This is a comparative politics course that introduces students to
two topics that currently receive a lot of international attention:
governance and corruption.

The study of governance examines the conditions that enable the
effective exercise of government to accomplish some societal
purpose.  This is a general question that applies to both advanced
and developing countries.  In this semester, we will study this
general question from the perspective of economic development and
the provision of public goods.  To further understand how politics
affect development, we will also study the related concept of
corruption, a concept that arises in several literatures on the
political economy of development.

The course is organized into four major parts progressing from
general to specific explanations.  The first part examines economic
approaches to governance and corruption, including the role of the
public sector in the economy.  The second part addresses the
political causes and consequences of corruption in different
settings.  The third part examines how civic culture and social
norms affect the rule of law and control of corruption.  Finally, we
will use the knowledge from the first three parts to understand the
experience of selected countries in East Asia, Latin America, and
Africa.