Rival Models of Capitalism in the European Union
POST 115 EU Seminar
Spring 2005 Syllabus
TTh 12-1:10
Broad Hall 207

Professor Nigel Boyle
217 Scott Hall.
     Office Hours TTh 1:30-3:30.      Email nboyle@pitzer.edu


This seminar will focus on the different ways in which capitalism is organized in European countries.  Three sets of differences will be examined: that between the “Rhenish” and “Anglo-American” models of corporate governance; that between social democratic, christian democratic and liberal varieties of the welfare state; and that between “left”, “right” and “third way” political-economic strategies.  Particular attention will be paid to the challenges faced by the "northern tigers": Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Holland.  Comparisons will also be made to North America.  The central question animating the course will be whether the forces of “globalization”, capital mobility and EU integration are inducing a convergence toward a common European model of capitalism.

Semester Plan
There are two parts to the course.  Weeks 1-8 are organized around lecture/presentations by the Instructor and seminar discussion focused on the course reading.  This part of the course will cover the development of the EU, models of corporate governance, the welfare state and partisan political ideology.  It will culminate in the March 10 midterm exam. 

In weeks 9-15 the course becomes a student-centered research workshop.  It will be organized around two projects: (a) a group multimedia presentation project and (b) an individual research project.  Powerpoint-based presentations will be prepared by groups of 2-4 students.   These presentations will be made to the rest of the class and to a local High School teacher/student audience.   Certain presentations may be selected to be delivered to workshops of High School Social Studies teachers.  Individual research projects will be developed through a proposal (4 pages due March 29), a submission draft (18-20 pages, due April 18) and final draft (20-25 pages due May 3/5).

Course Grade
The midterm exam on March 10 will account for 25% of the course grade.  The powerpoint presentations will account for another 25%.  The research project proposal, submission draft and detailed critiques of  peer's work will comprise 25% of the course grade.  The final draft of this paper accounts for a further 10% of the course grade.  Class participation will account for the remaining 15% of the grade. 

 

Reading Material

All students will be required to get a subscription to the Financial Times

All other material for the first half of the course will be made available through webCT

Students are also required to purchase two books for use in the second half of the semester W. Phillips Shively The Craft of Political Research (6th edition) and N. Boyle FÁS and Active Labour Market Policy 1985-2004.


Weekly Schedule and related assignments

Week 1 Course Introduction
Tuesday January 18th "Rival models of capitalism in the EU"
Thursday January 20th "Capitalism, Industrialization and National Economies in Europe 1618-1948"
Hall and Soskice  "An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism".  This chapter provides a (rather dense) flavor of the themes to be covered in the course.  We will not discuss it until later in the course, but it should be read this week.

Thursday January 20th  Required Talk, Miles Kahler "We're All European Now: Domestic Politics and Transatlantic Relations" 4:15 p.m. in the Hampton Room, Malott Commons, Scripps College.

Required Talk Monday January 24th 4:15pm Harlan Koff  "A Recipe for Confusion: Multi-Level Institutional Conflict and Border Politics in Europe and North America."  Founders Room, McConnell, Pitzer.

Week 2 The European Union
Tuesday January 25th "European Integration 1945-1989"
See “The EU: a Guide for Americans: a Primer” http://www.eurunion.org/infores/euguide/euguide.pdf
Thursday January 27th "The European Union 1989-2005"
http://www.europa.eu.int/constitution/index_en.htm

Week 3 "Rival" Models?
Tuesday February 1st  "Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism in Europe: rival ideologies, parties and les trente glorieuses"
Kathleen Thelen "Varieties of Labor Politics in the Developed Democracies".  Esping-Andersen  "The Democratic Class Struggle Revisited"
Thursday February 3rd  Review and discussion.

Week 4  Globalization and the Euro
Tuesday February 8th  "The Irish Economic Miracle: a crock of what?".  N. Boyle Talk at Oldenbourg Center, Pomona College
Thursday February 10th   "The Euro and its Consequences”
Orfeo Fioretos "The Domestic Sources of Multilateral Preferences: varieties of Capitalism in the European Community"

Week 5 The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
Tuesday February 15th  “Three Worlds?”
Esping-Andersen Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economics (excerpts).
Thursday February 17th   "Welfare Capitalisms in Transition"

Week 6 Varieties of Corporate Governance
Tuesday February 22nd "Rhenish versus Anglo-American models of Corporate Governance and comparative advantage". .
Hall and Soskice Part III "Corporate Governance, Firm Strategy and the Law".  
Thursday February 24th "The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage"
Hall and Soskice” Introduction” (revisited)

Week 7 Competitiveness, Corporatism and Economic Performance
Tuesday March 1st "The 'northern tigers': coordination and competitive corporatism"
Martin Rhodes "The Political Economy of Social Pacts: 'Competitive Corporatism' and European Welfare Reform".  And Nigel Boyle “Imitation, Flattery and the Lisbon Agenda”

Thursday March 3rd . The Lisbon Process
The Govecor Project http://www.govecor.org/home/welcome.asp 
The Lisbon Scorecard http://www.cer.org.uk/publications/505.html

Week 8  Partisan Politics in the Global Economy
Tuesday March 8th  “Do Parties make a differences?  Do ideologies make a difference?”

