POLS 362: POLITICS OF DEVELOPING AREAS
Northern
Illinois University
Department
of Political Science
Fall
2009, Dusable 459
Tuesday
6:30-9:10 pm
Instructor: Professor Kheang Un, Ph. D.
Office: Zulauf, Room 411
Phone: 815-753-1022
Email: kun1@niu.edu
Office Hours: M and W 10:00-12:00 and by
appointment
Three quarters of the world’s population live in
the developing world. Although the
United States has engaged and, given the nature of the globalizing world, will
continue to engage in the affairs of developing countries, few Americans know
much about the developing world. This
course offers undergraduates an introduction to the developing world, expecting
that students upon completion of the course will come away with an
understanding of key economic and political issues of the developing
world. To achieve this goal, this course
will cover specific countries and thematic elements. Six countries—China, Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia,
Iran and Zimbabwe—will be examined along with such themes as colonialism,
revolution and violence, economic development, democratization, and the role of
international institutions.
Course
Policies and Requirements
1. The Learning Environment. Your
instructor is committed to the principle of active learning. This principle requires students’ active
involvement in, commitment to, and responsibility for their own education. Hence, it is important that students conduct
themselves in ways that indicate respect for the learning community and the
learning process. Respect for the
learning community should preclude such behavior as persistent tardiness, leaving the room during class time (unless
prior advice was given to the instructor or in case of emergency), falling
asleep, reading the newspaper, turning your cell phone on, studying for another
class, or chatting with others.
2.
Readings, Lectures and Class Format. Please purchase a copy of the
textbook for this course: December Green
and Laura Luehrmann, Comparative Politics
of the Third World 2nd Edition (2007), at the Student Center or
at the Village Commons Bookstore. Some
readings are also available on Blackboard.
Lectures will parallel and compliment the
readings. As such, students cannot just
rely solely on the lectures or the readings.
The class will be divided into 6 groups, each of
which will be assigned to focus on a country (case) for class discussion and
term papers. The class will break out
into groups for discussion periodically.
3.
Class attendance and Participation.
A. Class attendance: Attendance at all
class sessions is expected, and the instructor will check the attendance
regularly. Students are allowed to miss
the class for a total of two times during the semester. An additional absence will result in lowering
the final grade by one letter.
B. Class
Participation: Class participation will account for 20 percent
of the total course grade. Class
participation will include regular participation, group discussions, and
written reports of these discussions (4-5 pages in length and due one week
following the in-class oral report).
Students are required to do extra research for these written reports
(a minimum of five up-to-date sources are
required). More importantly, informed
participation in class discussion will significantly help students in borderline
grade situations.
4.
Exams. This course will
have two exams—a midterm and a final.
The midterm will be taken in class on October 13 and the final exam will
be taken during the regular final exam day, December 8, 6-7:50 pm. The
midterm exam will be worth 30 percent and the final exam will be worth 30
percent of the total course grade. The
format of each exam will be a combination of essay, short answers and
identification of concepts. No make up exam will be offered, except
in cases of emergency, as defined by the instructor, and with advance
notification.
5. Term
Paper: The term paper, 11 to 13 pages, will be worth 20 percent
of the total course grade and is due in class on November 17. Late papers
will be penalized by one letter grade per day.
The term paper will be framed around one of the two following research
questions.
Question 1: Discuss whether your
assigned country has democratized or failed to democratize. If it is a democracy, assess its likelihood
of remaining democratic or of advancing its democracy to a high level. If it is not a democracy, assess its
likelihood of democratizing.
Question 2: Explain factors
contributing to your assigned country’s economic growth or lack thereof. How do your findings support or call into
question these ideas: Is underdevelopment the result of poor decisions and
economic management of developing countries? Or is underdevelopment a byproduct
of developing countries’ place in the international economic system, a capitalist
system that is dominated by developed countries and the international
organizations serving their interests?
Avoiding Plagiarism: Put
simply, plagiarism happens when you take someone else’s ideas or words and use
them as though they were your own ideas.
Commonly, students commit plagiarism out of ignorance or carelessness;
though there are some people who outright steal other writers’ work. Thus to avoid this problem, you should follow
these guidelines:
● Always
put quotation marks around any direct statement from someone else’s work and
offer appropriate citation (endnote, footnote etc.)
