Lahore University of Management Sciences

POL 100 – Introduction to Political Science

Spring 2018


Instructor Sameen A. Mohsin Ali
Room No. TBA
Office Hours TBA
Email sameen.ali@lums.edu.pk
Telephone
Secretary/TA
TA Office Hours
Course URL (if any)

Course Basics
Credit Hours 4
Lecture(s) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week 2 Duration 100 minutes each
Recitation/Lab (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Duration
Tutorial (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Duration

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the study of Political Science. It begins by discussing what politics is, and goes on to explore
some of the major concepts and ideas in the field. Emphasis is laid on how these concepts and theories affect us as citizens of a country. The
course aims to provide an overview of political theory and philosophy, comparative politics, and international relations. It concludes with a
section on current debates and issues in political science.
By the end of the course, students will be equipped with some of the basic knowledge that will help them understand politics and political
phenomena. They will also be encouraged to think critically, and to question, contextualize and re-imagine throughout the course.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
§ Provide students with a better understanding of what politics is about and what it means to study political science
§ Help students develop a deeper understanding of the world around them, how it works, when and why it doesn’t, and what can be done to
fix it
§ Guide students in critiquing existing writing and ideas, and in structuring and writing essays.

Course Requirements/Grading
ASSESSMENT:
Attendance 5%
CP 10%
Reflection Paper 1 15%
Reflection Paper 2 15%
Midterm Exam 25%
Final Exam 30%

This class will be conducted as a seminar, which means that students are expected to actively participate in class discussion. The readings are
extensive and in order to have a fruitful discussion, it is essential that students complete the assigned reading before they come to class.

Students are encouraged to discuss all written work with the instructor well before announced due dates.

Please note that this course will be graded in relative terms.

Readings: Required readings should be completed by the date corresponding with the topic as indicated on this syllabus. All readings are
available in the reading package placed on reserve at the library. Any changes that are made to the syllabus will be announced in class. Readings
with an * before them are recommended, but not required.

Attendance: Regular class attendance is essential for this course. Given that there may be times that you are unable to attend class, you may
miss 2 classes over the course of the semester without incurring any penalty. After the second absence, one point will be deducted off your
attendance grade for each additional absence.



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Participation: This will be evaluated on the basis of high quality contributions to the seminar discussion. If you do not speak up, I will call on
you directly.

Reflection Paper 1 & 2: A Reflection Paper should be 2-4 pages in length (double-spaced, font size 12”, Times New Roman, 1” margin on all
sides). The papers have to be submitted in hard and soft copy.

Students will choose one topic from the sessions before the Midterm and one topic from the sessions after the midterm. They must apply what
they have read for the topic on a case of their choice, and write a brief paper on their findings, relating them to the reading/s for the session.

The objective is to write a short essay that shows clearly that you have understood, absorbed and applied the readings of a particular week of
your choice; that you can critically engage with the arguments made by the authors; that you can apply theories, ideas, and concepts to the
real world; and that you can analytically convey what you think of the reading/s. The paper is therefore, not supposed to be a regurgitated
summary of the readings or of research findings, but instead an exercise in analysis and synthesis. Neither should it be a collection of quotes
from existing literature, but the students’ own work.

Papers will be due ONE WEEK after the session for which the case is listed is held. For example, if a student is interested in a case for
Session 10, then his or her paper will be due in Session 12.

Students are encouraged to start planning their papers early on in the semester so that they may space out their workload. Students are
encouraged to discuss their essays with the instructor and/or TAs well before the deadlines, and to start writing early on so that they may
space out their workload.

Cheating and Plagiarism
Written work must be properly cited in accordance with the Harvard OR Chicago style. If you take an idea from the text, another book,
newspaper, or any other source, you must give the author credit. Furthermore, changing one or two words in a sentence is not an acceptable
substitution for not using quotation marks. It is expected that all assignments represent original work not previously or simultaneously
handed in for credit in another. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other violations of the honor code will be dealt with according to LUMS policy.



COURSE OUTLINE

Session 1: Introduction to the course
Course outline, readings, rules, assignments, plagiarism

Concepts in Political Science

Session 2: What is Politics?

Grigsby, E. Analysing Politics. Chap 2
Weber, Max. Politics as a Vocation.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/moriyuki/abukuma/weber/lecture/politics_vocation.html
Farr, James. 1988. “The History of Political Science.” American Journal of Political Science 32(4): 1175–95
*Jackson, R. and Jackson, D. The World of Politics: Countries and Concepts. p 1-8
*Andrew Heywood. “What is politics?” in Politics. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1997: 3-22
Bhargava, Rajeev 2010: What is Political Theory?, Delhi: Oxford India Press, pp. 20-25.
*Andrew Heywood. Political Ideas and Concepts: an introduction London: Macmillan Publishers,
1994: Chapter 4
*Jackson, R. and Jackson, D. The World of Politics: Countries and Concepts. p 8-15
*Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Chapter XV.
*Bertrand Russell, “Forms of Power” in Steven Lukes (ed.) Power. UK: Basil Blackwell, 1986: 19-28
*Max Weber, “Domination by Economic Power and by Authority” in Steven Lukes (ed.) Power. UK: Basil Blackwell, 1986: 28-37

