarantee peace, and examines why it failed to achieve its aims. Why was the United Nations was structured in the way it was, and how did it manage to correct a lot of the flaws of its predecessor (the League of Nations). Issues such as the veto power of the permanent members of the Security Council and peacekeeping operations will also be analysed, as well as possibilities for reform of the institution. 9. The Bretton Woods System Why were the Bretton Woods institutions (International Monetary Fund and World Bank) set up? This session examines the functions of these institutions and how they have evolved within the context of US hegemony. 10. The European Union This session analyses the European Union as an institution to guarantee peace through trade and democracy. Concepts such as accountability, representation, transparency and efficiency will be used to understand the EU and its key organs. 11. Security Institutions This session analyses collective security (NATO), security communities and security cooperation. The session will also look at the relationship between security umbrellas and economic growth. 12. Institutionalised Hierarchy To what extent do institutions embed and perpetuate hierarchy in the international system? This session examines the argument that institutions restrain the most powerful and offer guarantees to the weak, thereby creating stable orders acceptable to all. 13. Threats to the International Liberal Order Can the international liberal order survive? This session examines threats to the current order from the rise of illiberal regimes and revisionist powers. The session analyses the role of China and Russia, as well as the BRICS and alternative institutional arrangements. The session will also look at how increased institutional autonomy has led to dissatisfaction and populism. C. Modelling Institutional Analysis 14. Institutional Theories What are two-level games? How does regime theiry explain cooperation and expectations? How do institutions legitimate themselves? What is new institutionalism? How does prospect theory interpret behaviour? 15. Actors, Institutions and Change How do crises and discourse contribute to change? How do interest groups condition processes? What is institutional drift, layering and conversion? How are ideas generated and diffused? 16. Studying Political Systems How does selectorate theory help us understand authoritarian governance? What is neopatrimonialism? What are extractive institutions? What are the links between economic liberalism and political freedoms? 17. Institutional Responses and Regime Complexes How does the current institutional architecture deal with issues such as climate change, mass migration and genocide? Do regime complexes which combine a variety of institutions and hard and soft legal arrangements work?

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 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' participation 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).
Cairney, P. (2019), Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues. London: Red Globe Press
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

Grupo	Profesor	Departamento
Year 2	Daniel Hywell Nicholls	Derecho