Course Description
Recent years have seen an astonishing spread of democracy to
many African, Asian, and Latin American countries. What caused
these dramatic political transitions? What challenges do democratizing
countries in the Third World face? Will these new democracies
endure? We will take up these questions using film, fiction, and
popular journalism, as well as scholarly research. We will also
focus on a small number of countries (Brazil, India, Mexico, Nigeria,
Senegal, Singapore, and Sri Lanka) in order to explore in greater
depth some of the most important political challenges faced by
developing countries. Although the class focuses on the developing
world, many of the lessons should "travel" to democratizing countries
in other regions.
Requirements
The following are required of all students:
* Class participation.
Students must attend weekly class meetings, be prepared to
discuss all the required readings (approximately 100 pages per
week), and actively participate in class discussions. Please
note that we take the class participation component of this
course seriously. If you must miss a class, you must notify
the instructors in advance. More than one unexcused absence
will obviously jeopardize your class participation grade. Also,
you must notify us at the beginning of the class if, for whatever
reason, you are unprepared to participate in class discussion
that day.
Again, more than one unexcused "unprepared" will jeopardize
your class participation grade.
In addition to the regular class meetings, students will meet
one hour per week for a recitation with the teaching assistant.
Participation in recitation is essential, and will be counted
toward your overall participation grade.
* Current events articles.
At the beginning of the semester, you should select one class
from the following dates: Oct. 30, Nov. 6, Nov. 13, Nov. 20,
Nov. 27, and Dec. 4. In preparation for that class, you should
find at least one recent newspaper or magazine article dealing
with the substantive topic of that week (e.g., civil-military
relations). Your article need not cover the country we discuss
in class, though it may do so. Useful sources include the web
sites listed at the end of the syllabus and publications like
New York Times, Washington Post, Christian
Science Monitor, and Economist magazine.
Articles are due the week before the week you have selected.
Thus, if you selected Nov. 27 (on ethnic conflict in Nigeria),
you should bring copies of an article that discusses ethnic
conflict and democratization in the developing world to class
on Nov. 20. Be sure to bring enough copies for everyone in the
class. Also, be prepared to summarize and critique your article
for the benefit of the class in the week in which your article
will be discussed.
* Class debates (Oct. 2 and Nov. 20)
The class will include two in-class debates, one on Oct. 2
and one on Nov. 20. The first will address the issue of whether
democracy matters, and students will be expected to present
one of several points of view (described in class on Sept. 25).
At the beginning of class on Oct. 2, we will choose at random
one speaker from each side, who will make brief oral presentations
of their position on the debate question. Each presentation
is limited to 5 minutes, and we will strictly enforce the time.
A general class discussion will take place after each team has
presented its position, and students not chosen to make formal
presentations should direct questions to the different debaters.
At the end of the debate, a vote will be taken to determine
which position seemed most persuasive.
The second debate will address the issue of transitional justice
- specifically, whether or not to punish military officers in
Brazil for violations of human rights committed during the period
of military dictatorship (1964-1984). We will divide the class
into three teams (those arguing that Brazil's military rulers
should have been tried in 1985, those arguing that they should
be tried now, and those arguing that they should not be tried).
The first speaker from each team will make a two-minute opening
statement laying out her team's overall position. The second
speaker from each team will then have two minutes to rebut the
arguments made by the other teams. The third speaker from each
team will then be allowed four minutes to cross-examine her
counterparts on either opposing team, who must defend his team's
position with brief and direct replies. The fourth speaker on
each team will then summarize her team's arguments, addressing
any weaknesses that have been exposed and pointing out weaknesses
in the other team's positions. Please note that we will time
each presentation strictly, so that you should prepare and practice
your comments in advance as much as possible. In most cases,
this will require anticipating the strengths and weaknesses
of each side of the debate.
After the presentations, the judges will vote by secret ballot
for (1) which side made the best case, and (2) which individual
speaker did the best job presenting her case. Finally, the whole
class will vote on which strategy Brazil's civilian leaders
should have employed. Time permitting, we will then open up
the class to general discussion.
* 3 short (7 page) writing assignments.
Topics will handed out one or two weeks before the papers
are due. Papers are due by 4 p.m. on the Friday after class
for the week they are listed to Professor Lawson's faculty mailbox.
Papers should be typed, double-spaced, and fully referenced.
Late papers will be penalized one third of a grade (e.g., from
A to A-) for each day late.
We prefer to practice blind grading, so please put your name
on a separate sheet at the end of the paper. At the risk of
stifling free expression, we also ask that you use Times 12
font (or the closest equivalent on your computer). Otherwise,
we learn font styles after the first paper, which defeats the
purpose of blind grading.
* A three-hour, closed-book, comprehensive final exam.
* A map test at the beginning of the course.
Grading
Grades will be determined as follows: Map test (5%); Writing
assignments (45%); final exam (20%); class participation and
class debates (30%).
Plagiarism Clause
When writing a paper (or an essay exam), you must identify
the nature and extent of your intellectual indebtedness to the
authors whom you have read or to anyone else from whom you have
gotten ideas (e.g., classmates, invited lectures, etc.). You
can do so through footnotes, bibliography, or some other kind
of scholarly apparatus. Failure to disclose your reliance on
the research or thinking of others is PLAGIARISM, which is considered
to be the most serious academic offense and will be treated
as such. If you have any questions about how you should document
the sources of your ideas, please ask your instructors before
you submit your written work. You may also wish to consult Gordon
Harvey's Writing with Sources, which will be placed on
reserve with the rest of the course readings.
Important Dates
-
Map test: Tuesday, September 18
-
First Paper: due Friday, October 5
-
Second Paper: due Sunday, November 4
-
Third Paper: due Friday, December 7
-
Final Exam: TBA
Required readings (available for purchase at the MIT Coop Bookstore
and held on reserve at Dewey Library):
-
Chinua Achebe, A Man of the People (New York: Doubleday,
1989).
-
Wayne A. Cornelius, Mexican Politics in Transition: The
Breakdown of a One-Party Dominant Regime (La Jolla, California:
Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California
at San Diego, 1996).
-
Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization
in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman, OK: University
of Oklahoma Press, 1991).
-
Frederic C. Schaffer, Democracy in Translation: Understanding
Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 1998).
Recommended (if you don't own an atlas already) and available
at the MIT Coop Bookstore:
The New Comparative World Atlas (Hammond: Maplewood,
1998).
In addition, a packet of required readings will be held on
reserve at Dewey Library (E53-100) and at the Reserve Book Room
(14N-132). All readings included in this packet are marked below
with an asterisk (*).
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