Syllabus
Course Program: 1 Introduction, basic concept of governance, course organization, distribution of presentations. 4.10. 20010 texts: 49th parallels, The Economist, 19 June 2010, available in FACTIVA or SIS. 2 The Institutions of Canadian Government 11. 10. 2010 texts:
D. Savoie: Governing from the Centre, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999, Introduction, available in SIS.
G. White: Cabinets and First Ministers, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005, Chapter 1. available in SIS.
Newsletter: Olga Georgievová
Presentation: Richard Zábranský, Pavla Voborníková 3 Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms 18. 10. 2010 texts:
Peter H. Russell, Can the Canadians Be a Sovereign People?, Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec., 1991), pp. 691-709, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3229303, Accessed: 04/10/2008.)
J. Kelly, Governing with the Charter, Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005, Introduction, Available in SIS.
Newsletter: Eva Bergmanová-Gnip
Presentation: Marek Aldorf (TBC) 4 Political parties and electoral system in Canada 25. 10. 2010 texts:
K. Carty, The Shifting Place of Political Parties in Canadian Public Life." IRPP, Choices 12 (4), 2006, available at http://www.irpp.org/choices/archive/vol12no4.pdf, accessed on 10/9/2010.
H. Thorburn, The development of Political Parties in Canada and Perspectives on the Structer and Dynamics of the Canadian Party System, in Thorburn Party Politics in Canada, 8th edition, Chapter 12, available in SIS.
Newsletter: Barbora Polachová
Presentation: Musilová Nikola 5 Federal-Provincial relations in Canada 1. 11. 2010 texts:
A.Gagnon and R. Iacovino, Federalism, Citizenship and Quebec, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007, Chapter 3, available in SIS.
Newsletter: Zuzana Schmidtová, Pavla Voborníková
Presentation: Olga Georgievová 6.Aboriginal politics and Self-Governance 8. 11. 2010 texts:
T. Flanagan, First Nations, Secon Thoughts, Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2000, Chapter 1, available in SIS
Newsletter: Richard Zábranský
Presentation: Zuzana Schmidtová, Eva Bergmanová-Gnip 7. Mid-term Test 15.11. 8 Governance and politics in Mexico 22.11. 2010 texts:
Octavio Paz: The Sons of La Malinche, in: The Mexico Reader. History, Culture and Politics, Duke University Press, 2002, available in SIS (paz-chingada.pdf)
Roderic Ai Camp: Politics in Mexico, Oxford Univesity Press, 1999, Introduction, available in SIS (Ai Camp - Intro.pdf) 9 Mexican Political Transformation 29.11. 2010 text:
Stephen Haber et al., Mexico Since 1980, Cambridge University Press, 2006, Chapter 5, The Transformation of Mexican Politics, available in SIS (haber-mexico-politics.pdf)
Try comparing the transformation process with other countries that have experienced significant changes in political and economical structures. What were the main driving forces behind the transformative processes in Mexico? What can be considered a success, what a failure ? 10 Formal institutions in Mexico 6.12. 2010
Plutarco Elías Calles: Mexico Must Become a Nation of Institutions and Laws, in: The Mexico Reader. History, Culture and Politics, Duke University Press, 2002, available in SIS (calles-institutions.pdf).
Mexican Constitution (translated into English):
Constitution of Mexico, 2005 (in SIS, constitution-eng.pdf)
Focus on Articles 1-27, Article 123, Article 136. Think comparatively with respect to U.S. Constitution. What are the main similarities? What are the main differences? What underlying values can you identify in the text? 11 Informal institutions in Mexico 13.12. texts: Arturo Anguiano: Cárdenas and the Masses, The Mexico Reader. History, Culture and Politics, Duke University Press, 2002, available in SIS (anguiano-cardenas.pdf).
Roderic Ai Camp: Politics in Mexico, Oxford University Press, 1999, Who Governs? The Structure of Decision Making, a scan is available in the SIS, (camp-governance.pdf).
David Luhnow: The Secrets of the World's Richest Man, The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2007. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118615255900587380.html?mod=home_we_banner_left 12 Public policy example: Government policies towards indigenous groups in Mexico, agrarian reform 20.12. texts:
Gunther Dietz: From Indigenismo to Zapatismo. The Struggle for a Multi-ethnic Mexican Society, in: Nancy Grey Postero and Leon Zamosc, The Struggle for Indigenous Rights in Latin America, Sussex Academic Press, 2004, available in the SIS
(dietz-indigenismo.pdf, dietz-indigenismo2.pdf).
The text is in two separate parts for easier upload, both of them. Details are not that important, focus on conceptual issues:
How did the Mexican state deal with indigenous people in the past?
What are the most problematic issues connected with indigenous people in Mexico?
What led to the Zapatista uprising?
How did the government change its strategy and policies towards indigenous groups?
Are there any differences between formal and informal policies and methods?
Newsletter:
Presentation:
Bonus topics:
Edward J. Williams: The Resurgent North and Contemporary Mexican Regionalism, Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Summer, 1990), pp. 299-323 (available through JSTOR)
Larry Rohter: Hermosillo Journal; Scornful and Scorned, the New Yorkers of Mexico, The New York Times, August 8, 1988 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2DD173BF93BA3575BC0A96E948260
Public policy example: Fighting the Drug War text:
Ted Galen Carpenter: Bad Neighbor Policy. Washington's Futile War on Drugs in Latin America, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, Mexico: The Next Colombia?, available in the SIS
(carpenter-drugs.pdf).
Annotation
The course presents the political systems of Mexico and Canada and demonstrates on key issues the application of the basic concepts of governance. Comparative approach will be encouraged throughout the course.