Noll, Mark A. God and Race in American Politics: A Short History. Princeton:
Princeton ... In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India. New York: Anchor ...
Updated 1/20/10 Fall 2009 – Spring 2010 MC 201-202 Introduction to the Study of Public Affairs
Professors Office Office Tel Email Gene Burns 367 N. Case Hall 353-3119
[email protected] Lisa Cook 357 N. Case Hall 432-1838
[email protected] Jenni Fetters 355 S. Case Hall 432-4892
[email protected] Louis Hunt 368 N. Case Hall 355-9594
[email protected] Anna Pegler-Gordon 361 N. Case Hall 355-6548
[email protected] Ramazan Kilinc 305 S. Case Hall 353-8602
[email protected] Simei Qing 314 S. Case Hall 353-1692
[email protected] Please note that office hours for professors will be updated on the JMC webpage: http://jmc.msu.edu/officehours/. Aide Megan Kursik Office Hours:
Student Senate Office 810-252-7942 Sunday, 2-3:30pm.
[email protected]
Course Objectives: Introduction to Public Affairs is a two-semester course sequence that meets Michigan State University’s Integrative Studies in Social Science requirement. The course as a whole focuses on the dilemmas faced by contemporary regimes in a world marked by both cooperation and conflict. It addresses such issues as the foundations of constitutional government, the tension between liberty and security in constitutional democracies confronted by the threat of terrorism, the role of government in controlling the development and use of new technologies, the nature of citizenship, the construction of national and religious identities and their interaction with racial, gender, and economic relations. The course examines these dilemmas as they arise in the United States and in other societies. It does so from a number of different and sometimes competing intellectual perspectives. The purpose of the course is not only to provide a forum for discussing important issues in public affairs but also to introduce you to a variety of intellectual tools, both theoretical and empirical, for analyzing contemporary dilemmas and arriving at sound judgments on public policy. The course emphasizes the interdependence of social, political, economic, and cultural factors in understanding public affairs. While beginning from a consideration of the United States and the challenges it faces in both domestic and foreign affairs, the course emphasizes the need to develop a comparative and global perspective for a full understanding of public affairs. The course is intended as well to develop your skills in the critical reading and analysis of texts, clear writing, articulate speaking, and attentive listening. MC 202 begins with a focus on national identity and how national identity relates to individual 1
rights and identities, and the state’s role in fostering or limiting rights and identities. Some group identities involve intimate interactions among their members, while others involve our identifying with millions of people we will never meet. Such is the case with national identity, which is in ways very much an abstraction rather than a group identity we directly experience. And yet national identity can have a powerful claim on who we think we are as a people. To assert a national identity is implicitly to ask how much room there is for diversity and disagreement. For instance, if a common national identity assumes a common religious heritage, what does that mean for religious minorities? Can we entirely avoid the fact that particular racial, ethnic, or religious identities will dominate in some societies? And can we maintain true individual rights when we recognize and encourage loyalty to a larger group? If we define national identity in a secular way, what does that mean for members of religious groups? To what extent does public policy allow for the fact that members of one group may endorse a policy that another finds morally or religiously problematic? And so individual rights, as well as multiple group identities, arise as a concern with any national identity. Do religious practices and identities become purely a private affair, only a matter of individual rights rather than part of national identity? It is important in this discussion to understand the distinction between “nation” and “state.” As you will see early in the semester, scholars of national identity usually mean the nation to refer to a people who feel they have a common heritage and a common destiny. (Readings and lectures will examine more specific aspects of nations and national identity.) A state, on the other hand, refers to a sovereign entity associated both with a specific territory and a government that claims to represent the sovereignty over that territory and the people within it. Many states attempt to identify with a particular nation, but many nations historically have either had no state or crossed many state boundaries. For instance, one might ask whether in the United States there is really a single “nation,” that is, a single people with a common heritage, at all. To take another example that is in the news these days, Kurds are people who think of themselves as a nation and who live in several different Middle Eastern