Week 3: Deadlines, Readings, Etc.

Hi all,

The class begins the third week of the term with 98 points, because I've been forgiving of mentions of banned words in tutorials, and because you managed to cover most of the assigned and recommended readings for last week. Besides, we've only done competitive authoritarianism thus far, which is almost like democracy! Censorship will become progressively more severe as the semester progresses and we cover more repressive systems. The list of banned words remains the same, though it's subject to change without notice. (If you manage to retain 98 points until the end of the semester, I will give you all the questions in the final exam, but redact 2% of the words).

The second set of explanatory blog posts/reading reviews are due this week. According to my trusty spreadsheet, the following people must post their explanatory blog posts on Tuesday before the lecture (ids ending in 1):

First name	Last name
Elspeth	B.
Alora	J.
Zoe	M.
Annalee	N.
Lucy	R.
Matthew	S.
Aliesha	S.
Alison	S.
Slayde	T.
Matthew	W.
Teng	Z.

The following people must submit their explanatory blog posts on Thursday before the lecture (ids ending in 8 - there was a mistake in the earlier version of the deadlines spreadsheet, so check for your name!):

First name	Last name
Te Aue	A.
Laura	B.
Anna Isabella	B.
Ruby	C.
Madison	D.
Alexandra	F.
Douglas	G.
Hoani Te Whare	H.
Jasmine	H.
Monique	H.
Natasha	I.
Sally	K.
Rhiannon	M.
Thomas	M.
Timothy	M.
Michael	M.
Felix	M.
Raymond	P.
Jessica	R.
Callian	S.
Lauren	S.

Everyone else can submit regular contributions to the blog until Thursday at 5pm. Let me know if you have not received a blog invite, or are not able to sign up. There is a short video in the “videos and pre-recorded lectures” section of Blackbord on how to use Blogger, if you are confused.

The explanatory blog posts can be about any of the assigned or recommended readings for the week. The basic reading is:

• Krastev, Ivan, and Stephen Holmes. 2012. “An Autopsy of Managed Democracy.” Journal of Democracy no. 23 (3):33-45. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/v023/23.3.krastev.html (Also on Blackboard, under “Readings”)

You can also do your explanatory blog post/reading review on any of the following recommended readings:

• This more popular piece by Krastev is also very thought-provoking: “Is China more democratic than Russia?” http://www.opendemocracy.net/odrussia/ivan-krastev/is-china-more-democratic-than-russia
• For a review of what political scientists think they know about single-party or dominant party regimes, see Magaloni, Beatriz, and Ruth Kricheli. 2010. “Political Order and One-Party Rule.” Annual Review of Political Science no. 13 (1):123-143. (http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/23312/politicalorderandonepartyrule.pdf, not in coursenotes, somewhat technical in parts).
• Another longuish review on the purpose of elections under authoritarianism is Gandhi, Jennifer, and Ellen Lust Okar. 2009. “Elections under Authoritarianism.” Annual Review of Political Science no. 12 (4):403-422. (http://www.researchgate.net/publication/228154360_Elections_Under_Authoritarianism/file/d912f50fdaa1e62f81.pdf, not in coursenotes, somewhat technical in parts).
• For more on contemporary Russian politics, see Stoner, Kathryn. 2012. “Whither Russia? Autocracy Is Here for Now, but Is It Here to Stay?” Perspectives on Politics no. 10:969-977. (http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/23972/PerspectivesStoner2012.pdf)

To avoid unnecessary duplication, people whose turn it is to do the explanatory blog posts should cover both the basic and the recommended readings; if you do not, I may substract class points! Everyone else may just look at the basic readings.

On Tuesday we will spent most of the class session on the Chavez trial. A background video lecture is available on Blackboard. Come prepared to deliberate! We will then finish the week with some further discussion of the causes for the emergence of competitive authoritarianism, the ways in which competitive authoritarian countries sometimes become less authoritarian (i.e., democratize), and the many uses of elections in authoritarian settings, with special reference to Russia today.