211 Silsby Hall
HB 6108
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
Tel: (603) 646-2544
Fax: (603) 646-2152
E-mail: Government.Department@Dartmouth.EDU
The following courses will enable regular or visiting faculty members to examine topics in Comparative Government not treated in the established curriculum. Subjects may therefore vary each time the course is offered:
Most nations are not linguistically homogeneous, yet they all rely on language as a powerful tool for defining and building the nation. Language is exploited as an irrefutable symbol of the unity of a nation. For this reason the fate of a language is closely intertwined with the historical-political fate of its community of speakers. The complex scenario of the Caucasus is the focus of this course. Here the relationships of language and politics have led to separatist struggles and political explosions such as the August 2008 conflict in Georgia, the Chechen wars, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Caucasus is one of the areas of the world with the highest linguistic and cultural diversity - it forms an intricate web of Indo-European, Turkic, and over 50 indigenous languages spoken across this mountain range. Many languages from the last group are currently endangered - no longer transmitted to younger generations.
The goal of this course is to follow in parallel the political development of the Caucasus and its linguistic history, under the hypothesis that one informs the other. The course is conceived as a dialogue between two disciplines - linguistics and political science. We will study primarily the South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), the linguistic features of the languages spoken in this area, the language policies that have affected them, and the major political trends in the region. Dist: SOC: WCult: CI
Are the British Europeans? Are the Turks? Who is to say? How would we know? Why might it matter? This course looks at how European identity has been constructed and contested by interested groups since the 1940s. We will examine how these debates have shaped and been shaped by domestic as well as international politics and consider how they illuminate the challenges currently facing the European Union.
All democracies share important features (e.g., elections), but they also differ in significant ways (e.g., party systems, constitutional arrangements, power). Many of the patterns typical of European democracies are unfamiliar to Americans. In this course, we will explore how the major European countries "do" democracy. How did they get there? How does parliamentary government work? How do citizens participate in the political process? What issues do European elites and electorates view as central and what sorts of policy options have been proposed in response? How "European" are Europeans? Dist: INT or SOC WCult: EU, W
The latest wave of economic globalization has differently affected various regions of the world. One of the most often repeated (and disputed) assertions is that the economic power of the United States is fading and that the fortunes of the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) as well as other selected Emerging Economies ("the Second World") will mark the dawn of a more equal and, economically speaking, a more balanced global economy. The most recent financial crisis has put into question many of the assertions on both sides of this debate, in ways that question the very basic assumptions analysts of the global economy have been making since the creation of the Bretton Woods system in the aftermath of World War II. In this course we investigate the impact of the economic boom of the last two decades, the current crisis, and their impact on the economic fate and standing of particularly the United States, India, China, and Russia. We focus in part on efforts to create a new financial architecture for the global economy, and investigate how the debate between markets and state intervention has been affected by the ongoing financial crisis--and what this may mean for both countries that rely extensively on markets, and for those that strategically promote state intervention.
On September 11, 2001, the American government was caught by surprise. So too were most Americans. How could we have become the primary target of people about whom we knew so little? Who were they and what did they want? Who supported them and why? How could we defend ourselves? Nearly five years after the September 11 attacks, these questions remain. The purpose of this course is to map analytically the terrain that may allow us to define and “locate�? al-Qaeda as a political phenomenon. We will look at al-Qaeda from three perspectives: as both a symptom of, and a player in, a multisided “civil war�? within the Islamic world; as a product of the relative failure of nationalist projects in the Middle East; and as a product of the multifaceted phenomenon that we call globalization and of concomitant changes in the international system.
For decades the Arab Gulf states--Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait--were viewed both economically and politically as anomalies, utterly dependent on world oil markets for their development, conservative if not backward, and marked by highly authoritarian regimes. However, the creation within the region of the Gulf Cooperation Council as an economic bloc, and the emergence of Dubai as a post-oil financial and commercial center for the region, are clear indicators of the changing economic (and perhaps political) fortunes of the local countries.
In several ways the economic growth patterns within the region, and the active state intervention within the local economies, hint at the possibility of the emergence of some form of developmental states in the Arab Gulf, sustained by enormous inflows of oil revenues, that stands in stark contrast to how they have traditionally been treated in the development literature. In this course we analyze the growth of the Arab Gulf economies since the discovery of oil, the particular problems they faced as so-called "rentier states", and the interlinked challenges of political and economic development they encountered. We also investigate how the six countries have dealt, both economically and culturally, with the long-term and unavoidable effects of globalization that have irrevocably altered local societies.
In this course, we will attempt to answer one question: why has it been so difficult for democracy to take hold in most of the Soviet successor states? We will focus primarily on Russia. We will examine some of the problems of the Yeltsin era: asymmetric federalism, corrupt privatization, and the rise of the oligarchs. We will then analyze Putin's attempts to promote a 'dictatorship of the law' without encouraging the development of a Western-style democracy. Towards the end of the course, we will put Russia's experience in perspective by examining the persistence of authoritarianism in most of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova, as well as the emergence of democratic regimes in the Baltic states. DIST: SOC.
