POSC 110 Syllabus PDF

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This is the syllabus and course schedule for POSC 110: Ideology and Conflict...

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University of Southern California Department of Political Science

POSC 110g: Ideology and Conflict M/W 2-3:20—TH 301 Spring 2019

Anthony Kammas, Ph.D. [email protected]

Office Hours: M/W 1-2, 3:30-4:50 & by appointment; VKC 233d

Teaching Assistants: Thora Giallouri - [email protected] Office hours: TBA Jarred Cuellar - [email protected] Office hours: TBA Required Reading: Critique of Violence, Walter Benjamin http://www.totuusradio.fi/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Benjamin-Critique-ofViolence.pdf Catechism of a Revolutionist, Sergei Nechaev http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp000116.txtg What is Enlightenment?, Immanuel Kant http://theliterarylink.com/kant.html The Grand Inquisitor, (excerpt) Dostoevsky https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pol116/grand.htm Politics as a Vocation, Max Weber http://www2.southeastern.edu/Academics/Faculty/jbell/weber.pdf The Manifesto of the Communist Party, Karl Marx http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm The Clash of Civilizations, Huntington http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/S6800/courseworks/foreign_aff_huntington.pdf The Clash of Ignorance, Said 1

http://www.thenation.com/article/clash-ignorance/ Mein Kampf (selected chapters), Adolf Hitler http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200601.txt Messages to the World (Osama bin Laden), ed. Lawrence and Howarth The Revolutionary Passion, The Passing of an Illusion, Furet (handout) V.I. Lenin, excerpts The True Believer, Eric Hoffer Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, Sigmund Freud - http://freudians.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/09/Freud_Group_Psychology.pdf Civilization and its Discontents, Sigmund Freud Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid The Sublime Object of Ideology, Slavoj Zizek

Course Schedule January 7th: Opening Comments, Review of Syllabus 9th: Critique of Violence (ALL) 14th: Politics as a Vocation (All); Highly Recommended: Ideology and Utopia, Karl Mannheim 16th: Group Psych., Freud, Part I Intro—VII Identification 21st: OFF--MLK 23rd: Group Psych., Part VIII—End/ Film, Jesus Camp 28th: The True Believer, Parts I & II; Recommended, Parts III & IV 30th: Kafka excerpt; The Grand Inquisitor, Dostoevsky excerpt February 4th: Ordinary Men, Browning; Chapters 1-10 6th: Ordinary Men, Browning; Chapters 11-End 11th: Civilization and its Discontents, I-IV 13th: Civilization and its Discontents, V-VIII 18th: OFF—Film, Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, Zizek 20th: Discipline and Punish, Part I 25th: Discipline and Punish, Part II/ Milgram and Zimbardo film excerpts 27th: Discipline and Punish, Part III March 4th: Discipline and Punish, Part IV (PAPER OUTLINES DUE) 6th: -----------------------MIDTERM EXAM-----------------------------------11th: ***SPRING BREAK*** 13th: ***SPRING BREAK*** 18th: The Revolutionary Passion, The Passing of an Illusion; Furet 20th: Catechism of a Revolutionist; What is Enlightenment? (ALL). 2

Recommended: Theory as Liberatory Practice, Bell Hooks; The Yale Journal of Law and Feminism (1991) 25th: The Manifesto of the Communist Party, (ALL); Excerpts from Lenin (Handout). Recommended: Theses on Feuerbach, German Ideology (Preface and Part 1), Marx; Wretched of the Earth, Fanon 27th: Film: The Weather Underground April 1st: Mein Kampf, Vol. 1, Chapters 2-7, 11 3rd: Mein Kampf, Vol. 2, Ch. 2-5, 10-11/ Film, Triumph of the Will 8th: Clash of Civilizations, Huntington; Clash of Ignorance, Said 10th: Messages to the World, Ed. Intro; #’s 3,6,7,9,10,11 15th: Messages to the World, #’s 12,13,14, 16,17, 21,22,23 17th: Film: Paradise Now 22nd: The Reluctant Fundamentalist (ALL) 24th: The Sublime Object of Ideology, Part 1 PAPERS DUE: 29 April Final Exam: 6 May, 2-4 in TH 301 Course Description:

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” —This is precisely how we must understand ideology to attain a critical apprehension of this most illusive political phenomenon. It is at once idea and reality, shadow and palpable force; it is neither lie nor truth, yet it makes demands and manifests as necessity. Ideology works through every layer of social interaction, taking root in peoples’ consciousness and weaves its way through local, national, and international associations until no ‘un-ideological’ space remains. Grasping the flow and function of ideology, however, is not a matter of simple observance. What seems like ideology on the surface of life obfuscates the deeper hooks this phenomenon has in all it touches. The goal of this course is to bring to light the complexities of ideology that have slipped from view. To accomplish this, we will read texts that cover psychology, sociology, theory, history, and, of course, politics. The levels of analysis will range from the individual to the international arena; we will critically assess the efficacy of ideas, and consider how ideas play on us—is ideology aimed at mobilizing our essential drives, or rather, does ideology construct peoples, movements, and states? In terms of structure, the first half of the semester primarily will focus on deconstructing ideology. We will consider its constituent parts, the role of political myth, and how ideology functions in terms of its main target—people. In doing so, we will learn about the power of ideology, its function, and its ability to seem obvious yet remain hidden. The first half of the semester builds our understanding of ideology up to the state/ national level of analysis; this prepares us for a more critical study of ideology on the international level: nationalism, fascism, communism, and Islamic fundamentalism in the second half of the semester. By the end of the course, you will be able to analyze 3

ideology in general, and would have had the opportunity to examine ideology in historical and contemporary cases. No longer will ideology be able to hide behind discourses of truth, rights, morality, necessity, freedom, or even peace—rather, this course seeks to disclose the occulted power of those trenchant political discourses that wish to convince people that they speak the truth and can show the way.

Assignments and Grading:

Readings: There is a reading assignment due for nearly every day of the course. Please see the course schedule (below); the reading assignment is listed on the day that it is due. Participation: 10% of your overall grade. - Participation is more than showing up for the lecture and the discussion section; it means contributing to the discussion of the readings. Participation grades will be determined by the teaching assistants in sections (primarily); speaking up in the lecture hall is permitted and encouraged—this too counts toward your participation grade. Quizzes: 30% of your overall grade - There will be five unannounced quizzes worth 10% each—your lowest two grades will be dropped; in total, three of the five quizzes will count toward your grade. Make-ups will only be given for valid/documented medical absences. Midterm: 20% of your overall grade - The midterm is scheduled for March 6th and will cover all that we have read and discussed up to that point. It will consist of short answer identifications and an essay component. Final Exam: 20% of your overall grade - The final is scheduled for May 6th at 2:00 pm, and covers everything we shall read and discuss after the midterm. Paper: 20% of your overall grade - Answer one of the following essay questions; only course materials are necessary for the completion of the paper. The thesis and annotated outline is due by March 4th; the completed paper is due April 29th. The paper should be 10-12 pages in length; more details will be provided in class. Essay Questions: 1) Can a state govern effectively if it foregoes ideology? If no, explain why. If yes, explain what principles and by which techniques it would organize its population 4

otherwise. 2) What is ideology? How does it function and to what end? Is ideology politically beneficial or nefarious? ***Any students requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure that the letter is delivered to me (or to the TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Phone number for DSP is 213/740-0776.

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