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Carol Gould - Spring 2005 Course |
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| Fall 2004 : PHIL 391/ GOVT 448 Ethical Issues in International Affairs |
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Phil 391/Govt 329:007/ICAR Conf399:
Democracy, Globalization, and Human Rights
Class meetings: Tuesday, Thursday, 12-1:15 Innovation Hall 131.
Office hours: Tuesday 2-3 and by appointment. Robinson B453.
Email: cgould@gmu.edu
Course Description:
This course will consider new normative conflicts that arise at the intersection of democracy and human rights, in the context of current economic and political globalization. We will investigate the questions posed for democratic theory by the emergence of communities across borders and also by recent efforts to strengthen human rights law and enforcement within national borders. Can democratic decision-making apply to transnational communities or networks—whether political, economic, ecological, or even Internet-based and if so, how? Can more global human rights frameworks support rights of citizens against their own governments? Do newer group rights reflecting cultural diversity or those addressing harms to women require articulation here? The course will take some account of the variety of approaches to these questions presented by deliberative democrats, feminist theorists, communitarians, human rights advocates, and the global justice movement, as well as the recent normative analyses that have been given of economic and political globalization—both positive and critical. It will consider the difficult issue of varying cultural interpretations of democracy and human rights and also perspectives that deny the relevance of these norms. We will examine the role of transnational empathy and solidarity as a supplement to traditional human rights conceptions, and will take up the place of development and the meeting of basic needs in this context.
Format:
The course will proceed in seminar-style, with extensive class participation and short oral presentations. In addition, it requires a substantial research paper on a topic of the student’s choice and a final exam (in-class and take-home).
Requirements:
Oral presentation. Topic to be chosen from the weekly readings. Maximum length, 10 minutes. 20%.
Research paper. 8-10 pages. Due April 28th. 1-2 page proposal stating problem to be addressed and provisional thesis and bibliography, due March 29th. Key requirement originality. 40%.
Final exam (in-class and take-home). 25%.
Attendance and class participation. 15%
Possible mid-term and/or quizzes, in addition to the above requirements.
Several possibilities for gaining extra credit are available throughout the term and will be detailed in class.
Course materials:
The articles for this course can be found in a coursepack (abbreviated below as CP) or as library online electronic reserves (abbreviated as ER) or in a few cases at URLs specified in the syllabus. All listed readings are required. The URL for e-reserves is http://oscr.gmu.edu/cgi-bin/ers/OSCRsearch.cgi. (The required password will be announced in class.)
Provisional course outline:
Jan. 25: Introduction
I. Aspects of globalization
Jan. 27: Peter Singer, “A Changing World,” in One World, ( Yale Univ. Press, 2002, 0-300-09686-0), pp. 1-13. (ER)
Peter Singer, “A Better World,” in One World, ( Yale Univ. Press, 2002, 0-300-09686-0), pp. 196-201. (ER)
Feb. 1: Ulrich Beck, What is Globalization? Polity Press, 2000 (0-7456-2126-0), pp. 1-16, 87-114. (CP)
Feb. 3: Chris Brown, Sovereignty, Rights, and Justice (Polity, 2002, 0-7456-2303-4), 212-230. (ER)
Richard Barnet and John Cavanagh, “Homogenization of Global Culture,” in The Case against the Global Economy, ed. Jerry Mander (Sierra Club Books, 1996, 0-87156-865-9), pp. 71-77. (ER)
II. Economic globalization
Feb. 8: Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents (W. W. Norton, 2002, 0-393-05124-2), 3-22, 214-252. (ER)
Feb. 10: Saskia Sassen, “Blind Spots: Toward a Feminist Analytics of the Global Economy” at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/IGS/presentation/sassen.pdf
James Petras and J. Veltmeyer, Globalization Unmasked (Zed, 2001, 1-85649939-1), pp. 11-60. (CP)
Feb. 15: Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Globalization or Empire? (Routledge, 2004, 0-415-94849-5) pp. 31-60. (CP)
Feb. 17: Bridget Anderson, “Who needs Yehudi Menuhin? Costs and Impact of Migration,” and A. E. Lacsamana, “Sex Worker or Prostituted Woman?” in Women and Globalization, eds. Delia Aguilar and A. E. Lacsamana (Humanity, 2004, 1-59102-162-6), pp. 262-277 and 387-403. (ER)
Feb. 22: James Mittelman, “Alternative Globalization,” in Civilizing Globalization, ed. Richard Sandbrook, (SUNY Press, 2003, 0-7914-5668-4), pp. 237-251. (ER)
III. Conceptualizing Human Rights
Feb. 24: Thomas Risse and Kathryn Sikkink, “The socialization of international human rights norms into domestic practices: introduction,” in The Power of Human Rights, ed. Thomas Risse et al, (Cambridge University Press, 1999, 0-521-65882-9), pp. 1-38. (ER)
March 1: Cass Sunstein, Designing Democracy: What Constitutions Do ( Oxford, 2001, 0-19-515840-7), pp. 221-243. (ER)
March 3: Hilary Charlesworth, “Human Rights as Men’s Rights,” in Women’s Rights,Human Rights, ed. Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper (Routledge, 1995, 0-415-90995-3), pp. 103-113. (ER)
March 8: Balakrishnan Rajagopal, International Law from Below ( Cambridge, 2003, 0-521-01671-1), 165-232. (CP)
IV. Democracy and human rights
March 10 and 22: Carol C. Gould, Globalizing Democracy and Human Rights, ( Cambridge Univ Press, 2004, 0-521-54127-1), pp. 159-216. (ER)
March 29: Thomas Beetham, Democracy and Human Rights (Polity, 1999, 0-7456-2315-8), pp. 89-114, 136-147. (CP)
V. Democracy and its globalization
March 31: Kwasi Wiredu, “Democracy and Consensus in African Traditional Politics: A Plea for a Non-party Polity,” and Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, “Democracy or Consensus? Response to Wiredu,” in Polylog (online)
http://them.polylog.org/2/fwk-en.htm
http://them.polylog.org/2/fee-en.htm
April 5: Frank Cunningham, “Democracy and Globalization, in Civilizing Globalization (see above), pp. 139-155. (ER)
April 7: John Dryzek, “Transnational Democracy: Beyond the Cosmopolitan Model,” in Deliberative Democracy and Beyond (Oxford U P, 2000, 0-19-829507-3), pp.115-139. (CP)
April 12: Iris Marion Young, “Self-Determination and Global Democracy,” in Inclusion and Democracy, ( Oxford University Press, 2000, 0-19-829754-8), pp. 236-275.
VI. Cosmopolitan democracy and global citizenship
April 14: David Held, Cosmopolitan Democracy and the Global Order (Stanford Univ Press, 1995, 0-8047-2687-6), pp. 221-238, 267-286. (ER)
April 19: David Held, “From Executive to Cosmopolitan Multilateralism,” in Taming Globalization ed. David Held and M. Koenig-Archibugi (Polity, 2003, 0-7456-3077-4), pp. 160-186. (CP)
April 21: Nigel Dower & John Williams, eds., Global Citizenship (Routledge, 2002, 0-415-93543-1), readings by Falk and Dower, pp. 15-29, 146-157. (ER)
April 25: Seyla Benhabib, The Rights of Others ( Cambridge, 2004, 0-521-53860-2), pp. 171-221. (ER)
VII. Import for understanding development
April 28: Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom, Knopf, 2000, 0-375-40619-0, 3-11, 35-53.
May 3: Peter Uvin, Human Rights and Development (Kumarian, 2004, 1-56549-185-8), pp. 122-166. (CP)