An intensive study of the political development, institutions, and behavior of selected West European countries. Special attention will be paid to the problems of political change and to present trends in the study of comparative politics. Prerequisite: Government 4, or permission of the instructor. Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: W.
What explains the remarkable resilience of communism in China? In this course, we will first focus on the Mao period (1949--1978). We will then examine the reform period (from 1978 to the present), analyzing both economic and political reform as strategies for regime preservation in China. By the end of the course, students will have a good sense of China's development trajectory after 1949, as well as an appreciation of the challenges that lie ahead. Dist: SOC: WCult: NW
The rise of China is one of the most important developments that took place after the end of the Cold War. In this course, we will examine two facets of China's rise: economic and military. We will end this course by analyzing China's attempt to build soft power through cultural diplomacy. By the end of the course, students will have a more balanced view of the dangers and opportunities that China's rise affords for the future of international relations. Course Prerequisite: It is suggested that students take GOVT 42 Chinese Politics before enrolling in GOVT 43 The Rise of China.Dist: SOC: WCult: NW
This course contrasts the most important approaches to development in Africa as they are used to explain the structure of political economy and politics in specific African countries. Special attention is paid to the consequences of external agencies, including external relations with industrialized countries and the World Bank, and the internal relations based on the interaction of the African state, ethnicity, patronage, class and local capitalism. Selected countries will be analyzed in detail. Prerequisite Govt. 4, or permission of the instructor. Dist: SOC or INT: WCult: NW.
This course will provide an overview of the origins and issues in current Japanese politics, in an effort to understand the evolution and structure of the political system that has sustained the rise of the first non-Western industrialized democracy. Topics to be covered include Japan's response to the western encroachment of Asia in the 19th century, the postwar reconstellation of Japanese politics, the institutional foundations of the sustained conservative hegemony in Japan, the influence of interest groups and money on the formation of policy, and the conduct of Japan's foreign affairs. Prerequisite: Government 4, or permission of the instructor. Dist: SOC; WCult: NW.
This course will introduce students to the politics of the Middle East and North Africa. It will systematically compare the process of state formation of different types of regimes in selected countries of the region following the break-up of the Ottoman Empire. Prerequisite: Government 4 or permission of the instructor. Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW.
For the better part of a century, the conflict over Palestine has defied resolution. The tensions and instability it has generated have profoundly affected--and been affected by--both international relations and the domestic politics of a wide range of countries. This course examines the changing external and local forces that have shaped the confrontation. Using primary as well as secondary sources, we will try to understand how the various parties to the conflict have defined its stakes, understood their interests, viewed their adversaries, mobilized support, and formulated policy. We will consider grassroots politics as well as elite calculations. We will look at the role played by ideas, institutions, material interests, and leadership, at both the regional and the broader international levels. We will end by assessing the current prospects for a settlement. Dist: INT WCult: NW.
The Korean peninsula has had geographic importance for politics in Northeast Asia for thousands of years. Because of Korea's location between Japan and China, its domestic politics and international politics have been thoroughly intertwined. This course will present an analytic overview of the politics of both North and South Korea. Topics to be covered include the historical development of Korean politics, domestic politics in South Korea since 1948, North Korean politics and nuclear threat, and the foreign relations of and between North and South Korea. Prerequisite: Government 4, or permission of the instructor. Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW.
This course is an introduction to the political development and the current context of politics in Latin America. It combines material on historical and theoretical topics with material on the current politics of specific countries, particularly in the Andean region, which has experienced particularly turbulent politics in recent years. The central theme of the course is to evaluate the performance and stability of democracy in Latin America. We consider the impact of political culture, economic development, representative institutions, and the legacies of authoritarian and revolutionary regimes on the contemporary politics of the region. Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW.
This class provides an introduction to the political and economic development of Latin America in the latter half of the 20th century. We will focus on only six of the countries in this vast and diverse region: Argentina, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Colombia and Mexico. Our analysis will emphasize the following themes: political systems and regime change; economic strategy; U.S. foreign policy; social movements and revolution; democratization; identity politics; and human rights. Dist: SOC; WCult: NW
As one of the world's few remaining socialist regimes, Cuba is unique. But Cuba is also subject to many of the forces that have shaped other countries in Latin America and the third world: a heritage of Spanish colonialism and slavery, a geography that contains a limited array of natural resources and a system of government that has evolved under the constant shadow of the United States. This course examines the politics and culture of Cuba in the 20th and early 21st centuries in order to understand Latin American politics-and politics more generally. Dist. SOC or INT. Baldez
The basis of their gender identity? What strategies do they choose and why? What is the relation between women's movements and the state? How are international factors relevant? What impact have these movements had in terms of cultural change, policy outcomes and activists' lives? How do right-wing movements compare with left-wing ones? Readings will focus on a range of countries throughout the region. Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: NW
This course will examine the conditions that prompt people organize on behalf of their collective interests, how those movements evolve, and under what conditions efforts to mobilize will succeed. We compare protests, revolutionary movements, social movements, political parties and other forms of political action in various countries throughout the region Dist: SOC or INT. WCult: NW. Baldez.
