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ANTON PELINKA

FEDERAL SYSTEMS.

THE EU, US AND INDIA COMPARED

2007-2008

WINTER

NATIONALISM STUDIES PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

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1. Name of Course

Federal Systems: The EU, US and India compared

2. Lecturer:Anton Pelinka

3. No. of Credits and no. of ECTS credits:

4 credits resp. 8 ECTS credits

4. Semester or Time Period of the course

Classes on Tuesday during the whole winter term: 11:00 12:40 and 15:30 16:40

5. Any other required elements of the department

No

6. Course Level

The course is offered for second term MA students (one year) in Nationalism Studies andin Political Science

7. Brief introduction to the course outlining its primary theme, objective and

briefly the place of the course in the overall program of study:

The course is designed to focus on the analysis of federalism using the cases of threerather different systems. Despite the continental dimension, the EU, the US and India

have in common, the three systems differ greatly:

The United States, together with Switzerland, is considered the most traditionalfederal system. US federalism is very much the case of a bottom-up development.

India is a comparatively new state with a combination of Westminster (British style)

democracy and symmetrical federalism. Indian federalism has been established top-

down.

The EU is not a state, but perhaps a federation in the making. European

federalism is the perfect case of a long ongoing process based on nation (member)

states as driving forces of integration.In all cases, federalism has to be seen as an instrument to deal with national, ethnic,

religious, social, and geographic diversity. Despite very different backgrounds, all three

cases cannot be imagined as unitary (centralised) and democratic states. In all three cases,federal structure seems to be the only way to establish democracy.

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8. The goals of the course

The focus will be especially on the following questions:

the structure of federal governments;

the compatibility of democracy and presidentialism, resp.parliamentary rule;

the question of identity, resp. identities;

the preconditions of democratic federalism; party system and federal structure;

the impact of federalism on foreign policy.

9. The learning outcomes of the course

The students should be enabled to understand the functions of federalism (e.g. theintegration of diverse societies) and its structures (e.g. symmetrical and asymmetrical

federalism). As some of the students will start to design their MA thesis during the term,

the course is also a possibility to get familiar with aspects possible linked to the research

for the thesis (e.g. nationalism and federalism, comparing different models of federal

political systems, etc.)

10. More detailed display of contents.

Week 1:

How diversity and globalization challenge democratic systems built upon the traditional

nation state: analysis of the necessary democratic responses

Ruggie, Habermas, Slaughter, Plattner

Week 2:

The different forms of democratic governance and the logic of a vertical separation ofpower between federal state and sub-statesSodaro, Wilson

Week 3:

The United States of America as (together with Switzerland) the model for a bottom-up

federal system

DeSipio

Week 4:

The United States and its integration process the development from a confederation to a

federationLipset, Glazer

Week 5:

The European Union a political system sui generis; its structures and its functions; its

specificities and the parallels to already established democratic federal systemsOudenaren

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Week 6:

The European Union its historical background and the two logics of widening

(enlargement) and deepening (federalization)Moravcsik, Morgan

Week 7:

Classes for feedback, critical assessment, and discussion about the term papers, the

students are required to present at the end of the term

Week 8:

US and EU in comparison: To which extent can the EU learn from the integration

process the US had gone throughElazar, Weiler, Schmidt, Scharpf

Week 9:

The Indian political system its peculiarities: a combination between British/style

Westminster democracy and US-style federalismKohli and Basu

Week 10:

The Indian democracy as the necessary element of nation building power sharing as the

requirement of integrating an extremely diverse societyPelinka

Week 11:

The Indian form of governance as a possible model for diverse and lesser developed

Nariman, Chatterjee

Week 12:

The US, the EU and India as global actors: What are the common interests?

Oudenaren, Mohan

For the weeks, the reader provides the compulsory reading. Optional reading will be

provided on a case to case basis, which will include often literature for the better

understanding of most recent developments (e.g. the outcome of the ratification processof the EUs Reform Treaty).

The format will be the result of what had been already proven as a rather stimulating way

of teaching: a combination of seminar-style presentations by student, based on theliterature as assembled in the reader, and a lecture, dealing with the specific topic of the

weak.

11. Assessment

The students are required to participate actively in class (This requires preparation by

reading the designed texts). This requirement includes the necessity to at least onepresentation in class. The presentations schedule (who, what, and when) will bedecided

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in the second week. In addition, the students have to write a term paper (appr. 5000

words). The topic of the paper has to be decided by agreement between the student and

the lecturer. The term paper an academic essay should demonstrate the studentsability to deal with a topic, linked to the courses general topic, in a scholarly way.

Both requirements active participation (including presentation) and the term paper are

to be considered equal important for the final grading. The essay will be gradedaccording to its formal academic quality (research questions, hypotheses,

operationalisation, methodology, sources, bibliographical quality, etc.)

The students are encouraged not only to raise any question linked to the courses topicbut also to challenge the lecturer for the sake of an academic discourse. They are advised

to use the lecturers office hours as well as the possibility to contact him via the internet.

It can be assumed that all the assessments are related to the achievement of the Learning

Outcome.

12. Office hours

Tuesday 2:30 3:30, Wednesday 10:00 11:00