Geography 316: Political Geography

Transcription

1 Geography 316: Political Geography Instructor: Prof. Benjamin Forest Teaching Assistants (TAs): Christopher Erl & Antonia Sohns Fall 2016 Lecture: Wednesdays and Fridays 11:35 p.m. - 12:55 p.m. 306 Burnside Hall Office: 308A Burnside Hall Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:15-2:15 p.m. and by appointment Course Description: Political geography is fundamentally concerned with the geographic expression of power. The discipline has traditionally focused on boundaries and borders (territoriality), but more recent approaches address other types of spatial relationships as well, particularly in terms of surveillance, cartographic representation, and spatial ordering. This course explores both approaches through examination of nationalism, the state, urban and global governance, federalism (particularly in multiethnic contexts), and political representation (particularly electoral redistricting). The class uses case studies drawn principally from Canada and the United States, but includes some material from other areas of the world. In exploring such topics, the class addresses questions of power, identity, and democratic theory, as well as the relationship between the individual and the state. Note: In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University s control (e.g., a flu pandemic, major political crisis in the republic to the south), the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change. You are responsible for reviewing the information on university and department policies concerning student assessment at: Requirements: Assignment Weight Date Due Weekly reading responses 15% Weekly submitted via mycourses (as announced in class) Mini-Midterm 5% September 28 Discussion Activities 5% October 5 & 14 Midterm Examination 30% October 28 Game of Votes Activity 10% November 30 & December 2 Final Examination 35% TBA during finals period Weekly responses. Most weeks, you are required to submit questions posted on mycourses based on the readings for the previous week. The questions should demonstrate your knowledge of and engagement with the readings, and should be short-answer type: the kind one might find on an examination that one can answer in two to three paragraphs ( words). For the first few weeks, you will need to submit responses to questions I post about the readings. There are further instructions on mycourses and in class. Instructor generated course materials (e.g., PowerPoint slides, handouts, notes, exam questions, etc.) are protected by law and may not be copied or distributed in any form or in any medium without explicit permission of the instructor. Note that infringements of copyright can be subject to follow up by the University under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures.

2 Your responses will be graded as full credit (100); half credit (50); or zero (0). In addition, your responses may form the basis of the midterm and final exam, so it is to your advantage to devote time and effort to them. Midterm Examinations. The mini-midterm will cover material through Lecture 6. The primary purpose of the mini-midterm is to familiarize students with the style of questions and grading standards before the main examinations. It is worth one million dollars. The regular midterm will cover material through Lecture 14, but will not repeat questions from the mini-midterm. Discussion Activities. You will be assigned full or zero credit based on attendance, participation, and submission of written material. Game of Votes. The final class sessions will be devoted to a simulation requiring groups to design an electoral system for a hypothetical state. Instructions are on mycourses and will be discussed during the semester. Expectations: Assignments, including the set reading, should be completed in a timely fashion. Generally speaking, you will not receive credit for late assignments unless you have good reasons and have made prior arrangements with me. I also expect active participation from students during the discussions, presentations, and lectures. Deferrals and Medical Notes: Students will only be allowed to take a deferred examination if they provide a signed note from a doctor attesting specifically that the student was too ill to take the exam on the scheduled day. Similarly, other requests to delay or defer submitting an assignment must state that the student was too ill on that particular day. All such notes will be verified by the instructor, and therefore must include the physician s correct phone number. Students who miss a test must notify me by or phone within 24 hours of the exam (preferably before the exam begins), but do not need to provide the medical note until the date of the deferred exam. Non-medical reasons, such as a death or serious illness in the family, will be handled on a case-by-case basis, but all cases must include satisfactory documentation. Other Policies: The following statements are required by University policy: Language Policy: In accord with McGill University s Charter of Students Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. Academic Integrity: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see for more information). L'université McGill attache une haute importance à l'honnêteté académique. Il incombe par conséquent à tous les étudiants de comprendre ce que l'on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions académiques, ainsi que les conséquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l'étudiant et des procédures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site (Re)assessment Policy: Information on university and department policies concerning student assessment can be found at 2

3 Grading: Grading will use the standard McGill grading grid (A=100 to 85; A- = 80 to 84.9; etc.) Depending on the distribution of scores, I may elect to curve the final letter grades upwards (e.g., A=100 to 83; A- = 78 to 82.9; etc.) However, I will not make this determination until I have graded all assignments, including the final exam. Readings: The majority of readings for the class are in a two-volume coursepack, available at the McGill University Bookstore as a printed copy or as an e-book ( Additional, required reading will be available through mycourses (WebCT) for various lectures. Schedule of Classes Read the assigned material BEFORE class and in the order listed below: Part I: History and Basic Concepts 1. Friday, September 2 No class Syllabus available in classroom from the TA 2. Wednesday, September 7 Traditional Approaches in Political Geography 3. Friday, September 9 Origins of the State Claval, P The scale of political geography: An historic introduction. Tijdschrift Voor Economische En Sociale Geografie, 97, Herb, G. H The politics of political geography. In The Sage Handbook of Political Geography, eds. K. R. Cox, M. Low, and J. Robinson. London: SAGE Publications: Tilly, C War Making and State Making as Organized Crime. In Bringing the State Back In, eds., Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: Wednesday, September 14 The State in Political Geography Taylor, P. J The state as container: Territoriality in the modern world-system. Progress in Human Geography, 18, Herb, G. H National Identity and Territory. In Nested identities: Nationalism, territory, and scale, eds, G. H. Herb and D. H. Kaplan. Lenham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers:

