When & Where

Thursdays (4:15 - 6:15 pm), February 1 - March 1, 2007
@ Randall Elementary LMC

Schedule and Readings

Week 1 (February 1) - Democracy in Russia; Lauren McCarthy, PhD candidate, Political Science

• Introduction from Lauren McCarthy (pdf - 8 kb)
• 10 Western Media Stereotypes About Russia: How Truthful Are They? (pdf - 392 kb)
• The Rollback of Democracy in Russia and Beslan (pdf - 2.52 mb)
• What Democracy Is... And Is Not (pdf - 807 kb)

  Additional resource/s:

  • BBC Country Profile: Russia
  • The Dangers of Journalism in Russia
  • Kremlin Inc
  • The Moscow Times
  • Russia’s Managed Democracy

Week 2 (February 8) - China; Ed Friedman, Professor, Political Science

• 'China Threat' or 'Peaceful Rise of China?'
• The Governance Crisis and Democratization in China
• History, Myth, and the Tales of Tiananmen (pdf - 729 kb)
• The Red Mirror: Children of China's Cultural Revolution (pdf - 1.38 mb)

Additional resource/s:

• BBC In Depth: Changing China

Discussion questions:

• Do you agree with the claim that democratization is led by a strong middle class? From what you know generally about democratization and democracies around the world, think of evidence for and against this claim.
• Do you think that economic growth facilitates democratization, that democracy facilitates growth, or neither? Why?
• Thinking of the "China threat theory" do you believe that China is a threat to the US? Would democratization change that?
• What would be the most important impacts or effects of increased democratization within China, in your estimation? What would be the most important impacts of effects globally?

Books mentioned in discussion:

• Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China
• Death of a Red Heroine
• Human Rights in Contemporary China
• Mao's Last Revolution
• The New Chinese Empire: And What It Means for the United States
• Red Scarf Girl
• Wild Swans

Week 3 (February 15) - Overview of Postcolonial Southeast Asia; Michael Cullinane, Associate Director, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

• No readings this week; instead, you should explore literature & articles on the following countries (remember the number you called out?):

1. Burma (Myanmar)
2. Thailand
3. Cambodia
4. Laos
5. Vietnam
6. Malaysia
7. Singapore
8. Indonesia
9. Phillipines
10. Brunei & East Timor

Books mentioned in discussion:

• The Glass Palace
• This Earth of Mankind

Additional resource/s:

• Recommended Books for Students (Southeast Asia)

Week 4 (February 22) - Elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Michael Schatzberg, Professor, Political Science

• Beyond Mobutu: Kabila and the Congo (pdf - 69 kb)
• BBC Country Profile: Democratic Republic of Congo

Discussion questions:

• Laurent Kabila said "Let's stop talking about democracy and elections" and build "a new state built on new values" (70). The argument is sometimes made that Western democracy is an awkward fit for emergent postcolonial nations. What sort of "new values" might be possible without democracy? Is is possible to build a just, humanitarian state in a non-democratic way, even under a dictatorship? What do you think?
• Michael Schatzberg writes that "colonialism was not an experiment in building democracy" (72). Given this great irony of colonial history - that countries who have been subject to colonial rule are suddenly expected to form democratic republics - do you think postcolonial instability was inevitable? Why or why not?
• Schatzberg claims that "external interventions...may have prevented the Congolese from working out their own solutions to political problems". Do you agree with this sentiment? How can international pressures and involvements help or hinder the progress of emergent or postcolonial nations?
• Schatzberg lists three criteria for building a democracy at the end of his article (reconstruction of the polity, respect for basic human rights, and rebuilding the economy). Could these needs be met under any other system of government you can think of?
• Is democracy always the answer to humanitarian crises? Why or why not?
• After colonialism, the DRC and many other African nations faced pressing problems related to new concepts of a "national" identity that sometimes conflicted with "ethnic" loyalties or affiliations, leading to racial politics that led to conflict, war and even genocide. What kind of democracies emerge when majority rule takes a dangerous toll on oppressed minority groups? Is it possible to avoid such conflicts? democracy facilitates growth, or neither? Why?

Week 5 (March 1) - Democracy and Nation-Building in the Middle East: Looking for Democracy in All the Wrong Places?; Mary Layoun, Professor, Comparative Literature

• After Hizbullah and Hamas - Middle East: what will emerge from the ruins?
• Arab Spring: Late and Cold
• Democracy, Iraq and the Middle East

Discussion questions :

• What does democracy mean in different places and for different societies? How is it established? How does it flourish? How is it extinguished? Can it be "transmitted" by others?
• How might we in the U.S. better understand "nationalism and democracy" elsewhere? And what does that understanding of "elsewhere" offer us about understanding of "here"? What perspectives and positions -- if any -- does that understanding offer to us in support of democracy elsewhere?

Mary Layoun's powerpoint "Democracy in the Middle East" (pdf - 8.5 mb)

Additional resource/s:

Recommended Books for Students (Middle East)

Assignments

Each week you will have the same assignment:

• Read the weekly discussion questions for the selection of readings per topic, read the articles, and come to class prepared to discuss the articles for that week.
• Write a 1 page reflection paper of that weeks class, due to me the following Wednesday to me by e-mail. Refer to the journal questions below to guide your writing.

Journal guiding questions:

1. Take a moment to reflect on last week’s lecture. What stories or specific topics from the lecture stick out in your mind or grabbed your attention? What was one new thing that you learned? Is there something you want to learn more about on your own?
2. Since last Thursday has the topic discussed last week had relevance in your classroom, work, or personal life? If so, how?
3. Begin to brainstorm and list a few ways that you could use last weeks lecture and discussion in a lesson plan or in your interactions with students.

Make Up Assignment

If you missed 1 class here is what you need to do, explore the issue that you missed on your own using online resources and read the assigned readings as well. Write a 2 page paper reflecting and responding to what you learn, site at least 2 new sources used in your paper. Please do not give us a country report, we are looking for a deeper examination of contemporary issues in this country or region in regards to democracy and nation-building. This can be turned in at the end of the course.

Final Assignement (for credit)

For those of you taking the class for credit please complete these essays.

Program Evaluation

All are asked to complete and return the following program evaluation. If you are not able to complete the evaluation during the last class please mail evaluations to Lara Kain, 210 Ingraham Hall 1155 Observatory Dr. Madison, WI 53706.

Additional Resources

• Recommended Books for Students (South Asia)
• Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE)

Questions?

Visit the MMSD Registration/Information Page or email Lara Kain.