Session 3: Key concepts in Politics. Power, Authority, the State
Grigsby, E. Chap 3.
Dunleavy, P. Chap 1
*Poggi, Gianfranco. The Sate, its Nature, Development and Prospects. Pp. 19-32
*Heywood, Andrew 1997: Politics, Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 83-99

Session 4: The State in the Western Experience


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Dunleavy Chap 2
Grigsby Chap 4
*Theory 1: The State as Monopolizing Violence
*Tilly, Charles 1985: War Making and State Making as Organized Crime in Evans, Peter; Dietrich Rueschmeyer & Theda Skocpol
(ed.) 1985: Bringing the State Back In, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 169-170, 186. (3 pages)
Theory 2: The State as a Social Contract
*Hobbes, T. TBA
*Rousseau, Jean Jaques. Sections 6-9. http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon_01.htm#006
*Celeste, Friend. "Social Contract Theory [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 15 Oct.
2004. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/#H2>. (9 pages)


Session 5: Where does the State come from? The Colonial Experience
Kaviraj, S. 2009. The Post-colonial State: the special case of India
https://criticalencounters.net/2009/01/19/the-post-colonial-state-sudipta-kaviraj/
Bose and Jalal. Modern South Asia Chap 18 and 19 – not in course pack, will be made available to
students.
Alavi, Hamza 1972: The State in Post-Colonial Societies – Pakistan and Bangladesh, New Left Review. Not in course pack – will be
made available to students.
Ahmed, Eqbal. Third World States
http://www.bitsonline.net/eqbal/articles_by_eqbal_view_A6AEF4B1.htm
http://www.bitsonline.net/eqbal/articles_by_eqbal_view_D1C59197.htm
http://www.bitsonline.net/eqbal/articles_by_eqbal_view_3F3CB2C9.htm


Session 6: Ideologies - Liberalism/Conservatism/Socialism
Grigsby, E. Chap 5
Dunleavy Chap 3
*Heywood, Andrew. Political Ideologies: An Introduction.
pp. 155-187
*Eatwell, Roger 1993: Ideologies – Approaches and Trends in Eatwell, Roger and Anthony Wright (ed.) 1993: Contemporary
Political Ideologies, London: Pinter, pp. 1-11 (11 pages)
*Gamble, John King et. al. 1991: Introduction to Political Science, Second Edition, pp. 63-85.
*Eatwell, Roger and Anthony Wright (ed.) 1993: Contemporary Political Ideologies, London: Pinter, pp. 100-103,
104-106, 107-113
*Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels: Excerpts from the Communist Manifesto. (1 page)
*Lenin, Vladimir I. 1917: The State and Revolution
http://www.thenagain.info/Classes/Sources/StateRev.html
*Heywood, Andrew. Politics. pp. 45-55
----, Political Ideologies. pp. 105-117, 143-154, 25-69

Session 7: Extremism, Fascism, Islamism
Grigsby Chap 6
Ahmed, Eqbal. 1999. Religion in Politics
http://www.bitsonline.net/eqbal/articles_by_eqbal_view_E505B852.htm
http://www.bitsonline.net/eqbal/articles_by_eqbal_view_47F29CB8.htm
*Mussolini, Benito: Fundamental Ideas in Twentieth Century Political Theory – A Reader, New York/London:
Routledge. (2 pages)
*Bin Laden, Osama Oct 30 2004: Transcript of Osama bin Laden’s Speech, Al Jazeera.net (online publication),
Doha, Qatar. (1 page)

Session 8: Feminism, Environmentalism and other ideologies,
Grigsby, Ellen. Chap 7
*Heywood, Andrew 1997: Politics, Palgrave MacMillan, 58-60 (3 pages)




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Session 9: Democracy and non-democracy
Grigsby Chap 8
Coppedge et al. Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: A New Approach
*Heywood, Andrew 1997: Politics, Palgrave MacMillan, 65-82
*Brooker, Paul 2000: Non-Democratic Regimes – Theory, Government and Politics, New York: St. Martins Press,
pp. 1-35 (35 pages).
*Ranney, “Democracy and Authoritarianism: Principles and Models” in op.cit. pp. 93-112
*Philips Shively, “Non-democratic Government” in Power and Choice: An introduction to political science. USA: McGraw Hill, 1995:
140-54

Session 10: Political Parties and Interest groups
Grigsby Chap 9
*Heywood, Chapter 13 “Groups, Interest and Movements” in Politics, pp. 251-
268, 230-250

Session 11: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, Military
Grigsby Ch 10
Siddiqa, Ayesha. Pakistan’s Modernity: Between Military and Militancy http://criticalppp.com/archives/66133
*Montesquieu, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/montesquieu-spirit.asp
*Dyke, Vernon Van 1992: Introduction to Politics, Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, pp.
51-63 (12 pages) Ranney, Austin. Governing. Pp. 25-34.
*Ahmed, Eqbal. http://www.bitsonline.net/eqbal/articles_by_eqbal_view_260F3897.htm
*Heywood, Chapter 14 “Constitutions, the Law and Judiciaries in Politics,
pp. 273-312.

