POLS 455 NORTH-SOUTH RELATIONS
SPRING 2015
SYLLABUS
Instructor: Zühre Aksoy
Office: IB 501
Office Hours: M 10:00-12:00
e-mail: zuhre.aksoy@boun.edu.tr
Teaching Assistant: Levent Önen
Course Description:
This course is intended to provide an overview of the relations between the North and the
South with a focus on the history and the debates on development, the role of international
institutions, and the current discussions on international distributive justice, globalization and
democratic governance. We will first examine various definitions of development, and then
look into the historical background of development in the context of capitalism. Second, we
will review some of the debates on modernization, development and underdevelopment, and
then focus on North-South relations during the Cold War and the post-Cold War periods. A
discussion of the international institutions and development will be followed by an in-depth
analysis of the relations between the North and the South in cases which have provided
significant controversy: agriculture and the politics of food, the environment, intellectual
property rights. The last three weeks of the course will examine the arguments for
international distributive justice, the globalization process, the rising powers and the quest for
global democratic governance.
Requirements:
Class sessions will be a mixture of lecture and discussion. Students are expected to come to
class and have completed the assigned readings before the designated session. Regular
attendance is required.
There will be a midterm and a final exam. There will also be a group assignment. Students
will form of groups of three to four, and analyze a current issue in global politics in the
context of North-South relations. The group will write a (10-15 pages) paper on the topic,
present their findings to the class, which will be followed by a class discussion. More
information will be given about the paper and the presentation during class.
Grading:
Class attendance and participation in discussion: 20 %
Group Assignment: 25 %
Midterm exam: 25 %
Final exam (cumulative): 30 %
Academic Honesty:
The Department of Political Science and International Relations has the following rules and
regulations regarding academic honesty.
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1. Copying work from others or giving and receiving answers/information during exams
either in written or oral form constitutes cheating.
2. Submitting take-home exams and papers of others as your own, using sentences or
paragraphs from another author without the proper acknowledgement of the original
author, insufficient acknowledgement of the consulted works in the bibliography, all
constitute
plagiarism.
For
further
guidelines,
you
can
consult
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/provost/pdf/AvoidingPlagiarism.pdf
3. Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and will result in:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
an automatic “F” in the assignment or the exam
an oral explanation before the Departmental Ethics Committee
losing the opportunity to request and receive any references from the entire faculty
losing the opportunity to apply in exchange programs
losing the prospects of becoming a student assistant or a graduate assistant in the
department
The students may further be sent to the University Ethics committee or be subject to
disciplinary action.
READING LIST
1. Introduction (February 9, 10)
Gilbert Rist, The History of Development (London: Zed Books, 1997), pp.1-24.
2. Modernization, Development and Underdevelopment (February 16, 17)
Richard Peet and Elaine Hartwick, Theories of Development (New York, Guilford Press,
1999), pp.1-16.
W.W. Rostow, ‘The Five Stages of Growth’, in Development and Underdevelopment: The
Political Economy of Global Inequality, Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe-Smith (eds.),
pp. 123-131 (reprinted from the Stages of Economic Growth, W. W. Rostow, New York:
Cambridge University Press).
Andre Gunder Frank ‘The Development of Underdevelopment’, in Imperialism and
Underdevelopment: A Reader (edited by Robert Rhoades, (Monthly Review Press).
3. The North and the South (February 23, 24)
Jacqueline Anne Braveboy-Wagner, (2009) Institutions of the Global South. (Routledge),
pp.1-54.
Sally Morphet (2004), ‘Multilateralism and the Non-Aligned Movement: What is the Global
South Doing and Where Is It Going?’, Global Governance, 10, 4, pp. 517-37.
Vicky Randall (2004), ‘Using and Abusing the Concept of the Third World: Geopolitics and
the Comparative Political Study of Development and Underdevelopment’, Third World
Quarterly, 25, 1 pp. 41-53.
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4. International Institutions and Development (March 2, 3)
Caroline Thomas, (2001), ‘Global Governance, Development and Human Security: Exploring
the Links’, Third World Quarterly, 22, 2, pp. 159-175.
