Statecraft and the State (DIP 600)

Spring 2010

Monday 4pm-6:30pm

 

Dr. Robert M. Farley

Office: Patterson 467

Office Hours: Tuesday, 1-3pm

Office Telephone: 859-257-4668

E-mail: farls0@gmail.com

 

Introduction

The nation-state remains the most fundamental building block of modern global society.  A growing academic literature has attempted to place the modern nation-state within the family of organizations, collectivities, and institutions that constitute the fabric of social existence.  This literature includes work on the relationship between state and society, on the origins of the modern state, on the uneasy union of nation and state, and on how the state reacts to its environment.  In the past decade, this literature on the modern nation-state has become increasingly relevant to United States foreign policy.  Policy literature about state-building and society has developed in order to inform US behavior in Iraq and Afghanistan.  This course examines the latter literature in the context of the former.  The course begins with a survey of recent academic literature on society, the state, and nationalism, then examines how the international community thinks about state-building in a policy sense.  The course concludes with a focus on state, society, and the building of institutions in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

 

Format

This course will be conducted as a graduate seminar, with minimal lectures.   I expect everyone to attend, have studied the readings, and have a familiarity with current events.  Any major reputable newspaper will suffice for the latter, although I prefer the New York Times.

 

Grading

Grading will be based on class participation (25%), and three 7-9 page analytical papers (25% each). 

 

Each of the three 7-9 page analytical papers must be typed and double-spaced.  Please do not exceed the page limit.  Although specific topic is up to you, one paper should have a regional focus, while the other should concentrate on a particular nation-state.  The papers need not hold to any particular format (policy oriented memo, for example), but should be internally consistent in focus.  Additional research is welcome, and may be necessary for the adequate presentation of some topics.  One paper is due on the week of your presentation (see below), one on the final day of the course, and one at any time during the course other than those two dates.   

 

You will be required to make an oral presentation and defense of one analytical paper during class.  You must indicate to me a preference for which week to present by the second week of the course, such that I can stagger presentations. The presentation should last about fifteen minutes, and will be followed by a fifteen minute question and answer period.  The presentation will make up 50% of your participation grade, or 12.5% of the total grade.

 

The papers will be evaluated on both content and presentation.  Information must be accurate, arguments must be well thought out, and style must be compelling. 

 

Class Materials

Purchase of the following books is strongly recommended.  When possible, purchase the specific editions noted.

 

Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital, and European States

Joel Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States

Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations

James Scott, Seeing Like a State

Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire

Robert Crews, The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq

Ali Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace

 

Week 1 (1/25): Politics as a Vocation

Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation

 

Week 2 (2/1): The Origins of the Modern State

Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital, and European States

 

Week 3 (2/8): State and Society

Joel Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States

 

Week 4 (2/15): The Origins of the Modern Nation

Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations

 

Week 5 (2/22): No Class

 

Week 6 (3/1): Care and Feeding of the Modern State

James Scott, Seeing Like a State

 

Week 7 (3/8): Academic Applications

Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire

Lars Erik-Cederman et al, Why Do Ethnic Groups Rebel?

Robert Putnam, Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games

 

Week 8 (3/22): State Building

James Dobbins et al, The Beginners Guide to Nation-Building

 

Week 9 (3/29): Human Terrain?

My Cousin’s Enemy is My Friend: A Study of PashtunTribes”in Afghanistan

Vanessa M. Gezari, Rough Terrain

Nick Masselis, Human Terrain: A Strategic Imperative on the 21st Century Battlefield

Robert Young Pelton, Afghanistan: The New War for Hearts and Minds

 

Week 10 (4/5): Afghanistan I

Robert Crews, The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

 

Week 11 (4/12): Afghanistan II

Afghanistan: State and Society, Great Power Politics, and the Way Ahead Findings from an International Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2007

 

Week 12 (4/19): Iraq I

Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq

Amatzia Baram, Neo-Tribalism in Iraq: Saddam Hussein's Tribal Policies 1991-96

 

Week 13 (4/26): Iraq II

Ali Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq