POL 203: Introduction to Political Ideas: Democracy and Domination
Fall 2008
Description: This class explores the relationship between democracy and domination.
Not only does it explore different theoretical ways of understanding domination,
it also examines the relationship between violence and politics. Beginning with
Plato’s Trial of Socrates, the course focuses on at least three different themes:
1) different ways of understanding democratic institutions, 2) understandings of
the justifiable use of violence and 3) the education of democratic citizens.
Moreover, the course is designed to teach students how to use language in a
precise way and to make political arguments in a clear and persuasive manner.
When: MWF 11-11:50
Where: SO N210
Webpage: http://d2l.arizona.edu
Professor Suzanne Dovi
325 Social Sciences
Phone: 621-7094
Email:sdovi@u.arizona.edu
Office Hours: F 12-1 or by appointment
Graders:
Jessica McGary
Zach Shipley
email: mcgary@email.arizona.edu
email: zshipley@email.arizona.edu
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REQUIREMENTS:
Socrates memo
Outline
Final Exam
25% of grade
25% of grade
50 % of grade
Course grades will be assigned as follows:
A: 90%–100%
B: 80%–89.99% C: 70%–79.99% D: 60%–69.99% F: below 60%
The Professor reserves the right to consider the student’s overall performance in assessing grades. Final
grades will reflect the overall progress of the course. For this reason, student’s grades can go up as well as
down based on his or her overall performance in the class.
Writing Expectations for assignments
All writing assignments will be graded by three criteria: Style, Substance, and Spark.
Style is based on whether the assignment is well-written and grammatically correct. Substance
will be assessed according to two criteria. The first examines whether the student demonstrates
his or her knowledge of the text. The second criterion examines the student’s argument. In
particular, it assesses whether the student recognizes strong counter arguments to his or her
position and refutes those counter arguments. A good writing assignment addresses perspectives
that disagree with its conclusions. Papers are not graded on whether or not the student shares
positions with the Professor. Spark is comprised of the thoughtfulness and originality of the
student’s paper. If the student just parrots back what the Professor says, it lacks spark.
All writing assignments must be a .doc document, double-spaced, with 1’’
margins and a reasonable, e.g. 12 size, font. The Professor will not accept any
assignments by email. Page limits will be strictly enforced for all assignments.
Students are strongly encouraged to submit drafts to the Writing Center in order to
improve their writing, specifically to work on the appropriateness of their assignment (whether
the essay does what the assignment asks), the structure and development of ideas, the content
and the mechanics of their papers. You are also encouraged to meet with your Graduate TAs
and Professor about the assignment.
Memo: (25% of grade) This writing assignment is designed to develop students’ ability
to write clearly and concisely. The student is asked to argue for or against
Socrates’ innocence about one of the charges. Your memo should demonstrate
your mastery of the text, not your ability to “make up” arguments for or against
Socrates’ innocence. In order to receive credit for this assignment, you must
follow the instructions on the worksheet as presented in class and as directed
on the worksheet found on D2L. If you have any questions about the format,
you should meet with the professor or the TA before the assignment is due.
Quotes must have correct citations—this means page numbers must be included!
The length of each assignment will be strictly enforced.
OUTLINE: (25% of the grade) This writing assignment is designed to
improve the student’s organizational skills as well as their ability to support their position
using textual evidence. You will get a worksheet explaining the particular format of the
assignment. In order to receive credit for this assignment, you must follow the
instructions on the worksheet. Failure to follow directions will result in an “F” for the
assignment. If you have any questions about the format, you should meet with the
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professor before the assignment is due. The professor will distribute examples of
previous outlines for you to see. All outlines must consist of a clearly written thesis
statement, topic sentences, and quotes that support those topic sentences. Quotes must
have correct bibliographic citations (including page numbers)! The length of the
assignment will be strictly enforced. Concise writing is key to doing well in this
assignment.
EXAM (50% of the grade) The Final exam will consist of short answer, multiple choice
and True/False questions. It will focus simply on the reading material, films, and class
lectures from PART III and PART IV of the course. There will be no make-up tests for
the exam. Students who have a Dean-approved absence will be required to write a 15page paper in lieu of the exam.
