One of the greatest dramas of the 20th century has been the magnification of the power and importance of the nation-state in Asia, Africa, and Latin America through the processes of political and economic development.  The process of magnifying both nation and state, of course, cannot be dissociated from European political and intellectual movements, nor can it be separated from the legacies of European imperialism and colonialism on the one hand, and the struggles to eliminate these on the other.  This historical reality sets the stage for the intellectual odyssey reflected in this seminar.

The purpose of the seminar is to understand the historical, political, and epistemological context for contemporary writing on the state and development.  To this end, the seminar pursues the chronological evolution of, and logical connections between, the key arguments, perspectives, and theoretical linkages of the following topics: colonialism and imperialism, nationalism, development (and "modernization"), the nation-state, and post-colonial critiques of all of these topics.  No attempt will be made to address every theory or intellectual stance; rather, I have chosen readings for thematic coherence.

The literature in the areas addressed by the seminar is typically interdisciplinary.  Although our primary concern is with the political, we will draw on concepts that emerge from several social sciences and occasionally the humanities.  Nearly every concept or perspective is controversial, and one of our tasks will be to explore the origins and nature of the controversies.  This exploration, in turn, requires us to be self-conscious about both our intellectual and our political stance(s), as well as those of the authors of the materials we will study.

The preponderance of writing on change and development in the past half century emphasizes the "Third World," and the seminar readings reflect this emphasis.  The assigned readings address every geographical region, but partly because of the instructor's interests and partly to maintain greater coherence, more readings focus on Asia and to a lesser extent Africa than on other regions.  The last section, in particular, draws heavily on the Indian experience that has led to recent contributions by Indians to post-colonial theory.

The primary questions that inform the choice of topics and readings are the following:

  1. What are the implications of the "European experience" with  development and the history of European imperialism and colonialism for contemporary thinking in comparative politics? 
       (For purposes of theoretical debate, I take "European" to include the U.S. (hence a more accurate term might be "Euro-american.")  Despite the importance of non-European contributions to American culture, the dominant assumptions of that culture---particularly with regard to the nature of development---along with the American role in structuring global power in the second half of the 20th century, argue for primary affinity with the European heritage.)

  2. What are the core assumptions about the nature of human  beings, history, socioeconomic change, and the nation-state that have molded political science (and broadly, social science) theories of development?

  3. What are the main intellectual challenges to the dominant  paradigm(s) of development?  In what ways do these challenges replicate, critique, or dismantle the prevailing assumptions and theories of development?

  4. To what extent is there a dialectical relationship between  these theories, personal political experience, and concepts of nation-state and development? 

  5. Where and why do issues of political power, domination,  resistance, and liberation emerge in the literature on the nation-state and development?

Expectations and Assignments

Participation and Presentations
The expectations for students include attendance at every seminar period, close reading of all assigned materials, and thoughtful, frequent oral contributions to discussions.  All of these are essential for the intellectual vitality of the seminar.

Each student will be responsible for leading at least two discussions on the required readings and for a formal presentation at the end of the semester.  Preliminary assignments will be made during the first two weeks.  Failure to follow through on these responsibilities results in no credit for the requirement.

Written Work
There will be one mid-term exam that emphasizes the readings, and three analytical essays.  The essays entail research and reading 
beyond the required materials;  they should be thematically linked to each other and to the seminar's topics.  The first paper, due on March 1, will focus on a concept or problem found in the literature on imperialism or colonialism, and nationalism;  the second, due on April 5, will focus on states and development; the third essay, due May 12, should address one of the five questions listed on page 2 above, linking the analysis needed to answer the question both to earlier reading and to one or more specific cases.  The first two papers should be 5-7 pages, the third 8-10 pages, typed and double-spaced.  Please submit the original, but retain a copy.

To encourage early thinking about thematic linkages, a two-page preliminary proposal for your papers will be due February 8.  This proposal should include a clear explanation of your first topic, with a bibliography of needed sources.  Include also a brief discussion of your thoughts for possible second and third essays (a paragraph for each). 

