Spring Semester 2016 Understanding Global Politics (POLS 110)

Syllabus

Women activists lie down on the road near the police barricade during their sleeping protest demanding

women's rights in the new constitution in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Aug. 7. (Photo: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Course Instructor: Riddhi Shah Lecture Timings: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 12.30 to

1.20 pm

About the Course This course is designed to equip undergraduate students with knowledge and tool kit to understand and analyze significant political issues facing us today. We will begin with understanding what we mean by ‘politics’; the role of politics in society; the origin of the modern state and graduate to issues such as the political and social consequences of colonialism and imperialism; how people politically participate; and the challenges increasing political violence presents us with. Very importantly, the readings assigned largely focus on Hawaii, Pacific Islands and Asia. Students will therefore be exposed to issues, debates and perspectives from diverse backgrounds and communities. At the end of this course, students will be equipped to interrogate and analyze issues and global actors that are vital to our lives in a critical fashion. Students will not only have gained an understanding but will also have gained the capacity to express their understanding of these complexities fluidly through class discussions and their writing assignments. Class Objectives

• To understand better what issues diverse people across Hawai’i, Pacific and Asia are facing and how they respond to them creatively and even in alliance.

• To generate a better comprehension of key Political Science concepts necessary for new students such as politics, nation-states, colonialism, imperialism, neo-liberalism, neo-colonialism, postcolonial, political violence, development, sustainability, transnationalism and so on.

• To be able to undertake incisive analysis of intersecting issues and be able to produce coherent and comprehensive thought-provoking articles and/or papers such as neo-liberalism, self-determination, race, class, struggles for indigeneity, food sovereignty, development, trade and conflict.

Texts Since the course aims at dealing with varied issues, actors and regions the readings assigned are drawn from a variety of sources. Readings will be uploaded to Laulima for easy access. Students are expected to have done most of the readings assigned before each class. Assessments Weekly Journals (40%): Students are expected to maintain a weekly journal, where they will provide a 400 words (approximately one page) summary of the issues discussed in class and their reflections on the topics. Summary of the readings must be kept at a minimum. Please feel free to engage with any opinions that were aired in class. This engagement can be positive and can even contradict or argue with others

comments and opinions as long as it is done respectfully. At least two students will present their reflections and points for discussion at the beginning of the each class. You must have submitted atleast 14 journals by the end of the semester. Research Paper (45%): The final assignment for the class is a 6-7 page (double spaced excluding your references and bibliography) research paper. The paper will reflect the student’s ability to critically analyze and coherently communicate their arguments on any of the issues discussed in class. The student will engage with 6 readings assigned in class as references and four others not assigned in the syllabus in the process of writing their research papers. Research Paper Outline (10%): Students will write a 300 word outline or abstract for their intended research paper topic and present it in class. It is expected that students will discuss any topics of interest with the instructor before submitting their outlines. The due date for the paper outline will be assigned in class and details on what this presentation must include will be further discussed in class. Class Participation (5%): The class encourages students to participate in class discussions. It is healthy to speak your mind especially in a political science class. The final aim of encouraging discussions and debates is to stimulate a healthy respect for difference as well as an open mindedness to other opinions. Please Remember:

1. We will be discussing important, interesting, difficult and sensitive topics. Respectful disagreement and debate are welcome. Personal attacks, however, will not be tolerated.

2. Be on time. Our class time is limited. 3. Late journals will NOT be accepted 4. Three unexcused absences will mean a failed grade 5. Please see me if you have a problem or issues that you feel will affect your

final grade in this course. 6. Cell phones MUST be turned off during every class

Class Schedule Week 1 We will spend this week getting to know each other and begin acquiring a better understanding of politics. The week will address questions such as how can we study politics critically? Readings:

Andrew Heywood, “What is Politics?”, in Politics, Palgrave Foundations, 2013.

