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 (January 14-20) Introducing Political Science
Thematic Questions: What is politics? How do you study politics?
Session 1 (January 15) Course Introduction
Students are asked to read the NY Times before each class, including this one.
Session 2 (January 17) Comparative Method
*Richard Rose. “Comparing Forms of Comparative Analysis” Political Studies 39 (3) (1991): 446-62.
WEEK 2 (January 21-27) State Formation and States
Thematic Question: How were modern states formed? How does state formation affect politics?
Session 3 (January 22) 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 (January 24) 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 (January 28-February 3) Political Regimes & Political Development
Thematic Questions: How do dictatorships differ from democracies? How do regimes change?
Session 5 (January 29) Types 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: (January 31) 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 Hate U Give, Wednesday, January 31st 7:30pm**
WEEK 4 (February 4-10) Political Ideology
Thematic Question: How and why do political ideas differ? How do different political approaches shape public policy?
Session 7 (February 5): 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 (February 7) Learning how to Do Research Session
In-class Library Presentation on How to Conduct Research
***Book Review Due, Wednesday, February 7th by 5pm***
WEEK 5 (February 11-17) Political Institutions: Parliaments to Courts
Thematic Question: How do formal political institutions work and differ?
Session 9 (February 12) Checks and Balances
*Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. The Federalist Papers (London/New York: Penguin, 1987), Federalist 10 and 51
Session 10 (February 14) 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.
Session 11 (February 16) Class Field Trip 8:30-11:00
WEEK 6 (February 18-24) Political Identities and Political Participation
Thematic Question: Why and how do people participate in politics?
Session 12 (February 19): 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 13 (February 21) 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.
WEEK 7 (February 25-March 3) Religion and Nationalism
Thematic Questions: How does political identity evolve and impact politics?
Session 14 (February 26) 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 (February 28) Religion and Politics
*Samuel Huntington. Clash of Civilizations. (New York: Touchstone (Simon Schuster), 1996), pp. 19-39.
WEEK 8 (March 4-10) 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 (March 5) The Politics of the Economy
*Thomas Oatley, International Political Economy, 5th Edition. (New York: Longman, 2011), pp. 1-20.
Session 17 (March 7) 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, Thursday, March 8th, 5pm ***
WEEK 9 (March 11-17) Human Rights and Political Conflict
Thematic Question: What are human rights and human rights problems?
Session 18 (March 12) 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 (March 14) 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
WEEK 10 (March 18-) Contemporary Conflict and Violence
Thematic Questions: Is conflict bad? Why does violence occur?
**Session 20 (March 19) Case Study Syria
Samer Abboud, “How Syria Fell to Pieces,” Current History, (December 2015), pp. 337-342.
(March 21) No Class. Make up Earlier in Semester with Field Trip
WEEK 11 (March 25-31) International Cooperation and War
Thematic Question: Why do states cooperate and how?
Session 21 (March 26) 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 22 (March 28) Cooperation – or Lack Thereof
David Wallace-Wells, “The Uninhabitable Earth,” New York Magazine, July 9, 2017
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html
Robinson Meyer, “Is the Earth Really That Doomes,” The Atlantic, July 10. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/is-the-earth-really-that-doomed/533112/
Helen Fountain and Nadja Popovich, 9 Takeaways from the National Climate Report, New York Times, August 8, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/08/climate/nine-takeaways-climate-report.html?action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront
***2nd Think Piece Due, Tuesday, March 27th, 5pm***
WEEK 12 (April 1-7) Spring Break. No Class.
WEEK 13 (April 8-14) Foreign Policy in Practice (Course Simulation Exercise)
Session 25 (April 9) International Crisis Simulation I
Session 26 (April 11) International Crisis Simulation II
WEEK 14 (April 15-21) Globalization and Terrorism
Session 27 (April 16) 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 (April 18) 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
***Optional Third Think Piece Due Thursday, April 19th by 5pm ***
WEEK 15 (April 22-28) Reflections and Review
Session 29 (April 23) Course Review
WEEK 16 (April 29-May 5) Final Examination TBD
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