ASSESSMENT METHODS
Class Participation 10%
Field Assignments/In-Class Assignments/Quizzes 20%
(Two) Opinion Pieces 30%
Book Report 10%
Final examination 30%
Total 100%
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 metal folder outside of the Chair’s office on the 2nd floor 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.
CLASS SESSIONS
Class sessions will be held for two and a half hours per week, with each session one hour and fifteen minutes. Each session will combine lectures, discussions, and group activities focused on the assigned topics.
REQUIRED TEXT AND READINGS
Students will be expected to read all the assigned reading before class. Students should concentrate on the reading with the * as this will be prioritized in exams and discussions. All the course reading will be available in the Library on available via MYJCU or Moodle. Additional optional reading material will also be made available during the course of term. Students are expected to keep informed of political events by reading the New York Times, and other similar news reports. The required book is available for purchase at the Almost Corner bookstore in Trastevere.
Required for Purchase:
Mohsin Hamid, Exit West, (New York: Penguin Books, 2017) ISBN 978-0-241-97906-8
WEEKLY LESSONS AND READINGS
WEEK 1 (September 2-8) Introducing Political Science
Thematic Questions: What is politics? How do you study politics?
Session 1 (September 3) Course Introduction
Students are asked to read the NY Times before each class, including this one.
Session 2 (September 5) Comparative Method
*Richard Rose. “Comparing Forms of Comparative Analysis” Political Studies 39 (3) (1991): 446-62.
WEEK 2 (September 9-15) State Formation and States
Thematic Question: How were modern states formed? How does state formation affect politics?
Session 3 (September 10) 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 12) 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 16-22) Political Regimes & Regime Change
Thematic Questions: How do dictatorships differ from democracies? How do regimes change?
Session 5 (September 17) Understanding 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.
*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.
Session 6: (September 19) Regime Change
Bridget Welsh, “’Savior Politics’: Savior’ Politics and Malaysia’s 2018 Electoral Democratic Breakthrough:
Explanatory Narratives and Implications” Journal of Contemporary Southeast Asia, 2018, Forthcoming
***Course Dinner Tuesday, September 16th, 7:30pm***
WEEK 4 (September 23-29) Political Ideology and Political Identities
Thematic Question: How and why do political ideas differ? How do different political approaches shape public policy?
Session 7 (September 24): 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 26) 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.
***Book Review Due, Tuesday, September 25th by 5pm***
WEEK 5 (September 30-October 6) Political Institutions and Participation
Thematic Question: How do formal political institutions work and differ? How do citizens participate and why?
Session 9 (October 1) Checks and Balances and Political Institutions
*Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. The Federalist Papers (London/New York: Penguin, 1987), Federalist 10 and 51
*Alfred Stepan and Cindy Skach. “Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Presidentialism versus Parliamentarianism,” World Politics, 46 (October, 1993): 1-22.
Session 10 (October 3) 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 6 (October 7-13) Elections and Voting
Thematic Question: Why and how do people participate in politics?
Session 11 (October 8): Voting and Political Representation
Justin Fisher et. al. The Routledge Handbook of Elections, Voting Behavior and Public Opinion. (London: Routledge 2018), Chapter 2 (Hutchings and Jefferson), pp. 21-29 and Chapter 10 (Evans and Ball), pp. 123-136.
Session 12 (October 10) Field Assignment
Field Assignment 1: Students are asked to interview three Italians from different backgrounds regarding the Italian elections.
WEEK 7 (October 14-20) Conducting Research in Political Science
Session 13 (October 15) Learning how to Do Research Session
In-class Library Presentation on How to Conduct Research
Session 14 (October 17) Field Assignment
Field Assignment 2: Students are asked to understand the political identity and ideology of three people from different backgrounds.
WEEK 8 (October 21-27) Religion and Nationalism
Thematic Questions: How does political identity evolve and impact politics?
Session 15 (October 22) Populism, 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.
Benjamin Moftitt & Simon Tormey (2014). “Rethinking Populism: Politics, Mediatisation and Political Style,” Political Studies 62, 2 (2014): 381-97.
Session 16 (October 23) Religion and Politics
*Samuel Huntington. Clash of Civilizations. (New York: Touchstone (Simon Schuster), 1996), pp. 19-39.
***First Think Piece Due, Friday, October 25th, 5pm ***
WEEK 9 (October 28-November 3) Political Economy & Development
Thematic Questions: How does politics affect the economy and visa versa? Why are some countries more economically developed than others?
Session 17 (October 29) The Politics of the Economy
*Thomas Oatley, International Political Economy, 5th Edition. (New York: Longman, 2011), pp. 1-20.
Session 18 (October 31) 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.
WEEK 10 (November 4-10) Human Rights and Political Conflict
Thematic Question: What are human rights and human rights problems?
Session 19 (November 5) 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 20 (November 7) 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 11 (November 11-17) International War
Thematic Question: Why do states cooperate and how?
Session 21 (November 12) War and Cooperation
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 (November 14) Case Study Syria
Samer Abboud, “How Syria Fell to Pieces,” Current History, (December 2015), pp. 337-342.
***2nd Think Piece Due, Friday, November 16, 5pm***
WEEK 12 (November 18-24) Foreign Policy in Practice (Course Simulation Exercise)
Session 23 (November 19) International Crisis Simulation I
Session 24 (November 21) International Crisis Simulation II
WEEK 13 (November 25-December 1) Globalization and Terrorism
Session 25 (November 26) 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 10 on Trump Campaign.
“Do social media threaten democracy?” The Economist, Nov 4, 2017. https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21730871-facebook-google-and-twitter-were-supposed-save-politics-good-information-drove-out
Session 26 (November 28) 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, November 29th by 5pm ***
WEEK 14 (December 2-8) Reflections and Review
Session 29 (December 3) Contemporary Political Reflections
Session 30 (December 5) Course Review
WEEK 15 (December 9-15) Final Examination TBD
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