Course Policies:
GRADE APPEAL PROCESS: Students who disagree with a grade for an assignment
must follow the following process. First, they must submit a one-page,
grammatically correct appeal letter within one week of the assignment being
turned back. This letter should be sent to the person who graded the assignment.
In the appeal letter, the student should explain why he or she substantively
disagrees with the grade. Unacceptable reasons for appealing an assignment’s or
final grade include “because I worked hard” and “because I need a certain grade
to go to graduate school.” After meeting with the grader to discuss the grade and
the student is still unsatisfied, then the student should submit the appeal letter to
the professor, the professor will arrange another meeting to discuss the grade.
Students who object to their grade should not contact the professor until after
meeting with the grader and submitting their one-page paper. Note that it is
against University policy to discuss grades over email.
ABSENTEE POLICY: All holidays or special events observed by organized religions
will be honored for those students who show affiliation with that particular
religion. Absences pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean's
designee) will be honored.
LATE POLICY: All assignments must be submitted to the dropbox of D2L by 11am on
the due date. Late assignments will be penalized one grade per day that the
assignment is due. The “day” begins at 11:01. So if the assignment is turned in at
11:05am on the date due, it will be penalized one full letter grade (the same goes
for if it is turned in at 10:59 the following day). If it is turned in on 11:01 am the
following day, it will be penalized two full letter grades. The Professor will use
the time that D2L records as the official time of submission. Please note that the
Professor does not accept “computer problems” as a legitimate reason for
lateness. You need to back up constantly your assignments. You should not be
writing these assignments at the last minute so it is not a valid excuse that you
were unable to submit your paper because your hard drive crashed, D2L crashed,
etc. I recommend saving your drafts to D2L so that way you will never be
without some version of your assignment submitted. The last version submitted
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will be graded unless otherwise instructed. Students unfamiliar with D2L should
make sure that they leave enough time to learn how to submit papers in the
dropbox.
EXPECTATIONS OF CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR: Students are expected to come to
class and to participate in an informed fashion. Please turn your pagers and
cellphones off while you are in class. Conversations on the cellphone are
absolutely forbidden. Due to the nature of this class material, I expect and hope
that students will disagree with each other. In fact, disagreements are likely to be
lively and intense, but students must at all times be respectful to each other and to
the Professor. No interruptions and no name-calling. Students should listen
attentively and be prepared to be challenged on their views. Threats to the
Professor or other students are strictly forbidden. To see the University Policy
towards threatening behavior, see http://policy.web.arizona.edu/~policy/threaten.shtml.
Failure to abide by these rules can result in the student being dropped from the
class.
PLAGIARISM: One of the most common forms of vice in the University is plagiarism.
This vice will not be tolerated by the professors. Students who are caught
plagiarizing will receive a zero for that assignment and will not be able to receive
a grade higher than a D for the class. For the University’s policies towards
plagiarism, see http://studpubs.web.arizona.edu/policies/cacaint.htm
SPECIAL NEEDS: Students with special needs who are registered with the S.A.L.T.
Center or the Disability Resource Center must submit appropriate documentation
to the instructor if they are requesting special accommodations.
COURSE CHANGES: The information contained in the course syllabus, other than the
grade and absence policies, may be subject to change with reasonable advance
notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.
EMAIL: University Policy forbids the Professor and TAs from discussing grades over
email. If you have a substantive question or concern about the course, you should
come to the Professor’s or the TA’s office hours. If you are unable to make this
time, you should contact the professor to make alternative arrangements. Note
that Professor Dovi does not check her email on the weekend, holidays, or after
5pm.