4 5. Friday, September 16 The State: Territoriality and Spatial Ordering Scott, J.C Cities, People, and Language. In Seeing Like A State. New Haven and London: Yale University Press: N.B. Tuesday, September 22 Add/Drop deadline Part II: Organizing the State: Nationalism, Federalism, and Beyond 6. Wednesday, September 21 Nations and Nations-States Penrose, J. and R. C. M. Mole Nation-States and National Identity. In The Sage Handbook of Political Geography, eds. K. R. Cox, M. Low, and J. Robinson. London: SAGE Publications: Friday, September 23 Forms of Nationalism Williams, C. H Nationalism in a Democratic Context. In A companion to political geography, eds. J. A. Agnew, K. Mitchell and G. Toal. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Publishers: Wednesday, September 28 Mini-midterm examination Includes material through Lecture 6 9. Friday, September 30 From Nation to State? Video: The Referendum: A Nation in Question Kaplan, D. H Two nations in search of a state: Canada ambivalent spatial identities. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 84 (4): Clarke, H. D., and A. Kornberg Choosing Canada? The 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum. PS- Political Science & Politics 29 (4): Balthazar, L Quebec and the Ideal of Federalism. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 538:

5 10. Wednesday, October 5 In-class discussion activity Activity 1: Quebec is a? House of Commons Hansard, November 27, Pages ; and N.B. The French version of these pages is available on mycourses. 11. Friday, October 7 National Revolutions of 1989 Video: Cold War Series: The Wall Comes Down 1989 Bunce, V Peaceful versus violent state dismemberment: A comparison of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. Politics & Society, 27, Wednesday, October 12 State Fragmentation and Federalism Smith, G Mapping the Federal Condition: Ideology, Political Practice and Social Justice. In Federalism: The Multiethnic Challenge, ed. G. Smith. New York: Longman Publishing: Hale, H. E Divided we stand: Institutional sources of ethnofederal state survival and collapse. World Politics, 56, Friday, October 14 Activity 2: Canada 2.0 In-class discussion activity 14. Wednesday, October 19 The European Union Davidson, F. M Integration and disintegration: A political geography of the European union. Journal of Geography, 96: Friday, October 21 Global Governance: The Environment Underdal, Arild Complexity and challenges of longterm environmental governance. Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions 20 (3):

6 Part III: Political Representation: Power within the State 16. Wednesday, October 26 Political Representation and Electoral Systems Horowitz, D. L Electoral systems: A primer for decision makers. Journal of Democracy 14 (4): Forest, B The Territorial Politics of Representation. In The Handbook of Political Geography, ed. K. Cox, M. Low, and J. Robinson. SAGE Publications: Friday, October 28 Midterm Examination Includes material through lecture Wednesday, November 2 Political Representation in Canada I Johnston, R., and C. Pattie Representative Democracy and Electoral Geography. In A companion to political geography, eds. J. A. Agnew, K. Mitchell and G. Toal. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Publishers: Courtney, J. C Drawing the Maps. In Commissioned Ridings: Designing Canada s Electoral Districts. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen s University Press: Friday, November 4 Political Representation in Canada II Courtney, J. C Reforming Representational Building Blocks: Canada at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century. In Political parties, representation, and electoral democracy in Canada, ed. W. P. Cross. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press Canada: Courtney, J. C Community of Interest and Effective Representation. In Commissioned Ridings: Designing Canada s Electoral Districts. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen s University Press: Tuesday, November 8 US Presidential Election 6

7 20. Wednesday, November 9 Political Representation in the US: s Keyssar, Alexander Breaking Barriers (chapter 8), in The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States. New York: Basic Books: Friday, November 11 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 Video: Eyes on the Prize series: Bridge to Freedom Monmonier, Mark Twist and Clout (chapter 1) and Gerry s Legacy (chapter 2). In Bushmanders and Bullwinkles. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: Wednesday, November 16 Political Representation in the US: 1990s Webster, G. R Playing a game with changing rules: geography, politics and redistricting in the 1990s. Political Geography, 19, Forest, B The legal (de) construction of geography: race and political community in Supreme Court redistricting decisions. Social & Cultural Geography, 5, Friday, November 18 Political Representation in the US: 2000s and Beyond Webster, G. R Reflections on current criteria to evaluate redistricting plans. Political Geography 32: And then, short, friendly debate: Forest, B Redistricting and the elusive ideals of representation. Political Geography 32: Webster, G. R Normative goals and demographic realities. Political Geography 32: Wednesday, November 23 Minority Representation in Canada and the US Forest, B Electoral redistricting and minority political representation in Canada and the United States. Canadian Geographer-Géographe Canadien 56 (3): Thursday, November 24 U.S. Thanksgiving 7

8 25. Friday, November 25 Game of Votes: Group work (no lecture) 26. Wednesday, November 30 Game of Votes: Season 1 Winner is coming Friday, December 2 Game of Votes: Season 2 Winner is coming... 8