Ziya Öniş and Fikret Şenses, (2005), ‘Rethinking the Emerging Post-Washington Consensus’,
Development and Change, 36, 2, pp. 263-290.
World Bank, World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society and Behavior (Overview).
5. Film Screening (March 9, 10)
March 9: Groups will be formed and topics determined.
March 10: Film Screening: Black Gold
Reading for film screening: Candace Archer and Stefan Fritsch. 2010. Global Fair Trade:
Humanizing Globalization and Reintroducing the Normative to International Political
Economy. Review of International Political Economy.17, 1. 103-128.
6. Agriculture and the Politics of Food (March 16, 17)
Jennifer Clapp, (2006), ‘WTO Agricultural Negotiations: Implications for the Global South’,
Third World Quarterly, 27, 4, pp.563-577.
World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development (Overview): 1-24.
Marion Nestle ‘Using Public Relations: Infant formula Versus Breast-Feeding’ in Marion
Nestle, Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, (Berkeley:
University of California Press,2002), pp.145-158.
Saturnino M. Borras and Jennifer Franco. 2012. Global Land Grabbing and Trajectories of
Agrarian Change: A Preliminary Analysis. Journal of Agrarian Change, 12, 1, pp.34-59.
7. Environment (March 23, 24)
Marc Williams, (2005), ‘The Third World and Global Environmental Negotiations: Interests,
Institutions and Ideas’, Global Environmental Politics, 5, 3, pp.48-69.
Andrew Hurrell and Sandeep Sengupta, (2012), ‘Emerging Powers, North-South Relations
and Global Climate Politics, International Affairs, 88, 3, pp. 463-484.
James Fairhead, Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones (2012) “Green Grabbing: A New Appropriation
of Nature,” Journal of Peasant Studies, (39): 2, pp.237-261.
March 23: Group assignment paper outlines are due
8. (March 30, 31)
MIDTERM EXAM: MARCH 31 TUESDAY (In class)
9. Intellectual Property Rights (April 6, 7)
Susan K. Sell and Christopher May. 2001. Moments in Law: Contestation and Settlement in
the History of Intellectual Property. Review of International Political Economy, 8, 3, pp.467500.
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Valbona Muzaka. 2009. Developing Countries and the Struggle on the Access to medicines
Front: victories won and lost. Third World Quarterly, 30, 7, pp.1343-1361.
İpek Eren-Vural (2007), ‘Domestic Contours of Global Regulation: Understanding the Policy
Changes on Pharmaceutical Patents in India and Turkey’, Review of International Political
Economy, 14, 1, pp.105-142.
10. International Distributive Justice (April 13, 14)
Charles Beitz, ‘International Distributive Justice’ in Political Theory and International
Relations, (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1979), pp.125-183.
Thomas W. Pogge. 2011. What is Global Justice? In Politics as Usual: What Lies behind the
Pro-poor Rhetoric? by Thomas W. Pogge, (Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity), pp.6-24.
Group Assignment Presentations (I)
11. SPRING BREAK: NO CLASS (April 20, 21)
12. Globalization and Global Governance (April 27, 28)
Keith Griffin (2003), ‘Economic Globalization and Institutions of Global Governance’,
Development and Change, 34, 5, pp.789-807.
Servaas Storm and Mohan Rao (2004), ‘Market-led Globalization and World Democracy:
Can the Twain ever meet? Development and Change, 35, 3, pp.564-581.
James K. Boyce (2004), ‘Democratizing Global Economic Governance’, Development and
Change, 35, 3, pp.593-599.
Group Assignment Presentations (II)
13. Rising Powers and Global Governance (May 4, 5)
Marco Vieira. 2012. Rising States and Distributive Justice: Reforming International Order in
the 21st Century. Global Society 26 (3), pp. 311-329.
Ramesh Takur. 2014. How representative are brics?. Third World Quarterly, 35, 10, pp. 17911808.
Matthew D. Stephen. 2014. Rising Powers, Global Capitalism, and Liberal Global
Governance: A Historical Materialist Account of the BRICs Challenge. European Journal of
International Relations, pp.1-27.
Group Assignment Presentations (III)
14. Film Screening (May 11, 12).
May 12: Group assignment papers are due + Film Screening
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