Protocol for Handing in Written Assignments: Students must turn in all major written assignments three ways. This assignment must be 1) emailed to the professor, 2) with a hard copy delivered to the political science assignment box in the Front Office of the Tiber Building by 5pm on the due date and 3) an electronic copy delivered on through MOODLE to TURNITIN. This will require that you set up your own MOODLE account.
WEEKLY LESSONS AND READINGS
WEEK 1 (August 27-September 2) Introducing Political Science
Thematic Questions: What is politics? How do you study politics?
Session 1 (August 28) Course Introduction
Students are asked to read the NY Times before each class, including this one.
Session 2 (August 30) Comparative Method.
*Richard Rose. “Comparing Forms of Comparative Analysis” Political Studies 39 (3) (1991): 446-62.
WEEK 2 (September 3-9) State Formation and States
Thematic Question: How were modern states formed?
Session 3 (September 4) Understanding the ‘State’
*Max Weber. “What is a State?” in Roy C. Macridis and Bernard E. Brown, Comparative Politics: Notes and Readings, Eighth Edition. (Belmont, MA: Wadsworth Publishing Co, 1996), pp. 84-87.
Clifford Geertz. Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth Century Bali. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), pp. 11-25.
Session 4 (September 6) States Formation and its Diversity
*Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order: From Pre-human Times to the French Revolution, (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012), pp. 245-289.
Jeffrey Herbst. States and Power in Africa, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 11-31.
WEEK 3 (September 10-16) Political Regimes & Political Development
Thematic Questions: How do dictatorships differ from democracies? How do regimes change?
Session 5 (September 11) Type of Regimes
Amartya Sen. "Democracy as a Universal Value." Journal of Democracy (1999) 10 (3):3-17
*James Hyland, Democratic Theory: The Philosophical Foundations (Manchester, 1995), Chapter 2, pp. 36-50.
Session 6: (September 13) Regime Change
*Larry Diamond. The Spirit of Democracy, (New York: Times Book, 2008) Chapter 4, pp. 88-105.
Fareed Zakaria. "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy," Foreign Affairs 76(6) (1997): 22-43.
Olivier Roy.“Transformations of the Arab World” Journal of Democracy, (July 2012), pp. 5-18.
*Course Dinner Discussion of The Optician of Lampedusa on Tuesday, September 12th at 7:30pm*
WEEK 4 (September 17-23) Political Ideology and Identities
Thematic Question: How and why do political ideas differ? How do different political approaches shape public policy?
Session 7 (September 18): What is Ideology
*Leon P. Baradat, In Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2000), pp. 4-12, 162-182.
Session 8 (September 20) Political Identities
*Ta-Nehisi Coates. Between the World and Me. (NY: Spiegel & Grau, 2015), pp. 1-39
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie We Should All be Feminists, (NY: Anchor, 2015), pp. 7-25.
Session 9 (September 22) Class Field Trip 8:30-11am
***Book Review Due, Thursday, September 21st by 5pm***
WEEK 5 (September 24-30) Political Institutions: Parliaments to Courts
Thematic Question: How do formal political institutions work and differ?
Session 10 (September 25) Checks and Balances
*Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. The Federalist Papers (London/New York: Penguin, 1987), Federalist 10 and 51
Session 11 (September 27) Political Institutions at Work
Gary W. Copeland and Samuel C. Patterson, (eds.), Parliaments in the Modern World: Changing Institutions (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1994), Chapter 1
*Alfred Stepan and Cindy Skach. “Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Presidentialism versus Parliamentarianism,” World Politics, 46 (October, 1993): 1-22.
WEEK 6 (October 1-7) Conducting Research and Political Participation
Thematic Question: Why and how do people participate in politics?
Session 12 (October 2): In-class Learning how to Do Research Session
Repertoires of Political Participation *Sylvia Bashevin. “Interest Groups and Social Movements,” in Lawrence Le Duc, Richard G. Niemi and Pippa Norris (eds.) Comparing Democracies: Elections and Voting in Global Perspective. (London: Sage Publications, 1996), pp. 134-159.
