London, England
- curriculum: Resident Director Courses for Fall, 2004 -
CLICK HERE for Spring, 2005 Courses

Sankaran Krishna
Department of Political Science

POLS 305: Britain, Globalization and Comparative Politics (W)

Pre-requisites
Introductory Political Science Course OR Instructor’s consent

Course Description
This course is designed to serve as an introduction to the study of globalization and comparative politics through an intense examination of one of the oldest and most influential political systems in the world, viz.; Great Britain. After a brief introduction to the sub-discipline of Comparative Politics, we will undertake a detailed examination of English structures of governance, political parties, parliament, political culture, inherited socio-political traditions, socio-economic policies of the post-war era, and the issues of immigration, racial integration, and multiculturalism. In the second half of the course, we will in turn examine the often thorny and vexed relationship between England, on the one hand, and Ireland, Scotland and Wales, on the other; the on-going negotiations between England and its relationship to the European Union; and finally the profound changes in England’s economy, society and polity in the era of globalization. At the end of this course, you ought to have acquired a background in (a) the sub-field of comparative politics, (b) detailed knowledge about the historical, political and socio-economic structures of England, especially of its parliamentary form of governance, (c) the pattern of its relations with its immediate neighbors, specifically Scotland, Wales and Ireland; (d) the relationship of England to the European Union - both in its early decades and contemporarily; and (e) the changing role and position of England in a rapidly globalizing world economy and society. Throughout, the course will attempt to integrate the academic and experiential opportunities afforded by our residence in London. You may expect frequent field trips to the institutions that constitute the core of the British polity - the Parliament, the Palace, the press, and other related institutions.

Course Readings
We will be using most of our materials from the following books, which are listed in alphabetical order. In addition to purchasing one or possibly two paper-back editions of basic texts, the rest will be made available (free of charge) to students in the form of a bound reader before our departure for London.

Course Expectations
Everyone is expected to come to the class meetings having done the assigned readings for the day. Class time will be used to explicate and discuss important aspects of the material - not cover them in their entirety through lectures. As one might expect with a course on British politics set in London, we will be making a number of field trips to sites of historical and contemporary relevance - including watching parliamentary debate with all its thrust and parry; the Palace and Tower; provincial and national institutions of political relevance; and museums and monuments. As with any Writing Intensive course, you may expect to do a fair amount of written work - comprising a diversity of genres, including short-papers, reaction papers, analytical essays and one longer paper. The topic for the longer paper will ideally reflect your major and/or your interest in any particular aspect of British politics - political economy, post-war political controversies, parliamentary politics, race relations, immigration, communications, whatever. I will work with each of you on writing skills, and you can expect at least three one-on-one sessions with me during the semester focusing exclusively on writing skills. In addition, each of you will maintain a diary - or a personal scrapbook - recording the daily experiences of your semester abroad. This can be multi-media - essays, pictures, videos, etc. - and will hopefully constitute your own memento for the semester. Your final grade will depend on the quality of your written assignments, your participation in all activities, and the final dossier you put together.

Course Grading
10 short papers together worth 50% of grade; 1 research paper worth 25% of grade; Dossier worth 15% of grade; and Attendance and Participation worth 10% of final grade.

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POLS 333: Advanced Topics in Global Politics: “London Fractal” (W)

Pre-requisites
Introductory Political Science course OR instructor’s consent

Course Description
Savor the following gorgeous depiction of England (it works best if you can hear it in the voice and diction of Sir John Gielgud) from William Shakespeare’s The Life and Death of King Richard II:

This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise;
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world;
This precious stone set in the silver seaY
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England (act 2, scene I).

Now, contrast the above with the stuttering and stammering of the character S.S. (Whisky) Sisodia as he makes this devastatingly insightful comment on England in Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses:

“The trouble with the Eng-english is that their hiss-hiss-history happened overseas so they do-do-don’t know what it means” (p. 343).

London Fractal is a course that seeks to span the distance between these quotations - taken from two of the premier wordsmiths in the English language. London as the archetypal capital embodying the essence of an island nation, unique in its genius, unsullied in its history, and pure in heart, mind and body - versus the “Ellowen Deeowen” of Rushdie’s dazzling prose, a world city marked by centuries of miscegenation, arrivals and departures, inter-mixing, enriching, and not so much a protected island as an entrepot, a cross-road that captures and sustains the tremendous energy of globalization of the last four centuries. London Fractal will present a series of vignettes that read London from a multiplicity of vantage points - as the capital of one of the world’s most ancient, influential, imperial and consequential civilizations; as an enduring financial City that has orchestrated global trade in commodities, bullion, slaves, and fashion; as a political lodestar with its unwritten Constitution, tradition of civil discourse, parliamentary debate, and liberal democratic ideology; as a world city that energetically hums with people, fashions, smells, cuisines, and histories drawn from all over; as the intellectual leader of the modern era - with its universities and their traditions of inquiry into science, philosophy and all things material and metaphysical; as a city riven by class and with a long and distinguished history of labor organization, militancy and politics; and as an avant garde space in the ongoing renegotiations of sexual and gender politics.

Course Readings
We will read excerpts from a large number of recent and more distant works. As you will readily see, they range over a wide gamut of political, economic, cultural, racial, historical, sociological and literary issues. We will begin with excerpts from the works of authors such as Simon Schama and F.H.W. Sheppard to give us a broad-brush introduction to the history of England and London. Thereafter we will explore, in turn, issues relating to political economy; cultural politics; race, immigration, diaspora; gender and queer politics; globalization and the City of London; architecture and changing notions of public and private space; and other related issues. All these excerpts will be collected and organized thematically into a reading package available (free of charge) to students before we leave for London. Our time in London will allow us to, literally, ‘flesh’ out these readings through visits to the institutions, sites, neighborhoods, and monuments that the readings will discursively anticipate for us. In addition, we will also be viewing a select number of videos - ranging from enduring classics such as Shakespearean plays produced by BBC, to the more recent productions of Channel 4 (Goodness Gracious Me, The Kumars in # 42), to feisty new movies (Bhaji on the Beach, Bend It Like Beckham, The Buddha of Suburbia, My Beautiful Launderette), and the exploding music scene resplendent with the sounds of a diasporic Black-Brown-White Atlantic. The reading excerpts will be selected chapters from the following books - at this point, they are arranged alphabetically rather than thematically:

Course Requirements
We will meet twice a week for a total of 3 hours of class-room contact per week. In addition to regular attendance for classroom sessions, you will also be expected to view the various video documentaries and participate in the many field trips that constitute part of this course. As with any Writing Intensive course, you may expect to do a fair amount of written work - comprising a diversity of genres, including short-papers, reaction papers, analytical essays and one longer paper. The topic for the longer paper will ideally reflect your major and/or your interest in any particular fractal of London - architecture, political economy, parliamentary politics, race relations, immigration, communications, whatever. I will work with each of you on writing skills, and you can expect at least three one-on-one sessions with me during the semester focusing exclusively on writing skills. In addition, each of you will maintain a diary - or a personal scrap book - recording the daily experiences of your semester abroad. This can be multi-media - essays, pictures, videos, etc. - and will hopefully constitute your own memento for the semester. Your final grade will depend on the quality of your written assignments, your participation in all activities, and the dossier you put together.

Course Grading
Short Papers: 10 papers together worth 50% of final grade
1 longer research (term) paper worth 25% of final grade
Study Abroad dossier worth 15% of final grade
Attendance and participation 10% of final grade

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