Grades in the seminar will be weighted as follows:
  First essay                          15%
  Second essay                         20%
  Third essay                          25%
  Mid-term                             20%
  Seminar presentations/participation  20%

Seminar Outline and Assignments

Items marked [R] are on reserve at Morgan Library.  Because of the Library's losses in the 1997 flood, some of these are borrowed or personal copies.  Be prepared to make copies of some of your reading material.  You should plan ahead for books and articles you wish to use that must be obtained either from near-by libraries or from interlibrary loan.  Three books have been ordered through the University bookstore and you are encouraged to purchase these: 

Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton, 1995).

Joel S. Migdal, Atul Kohli and Vivienne Shue, State Power and Social Forces: Domination and Transformation in the Third World (Cambridge, 1994).

Edward Said, Orientalism, (Vintage, 1979).

Discussion about other books that you may wish to purchase will come early in the semester, and we can special order some of these.
 

January 25: Organization and Logic of the Seminar
            The Multiple Meanings of Development

February 1:  Imperialism and Colonialism - Political Economy

 The dominant 20th century debate about imperialism derives from Marxist analyses of capitalism.  Two classics constitute the required reading for this week. 

 Come prepared to identify the core arguments, the logic undergirding them, and the issues they raised both for        scholars and for anti-imperialist movements later in the century.

Required:
 V.I. Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism [R]
 J.A. Schumpeter, The Sociology of Imperialism [R]

Recommended:
 Other works by Lenin and Schumpeter that help establish the context for their theories.  For example, State and Revolution (Lenin) or Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (Schumpeter)
 Also:
 J.A. Hobson, Imperialism
 K. Marx, Articles on India and China ("British Rule in India;"   "East India Company---Its History and Results;" "Indian Affairs;" "Future Results of the British Rule in India;" "Revolution in China and in Europe") found in David Fernbach, ed., Karl Marx, Surveys from Exile, vol. 2 of Political Writings 

February 8:  Colonialism - Political and Cultural Perspectives

 Note: Essay Proposal Due

 The readings on colonialism include historial documents, personal testimony, and academic analysis.  Together they help set the stage for later readings on nationalism, development, and the state.

Required: 
 The Decision to Introduce English Education [into India]: Wm.   Jones, "The Orientalist Viewpoint," R. Roy, "Letter on Education," T. Macaulay, "Minute on Education," in Wm. T. deBary, ed., Sources of Indian Tradition [R]
 Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and   the Legacy of Late Colonialism, chs. 1 & 2 [R]
 Malidoma Some, Of Water and the Spirit, Intro.,chs. 6,7,8 [R]
 Kathleen Staudt, "The State and Gender in Colonial Africa," in   Charlton, Everett & Staudt, Women, the State, and   Development, ch. 4 [R]
 Choose reading(s) on colonialism that focus on a geographical  or cultural region or country in order to develop familiarity with issues specific to that region.  Pay particular attention to studies illuminating the significance of class, gender, and race.

Recommended:
 Reading on the structure of British colonialism in India,   especially the role of the East India Company in Bengal.  A good place to start is the political histories by Percival Spear or Stanley Wolpert.

February 15:  Anti-Colonial Nationalism

 Although written a half century apart, the two core books for this week's reading are classics.  When comparing them, pay particular attention to their discussions of, and implications for, European "civilization," colonialism, nationalist movements, the author's ideal of development, and the post-colonial state.  How do the writings reflect the personal experience of the authors?

Required:
 Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth [R]
 M.K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule) in R. Iyer, ed.,   Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, v. 2 [R]
 John Breuilly, Nationalism and the State, Intro., chs. 5-8 [R]

Recommended:
 Rupert Emerson, From Empire to Nation (Beacon, 1960)
 Hans Kohn, The Idea of Nationalism (1944; Macmillan, 1961)

February 22:  The Nation-State

 The readings this week emphasize the conjuncture of nation and state, including the concepts of nation-building and state-building as central to the early (1960s) literature on political development.  The Meiji Restoration in Japan serves as a "case study."