● Cite
any paraphrase of another writer’s ideas or statements.
● Cite
any material, ideas, thoughts, etc., you got from your reading that can’t be
described as general knowledge.
● A
style guide for a research paper can be found on blackboard. Students are encouraged to adopt this style
guide unless he/she is familiar with a specific style and knows how to use it
properly.
6.
Course Grade. Course
Grades will be distributed as follows:
Final
Average Final
Grade
90-100
% A
80-89
% B
70-79% C
60-69 D
Below
60% F
7.
Academic Integrity. Students
are expected to know and comply with NIU polices on academic integrity (see p.
47 of 2001 Undergraduate Catalog). Any
student found guilty of cheating or plagiarizing will receive an “F” for the
examination and the course. He or she
may also be subject to additional sanctions imposed by the university.
Topic I: Introduction to the Course and the
Developing World
August
25
Introduction
to the Course
Readings:
Comparative Politics of the Third World (the
text), pp. 1-25.
September
1
Video: “The Rise of Asian Nationalism.” VICASSETTE
DS525.7.F765 1992
Colonialism, read the text, pp. 43-68
September
8
Group Discussion: Linking cases and concepts, read the text,
relevant pages pp. 69-103.
Readings: Robert Malley, “The Third Worldist Movement,” Current History (November 1999), pp.
359-369 [course blackboard].
Topic
III: Poverty, Inequality and Regime Types
September
15
Readings: the
text “Global Village of 1000 people,” pp. 3-4; 107-116; Jeffrey Sachs, “The
Geography of Poverty and Wealth,” Scientific
American Vo. 284, No 3 (March 2001), pp. 70-75. [course blackboard].
Sachs, Jeffrey, “The End of Poverty: Economic
Possibilities for Our Time,” in Mark Kesselman, The Politics of Globalization: A Reader (New York: Houhgton Miflin,
2007), pp. 475-486.
Singer, Peter, “What Should a Billionaire
Give—and What Should You?” The New York
Times Mazagine, PP. 59-63, 80, 83, 87.
Topic
IV: International Economic System and Globalization
September
22
Globalization, read the text, pp. 117-138.
Nye, Joseph, “Globalization Is About Blending, Not
Homogenizing,” Comparative Politics: Annual
Editions 06/07 (Dubuque: McGraw Hill,
2006), pp. 219-220 [course blackboard].
David Held, “Political Globalization,” in Joel Krieger,
Globalization and State Power: A Reader (New York: Longman 2006), pp. 94-102
[course blackboard].
Topic
V: Politics, Violence, and Political Change
September
29
Violent path to change, read the text, pp. 243-280.
Prumier, Gerard, "The Politics of Death in
Darfur," Current History (May 2006): 195-202 [course
blackboard].
Video: “Return to the Killing Fields.”
October
6
Video: “The Ghost of Rwanda”
Review and Discussion
October
13
Exam I
October20
Structural Adjustment, read the text, pp. 139-158.
Alternative Approach to Development, read the text, pp.
159-166.
Topic VI: Democratization
October
27
Group Discussion: Linking cases and concepts, read the text,
pp. 167-183.
Democratization, read the text, pp. 300-342.
Readings: Larry Diamond “Universal Democracy?” Policy Review No 119 (June/July 2003),
pp. 2-25 [course blackboard]
November
3
M. Steven Fish, “Islam and
Authoritarianism,” World Politics 55 (October 2002), 4-37 [course
blackboard].
Group Discussion: Linking cases and concepts, relevant
pages, read the text, pp. 343-358.
November
10
Global
challenges and responses, read the text, pp. 394-414.
Video: “AIDS in Africa.” Video. RA643.86.Z55 A537 2000
Laurie Garret, "The Lessons of
HIV/AIDS," Foreign Affairs 84:4 (2005): 51-64.
Video:
“Illegal Immigrants.” Video. JV6483.I454 2000
Topic
VIII: The United States and the Third World
November
17
Group Discussion: Linking cases and concepts, read the text,
pp. 415-430.
US policies toward the Third World, read the text, pp.
431-438.
Term
Paper Due
November
24
The Third World’s view toward the Unites States, read the
text, pp. 457-459.
December
1
Class
Evaluation and Reviews
December 8 (6-7:50 pm)
Final
Exam