Fall/Winter Timetable

POL406H1S L0101

Graduate Course Code: POL2325H1S L0101

The Politics of Federalism in Comparative Perspective

Themes

This course is about the politics of federal and decentralized polities. Early research on federalism is based mostly on the US experience and it is predominantly normative. Federalism is seen as the panacea for a wide range of political and economic problems ranging from ethnic conflict, economic inefficiency and lack of democratic accountability. Today, the literature on federalism and decentralization is more nuanced, more empirically grounded and more comparative. We welcome these developments and explore the conditions under which federalism and/or decentralization is good or bad for a variety of policy and political outcomes. Furthermore, we explore how voters, candidates and parties behave within a federal institutional context. Finally, we seek to understand the structural conditions and bargaining relationships that lead to certain institutional configurations and not others; that is we explore the origins and development of federal and decentralized institutions. This course places specific emphasis on new research in the field of federalism studies, and mostly on empirically-based research. Our lens will be broadly comparative. The course is designed to introduce you to several aspects of academic professionalization such as leading a discussion, creating a poster presentation, developing a research project and participating in a seminar-like course.

Texts

TBA (articles and book chapters, no textbooks).

Format and Requirements

TBA