states; while Kurds currently control northern Iraq, many Kurds live outside of Iraq, and even northern Iraq does not constitute a clearly defined, sovereign Kurdish state. Nations may shape what states look like, and states may attempt to shape people’s loyalties to, and understandings of, a nation. But, definitionally, nations and states are distinct entities. We begin by looking at some of the central theoretical understandings of how national identities are constructed. We then turn to the United States, considering how race and religion shape some of America’s most enduring moral problems. This section addresses the economic study of religion, and also introduces theoretical questions about how group identities and individual rights intersect. If liberalism is based on individual rights, for example, how does it respond to national and other group identities? Our analysis of these issues continues in the second unit of the course which compares U.S., French, and Turkish conceptions of and state policies concerning secularism. In our third unit on India we address intersections of religion and national identity, as well as the global implications of India’s rapidly expanding economy. Our fourth unit focuses on the European Union, 2
an interesting case of attempting to expand common economic goals into a larger transnational identity. By many measures, the European Union has been an enormously successful endeavor, helping to bring wealth and peace to the European continent. But one of the more difficult questions is whether the union will ever, or even should, build a cross-national European identity that supersedes more local loyalties. Many analysts argue that the European Union is more a convenient means towards economic growth rather than something that truly commands heartfelt loyalty. The course ends, then, by asking whether transnational identities are sustainable and whether they are desirable in relation to national identities and state loyalties. We finish with a discussion of whether promoting cosmopolitan loyalties is feasible and different ways to think about whether it would be desirable. The Public Affairs course does not aim to introduce the different fields in the College. The College will sponsor additional activities outside MC 201-202 to introduce these fields. Readings available for purchase from Student Book Store (SBS), 421 E. Grand River Ave., tel. 351-4210, www.sbsmsu.com. Noll, Mark A. God and Race in American Politics: A Short History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-691-12536-7 Kuru, Ahmet T. Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-521-74134-7 Luce, Edward. In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India. New York: Anchor Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-4000-7977-3 Caporaso, James A. The European Union: Dilemmas of Regional Integration. Boulder, Col.: Westview, 2000. ISBN 0-8133-2583-8 Nussbaum, Martha. For Love of Country? Debating the Limits of Patriotism. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002. ISBN 080704329X A reading course pack is also available from Student Book Store (SBS) and contains most other required readings, with the exception of readings available via hyperlinks on the Angel syllabus. Reserve copies of readings: All readings will be available in hard copy on reserve at the university library and at the James Madison College library. Please note, however, that each library may have only one copy of each of the books listed above and that the James Madison Library has shorter hours than the Main Library. The other readings (that is, all readings that are not in the books listed above) will be in a reading packet or binder at each library. Those reading packets will include hard copies of the electronic readings. Course Structure and Evaluation: Both MC 201 and 202 are team-taught courses, with common lectures, readings, and examinations. The class also meets twice weekly in discussion 3
sections. You will be evaluated by your individual section instructor based on a range of assignments. These will include common exams, an essay, and assignments specific to individual sections. You are expected to attend all lectures and discussion sections and to complete all readings. Readings should be completed prior to the lecture on the readings. In order to pass the course, you must complete all course requirements, including any requirements specified by your section instructor. Final grades will be determined as follows: First Exam 25% Essay 25% Final Exam 30% Section Assignments 20% In determining final course grades, instructors may take your progress into account. James Madison College and Michigan State University policies on incompletes and academic integrity will be adhered to closely. The following statement on academic honesty should be read with particular care: Academic Honesty There is evidence that academic dishonesty is increasing in U.S. colleges. Some commentators attribute this to the increased ease of plagiarism: Internet access and word processing programs make it comparatively easy to cut and paste other people’s words into your work. Others claim that students