This is the printable version of the course syllabus. The up-to-date version of the syllabus is only available on the Web page itself. However, you may find it convenient to print this early version as a general guide.
|
INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS: Pol S 10400 01
Professor A. James McAdams
Department of Political Science
Nanovic Institute for European Studies
The University of Notre Dame
Fall 2005
Lectures:
MW 9:35 - 10:25
TA sessions:
F: Preassigned |
Office Hours:
T 10:45-11:45
W 2:00 - 4:00
211 Brownson Hall
Nanovic Institute
631-5253 |
About the Course
This course is about a distinctive human invention: the modern nation-state. I use this focus to introduce you to topics that, I think, are essential for studying world politics. These include: war, poverty, justice, violence, technology, terrorism, ethnicity, religion, and culture. Some of these topics are not pretty, but they are all part of our human condition.
This course is divided into five parts. In the first, I introduce you to some basic concepts about the modern nation-state. In the second, we travel down the road the West has taken toward this political identity: Liberalism. In the third part, we investigate an initially credible but ultimately failed path: Marxism-Leninism. Fourth, we will consider the pathos and anger of that vast residual entity known misleadingly as the " Third World." Finally, we return to where we began the course by considering the condition of the American nation-state in our age. I don’t come into this course with any fixed ideas about all of the states or events we will use to examine these cases. I will refer to examples that seem most relevant to our inquiry in the fall 2005.
My personal guarantee : At one time or another, you will find all of these themes on the front page of any decent newspaper or news magazine, such as The New York Times or The Economist. If you do not yet follow the news on a regular basis, now is the time to begin. The chances are good that eminent commentators such Nancy Grace, Bill O’Reilly, Jon Stewart, and Howard Stern will want to share their expertise with you as well.
We meet three times a week. I give lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays. All of the lectures are related to each other. They all add up to a single story. On Fridays, the class is divided into 8 discussion sections led by our teaching assistants. Each discussion will have a question for you to answer. We will also give you a short writing assignment before each section.
Because you are students at the University of Notre Dame, the TAs and I expect you to live up to high standards. Regular attendance at both lectures and discussion sections is required in order to pass this course.
|
PART 1. THE GENESIS OF THE MODERN NATION STATE
1. Wednesday, August 24 Assumption: The Nation-State can be a Common Denominator.
2. Friday, August 26 Discusssion #1: Who belongs to America and why?
F. Barringer, “Bitter Division for Sierra Club on Immigration,” New York Times, March 16, 2004 (Reader).
S. Huntington , “The Hispanic Challenge,” Foreign Policy (Reader)
R. Scruton, The West and the Rest, pp. vii-xi
One paragraph Essay Assignment due by this discussion section. Take a stand: Does Huntington welcome Hispanics and Catholics into the modern American nation-state? If so, under what terms?
3. Monday, August 29 Assumption: We are all Modern.
C. Black, et al., pp. 4-25 (Reader)
Scruton, The West and the Rest, ch. 1
L. Kass, “The End of Courtship,” Public Interest, Sept. 23, 2002 (Reader)
4. Wednesday, August 31 Assumption: Liberalism is one Form of Modernity
John Stuart Mill, selections from On Liberty (Reader)
5. Friday, September 2 Discussion #2: Why are we all Liberals?
Two controversies:
1. Freedom House, “New Report on Saudi Government Publications in the U.S” (Reader)
Ben Daniel, “In Defense of Libraries” (Reader)
2. The Ward Churchill Controversy: 3 statements, including the infamous "Som e People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens” (Reader)
PART 2. THE LIBERAL PATH TO THE NATION-STATE
6. Monday, September 5 The Distant, Unplanned Foundations of Liberalism
Weber, Protestant Ethic (Reader) and, Stephenson, Medieval Feudalism (Reader)
7. Wednesday, Sept. 7 The Explosive Power of Mass Politics
Excerpt from Fasel, Modern Europe (Reader)
“Declaration of the Rights of Man” (Reader)
Kingdon, America the Unusual, ch. 4
8. Friday, September 9 Discussion #3: Why are we all Protestants?
9. Monday, September 12 Fascism and the Crisis of Twentieth-century Liberalism
Benito Mussolini, "The Doctrine of Fascism” (Reader)
Excerpts from Voices from the Third Reich
Scan WWW assignment on fascism º Course Home Page
10. Wednesday, Sept. 14 The Welfare State: A Response to the Crisis of Democracy
America the Unusual , 1, 2, and 3
Read WWW assignment on comparing welfare states º Course Home Page
11. Friday, September 16 Discussion #4: Why are we not Fascists?
Fascism vs. the Welfare State
Re-read or scan the two previous WWW assignments º Course Home Page
12. Monday, Sept. 19 Assumption: Liberalism is an Historical Process
The Michigan Militia, “In Defense of Liberty II” (Reader)
Paul Craig Roberts, “Government and Country” (Reader)
Kingdon, America the Unusual, ch. 5
Film I: "Born on the Fourth of July” (with Tom Cruise)
Monday, Sept. 19, 7:00 p.m., or Tuesday, Sept. 20, 7:00 p.m., location TBA
|
13. Wednesday, Sept. 21 Discussion section #5: What is the nature of American liberalism?
We will have an In-Class discussion, no lecture
Re-read Roberts and Michigan Militia (Reader)
Scan WWW assignment º Course Home Page
14. Friday, September 23 Your first reflective essay is due on this date: Make arrangements with your TA to turn it in on time.
