FALL 2001
This information effective for Fall 2001.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
Instructor: Peter Euben
Politics 5 meets twice a week. There will be an hour lecture followed by a 45-minute discussion. In addition, there will be an hour-and-ten-minute discussion section of 15-20 students. There are no exams (I don't believe in them) and four short papers. You will also be asked to do a one-page response paper prior to section meetings.
I will have a minimum of three hours of official office hours per week, but I am perfectly willing to see students outside of them if they cannot make that time and to have supplementary hours if needed. I have an e-mail address because I have to, but I do not use e-mail and will not, under any circumstances, short of death (yours), respond to it. On the other hand, I am happy to return student phone calls. So you win a few and lose a few.
Below is the reading list. If a pressing political issue emerges during the term, we will try to incorporate it into the readings. You must read the required texts. If you do not, the course will not be worthwhile and the sections will be a pain. I make a promise to put all of my energy and thought into my lectures, and I expect you to do the same with the course materials, papers, and sections. If you don't, you should know that I am on intimate terms with Tony Soprano (and his therapist). Unless there is a family or medical emergency, missing more than two sections or three lectures will mean you fail the class.
Introductory Lecture: What Does Politics Have To Do With Freedom?
Part I: Freedom and Despotism
Required reading:
Part II: Agency and Action, Slavery and Freedom
Required reading:
Part III: Political Freedom and Revolutionary Politics
Required reading:
Part IV: Power and Freedom
Required reading:
Part V: Know the Truth and It Shall Set You Free (revisited)
Required reading:
Concluding Lecture: What Is To Be Done?
Required reading:
- Schell, "Introduction" to Adam Michnik, Letters From Prison*
- Wolin, Politics Without Citizenship*
* In Reader, available at Copy Center. One copy is on 2-hour reserve in the Library.
Instructor: Bruce Larkin
Go to:
http://www.learnworld.com/COURSES/P70/P70.Syllabus.htmland
Instructor: R. Meister
Office: Kresge 228, Phone 459-4563
Office hours: Th 1:15 - 2:15
E-mail: meister@cats.ucsc.edu
What does it mean to live in the aftermath of a morally unacceptable past? Is peace among the survivors of evil inevitably (and merely) a compromise between the grievances of former victims and the fear on the part former perpetrators and their beneficiaries that reprisals will occur? Would a just peace require the continuation of a morally legitimate struggle by other, less violent, means until the ongoing effects of evil have been eradicated? Or is reconciliation itself the morally appropriate response to an evil that has been defeated?
The course will draw on a variety of sources to understand better the metaphors of both war and peace as potentially appropriate attitudes toward evils past and present. Building on this foundation, we will explore the moral logic of the "human rights culture" that is the stated goal of liberal transitions in post-traumatic regimes. Our focus will be on relations between the continuing beneficiaries of past evil in such societies and those who claim to speak for the victims. Does the achievement of consensus that past was evil require an implicit agreement that evil is now past, and hence that its beneficiaries may be allowed to keep their gains? What are the moral and constitutional constraints placed on "nations in recovery" by the public commitment to create an official version of a past that must be remembered so that it will not be repeated? Is it possible to make a meaningful distinction between paranoid and reparative forms of national recovery?
The prime historical examples we will consider are post-apartheid South Africa, the post-slavery US, post-genocide Rwanda, and Post-Holocaust Germany, Israel, and the US. In conjunction with particular issues we will also touch upon post-authoritarian Latin America, post-Soviet Eastern Europe, and post-militaristic Japan. Our overall approach, however, will be to use particular national histories to explore the implicit moral logic of the promised "Century of Never Again."
Supplemental Readings and Resources: Neil Kritz, ed., Transitional Justice, 3 vols., provides an essential compendium of documents and country studies relevant to this course. Another useful resource is Naomi Roht-Arriaza, Impunity and Human Rights in International Law and Practice. Rather than assign these very costly books, I have included reference to the relevant sections under the category of "Further Reading." The website for South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (www.truth.org.za/) has debates and speeches by the major participants, full transcripts of important hearings, all official documents of the Commission, submissions by the major SA political parties, links to their websites, and links to major South African newspapers. The best searchable version of the TRC Report is available at www.struth.org.za/, which is maintained by the original webmaster of the TRC site.
For students interested in other issues the Internet has vast in the field of human rights and transitional justice. The following websites are excellent places to start your research: University of Minnesota Human Rights Library (www1.umn.edu/humanrts/); Diana (www.law.uc.edu/Diana/); UN Human Rights site (www.un.org/rights/); International Court of Justice (www.igc.org/cij/); European Court of Human Rights (www.dhcour.coe.fr/); Coalition for International Justice (www.icj-cij.org/); and AAAS Science and Human Rights Program (http://shr.aaas.org/dhr.htm). The United States Institute of Peace (www.usip.org) sponsors conferences and publications in this area. For a primer on human rights research, see (www.law.harvard.edu/programs/HRP/Publications/research.html).
