World Politics Seminar Instructor: Pauline Brücker pauline.brucker@sciencespo.fr Academic Year: 2016/2017 Spring Semester Seminar description This seminar accompanies Dr. Hélène Thiollet s core lecture on World Politics. The goal of the seminar is to enhance students understanding of central concepts and issues in world politics by facilitating discussion focused on the readings assigned in this course. Seminar sessions will emphasize class discussion and the development of students analytical skills by means of oral presentations and debate. The seminar accounts for 2/3 of the final grade for the class, with specific assignments discussed below. The remaining 1/3 of overall grade is the final exam administered in conjunction with the lecture course. Please see the assignment sheet provided by Dr. Thiollet. By the end of the semester, students will have an enhanced grasp of the key themes and debates in world politics and improved presentation and research skills. Organization This seminar is complementary to the weekly lecture, and provides students an opportunity to discuss and debate the readings and key themes in world politics. Active participation is required and students may be called upon at any time to provide their views on or interpretation of a text. The class will be divided between (i) a first hour (hour and half depending on the session), devoted to the readings and class debate on the texts; (ii) a second hour devoted to the oral presentation followed by a class discussion. 29.01.2017 1
For any matter concerning the class, please send an email to the above-mentioned email address. Assessments for the seminar and evaluation Class Participation (10%) You should be ready to be called on in class and are expected to volunteer to take part in collective class discussions, whether in relation to assigned readings or in response to oral presentations. Readings (30%): All students should read the compulsory articles assigned for each seminar and be ready to engage in the class debate. Each session, students will present their review of one of the text in front of the class (5-10 min. each). The presentation should include: background information on the author including his/her theoretical orientation; the main question and hypothesis of the article; the arguments and evidence used to support this hypothesis; the student s critical opinion of the article. Each presenter is expected to comment on the other presenters review of his assigned text. A synthesis note on the text is to be sent to the class before the next session, building upon the comments made of the presentation in class. Comments on the presentation will be made by students and should focus on: The blind spots of your classmate presentation Critical remarks on the text and the presentation Oral Presentations (30%): Students, working by groups of two, will be assigned to prepare and give an approx. 15-20 minutes presentation on the topic of that session. Presentations will include An introduction presenting the challenges of the issue and the problematique to which the presentation will respond. It should be based on literature review, empirical examples, and should present arguments and counter arguments. Each presentation should end up with a debate question to be asked to the class. A summary of the presentation along with a bibliography should be distributed to the class 24 hours maximum before the session. Mid term written Exam (30% of the overall grade): The mid-term exam is two-hours long and takes place under invigilated conditions. It consists in: 29.01.2017 2
One essay-type question (closely connected to the lectures material) out of a choice of 2 essay questions Two reading related questions on weekly compulsory assignments Seminar sessions: weekly readings & oral presentations World Politics as a Historical Process Session 1 (25/01): Introduction Required Reading: NYE Joseph, Soft Power and American Foreign Policy", Political Science Quartely, vol. 119, no. 2, 2004, pp. 255-270 Session 2 (01/02): Old and new empires MANN, Michael, American Empires: Past and Present, Canadian Review of Sociology, vol. 45, no. 1, 2008, pp. 7-50 ROSENAU, James, Illusions of Power and Empire, History and Theory, vol. 44, no. 4, Theme Issue: Theorizing Empire, December 2005, pp. 73-87. Oral presentation: The United States in the Middle East: the decline of an empire? (No session on 08/02) Session 3 (22/02): Globalization COOPER, Frederick, What Is the Concept of Globalization Good For? An African Historian s Perspective, African Affairs, vol. 100, no. 399, April 2001, pp. 189-213 SAUER Birgit and Stefanie Wöhl, Feminist Perspectives on the Internationalization of The State, Antipode, January 2011, Volume 43, Issue 1, Special issue : «Approaching the Internationalization of the State» by Markus Wissen and Ulrich Brand, pp. 108 128 Additional readings: CLARK, Ian, Globalization, in his Globalization and International Relations Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 33-51. 29.01.2017 3
