Jeffrey W. Cason

 Dean of International Programs
Professor of Political Science
Sunderland Language Center, 125
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT 05753
Phone: (802) 443-5745
Fax: (802) 443-3157
email: cason@middlebury.edu

Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.A., Ph.D, Political Science, 1993

Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, B.A., International Studies, 1984

Publications

Books

 

 

 

 Overseas Research: A Practical Guide (co-authored with Christopher Barrett). Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

 

 

 

 

 

 Development at a Crossroads: Uncertain Paths to Sustainability After the Neoliberal Revolution (co-edited with Michael Carter and Frederic Zimmerman). Global Studies Research Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998.

 

Development and Democracy: New Perspectives on an Old Debate (co-edited with Sunder Ramaswamy). University Press of New England, 2003.

Articles and Book Chapters

“Searching for a New Formula:  Brazilian Political Economy in Reform,” Latin American Research Review 42 (2) (2007).

“Peace and Economic Interdependence in the Middle East” (with Amichai Kilchevsky and Kirsten Wandschneider), The World Economy 30 (4) (April 2007)

"Hopes Dashed? Lula's Brazil," Current History 105 (688) (February 2006).

"Development and Democracy: An Introduction to the Debates," (with Sunder Ramaswamy) in Sunder Ramaswamy and Jeffrey Cason, eds., Development and Democracy: New Perspectives on an Old Debate. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England (2003).

"Electoral Reform, Institutional Change, and Party Adaptation in Uruguay," Latin American Politics and Society 44 (3) (Fall 2002).

"Turning the Tables: State and Society in South America's Economic Integration," (with Jennifer Burrell), Polity 34 (4) (Summer 2002).

"Brazil: Political Institutions and the Delayed Reaction to International Financial Crisis," in Shale Horowitz and Uk Heo, eds., The Political Economy of the World Financial Crisis: Economic Policy and Institutional Change in East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers (2001).

"Electoral Reform and Stability in Uruguay," Journal of Democracy 11 (2): 85-98 (2000). Reprinted in Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner, eds., Electoral Systems and Democracy. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press (2006).

"On the Road to Southern Cone Economic Integration," Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 42 (1): 23-42 (2000).

"Whatever Happened to the New International Economic Order?," in Andrew Valls, ed., Ethics and International Affairs. Lanham, MD: Rowman Littlefield Publishers (2000).

"Democracy Looks South: Mercosul and the Politics of Brazilian Trade Strategy," in Peter Kingstone and Timothy Power, eds., Democratic Brazil. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press (2000).

"Electronic Conferencing and International Political Economy," in David G. Brown, ed. Interactive Learning: Vignettes from America's Most Wired Campuses. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company (1999).

"¿La última elección de la Guerra Fria?," Brecha (Montevideo), November 19, 1999.

"The State as Naive Entrepreneur: The Political Economy of Export Promotion in Brazil and Tunisia," (with Gregory White), Policy Studies Journal 26 (1): 46-68 (1998).

"Export Promotion in Brazil and East Asia," Carta Internacional (São Paulo) 60: 2 (1998).

"Identifying a Site and Funding Source" (with Christopher Barrett, excerpt from Overseas Research), Items—Social Science Research Council 51 (2-3): 42-44 (1997).

"Development Strategy and Development Tactics: An Agenda for Sustainable Development," (with Frederic Zimmerman), Working Paper Series on Development at the Crossroads, Global Studies Research Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1995).

"Automobile Commodity Chains in the NICS: A Comparison of South Korea, Mexico, and Brazil," (with Naeyoung Lee), in Gary Gereffi and Miguel Korzeniewicz, eds., Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (1994).

"Allende's Chile and the Professional-Managerial Class," Economic Forum, (1984, Rasmussen Prize Essay).

Courses Taught

Introduction to Comparative Politics (PS103)
Comparative Development Strategies (PS230)
Latin American Politics (PS223)
International Political Economy (PS304)
Political Economy of Development in Latin America and East Asia (PS403)
Latin American Political Development (in Spanish) (PS416)
Introduction to International Studies (IS101)
Development and Democracy (IS451)
Politics and the Novel (IS452)
Readings in Latin American Politics and Culture (in Spanish) (ID008.6)

Current Research Project

My current research focuses on the political economy of South American integration. Once considered an abject failure, recent efforts at integration between the Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and Brazil have made remarkable progress, to the point that an "imperfect" customs union was initiated among the countries at the beginning of 1995. The premise underlying the research project is quite simple: none of this would have happened without a remarkable change in the politics of the region and the perceived interests of crucial political actors. Whereas there may have been an economic logic suggesting integration for decades, only a change in politics could make it possible. The research focuses on the changing interests and political activities of key actors, particularly important parts of the state, key segments of business, and the organized labor movement.

Languages

Fluency in Spanish
Fluency in Portuguese