There is no discussion section today because of the inauguration of Fr. John Jenkins, c.s.c. as Notre Dame’s President
PART 3. THE LENINIST PATH TO THE NATION-STATE
15. Monday, September 26 Assumption: Marxism is another Version of Western Modernity
The Communist Manifesto , sections, 1,2, and 4. I want you to be able to dance and sing to this essay, so read it over and over again.
16. Wed., Sept. 28 NO CLASS: I will be in Esztergom and Budapest, Hungary on university business.
17. Friday, Sept. 30 Discussion #6 Why is The Communist Manifesto really about us?
18. Monday, Oct. 3 The Unanticipated Foundations of the Russian Revolution
R. Tucker, “Marxism and Modernization” (Reader)
19. Wed., October 5 A ssumption: Leninism is a Deliberate Path to Modernity
Listen and Sing along to WWW assignment º Course Home Page
Josef Stalin, Foundations of Leninism, selections (Reader)
20. Friday, October 7 Discussion #7 What is the Leninist path?
21. Monday, October 10 Stalinist Terror emerges from Leninist Utopia
Ginzburg, excerpts from Journey into the Whirlwind (Reader)
Josef Stalin , www.politicsprofessor.com/politicaltheorists/joseph-stalin.php (Reader)
22. Wednesday, Oct. 12
Film II: “A Journey to Russia”
This in-class film will start promptly at 9:35. Do not be late to class
23. Friday, October 14 Discussion #8 What does Leninism have to do with “A Journey to Russia”?
MID-TERM BREAK: October 15-23
24. Monday, Oct. 24 Assumption: Marxism-Leninism was initially a Credible Challenge to Liberal Democracy
Havel , “Power of the Powerless”, pp. 36-62 (Reader)
Read WWW assignment about Havel’s life º Course Home Pag e
25. Wed, October 26 Leninism Collapses (forever)
Black, et al., pp. 276-291 (Reader)
Havel, “Power of the Powerless,” pp. 62-122 (Reader)
WWW assignment º Course Home Page
26. Friday, October 28 Discussion #8 What is Havel’s argument?
27. Monday, October 31 Can Leninism be transformed into Liberal Democracy?
P. Baker, “Putin Moves to Centralize Authority,” Washington Post, September 14, 2004
PART 4. NO PATH: EX-COLONIAL RAGE AND INCOMPREHENSION
28. Wednesday, November 2 Assumption: Traditional Society is as Logical as Modern Society
W. Riordon, Plunkitt of Tammanny Hall
Eickelman, “Bin Laden, the Arab ‘Street’” (Reader)
29. Friday, November 4 No discussion section: Your second reflective essay is due today: Make arrangements with your TA to turn it in on time.
30. Monday, Nov. 7 The Paradoxical, Brutal, and Enduring Legacy of Colonialism
M. Walker, “The Making of Modern Iraq” (Reader)
Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” (Reader)
31. Wednesday, Nov. 9 Assumption: Peasant Society makes Good Sense
George Foster, "Peasant society and the image of the limited good" (Reader)
Film III: “Bend it like Beckham”
Wednesday or Thursday, November 2 and 3, 7:00 p.m. each night, location: TBA |
32. Friday, Nov. 11 Discussion #9: Why do we wish we lived in a traditional society and what does this have to do with Notre Dame?
Re-read W. Riordon, Plunkitt of Tammanny Hall
33. Monday, Nov. 14 Poverty and and the Politics of Despair
Linden , "The Exploding Cities" (Reader)
Child of the Dark , first half
34. Wednesday, Nov. 16 Generals as Protectors; Dictators as Prophets
Child of the Dark , second half
Excerpt from R. Rosenberg, Children of Cain (Reader)
A. Baram, “Broken Promises” (Reader)
35. Friday, November 18 Discussion #10: How does poverty make a difference?
PART 5. MYTHOLOGIES OF GLOBALISM
36. Monday, Nov. 21 Myth #1: Global Liberalism is Rational
The West and the Rest , ch. 4
Read and analyze WWW assignment º Course Home Page
37. Wednesday, Nov. 23 No Class
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
38. Monday, Nov. 28 Societies of Anger and Ressentiment
Gourevitch, selections from We Wish to Inform you that Tomorrow we will be Killed. (Reader)
39. Wednesday, Nov. 30 Myth #2 : Global Terrorism is Irrational
de Gramont, “Transformation of Moral Idealism”
P. Bergen and S. Pandey, “The Madrassa Myth,” New York Times, June 14, 2005.
Osama bin Laden, “Transcript of Speech,” AlJazeera.com, Nov. 1, 2004
Read WWW assignment º Course Home Page
40. Friday, December 1 Discussion #11: Are we at the “End of History” or are we beginning the “Age of Rage”?
Begin to read the following articles as soon as possible. They are challenging.
Fukuyama , “End of History” (Reader)
Pfaff, “Progress” (Reader). Bill Pfaff graduated from Notre Dame in the Class of 1949. He is one of the most famous commentators on international affairs in the world.
41. Monday, December 5 Liberal Democracy: A Bias for Hope
Re-read Fukuyama and Pfaff (above)
Matt Tapie, “The ‘Revenge of God’ and the ‘Third Wave’ of Democratization,” Acton Institute Lecture, 2002 (Reader)
42. Wednesday, Dec. 7 Myth #3: We are the End of History
Read WWW assignment º Course Home Page
Orenstein, “Stepford is us”
Carl Olson, “No End in Sight,” First Things, November 2002.
Luke , selection in Reader
Ω
Introduction to Comparative Politics |