Winter 2016
Carleton University
Department of Political Science
PECO 5502 W (Selected Problems in Political Economy II)
Also listed as SOCI 5505, PSCI 5502
The Political Economy of Social Change
Thurs. 14:35 - 17:25
Dunton Tower 1524
Instructor: Richard Westra
Office: Room 1503 Dunton Tower
Office Hours: Thursday 11:00 AM-1PM
Phone: 613 520-2600 ext. 7566
E-mail: Richard.westra@carleton.ca
Course Description
There certainly exists a surplus of academic writing on the malignancies of the current order
from its layers of exploitations and oppressions through its disgraceful inequalities to its
glaring environmental non-sustainability. There is also interest of late in the global growth
and interlinking of protest movements. But there is a paucity of attention being devoted to the
morning after question? If either progressive political movements accede to power or current
regimes (as odious as many are) vaporize, then what? Surely it is time for progressive policy
actors, activists, dissidents, forward looking graduate students to begin to think seriously
about future directed social change. This course does precisely that: it moves from questions
of from where substantive knowledge of human material reproduction derives to those of
how such knowledge can be put to making a progressive, economically viable, redistributive,
eco-sustainable future of human flourishing.
Students are encouraged to think creatively about how social change may be brought about in
the here and now. Such creative thinking is necessarily foregrounded in critique of the narrow
framing of social alternatives in terms of soviet-style state centralized planning and “the
market”. The course critically examines a variety of new alternatives on offer from socialists,
greens, feminists, anarchists and others. It concludes by asking the question whether even if it
is accepted that viable progressive alternatives do exist is a road open to get there?
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Participation……….20%
Presentations……… 40 %
Final course essay….40%
Total………………100%
Required Text:
Richard Westra, Exit from Globalization (London: Routledge, 2015) paperback edition.
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January 7. Introduction: No Way Out?
Exit from Globalization chapter 1
Robert Albritton, “A Phase of Transition Away From Capitalism”, in Richard Westra, Dennis
Badeen and Robert Albritton (eds.) The Future of Capitalism After the Financial Crisis: The
Varieties of Capitalism Debate in the Age of Austerity: Frontiers of Political Economy Series
(London: Routledge, 2015).
[Following discussion, time to be devoted to choosing presentation topics]
January 14. Soviet-style socialism and Marx’s Legacy
Exit from Globalization chapters 2 and 3.
Robin Blackburn, “Fin de Siècle: Socialism after the Crash”, New Left Review, I/185 (1991).
Peter Hudis, Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism (Leiden: Brill, 2012) selected
chapters.
January 21. Economic Principles Beyond “State” and “Market”
David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years (New York: Melville House, 2012) chapter 5.
Kojin Karatani, The Structure of World History: From Modes of Production to Modes of
Exchange (Durham: Duke University Press, 2014) Introduction and 10.
Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957) chapters 4, 5 and 6.
Recommended reading:
K. William Kapp, The Social Costs of Private Enterprise (New York: Schocken, 1975)
selected chapters.
January 28 & February 4. Climate Change Ultimatum: The Reform of Capitalism
Response
Exit from Globalization chapter 4
Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate (New York: Simon and
Schuster, 2014).
James Gustave Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment,
and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008)
chapters 6, 7, 8, 11.
Richard Heinberg, The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality (Gabriola
Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2011) chapters 6 and 7.
Bill McKibben, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (New
York: Henry Holt and Company) chapters 3 and 4.
David C. Korten, Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth (San
Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2009) chapters 10, 11 and 12.
February 11. Climate Change Ultimatum: Ecosocialist Response
John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark and Richard York, The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War
on the Earth (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2010) selectively, chapters 17 and 18.
Chris Williams, Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis (Chicago:
Haymarket, 2010) selectively, chapters 7 and 8.
Paul Burkett, Marx and Nature: A Red and Green Perspective (Chicago: Haymarket, 2014)
chapters 11, 12, 13, 14.
Recommended reading:
Richard Smith, “Green Capitalism: The God That Failed”, Truthout, January 9 2014,
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/21060-green-capitalism-the-god-that-failed.
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February 25. Feminist, LBGT Progressive Futures
Karin Schonpflug, Feminism, Economics and Utopia: Time Travelling through Paradigms
(London: Routledge, 2008) selected chapters.
Sherry Wolf, Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation
(Chicago: Haymarket, 2009) selected chapters.
Julie Matthaei and Barbara Brandt, “The Transformative Moment”, in Robert Albritton, Bob
Jessop and Richard Westra (eds.) Political Economy and Global Capitalism: The 21st
Century, Present and Future (London: Anthem, 2010).
Recommended reading:
Johanna Brenner, “21st Century Socialist-Feminism”, Socialist Studies, 10, 1 (2014)
http://socialiststudies.com/article/view/23486/17371
March 3. Confederalism and Community: An Anarchist Future
Murray Bookchin, Remaking Society: Pathways to a Green Future (Boston: South End Press,
1990) pp. 95-204.
Murray Bookchin, The Ecology of Freedom: The emergence and dissolution of hierarchy
(Oakland: AK Press, 2005) chapter 12.
David Graeber, The Democracy Project (London: Allen Lane, 2013) chapters 4 and 5.
Recommended reading:
David Harvey, Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution (London:
Verso: 2012) chapters 3 and 5.
