Lomonosov Moscow State University

Qualitative Approaches and Methods in European Politics and Society

Autumn 2015

School of Public Administration

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Course Instructor:

Dr Gregg Bucken-Knapp

Associate Professor of Political Science

School of Public Administration

University of Gothenburg, Sweden

[e-mail]

Course Overview:

The goal of this course is to provide students with a concise overview of some of the key approaches and methods currently favored by scholars of European politics and society who work in a qualitative vein (with one exception). To set the stage, the course begins with a focus on early historical institutionalist scholarship, which sought to problematize the contingent manner in which institutions can shape outcomes. Following this, our attention will turns to varieties of capitalism, a variant of institutionalism that rapidly gained popularity in the field of comparative political economy in the early 2000s and focuses on the structure of the political economy for understanding outcomes. Our attention will then turn to the role that ideas may exercise in shaping developments in the European polity, emphasizing how underlying values and beliefs have significance during key points in historical development and policy reform. We will also examine three issue areas in greater depth that have been of particular interest to scholars of European societies – immigration policy, welfare state retrenchment, and gendered public policy – highlighting the different ways in which these issues are problematized and analyzed. We conclude the review of the literature with a seminar that places the role of the media front and center as an actor with particular importance for European polities and beyond.

The emphasis will be on the fundamental building blocks of social science research projects: research question, theory/literature review, case selection, data collection and analysis, criteria for drawing conclusions, and the contribution made by the research to the broader field. As such, this course will take a broad approach to an examination of methods, reflecting the belief that the methodological choices made by scholars can be fruitfully analyzed by considering them alongside other key components of a well-designed research project.

The format of instruction for the course will be seminars, in which the instructor will provide a brief introduction to the week’s theme, followed by student presentations and discussion of the literature. In the final seminars, students will be expected to present a preliminarily sketch for a research project on some aspect of European politics making use of one of the approaches discussed in the course. Students will then have two weeks from the date of their presentation to submit a 3,000 word paper further developing the proposed research.

Seminars and required reading:

Seminar 1: Introduction

No reading required. This session will provide an overview of course goals, and address practical issues associated with the seminars and student assignments. Each student should be prepared to present a fifteen-minute overview of her/his current research agenda. The instructor shall be expected to do the same.

There is no obligatory reading for the first session.

Seminar 2: Historical Institutionalism and Europe in a Comparative Perspective

In this meeting, the focus of the assigned journal articles is on the key role of political institutions in structuring policy outcomes. To what extent is the design of political institutions decisive for understanding why certain policies emerge, and to what extent must they be considered alongside other potential explanations?

Obligatory reading:

Paul Pierson, “The Path To European Integration: A Historical Institutional Analysis” Comparative Political Studies, Vol.29 No. 2 (April 1996) 123-163

Sven Steinmo, “Political Institutions and Tax Policy in the United States, Sweden and Britain,” World Politics, Vol. 41, No. 4 (July 1989) pp. 500-535.

Kathleen Thelen and Sven Steinmo, “Structuring Politics: Historical Institutions in Comparative Analysis” in Steinmo and Thelen (eds.), “Structuring Politics: Historical Institutions in Comparative Analysis” (1992)

Seminar 3: Varieties of Capitalism

One important variant of the institutionalist literature analyzing economic reform in advanced industrialized economies is the varieties of capitalism literature. This approach posits the dual convergence of production regimes in capitalist democracies, and lays the groundwork for the analysis of how liberal and coordinated market economies have an impact on a broad range of economic and policy outcomes.

Obligatory reading:

Peter Hall and David Soskice, Varieties of Capitalism, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) Chapter 1.

Kimberly J. Morgan, “The ‘Production’ of Child Care: How Labor Markets Shape Social Policy and Vice-Versa,” Social Politics, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2005, pp. 243-263.

Mark Thatcher, “Varieties of Capitalism in an Internationalized World: Domestic Institutional Change In European Telecommunications,” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 37, No. 7, 2004, pp. 751-780

Seminar 4: Ideational Approaches to Public Policy

Over the past decade, the role of ideas has increasingly become central to the analysis of European politics. While scholars working in the broad and diffuse ideational school do not tend to deny the influence of institutions or the resources held by various actors, they argue that such analysis are incomplete and fail to explore how political ideas help define interests and frame our interpretations of the political world.

Obligatory Reading:

Sheri Berman, “Ideational Theorizing in the Social Sciences since ‘Policy Paradigms, Social Learning and the State’” Governance, 23:6, 2013.

Erik Bleich, “Integrating Ideas into Policymaking Analysis: Frames and Race Policies in Britain and France,” Comparative Political Studies 35, 9, November 2002: 1054-76.

Mark Blyth, "The Transformation of the Swedish Model: Economic Ideas, Distributional Conflict and Institutional Change" World Politics 54 (1) October 2001 pp. 1-26

Seminar 5: Immigration, The European Polity, and Beyond.