Oral presentation: Globalization and migration: a threat to Nation-state sovereignty? (choose a case study) The International System and its actors Session 4 (!!23/02!!): State sovereignty in question KRASNER, Stephen, Rethinking the sovereign state model, Review of International Studies (2001) 27, 17-42 JASON Ralph and Adrian GALLAGHER, Legitimacy faultlines in international society: The responsibility to protect and prosecute after Libya, Review of International Studies (2015), 41, 553 573 Additional reading: PUTNAM, Robert, Diplomacy and Domestic Politics International Organization, 42,3; 1988 Oral presentation: The effectiveness of non-state based regulation in question: the case of the anti-sweatshop movement. Session 5 (01/03): The rise of transnational networks and NGOs KECK, Margaret & SIKKINK, Kathryn, Transnational advocacy networks in international and regional politics, ISSJ, Volume 51, Issue 159, March 1999, Pages 89 101 HÄGEL, Peter and PERETZ, Pauline, States and Transnational Actors: Who s influencing whom? A case study in Jewish Diaspora Politics during the Cold War, European Journal of International Relations, 2005, 11:467. Additional reading: KALDOR, Mary, The Idea of Global Civil Society, International Affairs, (Vol. 79, No. 3 (May, 2003), pp. 583-593 WEISS Thomas, Governance, good governance and global governance: conceptual and actual challenges, Third World Quaterly, Vol 21, No 5, 2000, pp 795 814 29.01.2017 4
Oral presentation: NGOs as a counterpower? The case of the French Doctors (Doctors without Borders) as a humanitarian advocate (choose a case study) Session 6 (05/03): International Organizations in the world system Mearsheimer, John J. The False Promise of International Organizations International Security vol 19, no. 3 1995, pp. 5-49. Barnett, Michael and Finnemore, Martha, The Politics, Power and Pathologies of International Organizations, International Organization 1999, pp. 699-732. Additional reading: YOUNG Oran R. The Politics of International Regime Formation: Managing Natural Resources and the Environment, International Organization, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Summer, 1989), pp. 349-375 BARNETT Michael, 2001, Humanitarianism with a sovereign face: UNHCR in the Global Undertow. Oral presentation: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): an international advocate for asylum seekers or a tool for states? (choose a case study) TRANSNATIONAL DYNAMICS: 1. International Security and War and Peace Session 7 (15/03) War (1) Civil wars Gregory, Derek War and Peace Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 35 2010, pp. 154-186. TILLY, Charles, War Making and State Making as Organized Crime, in P.B. Evans, D. Rueschemeyer and T. Skocpol (eds.), Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) pp. 169-91. KALYVAS Stathis N. The Ontology of "Political Violence": Action and Identity in Civil Wars, Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Sep., 2003), pp. 475-494 29.01.2017 5
Additional readings: KALYVAS Stathis "New" and "Old" Civil Wars: A Valid Distinction? World Politics, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Oct., 2001), pp. 99-118 Oral presentation: Are new wars really new? Critical analysis of the Kaldor s concept through the example of the wars in Sudan and South Sudan Session 8 (22/03): War (2) Terrorism and the war on terror Mamdani, Mahmood, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism, American Anthropologist, New Series, vol. 104, no. 3, September 2002, pp. 766-775. AUTESSERRE Séverine, Hobbes and the Congo: Frames, Local Violence, and International Intervention, International Organization, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Spring, 2009), pp. 249-280 Additional reading: POWER Samantha, Bystanders to Genocide: Why the United States Let the Rwandan Tragedy Happen Atlantic Monthly, Sept. 2001 URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/09/bystanders-to-genocide/304571/ Oral presentation: The war on terror as a justification for exceptions? The case of Guantanamo. Session 9 (29/03): Peace-making and its ambiguities De Waal, Alex, Mission Without End? Peacekeeping in the African Political Marketplace, International Affairs, vol. 85 no. 1, 2009, pp. 99-113. Chandler, David, The Problems of Nation-Building: Imposing Bureaucratic Rule from Above, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, vol 17, no. 3, October 2004, pp. 577-591. Oral presentation: International jurisdictions as a mean of peace-building? The controversial case of the ICC 29.01.2017 6
2. Economic dynamics of World Politics Session 10 (05/04): International Political Economy Mann, Michael, Global Crisis: The Great Neoliberal Recession, in his The Sources of Social Power, vol. IV: Globalizations, 1945-2011 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), pp. 322-260. BLYTH, Mark The Austerity Delusion: Why a Bad Idea Won Over the West, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 92, Issue 3 (May/June 2013), pp. 41-12 Additional readings: BUZAN Barry, and George LAWSON, Capitalism and the emergent world order, International Affairs, 90: 1 (2014) 71 91 Oral presentation: Free trade in question. Discuss with references to trade agreements currently under debate (CETA, TTIP, TPP, etc). Session 11 (12/04): International development Keen, David, Aid in Complex Emergencies (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008), Chapter 6, pp. 116-148. Best, Jacqueline, Redefining Poverty as Risk and Vulnerability: Shifting Strategies of Liberal Economic Governance Third World Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 1, 2013, pp. 109-129. Oral presentation: Migration and development: what comes first? (choose a case study) Revolutions: Change in (World) politics Session 12 (19/04): Revolutions Bayat, Asef, Revolution in Bad Times New Left Review, no. 80, March-April 2013, pp. 47-60. HALLIDAY, Fred, An Alternative Modernity: The Rise and Fall of Revolution, in his Revolution and World Politics: The Rise and Fall of the Sixth Great Power, Durham, Duke University Press, 1999, Chapter 2, pp. 27-55. 29.01.2017 7
ROY, Olivier, The Transformation of The Arab World, Journal of Democracy Volume 23, Number 3 July 2012 Additionnal reading: Tilly, Charles, Does Modernization Breed Revolution? Comparative Politics, vol. 5, no. 3, 1973, pp. 425-447. Oral presentation: The 2011 Egyptian revolution: from the Arab Spring to the Arab Winter? 29.01.2017 8