Ellen Grigsby, pp. 12-30, Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science, Cengage Learning, 2009. Patricia Cohen, “Field Study: Just How Relevant is Political Science?”, The New York Times. Chilisa, Bagele. ‘Discovery and Recovery: Reading and Conducting Research Responsibly” and “Whose Reality Counts? Research Methods in Question”, in Indigenous Research Methodologies. SAGE, 2011. Week 2 We will delve deeper into the origins of the state as we know it today. Video: Treaty of Westphalia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-WO73Dh7rY "Defining the Nation." Emest Renan, Joseph Stalin, Max Weber, Karl Deutsch, Clifford Geertz, Anthony Giddens and Waker Connor, in Nationalism, Edited By John Hutchinson and Anthony Smith. pp. 15-47. Anna Keala Kelly, “Portrait. Marie Beltran and Annie Pau Resistance to Empire, Erasure, and Selling Out”, in Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, Ikaika Hussey & Erin Kahunawaikaʻala Wright edited, A Nation Rising: A Hawaiian Movement for Life, Land and Sovereignty, Duke University Press, 2014. Mo‘olelo Aloha ‘Āina, About the Project, http://moolelo.manainfo.com/ J. Kehaulani Kauanui, “Precarious Positions: Native Hawaiians and US Federal Recognition”, University of Hawaii Press, 2005. Kai-wing Chow, “Narrating China, ordering East Asia: the discourse on nation and ethnicity in Imperial Japan,” in Constructing Nationhood in Modern East Asia, ed. Kaiwing Chow, Kevin M. Doak, and Poshek Fu (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001), 47-83

Week 3

Readings:

Michele Kelemen, “What Do Democracy Promoters Actually Do?”, npr, February 09th, 2012, http://www.npr.org/2012/02/09/146585952/what-do-democracy-promoters-actually-do

W.P.Veenendaal, “How Democracies Function without Parties: The Republic of Palau”, Party Politics, 2013.

Kerry James, “Tonga’s Pro-Democracy Movement”, Pacific Affairs, 67 (2), 1994.

Smith, Michael French. 2002. ‘Nostalgia, Dreams, Progress, and Development.’ In Village of the Edge: Changing times in Papua New Guinea, by Michael French Smith, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, pp. 1–10.

Areti Metuamate, “Elections boost democracy in Tonga, but what about the economy?”, East Asia Forum, 20th February 2015, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2015/02/20/elections-boost-democracy-in-tonga-but-what-about-the-economy/ Amartya Sen, Introduction in Development as Freedom, Random House of Canada, 1999. Sankaran Krishna, “Independence or Neocolonialism? Third-World Development in the Twentieth Century” in Globalization and Postcolonialism: Hegemony and resistance in the 21st century (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009)

The next few weeks have been dedicated to understanding political systems of the past and the present that exist(ed) at local, national and international levels. Questions to be explored this week include: what do we mean by democracy? Is democracy suited and beneficial to all? Does the free market system deliver its promise? Does trade ensure economic development?

Holiday on 18th January, Monday

 

Adam Hochschild, “An Assassination’s Long Shadow”, New York Times, Jan 16, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17hochschild.html?_r=0 Week 4 This week we will continue our conversation on political systems. Furnished with a critical understanding of democracy and liberalism, we are now prepared to discuss authoritarian forms of governance meaningfully along with justice dispensation in democracies and authoritarian states. Questions we may address are: What are the forms of authoritarianism – new and old? Is justice dispensation in democracies more fair compared to other forms of governance models? Are local communities equipped and/or autonomous enough to dispense justice themselves? Readings: Roger Griffin, Ch1. in The Nature of Fascism, Printer Publishers Limited, 1991. Excerpts from Michelle Alexander. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness. 2010. The New Press. Effectiveness of Panchayati Raj Systems, Problems and National Declaration Harihar Sethy http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2010/Feb-Mar/engpdf/17-19.pdf Increasing participation in democratic institutions through decentralization: Empowering women and scheduled castes and tribes through panchayat raj in rural India, E Bryld - Democratization, 2001 - Taylor & Francis Week 5 Our discussions on political systems will be incomplete without addressing colonialism and imperialism – the political systems prevalent in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Understanding what colonialism and imperialism are and their continuing impact on our society is integral for this course. Questions for the week are: How is colonialism different from imperialism? What were some of the consequences of colonialism/imperialism? Reading: Sankaran Krishna, “How does Colonialism Work?” from Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfuss (eds.) Global Politics

Leo Ching, “Between Assimilation and Imperialization: From Colonial Projects to Imperial Subjects,” in Becoming Japanese: Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 89-132. Excerpts from K. R. Howe, et al. "Precolonial times”, Tides of History: the Pacific Islands in the Twentieth Century”, St. Leonards, N.S.W. Allen & Unwin, 1994

Moore, C., Inventing Melanesia, History Department, University of Queensland, 12th Pacific History Association Conference, 22-26 June 1998.