*Session 13 (October 4) Outside Class Learning Assignment
Understanding Voting Behavior Assignment
WEEK 7 (October 8-14) Religion and Nationalism
Thematic Questions: How does political identity evolve and impact politics?
Session 14 (October 9) Nationalism and Political Identity
*Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. (London: Verso, 1991), pp. 1-7
Adam Hothschild. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Horror, Terrorism and Heroism in Colonial Africa. (New York: Houghton Miffton, 1999), pp. 1-33.
Session 15 (October 11) Religion and Politics
*Samuel Huntington. Clash of Civilizations. (New York: Touchstone (Simon Schuster), 1996), pp. 19-39.
WEEK 8 (October 15-21) Political Economy & Development
Thematic Questions: How does politics affect the economy and visa versa? Why are some countries more economically developed than others?
Session 16 (October 16) The Politics of the Economy
*Thomas Oatley, International Political Economy, 5th Edition. (New York: Longman, 2011), pp. 1-20.
Session 17 (October 18) Development
*Alan Thomas. “Meaning and Views of Development,” in Tim Allen and Alan Thomas. (eds.) Poverty and Development into the 21st Century. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 23-48.
***First Think Piece Due, Tuesday, October 19th, 5pm ***
WEEK 9 (October 22-28) Human Rights
Thematic Question: What are human rights and human rights problems?
Session 18 (October 23) Introducing Human Rights
*Jack Donnelly. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice. 2nd Edition. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003), pp. 7-21.
Micheline R. Ishay. The Human Rights Reader. (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 1-5, 42-55, 56-59, 199-200, 424-40, 461-68
*Session 19 (October 25) Visit to Refugee Centre (on own time)
WEEK 10 (October 29-November 4) Conflict and Violence
Thematic Questions: Is conflict bad? Why does violence occur?
*Session 20 (October 30) Learning How to do Research Assignment
Outside Class Assignment: Conflict and Political Identities Interview
November 1st No Class
WEEK 11 (November 5-11) International Cooperation and War
Thematic Question: Why do states cooperate and how?
Session 21 (November 6) Political Violence Repertoires and Causes
*Earl Conteh-Morgan, Collective Political Violence: An Introduction to the Theories and Cases of Violent Conflicts (New York: Routledge, 2003), Chapter 1.
Paul Collier and Ian Bannon. Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy (Washington, DC: World Bank Publication, 2003), Chapter 1
Session 22 (November 8) Case Study Syria
Samer Abboud, “How Syria Fell to Pieces,” Current History, (December 2015), pp. 337-342.
***2nd Think Piece Due, November 9th, 5pm***
WEEK 12 (November 12-18)
Session 23 (November 13) War
Robert Jervis, "Theories of War in an Era of Leading-Power Peace." American Political Science Review (2002) 96 (1):1-14.
*Hans Morgenthau. “Chapter 1: A Realist Theory of International Politics,” Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 1992 (1948)), pp. 3-16.
Session 24 (November 15) Cooperation – or Lack Thereof
Robinson Meyer, “Questions Answered on Climate Change,” The Atlantic, March 8. 2016 http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/03/questions-answered-climate-change/471372/
WEEK 13 (November 19-25) Foreign Policy in Practice (Course Simulation Exercise)
Session 25 (November 20) International Crisis Simulation I
Session 26 (November 22) International Crisis Simulation II
***Optional Third Think Piece Due Tuesday, November 21st by 5pm ***
WEEK 14 (November 26-December 2) Globalization, Internet and Social Media
Session 27 (November 28) Globalization, Internet and Social Media
*Philip Howard and Muzammil M. Hussain. Democracy’s Fourth Wave: Digital Media and the Arab Spring, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), Chapter 1
Andrew Chadwick, The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power (Second Edition)
New York: Oxford University Press, 2017, Chapter on Trump Campaign.
Session 28 (November 30) Terrorism and Non-State Actors
Jessica Stern. Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill. (New York: Harper Perennial, 2004), pp. 9-31
Session 29 (December 1) Exam Review (Optional)
WEEK 15 (December 3-9) Final Examination TBD
|