Politics in Advanced Industrialized States
Pol 340-Spring 2001
Prof. Kurzer 621 1726
Office hrs.T: 1-2; Th: 1-2 Social
Sciences 323
Email: kurzer@arizona.edu
Introduction
How do the three largest advanced industrialized countries organize their economies and markets? What are the differences in governance structures, and why do differences matter, if at all? Does one country have a decisive 'competitive edge'? This course tries to answer these questions by examining the differences in political and economic institutions of the three largest advanced industrialized countries: Japan, Germany, and the United States. The final weeks look at the automobile industry to gain a deeper insight how core manufacturers are organized in each of the three countries.
Books to be purchased:
Peter Capelli, et.al. Change at Work. Oxford University Press, 1997.
T.J. Pempel, Regime Shift. Cornell University Press, 1998.
Course Requirements
There will be three exams of equal weight (each 30 percent) and the remaining 10 percent of the grade reflects class participation. The dates of the first and second mid-term are February 20 and April 3. The final is scheduled for May 8 at 11 am and includes everything from February 20. To promote class discussions, I will post questions on the readings every week. Check out the web page for this course on www.u.arizona.edu/~kurzer to find the questions. You are also expected to show up for class regularly and be prepared to join our discussions (10 percent of the final grade). I will drop students from the course after ‘excessive absences’. Every student should also read the New York Times daily. Student subscriptions are handed out during the first day of class.
The library is now offering electronic reserve and this course relies on a fair amount of reserve readings. Because of copyright issues, the reserve readings cannot be made available to the general public and can only be accessed with a special PASSWORD. The password is Kurzer (easy to remember).
DATE TOPIC AND READING
ASSIGNMENT
Jan.11 Introduction.
Jan. 16-18: The
Japanese Miracle
Pempel, Regime Shift, 1-80.
Jan.26-28: Consolidation
of Conservatism
Pempel, Regime Shift, 81-136.
Feb. 2-4: Japan
in Transition
Pempel, Regime Shift, 136-208
Feb. 9-11: Corporate
Governance in Japan and the US
Ronald Dore, The Asian Form of Capitalism, 35-58. (ER)
Capelli et.al. Change at Work, pp. 3-15
Feb. 13-15: Rise and
Fall of Welfare Capitalism
Sanford Jacoby, Modern Manors pp.3-10, 35-56, 236-266. (ER)
Feb. 20-22 Mid-Term Tuesday, February 20.
Competitiveness,
Growth, and Labor Market
Capelli
et.al. Change at Work, pp. 15-88
Feb. 27-Mar 1 Skills
Gap and Decline of Trade Union
Capelli
et.al. Change at Work, pp. 122-227
March 6-8 New
Economy at Work
AnnaLee Saxenian, Genesis: Universities, Military Spending, and Entrepreneurs in Regional Advantage, 11-37 (ER)
(had to split it into 3 files; look for name of author)
AnnaLee Saxenian, Cooperation and Competition, in Regional Advantage 37-57. (ER)
AnnaLee Saxenian, Route 128, in Regional Advantage 59-82 (ER)
March 20-22: Social
Concertation and the German Miracle
Kirsten Wever, Negotiating Competitiveness, 1-28. (ER)
L. Turner, Negotiating the New
Germany, 1-32. (ER)
March 27-29: Stress and Strain in the German Model: Unification
Turner, Negotiating the New Germany, 113-139, 157-176, 207-26, 255-62. (ER)
April 3-5: Mid-Term Tuesday, April 3
Stress
and Strain in the German Model: Integration
AnnaLee
Saxenian, Introduction: Local Industrial Systems, 1-9.
Mark Lehrer, Has Germany Finally Fixed its High-Tech Problem? California Management Review, 2000 (ER)
April 10-12: Car
Assemblers: VW in Germany
Ulrich Jurgens, The Development of VW’s Industrial Model (ER)
Apr. 17-19: Car
Assemblers: GM in the US
Michael Flynn, The GM Trajectory (ER)
Ruth
Milkman, Farewell to the Factory, 1-21 & 137-80 (ER)
Apr. 24-26: Car
Assemblers: Toyota and Nissan
Koichi Shimizu, A New Toyotaism? (ER)
Masanori
Hanada, Nissan: Restructuring to Regain Competitiveness (ER)
May 2: Review
Final
exam may 8 @ 11 AM