Excerpts from Clive Moore, Kanaka: a history of Melansian Makay, Boroko, Institute of Papau New Guinea Studies, 1986.

Week 6

Elderly Okinawans trying to block the planned expansion of a U.S. military base last month.

Credit: Kyodo/Reuters This week’s discussions will once again take up the issue of colonialism and imperialism. However we will shift our focus from history to more contemporary issues. Questions: Have colonialism and imperialism really ended? What are some consequences of colonialism and imperialism that continue to manifest themselves in the present? Holiday February 15, Monday Guest Lecturer: Noelani Goodyear-Kaopua Readings:

J. Kehaulani Kauanui, “Introduction: Got Blood?”, in Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeniety, Duke University Press, 1968. Yuichiro Onishi, “Occupied Okinawa on the Edge: On Being Okinawan in Hawai‘i and U.S. Colonialism toward Okinawa”, American Quarterly, 64(4), 2012 Rob Wilson, “Imagining ‘Asia-Pacific’: Forgetting Politics and Colonialism in the Magical Waters of the Pacific. An Americanist Critique”, Cultural Studies, 14(3-4), 2000. Yukiko Koshiro, “Beyond an Alliance of Color: The African American Impact on Modern Japan”, in Michael Weiner edited Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan: Imagined and imaginary minorities, Taylor and Francis, 2004. Nancy Lutkehaus, “Transpacific studies and the cultures of U.S. imperialism”, in Janet Hoskin edited Transpacific Studies: Framing an emerging field Week 7 This week we will attempt to de-mystify the complex transnational structures put in place by the international community. Globalization and Regionalism are both integral to this discussion. Interestingly, we will attempt to unravel and understand structures and alliances that are traditionally not addressed under this heading. Questions are: What is globalization? What is regionalism? What is the impact of globalization on local communities? Is globalization advantageous for everyone involved? Documentary Film: Life and Debt Amitav Ghosh, ‘Prologue’ and ‘Lataifa’, in In An Antique Land, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1993. Dingwerth, Klaus and Philipp Pattberg. 2006. “Global Governance as a Perspective on World Politics.” Global Governance 12(2): 185-203.

Fry, Gregory. 2005. ‘Pooled Regional Governance’ in the Island Pacific: Lessons from History.’ In Pacific Economic Bulletin, Canberra: ANU, pp. 1–16.

Robert Read, “The Implications of Increasing Globalization and Regionalism for the Economic Growth of Small Island States”, World Development, 32(2), 2004. Hau‘ofa, Epeli, “Our Sea of Islands,” in A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands, ed. Eric Waddell, Vijay Naidu, and Epeli Hau‘ofa (Suva, Fiji: School of Social and Economic Development, University of the South Pacific / Beake House, 1993), 2-17.

Week 8 This week we will focus our discussion on the impact of globalization on the fishing, agriculture and food sovereignty. Questions: What is sustainable development? Is sustainable development in fishing and agriculture truly beneficial to nature or us? Can science not be the answer when it comes to saving nature? Is traditional farming and fishing truly unscientific? Do GMOs represent the epitome of scientific agriculture? Is ‘scientifically’ intensive agriculture really the answer to all the woes of the world? Assignment: Collect idioms, phrases, saying, jokes on fishing and/or agricultural practices for sharing in class. Video: Dynamite and Cyanide Fishing, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0dDk_EARJw Readings First Stewards, "Traditional Samoan Expressions about Fishing and Weather and their Similarity to other Pacific Islands", http://www.wpcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Traditional-Samoan-expression-about-fishing-and-weather_Display_05_v02.pdf Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, “Coral Reef Wildlife Trafficking for the Aquarium Trade”, http://www.seashepherd.org/reef-defense/aquarium-trade.html Carmel Finley, “The Social Construction of Fishing, 1949”, Ecology and Society, 14(1): 6, 2009. Vandana Shiva, “Science, Nature and Gender”, in Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India, Kali for Women, 1998. Michael Fabinyi et al., “Luxury Seafood Consumption in China and the intensification of Coastal Livelihoods in Southeast Asia: The Live Reef Fish for Food Trade in Balabac, Philippines”, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 53 (2), 2012. Week 9 Video: Vandana Shiva on GMO Crops, University of Hawai’I, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzFFz14r_tg Readings: Hawai’i Seed, “About GMOs”, http://www.hawaiiseed.org/about-gmos/