Required: 
 Breuilly, Nationalism and the State, ch. 9 
 Winston Davis, "Religion and Development: Weber and the East  Asian Experience," in Myron Weiner and Samuel P. Huntington, eds., Understanding Political Development (Little, Brown, 1987), pp. 221-280. [R]
 James W. White, "State Building and Modernization:  The Meiji  Restoration," in Gabriel A. Almond, Scott C. Flanagan and Robert J. Mundt, eds., Crisis, Choice, and Change: Historical Studies of Political Development (Little, Brown, 1973), ch. 8 [R]

Recommended:
 Breuilly, Part II
 Walker Connor, "Nation-Building or Nation-Destroying," World  Politics, 24 (April 1972): 319-55. [R]
 "The Meiji Restoration," (film, part of "The Pacific Century"   series, which CSU has).
 Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism; to compare Tagore and   Gandhi, see "Gandhi versus Truth" (Tagore) and "Reply to Tagore" (Gandhi) in deBary, Sources of Indian Tradition.
 Wm. Shakespeare, "Henry V" (see also K. Branaugh's film   version)

March 2:  Development and Dependency

 Note: First essay due

 The literature on development and dependency is enormous: It draws on insights and concepts from all of the social sciences and ranges from macro-level theories to detailed case studies and prescriptions for successful development projects.  We will look at the principal macro-level theories, but if you are taking your preliminary exams in comparative politics, you should read widely in this field (see hand-out on recommended reading).  Seminar reports for this week will focus on the perspectives offered by Almond & Powell, Pye, Wallerstein, and Cardoso and Faletto.  The required readings listed here are analytical surveys.

Required:
 Gabriel Almond, "The Development of Political Development," in   Weiner and Huntington, Understanding Political Development, pp. 437-90.
 Leonard Binder, "The Natural History of Development Theory,"  Comparative Studies in Society and History, 28 (1986): 3- 33. [R] 
 Samuel P. Huntington, "The Goals of Development," in Weiner   and Huntington, Understanding Political Development, pp.   3-32. 
 Tony Smith, "The Dependency Approach," in Howard J. Wiarda,   ed., New Directions in Comparative Politics, rev. ed.   (Westview, 1991), pp. 118-30. [R]

Recommended:
 Directions to the "canon" of development and dependency studies may be found in reading lists and bibliographies (e.g., references at the end of the articles cited above and Escobar).  Key readings are on the supplementary reading list distributed in class.

 [Spring Break]

March 15: The Critique of Development Theories and Studies

 For every major development theory or perspective, there is a critique.  The discussion for this week will emphasize the following themes: 1) the cultural bias of conventional development theories; 2) the overt and covert political agendas of development and area studies in the United States from the 1950s - 1970s; and 3) the connection between development theory and practice.  The post-colonial critique is deferred until after the mid-term exam.

Required:
 Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development: The Making and   Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton, 1995). [R]         Michael Edwards, "The Irrelevance of Development Studies,"    Third World Quarterly, 11 (January 1989): 116-35. [R]
 Kate Manzo, "Modernist Discourse and the Crisis of Development   Theory," Studies in Comparative International   Development, 26 (Summer 1991): 3-36. [R]

Recommended:
 See the comment for March 15 on supplementary reading.  Note particularly:
 Jean-Francois Bayart, "Finishing with the Idea of the Third   World: The Concept of the Political Trajectory," in James   Manor, ed., Rethinking Third World Politics (Longman,    1991), pp. 51-71. [R]
 Irene L. Gendzier, Managing Political Change: Social   Scientists and the Third World (Westview, 1985), ch. 1.

March 22: States and Societies

 The academic literature on the state is also voluminous.  This section of the seminar examines issues pertinent to the academic "rediscovery" of the state and the (re)conceptualization of the relationship between states and societies.  The first week concentrates on the debate that emerged in the 1980s; the second and third weeks (October 23 and 30) emphasize social forces, "contested arenas," and issues specific to post-colonial states.