are less familiar with the boundaries between honest and dishonest citation. Students should be aware that presenting the work of others so that it appears to be their own work is a violation of moral and professional standards, one that the College and University treat very seriously. Academic honesty and proper attribution are fundamental to the collaborative creation of knowledge. The appropriate citation of other people’s words and ideas allows us to build on their work and to share our own ideas with the confidence that they will be acknowledged. Beyond the importance of academic integrity to the expansion of knowledge, the punishment of plagiarism is also a serious matter. We will follow James Madison College and Michigan State University policy on academic dishonesty. The James Madison College Policy is available in the Student Handbook and includes the following: “The faculty recognize that it is the responsibility of the instructor to take appropriate action if an act of academic dishonesty is discovered. It is further understood that a student may appeal a judgment of academic dishonesty to the Student-Faculty Judiciary. The Faculty Assembled recommend that in cases involving proven academic dishonesty, the student should receive, as a minimum, a 0.0 in the course and that a record of the circumstances, sanctions, and any appeal, be placed in the student’s confidential file…. The individual faculty member or the Dean may recommend further action, including dismissal from the University, to the Student-Faculty Judiciary. If a second case of academic dishonesty should occur, the recommendation is that the faculty, through the Office of Director of Academic and Student Affairs, should seek the student’s dismissal from the College and the University.” The MSU policy on plagiarism and additional information about academic honesty is also available through the MSU Office of the Ombudsman: 4
http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/honestylinks.html If you have any questions about academic honesty, please consult with your section leader or with Professor Anna Pegler-Gordon. Announcements at lectures: If you wish to make an announcement at the beginning of lecture please contact Prof. Anna Pegler-Gordon at least 48 hours in advance. Only announcements directly related to Madison College educational endeavors or first-year student residentialcollege matters are permitted. Lecture and Readings Schedule All reading assignments are to be completed before the lecture on the date for which the reading is listed. INTRODUCTION Monday, January 11 No reading assignment. Lecture: Prof. Anna Pegler-Gordon, Introduction to MC 202 Wednesday, January 13 Reading (in course pack): 1. Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, “Introduction” from The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1967), pp. 3-14. 2. Anthony D. Smith, National Identity (London: Penguin, 1991), pp. 1-28. 3. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism, revised edition (London and New York: Verso, 1991), pp. 5-7. Lecture: Prof. Jenni Fetters Monday, January 18 Martin Luther, King, Jr. Day. No classes. Monday and Tuesday sections will not meet. Students are strongly encouraged to participate in MSU’s events for MLK, Jr. Day. Details of such events forthcoming. I. RACE AND RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES Wednesday, January 20 Reading: Mark Noll, “The Bible, Slavery, and the ‘Irrepressible Conflict,” God and Race in American Politics, pp. 1-46. Lecture: Prof. Gene Burns Monday, January 25 Reading: Mark Noll, “The Origins of African-American Religious Agency,” and “The Churches, ‘Redemption,’ and Jim Crow,” God and Race in American Politics, pp. 47-101. 5
Lecture: Prof. Anna Pegler-Gordon Wednesday, January 27 Reading: Mark Noll, “Religion and the Civil Rights Movement,” and “The Civil Rights Movement as the Fulcrum of Recent Political History,” God and Race in American Politics, 102175. Lecture: Prof. Gene Burns Monday, February 1 Readings: 1. “Economists are Getting Religion,” Business Week (December 6, 2004). (Available via Angel syllabus hyperlink.) 2. Rachel M. McCleary and Roger Barro, “Religion and Economy,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 2 (spring 2006): 49-72. (Available in course pack) Lecture: Prof. Lisa Cook Wednesday, February 3 Readings (in course pack): 1. Tamar Jacoby, “The Beginning of the End of Race,” pp. 171-181 in Racial Liberalism and the Politics of Urban America, ed. Curtis Stokes and Theresa Meléndez (East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2003). 2. Katya Gibel Azoulay, “Interpreting the Census: The Elasticity of Whiteness and the Depoliticization of Race,” pp. 155-170 in Racial Liberalism and the Politics of Urban America. Lecture: Prof. Curtis Stokes Monday, February 8 Reading (in course pack): David Carroll Cochran, “Liberal Political Theory’s Multicultural Blind Spot and Race in the United States,” pp. 51-74 in Racial Liberalism and the Politics of Urban America. Lecture: Prof. Jenni Fetters Wednesday, February 10 Common exam. No rescheduling permitted. Please bring a blank blue book to the lecture hall.