Audrey McAvoy, “Maui’s GMO Ban Blocked by federal Judge”, HuffPost, November 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/14/maui-gmo-ban-blocked_n_6162162.html Audrey McAvoy, “Monsanto, Dow Unit Sue Maui County Over GMO Law”, HuffPost Buisiness, November 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/13/monsanto-dow-sue-maui_n_6155480.html

Sophie Cocke, “Big Island Mayor Signs Biotech, GMO Ban into Law”, HuffPost Green, May 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/20

13/12/05/big-island-biotech-ban_n_4395521.html Clare Gupta, “Return to Freedom: Anti-GMO Aloha‘Āina Activism on Molokai as an Expression of Place Based Food Sovereignty”, Globalizations Special Issue: Food Sovereignty: Concept, Practice and Social Movements, 12(4), 2015.

C.S.Prakash, “GM in the Media”, GM Crops and Food: Biotechnology in Agriculture and the Food Chain, 4(2), 2013. Vandana Shiva, “The Political and Cultural Costs of the Green Revolution”, in The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology and Politics, Zed Books, 2000. Subharata Banerjee, “Who sustains whose development? Sustainable Development and the Reinvention of Nature”, Organization Development, 24 (1), January 2003. Week 10 Our discussions in the last few weeks have hopefully impressed upon us the complex political system and climate in which we survive. This week our goal is to understand how we and people around us politically participate in these complex structures. Questions: Does the power to choose your leader necessarily ensure that people’s leader gets elected? Do democracies ensure equal rights from everyone? How do people politically participate in failed states?

Video: Her War: Women vs ISIS (RT Documentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqI0a4VgEs8 Readings: “The Appeal of the Problem Solver”, Pradeep Chhibber and Rahul Verma, The Indian Express, August 21, 2014. Jason Stern and Paul Arnold, “How the United States is Governed?”, pp. 1-20, Braddock Communications, 2004. Roderick Labrador, “Chapter 4” and “Conclusion: Unsettling Hawaii”, in Building Filipino Hawaii, University of Illinois, 2015. Rebecka McCray, “Does Nepal’s New Constitution Miss the Boat on Women’s Rights?”, Sept 23, 2015, http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/09/22/nepal-s-new-constitution-misses-boat-women-s-rights Week 11 Spring Recess, March 21 to 25th 2015 Week 12 Presentations of your research paper outlines due this week! We continue our conversation on how people can participate politically this week. Questions: How the internet plays an integral role in social movements today? Readings for this week have been kept to a minimum to give students time to prepare their outlines as well as presentations. Video: How Facebook Changed the World: Arab Spring Part - 1, BBC Documentary, Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WNd-Zm0K9A

Readings: Mark Warschauer, “Language, Identity, and the Internet”, 2001. http://motspluriels.arts.uwa.edu.au/MP1901mw.html Rebecka McCray, “Does Nepal’s New Constitution Miss the Boat on Women’s Rights?”, Sept 23, 2015, http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/09/22/nepal-s-new-constitution-misses-boat-women-s-rights

Week 13 Questions for this week: What are Non-Governmental Organizations? Can civil societies bring about change? Is the impact of civil society always positive? Should civil society work with the military in difficult environments? Are there consequences of such an alliance?

