Comparative Politics & Development (CP&D)

Comparative Politics and Development is a 60-hour (9 cfu) course taught between January and March. Lectures take place in Via Conservatorio on Mondays (room 27), Tuesdays (room 2) and Wednesdays (room 25) from 8.30 to 10.30.

The course aims at examining the politics of developing areas through the lenses of comparative political analysis. It draws primarily on concepts and theories used in the contemporary study of politics in advanced economies, including well-established works on the state, on political regimes, and on specific political institutions and processes. The course also adds to the above issues a more specific focus on aspects of politics that are more commonly associated with developing and emerging countries, such as authoritarian rule, civil conflicts, ethnic politics and corruption. The empirical focus is primarily on sub-Saharan Africa.

Lectures

Note: while slides constitute essential study material for the final test, the other links are mere suggestions and curiosities about different issues the course touches upon

1. Development – Key notions, theories and issues
   • GDP’s days are numbered (Diane Coyle, 2021)
   • Poor numbers (Morten Jerven, 2014)
   • Sustainable Development Goals Index
   • Commitment to Development Index (Centre for Global Development 2021)
   • How to measure poverty (The Economist, 15 April 2023)
   • Poverty and prosperity 2022. Correcting course (World Bank 2022)
2. Development in Africa
   • The danger of a single story (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2009)
   • How to write about Africa (Binyavanga Wainaina, Granta, 2005)
   • Spot the Africa (The Daily Show, 2014)
   • Nicolas Sarkozy and the African man (The Dakar Speech, 2007)
   • What is sub-Saharan Africa? (The Economist, 7 March 2019)
   • A manufacturing renaissance in Africa? (H.Kruse, E.Mensah, K.Sen, G.de Vries, UNIDO 2021)
   • Industrial policy makes a comeback in Africa (Brookings, M.Walter 2021)
   • Reducing Africa’s reliance on commodities (The Economist, 8 Jan. 2022)
3. Development in Africa – Ghana
4. The state in Africa
   • Critical (and controversial) perspectives: Keep out of Africa (Marina Ottaway, Carnegie 1999), Give war a chance (E.Luttwak, Foreign Affairs 1999), Let them fail (Jeffrey Herbst, in R.Rotberg, When states fail, 2004), The case for colonialism (Bruce Gilley, 2017)
5. The state in Africa – Somalia
6. The state in Africa – Congo-DRC
   • A guide to the decades-long conflict in DR Congo (Al Jazeera, 21 February 2024)
   • A Renewed EU Great Lakes Region Strategy (Council of the EU 2023)
7. Civil wars
8. Civil wars – Ethiopia
9. Ethnic politics
10. Ethnic politics – Kenya
11. Democracy in Africa
12. Democracy in Africa – Nigeria

Required readings for all students

Note: Students attending classes must add all the readings listed above, each one covering one of the topics addressed by class presentations and suggested by presenters themselves, but they can skip the readings marked in bold in the list below.