Required:
 Eric Nordlinger, "Taking the State Seriously," and Joel   Migdal, "Strong States, Weak States: Power and   Accommodation," in Weiner and Huntington, Understanding   Political Development, pp. 353-90 and 391-434   respectively.
 Gabriel Almond, "The Return to the State," American Political   Science Review, 82 (September 1988): 854-74 and Eric A.   Nordlinger, Theodore J. Lowi, and Sergio Fabbrini, "Return to the State: Critiques," APSR, 82 (September 1988): 875-901. [R]
 Theda Skocpol, "Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of   Analysis in Current Research," in Peter B. Evans,   Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol, eds., Bringing   the State Back In (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 3-43. [R]

Recommended:
 See handout of readings on the state.

March 29: State in Society
 This week focuses on issues raised in Migdal, Kohli and Shue, State Power and Social Forces, which represents a recent effort to refine the approach to the state and state-society relations in political science.  It endeavors to develop a conceptual framework and to apply it to a series of "Third World" case studies.  Our task will be to read these chapters with a critical eye:  Where do they fit into the evolution of our thinking about the state?  What do they contribute to our understanding of the state <-> development relationship?

Required:
 State Power and Social Forces, Intro. and chs. 1-6.

April 5: Development and the Post-Colonial State

 Note: Second Essay Due

 A continuation of the discussion, with more emphasis on the post-colonial state.

Required:
 State Power and Social Forces, chs. 9-11.
 Sudipta Kaviraj, "On State, Society and Discourse in India,"   in J. Manor, ed., Rethinking Third World Politics, pp. 72-99
 Jana Everett, "Incorporation versus Conflict: Lower Class   Women, Collective Action, and the State in India," in   Charlton, Everett & Staudt, Women, the State and   Development, ch. 8. [R]
 Rajni Kothari, State Against Democracy: In Search of Humane   Governance (Ajanta, 1988), Intro., ch. 1,2 [R] 

April 12: Mid-Term Exam

 The exam will run approximately two and one-half hours.  You will be asked to write on three questions out of a choice of four or five.  There is no additional reading assigned for this week.

April 19: Development in Post-Colonial Thought

 For purposes of this seminar, the post-colonial school of thought focuses on issues of domination and exploitation that began when non-European societies came into contact with European countries through the processes of imperialism and colonialism.  In other words, post-colonial is not simply post-independence.  As an intellectual and academic school, post-colonialism 
 assumes that after independence, former colonies are still subjected to neo-colonial domination. The origins of the 
 school are located in a number of intellectual movements and pivotal thinkers, such as the deconstructionism of Michel Foucault.  Some, for example, see Fanon as the original inspiration.  Said's book, listed below, is critical in understanding the intellectual trajectory and debates of post-colonialism.

Required:
 Edward Said, Orientalism (Vintage, 1979), Intro., chs. 1 and    3, part IV (pp. 284-328). 
 Additional readings tailored to individual interests TBA.

Recommended:
 Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place [R]
 David Williams, Japan and the Enemies of Open Political   Science (Routledge, 1996), Preface, chs. 1,2,12. [R]

April 26: Subaltern Studies and Debates

 Central to post-colonial studies has been the India-based collective that began publishing a series of historical studies in the 1980s under the title, Subaltern Studies.  The political stance of the collective and the research done by its scholars represent the most recent major phase in the long-standing debate about the meaning of development and the role of the nation-state. 

Required:
 Ashis Nandy, The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism (Oxford, 1983). [R]
 Ranajit Guha, "On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India," Subaltern Studies I, pp. 1-8; and "The Small Voice of History, Subaltern Studies IX, pp. 1-12.  [R]
 Partha Chatterjee, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World:   A Derivative Discourse? (Oxford, 1986), ch. 1. [R]
 Review Kavaraj (see week of April 5)
 Viewing: "Father, Son and Holy War"
Recommended:
 See handout on Asian post-colonial thought.

May 3: An Indian Case Study; Seminar Presentations

 Part of this week will focus on the issues raised in the film, "Father, Son and Holy War."  To what extent is its perspective post-colonial?  What theoretical issues does it raise about development, state-society relations, and contemporary politics?  We will also begin the final seminar presentations.

May 10: Final Presentations (cont.)

Note: Third essay due May 12.