Readings:

Stuart Kirsch, Indigenous movements and the risks of counterglobalization: Tracking the campaign against Papua New Guinea’s Ok Tedi mine http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/73268/ae.2007.34.2.303.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Slatter, Clair. 2006. ‘Treading Water in Rapids?: Non-Governmental Organizations and Resistance to Neo-liberalism in Pacific Island States.’ In Globalisation and Governance in the Pacific Islands, edited by Stewart Firth, Canberra: ANU e-Press, pp.23–42.

Roger Ginty, “Indigenous Peace-Making Versus the Liberal Peace”, Cooperation and Conflict, 43(2), 2008.

Graham Hancock, Chapters to be Decided, Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige and Corruption in the International Aid Industry, Macmillan London Limited, 1989.

Peter Feaver. The Civil-Military Problematique: Huntington, Janowitz, and the Question of Civilian Control. Armed Forces & Society. Winter 1996. vol. 23 no. 2. Pp. 149-178 George Guess, “US Aid to Asia”, in The Politics of United States Foreign Aid, Routledge, 1987.                

Week 14

Credit: Jamm Aquino / June 24, 2015 Having discussed several political systems prevalent around the globe, it is time to discuss one of the most debated political system – religion. Questions to be explored: What is the role of religion in politics and of politics in religion? Is religion inherently traditional and opposed to ‘modernity’? Can traditions and customs become a pillar of community involvement and strength? What do we mean by ‘secularism’? Is there a difference between being secular and being tolerant? This is a sensitive issue for all of us but requires a discussion and exchanges of opinions nonetheless. It is therefore expected that everyone in class will be at their best behavior, especially when people will disagree with each other. Holiday April 13th, 2016 Wednesday

Guest Lecturers: Nevzat Soguk Readings: Eleanor Williamson: “Hawaiian Chants and Songs Used in Political Campaigns,” in Harry Nimmo, Katherine Luomala, Adrienne Kaeppler edited, Directions in Pacific traditional literature : essays in honor of Katharine Luomala, Bishop Museum Press, 1976. Amy K. Stillman: “History Reinterpreted in Song: The Case of the Hawaiian Counterrevolution,” The Hawaiian Journal of History, Vol. 23, 1989. Rachel Crane and Claudia Morales, “Science and Religion Fight Over Hawaii’s Highest Point”, CNN, August 27th, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/27/us/tmt-hawaii-telescope-controversy/ Nevzat Soguk, “Archipelagos of Islam in Indonesia” in Globalization and Islamism: Beyonf Fundamentalism, Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, 2011. E.  Fuat  Keyman,  “Modernity,  Secularism  and  Islam:  The  Case  of  Turkey”,  Theory,  Culture  and  Society,  24  (2),  2007.   Week 15 In today's world of hyper-violence it would be remiss to not address the issue of political violence prevalent in societies. This class has a number of readings that deal with different forms of political violence including communal violence, ethnic violence, gender violence, racial violence and civil wars. Questions are: What do we mean by terrorism? Is one man’s freedom fighter always another’s terrorist? Where is the place of state based violence in narratives of political violence? How is ethnicity different from race? How can civil society prevent political violence? How should we understand the root causes underneath political violence? Movie: Parzania, 2005, 1hr.54 minutes Readings: Ashutosh Varshney, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, in Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life, Yale University, 2002.

Graham Hassall, “Nationalism and the Ethnic Conflict in the Pacific Islands”, pp.1-15 and 22-24, Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism, 1992. Omar Sarwar, “Human Terror, Sacrificial Horror: Suicide Bombings and Contemporary Global Politics”, 3 Quarks Daily Week 16 We will continue our discussions on political violence. Crystal Feimester, Chapters to be Decided, Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching, Harvard University Press, 2011. Martin Manalansan, “Race, Violence, and Neoliberal Spatial Politics in the Global City”, Social Text, 23 (3-4), 2005. Cramer, C. Chapters to Be Decided. Civil War Is Not a Stupid Thing: Accounting for Violence in Developing Countries. London: Hurst & Co, 2006. Week 17 May 02nd, Monday study leave to prepare for your research paper. May 04th, Wednesday submission of your research papers. Please Note: The Professor withholds all rights to make changes to the syllabus as needed.