Requirements: Attendance at lectures and sections is mandatory. Two formal papers will be required (in addition to informal presentations in section). The first essay (c. 5pp.) will be on some topic related to the conceptualization of transitional justice. As a final paper, students will be expected to critically analyze the means by which some particular nation has dealt with the issues addressed in the course. If you wish to write on some relevant topic or nation not covered in the syllabus, please consult me or your TA for approval and references. (I have a large indexed database of bibliographical materials, and may be able to save you considerable time as you begin your research.)
Key:
*=Electronic Reserves (Available at http://eres.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/eres/viewcourse.pl?POLI107_MEISTER)
**=Course Reader (Available at the Campus Copy Center)
***=Library Reserves (McHenry)
+=Available for Purchase (Available at Baytree or online)
- Further Reading:
- Further Reading:
The following books have been ordered at the Bay Tree Bookstore. They are also available for purchase from the major online sources.
Instructor: Michael Urban
(office hours: T.,Th. 2:15-3:45, 273 Stevenson
email: urban47@cats.ucsc.edu
phone: 459-3153)
Scope and Objectives. The subject matter of this course is
bound up with the phenomenon of transition; namely, the one currently
under way among the states of East Europe and the former Soviet Union
whose futures seem sufficienfly uncertain as to deprive us of any
designation for them other than one that simply negates their
past-hence, the hollow term "post-communist". As
such, the first objective of the course is to build an understanding
of that past, what is, here, taken to be a unique socio-political
formation known as "state socialism". This objective can be broken
down further into a number of sub-topics that comprise the first part
of the course: Marxist revolutionary theory, Leninist revolutionary
practice, Stalinist state construction and the maturation and decay
of state socialist systems. The problem of the political role of
intellectuals within the specific historical contexts peculiar to
East Europe and Russia is singled out for special attention in this
regard.
The second part of the course focuses on reforms within, and revolts
against, the state socialist order that have occurred in East Europe
and the former Soviet Union. On the basis of the analysis presented
in the first part, it locates a number of crisis tendencies specific
to state socialist systems that have led to movements for reform and
revolution and examines how new directions taken in one place and
time often have reverberated later in the politics of other states
within the region. Moreover, the specific incidences of mass
resistance to state socialism modified it in one place or another,
lending different characters to state socialist regimes that would
determine the particular paths of transition that they would
follow.
Part three concerns the collapse of communism in East Europe and the
former USSR. The significance of that moment has only begun to be
measured in historical terms, yet its implications are already
staggering enough: the unhinging of the capitalist/communist
dichotomy that has dominated politics, nationally and globally, for
the second half of this century, thus throwing into question
established identities, arrangements and alliances. The collapse of
one system and the formation of another allows us to glimpse the
political magma, usually obscured, assumed or unremarked in the study
(and practice) of "normal" politics. Therefore, we devote particular
attention in this section to social, cultural and economic issues,
exploring the ways in which they have shaped the politics of post-
coiuinunist transitions.
The final section examines a set of major political questions
embedded in the post-communist transition. Is this transition all of
a piece or are there quite distinct patterns evident among
those societies that are undergoing it? If the latter is true, how
can differences be explained? Should post-columunist transitions be
regarded as a variant of a broader phenomenon, the transition from
authoritarian to democratic government, or are they fundamentally
different, thus constituting an entirely separate set of cases? Do
post-communist systems have a democratic future at all and, if so, on
what does it depend? Does the category "post- communist" represent a
transitory phenomenon or something that will occupy a new historical
epoch? How have new combinations of political and economic power been
spun out of their state socialist predecessors and how might they be
characterized? Finally, if communism has been liberal-capitalism's
global competitor in this century, can we expect an alternative
competitive system to emerge in (some) post-communist states, posing
a new challenge to the liberal-capitalist world order?
Course Requirements. In addition to meeting standard
expectations-attending lectures, completing all reading assignments
prior to the respective class and discussion sessions at which they
are to be considered, sitting for two examinations (a mid-term and a
final) -each student is required to write two papers. The first, due
at mid-term, involves a short essay (3- 4 typed pages) on a
particular question chosen by the student from a list provided by the
instructor. The second, due at the last session of the course, is a
conventional term paper drawing on outside sources (expected length:
about 10 pages) on a topic chosen by the student and approved by the
instructor or teaching assistant. For the second paper, all the usual
rules of term-paper writing apply (e.g., organization, proper
citation form, adequate bibliography).
Texts.
Joseph Rothschild, Return to Diversity. 2nd ed.; New York:
Oxford University Press, 1993.
Ken Jowitt, The New World Disorder. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1992.
Jon Elster, Claus Offe and Ulrich Preuss, Institutional Design in
Post-Communist Societies.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Grzegorz Ekiert, The State Against Society. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1996.
The textbook(s) for this class will be available from both the
Baytree Bookstore and Slug Books. Slug Books is a student/alumni run
co-op discount textbook store. Slug Books offers a limited number of
copies of the textbook(s) for this class at the guaranteed lowest
price. Payment may be made by cash, check or credit card. Slug Books
is located at 224 Cardiff Place, by 7-11 and just two blocks from the
base of campus. Hours are from 10:00am to 6:00pm Monday to Saturday.
For more information please contact Slug Books at 469-SLUG, info@slugbooks.com,
or http://www.slugbooks.com.