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II. SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS BASES OF NATIONAL IDENTITY: UNITED STATES AND EUROPE Monday, February 15 Reading: Ahmet Kuru, Introduction, “Analyzing Secularism: History, Ideology, and Policy,” Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion, pp. 1-37. Lecture: Prof. Jenni Fetters Wednesday, February 17 Reading: Ahmet Kuru, “United States: Passive Secularism and the Christian Right’s Challenge, 1981-2008” and “Religious Diversity and the Evolution of Passive Secularism, 1776-1981,” Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion, pp. 41-100. Lecture: Prof. Gene Burns Monday, February 22 Reading: Ahmet Kuru, “France: Assertive Secularism and the Multiculturalist Challenge, 19892008” and “The Rise of Assertive Secularism, 1789-1989,” Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion, pp. 103-158. Lecture: Prof. Ramazan Kilinc Wednesday, February 24 Reading: Ahmet Kuru, “Turkey: Assertive Secularism and the Islamic Challenge, 1997-2008,” chapter 6, Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion, pp. 161-201. Lecture: Prof. Ahmet Kuru Friday, February 26 - Saturday, February 27 “Islam, Muslims, and the Media” Conference Friday, February 26: Azhar Usman comedy performance. Saturday, February 27: Paper presentations, including presentation by Ahmet Kuru. Details of events forthcoming. Monday, March 1 Reading: Ahmet Kuru, “Turkey: Westernization and the Emergence of Assertive Secularism, 1826-1997” and conclusion, Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion, pp. 202-246. Lecture: Prof. Ramazan Kilinc Wednesday, March 3 Readings: 1. Jørgen Nielsen, “European Muslims in a New Europe?” chapter 10, Muslims in Western Europe, 3rd edition (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), pp. 153-174. (Available in course pack.) 2. Fatma Muge Gocek, “To Veil or Not to Veil: The Contested Location of Gender in Contemporary Turkey,” Interventions 1, no. 4 (1999): 521-535. (Available via Angel syllabus hyperlink.) 3. Christopher Caldwell, “Daughter of the Enlightenment,” New York Times Magazine, April 3, 7
2005, pp. 26-31. (Available via Angel syllabus hyperlink.) Lecture: Prof. Anna Pegler-Gordon Week of March 8-12: Spring Break. III. SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS BASES OF NATIONAL IDENTITY: INDIA Monday, March 15 Reading: Edward Luce, Introduction and “Global and Medieval: India’s Schizophrenic Economy,” In Spite of the Gods, pp. 1-62. Lecture: Prof. Lisa Cook Wednesday, March 17 Reading: Edward Luce, “Battles of the Righteous: the Rise of India’s Lower Castes,” In Spite of the Gods, pp. 105-142. Lecture: Prof. Louis Hunt Monday, March 22 Reading: Edward Luce, “The Imaginary Horse: the Continuing Threat of Hindu Nationalism,” In Spite of the Gods, pp. 143-179. Lecture: Prof. Louis Hunt Wednesday, March 24 Reading: Edward Luce, “Many Crescents: South Asia’s Divided Muslims” and “A Triangular Dance: Why India’s Relations with the United States and China Will Shape the Worlds in the Twenty-First Century,” In Spite of the Gods, pp. 218-294. Lecture: Prof. Simei Qing Monday, March 29 Reading: Edward Luce, “New India, Old India: The Many-Layered Character of Indian Modernity” and “Hers to Lose,” In Spite of the Gods, pp. 295-356. Lecture: Prof. Mark Axelrod Wednesday, March 31 Film (no assigned reading): Born into Brothels (2005, 83 minutes, edited) Thursday, April 1 Essay due to your section instructor by noon.