March 10. Socialism Back to the Future with Markets
Exit from Globalization, chapter 5.
David Schweickart, After Capitalism (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) chapters 1,
3 and 5.
Geoffrey M. Hodgson, “Socialism against markets? A critique of two recent proposals”,
Economy and Society, 27, 4 (1998).
Fikret Adaman and Pat Devine, “Participatory planning as a deliberative democratic process:
a response to Hodgson’s critique”, Economy and Society, 30, 2 (2001).
Recommended reading:
Geoffrey M. Hodgson, “The limits to participatory planning: a reply to Adaman and Devine”,
Economy and Society, 34, 1 (2005).
March 17. Are there Real Utopias, Socialist or Otherwise?
Exit from Globalization, chapter 6.
Eric Olin Wright, Envisioning Real Utopias (London: Verso, 2010) chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Gar Alperovitz, What Then Must We do? (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2013)
parts 2 to 7.
March 24. There must be Some Way Out of Here?
Exit from Globalization, chapter 7.
Eric Olin Wright, Envisioning Real Utopias, chapters 8, 9, 10, 11.
Leo Panitch, Greg Albo and Vivek Chibber (eds.) The Question of Strategy: Socialist
Register 2013 (Pontypool: Merlin Press) chapters by Greg Albo, Hilary Wainwright and
Johanna Brenner/Nancy Holmstrom.
March 31 & April 7. Conclusion: Presentations of Final Essay Topics
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Academic Accommodations
The Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (PMC) provides services to students
with Learning Disabilities (LD), psychiatric/mental health disabilities, Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), chronic medical
conditions, and impairments in mobility, hearing, and vision. If you have a disability requiring
academic accommodations in this course, please contact PMC at 613-520-6608 or
pmc@carleton.ca for a formal evaluation. If you are already registered with the PMC, contact
your PMC coordinator to send me your Letter of Accommodation at the beginning of the
term, and no later than two weeks before the first in-class scheduled test or exam requiring
accommodation (if applicable). After requesting accommodation from PMC, meet with me to
ensure accommodation arrangements are made. Please consult the PMC website for the
deadline to request accommodations for the formally-scheduled exam (if applicable).
For Religious Observance: Students requesting accommodation for religious observances
should apply in writing to their instructor for alternate dates and/or means of satisfying
academic requirements. Such requests should be made during the first two weeks of class,
or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist, but no later than
two weeks before the compulsory academic event. Accommodation is to be worked out
directly and on an individual basis between the student and the instructor(s) involved.
Instructors will make accommodations in a way that avoids academic disadvantage to the
student. Instructors and students may contact an Equity Services Advisor for assistance
(www.carleton.ca/equity).
For Pregnancy: Pregnant students requiring academic accommodations are encouraged to
contact an Equity Advisor in Equity Services to complete a letter of accommodation. Then,
make an appointment to discuss your needs with the instructor at least two weeks prior to
the first academic event in which it is anticipated the accommodation will be required.
Plagiarism: The University Senate defines plagiarism as “presenting, whether intentional or
not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as one’s own.” This can include:
reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material,
regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper citation or
reference to the original source;
submitting a take-home examination, essay, laboratory report or other assignment written,
in whole or in part, by someone else;
using ideas or direct, verbatim quotations, or paraphrased material, concepts, or ideas
without appropriate acknowledgment in any academic assignment;
using another’s data or research findings;
failing to acknowledge sources through the use of proper citations when using another’s
works and/or failing to use quotation marks;
handing in "substantially the same piece of work for academic credit more than once
without prior written permission of the course instructor in which the submission occurs.
Plagiarism is a serious offence which cannot be resolved directly with the course’s instructor.
The Associate Deans of the Faculty conduct a rigorous investigation, including an interview
with the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has been plagiarized.
Penalties are not trivial. They may include a mark of zero for the plagiarized work or a final
grade of "F" for the course.
Student or professor materials created for this course (including presentations and posted
notes, labs, case studies, assignments and exams) remain the intellectual property of the
author(s). They are intended for personal use and may not be reproduced or redistributed
without prior written consent of the author(s).
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Submission and Return of Term Work: Papers must be submitted directly to the instructor
according to the instructions in the course outline and will not be date-stamped in the
departmental office. Late assignments may be submitted to the drop box in the corridor
outside B640 Loeb. Assignments will be retrieved every business day at 4 p.m., stamped
with that day's date, and then distributed to the instructor. For essays not returned in class
please attach a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you wish to have your assignment
returned by mail. Final exams are intended solely for the purpose of evaluation and will not
be returned.
Grading: Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor, subject to the
approval of the faculty Dean. Final standing in courses will be shown by alphabetical grades.
The system of grades used, with corresponding grade points is:
Percentage Letter grade 12-point scale Percentage Letter grade 12-point scale
90-100 A+ 12 67-69 C+ 6
85-89 A 11 63-66 C 5
80-84 A- 10 60-62 C- 4
77-79 B+ 9 57-59 D+ 3
73-76 B 8 53-56 D 2
70-72 B- 7 50-52 D- 1
Approval of final grades: Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor
subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by an
instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by
the Dean.
Carleton E-mail Accounts: All email communication to students from the Department of
Political Science will be via official Carleton university e-mail accounts and/or cuLearn. As
important course and University information is distributed this way, it is the student’s
responsibility to monitor their Carleton and cuLearn accounts.