In this session, we explore the ways in which scholars of European politics have recently dealt with key issues in the study of immigration policy. It is widely understood that immigration represents one of the most complex challenges to states in the post-WWII era. Yet, lesser understood are some of the dynamics surrounding the reform of migration policies, such as the continued acceptance of migrants on the part of states who seemingly do not wish to do so, how domestic actors employ norms to achieve policy change, and the factors that “tip” actors towards or away from restrictive preferences.

Amy Gurowitz, “Mobilizing International Norms, Domestic Actors, Immigrants, and the Japanese State,” World Politics, Vol. 51, No. 3, 1999, pp. 413-445.

Jonas Hinnfors, Andrea Spehar & Gregg Bucken-Knapp. “The Missing Factor: Why Social Democracy Can Lead To Restrictive Immigration Policy”, Journal of European Public Policy, 19(4), 2012, pp. 585-603.

Christian Joppke, “Why Do Liberal States Accept Unwanted Immigration,” World Politics, Vol. 50, No. 2, 1998, pp. 266-293.

Seminar 6: Welfare State Retrenchment

For students with an interest in Europe, the question of the dynamics associated with welfare state retrenchment take on special significance, given the varied welfare state structures that exist throughout Europe. In this class, we focus on research that illuminates different aspects of the welfare state reform process, both those emphasizing the electorate and those stressing institutional variables.

Karen M. Anderson, “The Politics of Retrenchment in a Social Democratic Welfare State: Reform of Swedish Pensions and Unemployment Insurance,” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 34, No. 9, 2001, pp. 1063-1091.

Paul Pierson, “The New Politics of the Welfare State,” World Politics, Vol. 48, No. 2, 1996, pp. 143-179.

Duane Swank, “Globalisation, Domestic Politics, and Welfare State Retrenchment in Capitalist Democracies,” Social Policy and Society, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, 183-195

Seminar 7: Gender and Public Policy.

In this session, we explore how some of the diverse ways in which scholars of European politics examine issues that are also of interest to gender studies scholars. Focusing on both abortion and family-friendly policies intended to boost mothers’ access to employment, we find once again that institutions, culture and politics remain central the analyses.

G. Bucken-Knapp, J. Karlsson Schaffer and P. Levin. “Comrades, Push The Red Button! Prohibiting the Purchase of Sexual Services in Sweden But Not in Finland”, in S. Majic & C. Showden (eds.), Negotiating Sex Work: Unintended Consequences of Policy and Activism. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014). 195-217

Michael Minkenberg, “Religion and Public Policy: Institutional, Cultural and Political Impact on the Shaping of Abortion Policies in Western Democracies,” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2002, pp. 221-247.

Kimberly J. Morgan, “The Politics of Mothers’ Employment: France in a Comparative Perspective” World Politics, Vol. 55, 2003, pp. 259-289.

Seminar 8: Examining the Role of the Media Cross-Nationally

Since the early days of studies focusing on the CNN effect and foreign policy in the United States, the role of media as an actor shaping domestic policy developments in Europe has been steadily growing. The state of the art of this comparative-oriented literature will be the focus of our final seminar, allowing students to familiarize themselves with research that both examines the content of media reports, and also draws upon the journalists who write them. This dual methodological focus allows for a sharply nuanced appreciation of the link between media coverage and contentious policy issues in Europe and beyond.

Benson, Rodney. Shaping Immigration News: A French-American Comparison. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Seminars 9 & 10:

For this final assignment, the objective is to preliminarily sketch for a research project on some aspect of European politics making use of one of the approaches discussed in the course.

For this paper, you will be expected to identify a puzzle within European politics and explain why it matters both to scholars and to those of us in the “real world.” Following that, you should draw upon six peer-reviewed, English-language academic journal articles in order to shed further light on your chosen topic. The paper should primarily detail how your theoretical and methodological understanding of the policy is informed by the literature. Of course, you will also want some facts to help explain the policy puzzle to your audience, but the primary purpose is to demonstrate your ability to locate and synthesize theoretical research literature in order to frame an interesting comparative public policy puzzle.

At the seminar, each student will have 50 minutes at their disposal. The first 20 minutes will be for a presentation. The remaining 30 minutes will be reserved for discussion. PowerPoint is required, and a printed copy of the PPT presentation must be submitted to the instructor at the start of the presentation. Each student will also need to submit a 3000 word paper to be submitted two weeks after the date of presentation to the course instructor via email. As always, you should keep in mind that a well-written paper not only contains the necessary information but organizes it in a logical fashion. Please make sure to begin with an introductory paragraph that clearly lays out the argument of the paper and how that argument will develop. Each section of the paper should logically flow from the previous, and excessive sub-headings (e.g. Section 2.3.4.678.y.z.ii) are to be avoided! A tightly-written conclusion, in which the principle themes of the paper are neatly summarized should be included.

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