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IV. TRANSCENDING NATIONAL IDENTITY? BUILDING THE EUROPEAN UNION ON A SECULAR FOUNDATION AND A COMMON POLITICAL ECONOMY Monday, April 5 Reading: James A. Caporaso, Introduction and “European Social Policy: National or Regional?” The European Union, pp. 1-41. Lecture: Prof. Simei Qing Wednesday, April 7 Reading: James A. Caporaso, “Dilemmas of Democracy in the EU,” The European Union, pp. 42-84. Lecture: Prof. Simei Qing Monday, April 12 Reading: Caporaso, “Dilemmas of the External Relations of the EU” and Conclusion, The European Union, pp. 85-144. Lecture: Prof. Anna Pegler-Gordon Wednesday, April 14 Reading: 1. Ingmar Karlsson, “Turkey in Europe but Not of Europe?” TESEV Foreign Policy ProgramLund University Center for European Studies Joint Report (May 2009). (Available via Angel syllabus hyperlink: please note that this may take a minute to download.) 2. José Casanova, “The Long, Difficult and Tortuous Journey of Turkey into Europe and the Dilemmas of European Civilization,” Constellations 13, no. 2 (2006): 234-247. (Available via Angel syllabus hyperlink.) Lecture: Prof. Ramazan Kilinc Monday, April 19 Film (no assigned reading): The Other Europe (2006, 58 minutes) V. TRANSCENDING NATIONAL IDENTITY? THE DEBATE OVER COSMOPOLITANISM Wednesday, April 21 Reading: Martha Nussbaum, For Love of Country?, pp. ix-17, 30-37, 72-77, 111-118. Lecture: Prof. Louis Hunt Monday, April 26 Reading: 1. Martha Nussbaum, For Love of Country?, pp. 21-29, 78-84, 131-144. 2. Kwame Anthony Appiah, “The Case for Contamination,” New York Times Magazine, January 1, 2006, pp. 30-37, 52. (Available via Angel syllabus hyperlink.) Lecture: Prof. Lisa Cook 9
Wednesday, April 28 Reading: None. Lecture: Prof. Anna Pegler-Gordon Tuesday, May 4 at 7:45-9:45 a.m. University-designated time for (common) Final Exam. No rescheduling permitted. Please bring a blank blue book to the lecture hall. RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS The Public Affairs Aide is an accomplished student who previously took the course and therefore is particularly likely to understand what issues and questions arise among students. Please make sure to use both your instructor’s office hours and the Public Affairs Aide’s office hours. See the first page of this syllabus for information on the Public Affairs Aide. Angel (http://angel.msu.edu): Some of your readings are available through hyperlinks on the Angel syllabus. When you have questions about the course, please first check the syllabus, as well as the information and announcements on Angel. Materials relevant to lecture will be under “Lessons” on Angel. Angel is a useful curricular tool provided for your convenience. However, note that Angel is to be used only for authorized curricular purposes. It is especially prohibited to use the e-mail function, or any aspects of Angel, for commercial purposes, for communications that constitute personal attacks or are otherwise inappropriate, or indeed for any communications not directly related to the curriculum of this course. Do not, for instance, attempt to offer or solicit sports tickets for sale via Angel e-mail. The SUCCESS Program: Students United to Create a Community of Excellence, Strength and Support (SUCCESS) began as an effort in 1992 to support students in their educational endeavors. The academic support component includes meetings to complement MC 201-202. It also includes the Academic Writing Consultancy, which complements both MC 111-112 and MC 201-202. Attendance is voluntary. Details on the time and place of the weekly success meeting and the Writing Consultancy will be given in MC 202 lectures and/or under “Announcements” on Angel. The New York Times: James Madison College is participating in a program sponsored by ASMSU and James Madison College to make the New York Times available to first-year students on a daily basis, Monday to Friday. The paper can be found in distribution bins each weekday morning on the 3rd floor of Case Hall. All MC202 students are required to read the New York Times as part of the course. Articles and editorials from the New York Times will be incorporated into class by your section leader.
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