Session 12: Elections and Voting
Reybrouck, D. V. Why elections are bad for democracy.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/why-elections-are-
bad-for-democracy
Critique of ^ - Margulies, B.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2016/10/20/book-review-
against-elections-the-case-for-democracy-by-david-van-reybrouck/

Anderson, B. The politics of election South-East Asia
*Heywood. Chapter 11 “Representation, Elections and Voting” in Politics,
pp. 205-228.

Session 13: Mid-term Exam

Session 14: In-class exercise – Designing a State

Session 15: Ways of Structuring the State
Law, J. 2013. How can we define federalism?
Myerson, R. B. 2006. Federalism and Incentives for Success of Democracy. Quarterly Journal of
Political Science 1:3-23.
Schmitter, P. C. 1999. Federalism & Democracy
*Heywood, Chapter 7, “Subnational Politics” in Politics. pp.122-137.

Session 16: Bureaucracies
Weber, M. Bureaucracy.
Pakistan - ICG, 2011. Reforming Pakistan’s Civil Service.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-
asia/pakistan/185%20Reforming%20Pakistans%20Civil%20Service.pdf p.2-25
*Heywood, “Political Executives”, “Bureaucracies”
pp. 315-358.



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Session 17: Political Culture
Wedeen, L. 2002. Conceptualizing Culture.
Huntington, Samuel P. 1993: The Clash of Civilizations, Foreign Affairs,
Said, Edward Oct 4 2001: The Clash of Ignorance, The Nation
*Heywood, Andrew 1997: Politics, Palgrave MacMillan, 185-191, 202. (8 pages)

Session 18: Civil Society and Citizenship
Berman, S. 1997. Civil Society and Political Institutionalization. http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~gmarkus/berman.html
TBA
*Faulks, Keith 2002: Citizenship in Blakeley, Georgina and Valerie Bryson 2002: UContemporary Political Concepts – A
Critical IntroductionU, London/Sterling, Virginia: Pluto Press, pp. 35-50.
*Zaidi, Akbar October 2008: Abstract for: An Emerging Civil Society?, Journal of Democracy,Vol. 19, No. 4. (1 page)
*Rais, Rasul Bakhsh 2007: Civil Society and Democratic Transition, Daily Times, September 25th,
2007. (1 Page)

Session 19: Nationalism & Ethnicity
Barth, F. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries
Smith, A. D. 1996. Culture, Community and Territory
Wilkinson, P. 2000. Nationalism and its consequences
*Anderson, Benedict 1983: Imagined Communities, London: Verso, pp.
1-7 (8 pages)
*Fanon chap 3

Session 20: Race, Religion
Winant, H. 2000. Race and Race Theory
Crenshaw, K. 1991. Mapping the margins
Norris and Inglehart, Testing the Clash of Civilizations Thesis

Session 21: Social Movements & in-class exercise
Little, W. Social Movements and Social Change
https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter21-social-movements-and-
social-change/
Tilly, C. Social Movements as Politics. Ch 1 and 6
*Arendt, H. On Revolution. Introduction.
https://archive.org/stream/OnRevolution/ArendtOn-revolution_djvu.txt

Session 22: Politics of Space
Yuval-Davis, Anthias, Kofman. Secure borders and safe haven
Grabar, H. Smartphones and the uncertain future of spatial thinking
https://www.citylab.com/life/2014/09/smartphones-and-the-uncertain-future-of-spatial-
thinking/379796/
Gupta, A. and Ferguson, J. Beyond Culture: Space, Identity, and the politics of difference.

Session 23: International Relations
Grigsby Chap 11 and 12
Hoffman, S. An American Social Science: International Relations

Current Debates and Issues in Political Science

Session 24: The Dark Side of Democracy?
Bermeo, N. 1992. Democracy and the Lessons of Dictatorship
Sen, A. 2006. Development as Freedom.
Sen, A. 1999. Democracy as a Universal Value.
*Carter, April & Geoffrey Stokes (ed.) 1998: Liberal Democracy and its Critics, Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 1-20. (20 pages)
*Roy, Arundhati 2009: Listening to Grasshoppers – Field Notes on Democracy, London: Hamish Hamilton, pp. ix-


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xxxvii. (28 pages) Case Readings

Session 25: The End of History and The Future of History
Fukuyama, Francis 1989: The End of History, National Interest Summer 1989. (16 pages)
---, 2011. The Future of History. http://www.viet-studies.info/kinhte/FA_FutureOfHistory_Fukuyama.htm
*Gramsci, Antonio 2010: Selections from Prison Notebooks, http://www.studyintellectualism.com/wp-
content/uploads/2010/09/Selections-from- the-Prison-Notebooks.docU. (5 pages)

Session 26: Political Violence and Terrorism
Sandler, T. Terrorism and Counter-terrorism
Goodwin, J. Introduction to a Special Issue on political violence and terrorism
Ahmed, Eqbal. Terrorism: Theirs and Ours http://www.sangam.org/ANALYSIS/Ahmad.htm


Session 27: War Game


Session 28: Revision
























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Session 27: Movie

Session 28: Movie