International Conflict - 43660
POLT 32800 - 01
Office: 325 Muller |
Office Hours: |
“A man tries hard to help you find your lost camels.
He works more tirelessly than even you,
But in truth he does not want you to find them, ever.”
—From the Somali poem, “The Fire,” by Ali Dhuux
1. Motivation
I have two themes I would like to explore in the Spring 2008 version of the course: (a) the return (and dominance) of idealism, and (b) the costs of power to the powerful. I suspect these two themes will overlap but I am not sure. We shall see.
(a) Since the alleged end of the “Cold War” realism has given way to idealism as the dominant posture in international relations. The newest idealism strives to help others by creating democracies and establishing human rights. The goal is to teach others to be free, independent, and productive.
How shall we think of this new idealism? Is it new? What is the history of idealist notions of “helping” others? How have past empire builders thought about helping others? What is the relationship between this new idealism and neo-colonialism, capitalism, and the creation of Empire?
If idealism’s highest hopes are tied to our own hunger to establish a meaningful life, are we then implicated and intertwined in the fantasy of helping others? Is it possible that our most vital hopes and our very best qualities help to create empire, neo-colonialism, and capitalism? Is it possible to help others at all? Should we try to do so?
(b) When we consider the relationship between the master and slave, the oppressor and oppressed, or the dominant and subordinate, we easily imagine the advantages of the master/oppressor/dominant and the disadvantages of the slave/oppressed/subordinate. With sustained effort, we might even be able to surmise the weapons and satisfactions of the weak. But it is only rarely and only with great difficulty that we contemplate the disadvantages of power and the powerful.
I suspect that this blind spot is not accidental. Silence on the costs of power might itself be an effect of power. This silence is the super glue that binds us to power. The ring, in J.R.R.Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, seems to have a will or agency of its own; it somehow forces the ring-bearers to do its bidding. The ring-bearers, though themselves powerful relative to others, carry a heavy burden. The ring wounds them – permanently. In this way, Tolkien starts to expose the costs of power. In a similar fashion, we will want to discover if the powerful carry such wounds in international relations and in everyday life.
2. Evaluation
I will determine your grade by evaluating two take-home essay exams and a comprehensive final take home essay exam. The first two essays constitute 60% of your grade. The final counts towards 40% of your grade. For each exam you will have a week to prepare one essay. I will ask you to compose your own topic for these essays. An “entry paper” and an “exit paper” are required but not graded.
Entry paper: due Thursday, January 31.
First essay: Essay and cover letter due: Thursday, February 28th at 10:50 AM.
Second essay: Essay and cover letter due: Thursday, April 10th at 10:50 AM.
Final Comprehensive essay: Essay and cover letter due by noon, Thursday, May 8, at my office (325 Muller).
Exit paper: due by Noon, Friday, May 9th to Gail Belokur in 309 Muller.
3. Readings:
We will read approximately a 150 pages a week. We will select these readings from the following materials:
• E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919-1939, (1939).
• Michael Maren, The Road to Hell, (2002).
• Fanon, Frantz, Black Skins, White Masks (1994)
• Jessica Benjamin, The Bonds of Love, (1988).
• Nadine Gordimer, The Pick Up (2001).
• Sven Lindqvist, Terra Nullius, (2007). [ordered on January 17, 2008]
• Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine (2007).
• Course Reader (Purchased from Gail Belokur, 309 Muller)
- Kariel, Henry, “Becoming Political,” in Vernon Van Dyke (ed) Teaching Political Science, Humanities Press, 1977, pp. 129-45.
- Pratt, Minnie Bruce, “Identity: Skin Blood Heart,” in Yours in Struggle, Ithaca: Firebrand, 1984, pp. 1163.
- Thucydides “Pericles Funeral Oration” History of the Peloponnesian Wars
- Thucydides “The Melian Dialogue” History of the Peloponnesian Wars
- Naeem’s paraphrase of the Melian Dialogue
- Muravchik, Joshua, Exporting Democracy, AEI Press, 1992, Ch. 1-3, 8, 9, 14.
- Williams, Robert Jr., “Introduction,” from The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourse of Conquest, Oxford, 1990, pp. 2-9.
- Hanke, Lewis, “The ‘Requerimiento’ and Its Interpreters,” Revista de Historia de Amaerica, 1, 1, 1938, pp. 25-34.
- Churchill, Ward, “Fantasies of the Master Race,” in Fantasies of the Master Race, San Francisco: City Lights, 1988, pp. 167-224
- Stavrianos, L. S., “A Note from the Author,” “Introduction,” “Chapters 2-3” in Global Rift, 1981, pp. 23-73.
- Stavrianos, L. S., “Ch. 19: Era of Defensive Monopoly Capitalism…” in Global Rift, 1981, pp. 433-83.
- Edkins, Jenny, [various chapters] from Whose Hunger? Concepts of Famine, Practices of Aid, University of Minnesota, 2000.
- Edkins, Jenny, “The Criminalization of Mass Starvations,” in Stephen Devereux (ed) The New Famines, Routledge 2007, pp. 50-65.
- Blaney, David and Naeem Inayatullah, “Wealth, Race, and Death in Hegel’s Necro-Philosophy,” manuscript, Ithaca: Ithaca College, 2008.
- Inayatullah, Naeem, “Why do Some People Think They Know What is Best for Others,” (forthcoming 2008) in Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfuss (eds.) International Relations: A New Introduction.