1. Sen, Amartya, “What is development about?”, in Meier, Gerald – Stiglitz, Joseph (eds), Frontiers of Development economics. The future in perspective, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 506-513
2. Whitfield, Lindsay, “An introduction to the political economy of development”, in Cheeseman, Nic – Whitfield, Lindsay – Death, Carl (eds), The African Affairs Reader. Key Texts in Politics, Development, and International Relations, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 115-127
3. Hirsch, Alan – Lopes, Carlos, «Post-colonial African economic development in historical perspective», Africa Development, 65 (1), 2020, pp. 31-46
4. Akyeampong, Emmanuel – Bates, Robert – Nunn, Nathan – Robinson, James, “Africa – the historical roots of its underdevelopment”, in id. (eds), Africa’s development in historical perspective, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 1-28
5. Acemoglu, Daron – Robinson, James, “Rents and economic development: The Perspective of Why Nations Fail”, Public Choice, 2019, 181, pp. 13-28
6. Acemoglu, Daron – Robinson, James, “Why is Africa poor?”, Economic History of Developing Regions, 25 (1), 2010, pp. 21-50
7. Fortin, Jessica, “A tool to evaluate state capacity in post-communist countries, 1989–2006”, European Journal of Political Research, 49, 2010, pp. 654-686
8. Cheeseman, N., Death, C., & Whitfield, L., “An Introduction to the African State”. In N. Cheeseman, L. Whitfield, & C. Death (eds.), The African Affairs Reader: Key Texts in Politics, Development and International Relations, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 15-29
9. Herbst, Jeffrey, “The challenge of state-building in Africa”, in Herbst, Jeffrey, States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2000, pp. 11-31
10. Jackson, Robert – Rosberg, Carl, “Why Africa’s Weak States Persist: The Empirical and the Juridical in Statehood”, World Politics, 35(1), 1982, pp. 1–24
11. Reid, Stuart A., “Congo’s slide into chaos. How a state fails”, Foreign Affairs, January-February 2018, pp. 97-117
12. Olivier de Sardan, Jean-Pierre. 1999. “A Moral Economy of Corruption in Africa?”, The Journal of Modern African Studies 37(1): 25-52.
13. Goldsmith, Arthur A., “Predatory versus developmental rule in Africa”, Democratization, 11 (3), 2004, pp. 98-110
14. Alesina, Alberto – Devleeschauwer, Arnaud – Easterly, William – Kurlat, Sergio – Wacziarg, Romain, “Fractionalization”, Journal of Economic Growth, 8, 2003, pp. 155-194
15. Easterly, William – Levine, Ross, “Africa’s growth tragedy: policies and ethnic divisions”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 12(4), 1997, pp. 1203-1250
16. Cederman, Lars-Erik – Wimmer, Andreas – Min, Brian “Why do ethnic groups rebel? New data and analysis”, World Politics, 62 (1), 2010, pp. 87-119
17. Cederman, Lars-Erik – Skrede Gleditsch, Kristian – Wucherpfennig, Julian, “Predicting the decline of ethnic civil war: Was Gurr right and for the right reasons?”, Journal of Peace Research, 2017, 54(2), pp. 262–274
18. Roessler, Philip, “The enemy within: Personal Rule, Coups, and Civil War in Africa”, World Politics, 63 (2), 2011, pp. 300-346
19. Carboni, Andrea – Raleigh, Clionadh, “Regime cycle and political change in African autocracies”, Journal of Modern African Studies, 59 (4), 2021, pp. 415-437
20. Svolik, Milan, “The anatomy of dictatorship”, in Svolik, Milan, The politics of authoritarian rule, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp.1-18
21. Bermeo, Nancy, “On democratic backsliding”, Journal of Democracy, 27 (1), 2016, pp. 5-19
22. Maerz, Seraphine F. – Lührmann, Anna – Hellmeier, Sebastian – Grahn, Sandra – Lindberg, Staffan I., “State of the world 2019: autocratization surges, resistance grows”, Democratization, 27 (6), 2020, pp. 909–927
23. Ross, Michael, “The paradoxical wealth of nations”, in Ross, Michael, The oil curse. How petroleum wealth shapes the development of nations, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2012, pp.1-25]
24. Posner, Daniel – Young, Daniel, “The institutionalization of political power in Africa”, Journal of Democracy, 18(3), 2007, pp.126-140
25. Goldsmith, Arthur A., “Risk, rule and reason. Leadership in Africa”, Public Administration and Development, 21, 2001, pp. 77-87
26. Jones, Benjamin – Olken, Benjamin, “Do leaders matter? National leadership and growth since World War II”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120 (3), 2005, pp. 835-864
27. Long, James – Gibson, Clark, “Evaluating the roles of ethnicity and performance in African elections: evidence from an exit poll in Kenya”, Political Research Quarterly, 68 (4), 2015, pp. 830-842
28. Weghorst, Keith – Lindberg, Staffan, “What drives the swing voter in Africa?”, American Journal of Political Science, 57 (3), 2013, pp. 717–734
29. Hoffman, Barak D. – Long, James D., “Parties, ethnicity, and voting in African elections”, Comparative Politics, 2013, pp.127-146
30. Harding, Robin, “Who is democracy good for? Elections, rural bias, and health and education outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa”, Journal of Politics, 82 (1), 2019, pp. 241-254