Thursday March 10th Midterm Exam

SPRING BREAK

Week 9
Tuesday March 22nd  Powerpoint Presentation Workshop
Thursday March 24th Class Discussion about topics for powerpoint presentations and research papers (led by Instructor).

Proposals for both projects are due April 1st: a 4-page proposal including argument/hypothesis, organizing framework and bibliography.  For the group presentation project a very rough 1st draft ppt file (minimum 5 slides) must be email to the instructor.

Week 10
Tuesday March 29th  Class discussion  about research projects
Thursday March 31st  I will meet with each group about their powerpoint presentations 1:30-4 pm.

Student groups will present to the class in weeks 11-13.  The will subsequently make presentations to a local High School class.

Week 11
Tuesday April 5th Groups 1 and 2

Thursday April 7th Group 3 and 4

Week 12
Tuesday April 12th Group 5  and 6
Thursday April 14th  Spare class.

Week 13
Tuesday April 19th  Noon Submission Drafts of major paper due (as emailed attachments).
Thursday April 21st  Critiques of peers' papers due.

Week 14
Tuesday April 26th  Discussion of research papers 1-5
Thursday April 28th Discussion of research papers 6-10.

Week 15
Tuesday May 3rd Discussion of research papers 11-15.  Senior papers due.
Thursday May 5th Concluding discussion.  Non-senior final papers due.


The following books are recommended as further reading (especially with a view to selecting a research project).

The following books are also recommended:
Desmond Dinan Ever Closer Union?  An Introduction to the European Community (Rienner, 1999)
Geoff Garrett Partisan Politics in the Global Economy (Cambridge, 1999)
Gosta Esping-Andersen Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies (Oxford, 2001)
Peter Hall and David Soskice Varieties of Capitalism: the institutional foundations of comparative advantage (Oxford, 2002)
Anthony Giddens The Third Way and its Critics (2000) HX73 .G54 2000
Mary Daly The Gender Division of Welfare: the impact of the British and German Welfare States (2000)
Paul Pierson The New Politics of the Welfare State (2001)
Oskar Lafontaine The Heart Beats on the Left (2001)
Gosta Esping-Andersen The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (1990)
Lester C. Thurow The Future of Capitalism : How Today's Economic Forces Shape Tomorrow's World (1997)
Lester Thurow Head to Head : The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe, and America (1993)
Robert B. Reich The work of nations : preparing ourselves for 21st-century HB501 .R36 1991 c.2
G. Howe Conflict of Loyalty (1994)
Carolyn Warner Confessions of an Interest Group: the Catholic Church and Poltical Parties in Europe(2000)
K. Van Kersbergen Social Capitalism (1996)
Robert Michels Political Parties (1913) JF2049 M62 1915X
Tony Blair The Third Way (1998) HC256.5 .B544 1997
Przeworski and J. Sprague Paper Stones: a history of electoral socialism (1986)
Marshall, T.H.   Citizenship and social class / T.H. Marshall and Tom Bottomore    HN400.S6 C49 1992
Pope, Leo XIII Rerum novarum (1891) Papal Encyclical on the Condition of Labor STC  HD6338 C26 1940
Friedrich von Hayek  The Road To Serfdom HD 82 H326 1944 C.1
Joseph Schumpeter,   Capitalism, socialism, and democracy HX 86 SCH86 1950 C.1
Karl Polanyi,   The great transformation HC53 .P757A c.1
Milton Friedman  Capitalism and freedom. HB501 .F914 C.6
Peter Baldwin  The politics of social solidarity : class bases of the European welfare state, 1875-1975  JC325 .B33 1990
The social democratic image of society  Francis G. Castles HX 317 C37
Tim Tilton  The political theory of Swedish social democracy : through the welfare state to socialism HX336.5 .T55 1990
Paul Pierson  Dismantling the welfare state? : Reagan, Thatcher, and the politics of retrenchment HN59.2 .P52 1994
Stephan Leibfried and Paul Pierson  European social policy : between fragmentation and integration, HN373.5 .E83 1995
Desmond King   Actively seeking work? : the politics of unemployment and welfare policy in the United States and Great Britain HD5765.A6 K557 1995
Mancur Olson  The rise and decline of nations : economic growth, stagflation, and social rigidities HD 82 O565 1982 c.2
Gary Teeple   Globalization and the decline of social reform Gary Teeple HC59 .T36 1995
Offe, Claus (1996) Modernity and the state JC11 .O33 1996
Piore, Michael J and C. Sabel  The second industrial divide : possibilities for prosperity HC 103 P5X
Democratic Leadership Council-Progressive Policy Institute The New Progressive Declaration: A Political Philosophy for the Information Age (1998)
P. Katzenstein Small States in World Markets (1985)
Benjamin Barber Jihad versus McWorld (1995)