Topics and Readings. (All readings in addition to those in
textbooks have been marked, here, with an asterisk. They are
available at the reserve desk in McHenry.)
Part I What Is a Communist System?
1. Communism as a Project.
*Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist
Party.
*Vladimir Lenin, What Is to Be Done? (selections).
*Alvin Gouldner, Against Fragmentation, pp.12-27.
2. Pre-Communist East Europe.
Rothschild, pp.3-75.
*John Feffer, Shock Waves (Boston: South End Press, 1992),
pp.1-31.
*zygrnuflt Bauman, t1lntellectuals in East-Central Europe", East
European Politics and Societies, Vol. 1(1987), pp. 162-186.
3. Communism as a System. Rothsch~d, pp.76-123. Jowitt, pp. 1-87.
*Feffer, pp.33-47.
Part 11 Transformation and Stasis in Communist Systems.
1. Reform and Rebellion.
Rothschild, pp. 125-190. Ekiert, pp. ix-xvi, 3-120. Jowitt,
pp.88-219.
*Vaclav Havel, "The Power of the Powerless", part 1, pp.23-41.
*Feffer, pp.49-59.
2. Opposition Within and Without. Rothschild, pp.191-225. Ekiert, pp.
121-213.
*Feffer, pp.59-67.
*Havel, part 2, pp.41-78.
3. Late Communism and the Question of "Civil Society". Ekiert,
pp.215-304.
*Havel, part 3, pp.78-96.
*Jadwiga Staniszl:is, "Forms of Reasoning as Ideology", Telos,
No.66 (Winter,
1985-86), pp.67-80.
*Katherifle Verdery, What Was Socialism. and What Comes Next?
(Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 19-38.
Part III Post-Communist Transitions.
1. Overview.
Jowitt, pp.220-248.
Ekiert, pp.305-330.
Elster et 4., pp.1-62.
2. Po]itical Steps. Rothschild, pp.226-262. Elster ~et 4.,
pp.63-155.
3. Economic and Social Change. Elster ~et 4., pp.156-246.
*Verdery, pp.168-203.
4. Identities and Ideologies. Elster et 4, pp.247-270.
*Jirina Sikiova, "Why We Resist Western-Style Feminism", and Slavenka
Drakulic,
"What We Learned From Western Feminists", Transitions, Vol.5
(Jan.1998), pp.
30-35, 42-47.
Part IV What's Next?
Jowitt, pp.249-331. E]ster et 4., pp.271-308.
*Verdery, pp.204-228.
Instructor: Isebill V. Gruhn
The course addresses a range of issues, both historical and contemporary, which help us understand Africa's political and economic crises today. The course readings will include: Colin Legum, Africa Since Independence; Karl Maier, This House Has Fallen: Midnight in Nigeria; Michela Wrong, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz; Robert Bates, Prosperity and Violence: the Political Economy of Development. In addition, each student will select one African country for individual study and will be asked to read a minimum of 250 pages of self-selected materials relevant to the student's country and topic.
Written work will include one midterm, one short 3-5 page assigned essay and one 10-page paper. For the 10-page paper, the instructor will ask a broad question which will allow each student to integrate lecture materials, course readings, and individual country readings in a focused fashion. A draft of the 10-page paper will be due in week seven of the course, and the final essay will be due on the last class meeting of the course. Students will also give oral reports.
Instructor: Ronnie D. Lipschutz
Fall 2001
This is the Politics Department's upper division introduction to international relations, international organization, international political economy, foreign policy, conflict, war. The course is organized around substantive issues and cases and explores a range of theories, issues, and cases that are of interest to students of international affairs and that are helpful in understanding recurring patterns of global conflict and cooperation. The course also addresses the nexus between domestic politics and the foreign policy of states. In this course we will explore a range of theories, issues, and cases that are of interest to students of international affairs and that are helpful in understanding recurrent patterns of global conflict and cooperation. Readings will include a set of 4-5 texts that address general approaches to international affairs (international security, globalization, etc.), specific cases and issue areas of interest (the environment, energy, human rights), and historical perspectives (e.g., Vietnam and Gulf wars in comparative perspective). Daily reading of the New York Times is required. Written work includes two 5-page papers, a midterm and final exam, and a news journal.
Instructor: Isebill V. Gruhn
William Slomanson, Fundamental Perspectives on International Law, third edition. Both the course and the text blend cases, narrative commentary, and problems. Topics to be covered include the following: what is international law? states, international organizations, individuals and corporations in international law. Extraterritorial jurisdiction, sovereignty, diplomatic relations, treaty systems, arbitration and adjudication, the use of force by states and organizations. Topics such as the environment and human rights (genocide, refugees, torture, violation of civil and religious rights, etc.) and international economic relations.
Students will have both in-class and take-home assignments covering readings, case materials, and class materials. Students are also expected to follow one international law issue on a daily basis in the New York Times and to integrate this knowledge into a five-page take-home essay assigned towards the end of the course. Students can expect to submit a total of 20-25 pages of written assignment.
Instructor: Bruce Larkin
Go to:
http://www.learnworld.com/COURSES/P190B/P190B.Syllabus.htmland