Required Texts:
Plato, The Trial of Socrates
Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince
Friedrich Durrenmatt, The Visit
Phillip Green, ed. Democracy
Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Additional Readings will be provided on D2L
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Class Assignments
August 24 Introduction
August 26 POLITICAL ARGUMENTS/POLITICAL IDEAS
PART 1: THE TRIAL OF SOCRATES
August 28 Plato’s Context: Athenian Democracy
Readings:
Plato, The Euthyphro in The Trial of Socrates
August 31 Plato’s Context: Athenian Democracy
Readings:
Plato, The Euthyphro in The Trial of Socrates
September 2 Socrates
Readings:
Plato, The Apology in The Trial of Socrates
September 4 Socrates
Readings:
Plato, The Apology in The Trial of Socrates
September 7 No class Labor Day
September 9 Socrates’ Defense
Readings:
Plato, The Crito in The Trial of Socrates
September 11: Review of Charges
September 14 Memo Due
Topic of the Memo: Students are required to write a two-page double-spaced
memo in which they recommend the Athenian citizens to find Socrates guilty or
innocent of one of the charges made against him. In this memo, students must
draw on the assigned dialogues to identify the strongest argument for or against
finding Socrates guilty of one of the charges. Please be sure to identify which
charge your memo is addressing as well as address relevant counter-arguments.
Full instructions for this memo will be available in the worksheet on the D2L
page.
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PART II MACHIAVELLI
September 16: Do the Ends Justify the Means?
September 18 Ways to interpret Machiavelli
Readings:
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Introduction, Letter to Lorenzo
Reading Advice: Pay special attention to the Dedicatory Letter. Does The Prince ask for
Machiavelli’s advice? Does Machiavelli believe that princes should listen to advice that
wasn’t asked for?
September 21 What is a Machiavellian Virtu?
Readings:
Machiavelli, The Prince, Letter to Lorenzo to Chapter 15 (pp. 5- 49)
Reading Advice: Note Machiavelli’s examples. What types of behavior does he praise
and what types of behavior does he criticize?
September 23 Machiavelli’s Method
Readings:
Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter 16-20 (pay special attention to the Preface,
Chapters xviii, xix, xx)
September 25 and 28: Machiavelli’s Advice about Violence
Readings:
Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter 20-26
Reading Advice: Reread The Prince noting Machiavelli’s advice about the use of
violence. What does Machiavelli say about rapacity? In what examples does he
seem to condone violence as acceptable or justifiable?
September 30: OUTLINE DUE
Assignment: Machiavelli recounts many horrific tales about princes who use
violence indiscriminately. In this outline, you need to describe Machiavelli’s
position about the use of violence in the political arena. Note: Machiavelli’s
views are complex. An excellent outline will offer evidence that Machiavelli
can be understood to both condone and constrain the use of violence in the
political arena. Students are required to follow the format of this assignment
as described on the worksheet that is distributed to the class. Failure to follow
these instructions will result in a failing grade. (The length of the outline will be
strictly enforced: 3 pages)
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PART III: DEMOCRACY
October 2: Defining Democracy:
Readings:
Phillip Green, ed. Democracy, “Introduction: Democracy as a Contested Ideal”
Selection I from Keywords (Ray Williams), D
October 5: Classic Texts
Readings:
Jean Jacques Rousseau Selection 2 The Social Contract D
John Stuart Mill, Selection 3 Considerations of Representative Government D
Alexis DeTocqueville, Selection 4 Democracy in America D
October 7 Dahl’s Theory of Polyarchy
Readings:
Robert Dahl “Selection 7 from Democracy and its Critics” D
October 9 and 12: Is the US a Democracy?
Readings:
Robert Dahl, Chapter 2 “What the Framers Couldn’t Know” in How Democratic
is the American Constitution D2L
CLASS: FILM
October 14: Democracy as Representation?
Readings:
David Plotke, 'Representation is Democracy', Constellations, 4/1 (Apr.
1997), 19-34. D2L
Hannah Pitkin, The Concept of Representation, Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 D2L
October 16:The Theory of Democratic Elitism
Readings:
Robert Michels Selection 8 from Political Parties D
Bernard Berelson, Paul Lazarsfeld and William McPhee, Selection 11 from
Voting D
Michel Crozier, Samuel Huntington and Joji Watanuki, Selection 12 from The
Crisis of Democracy D
Joseph Schumpeter, Selections from Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy D2L
October 19: Critique of Democratic Elitism
Readings:
Peter Bachrach Selection 15 from The Theory of Democratic Elitism D
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Kenneth Prewitt and Alan Stone, Selection 16 from The Ruling Elites D
October 21 and October 23: Democracy and Economics
Readings:
Fredrich Durrenmatt, The Visit entire
October 26: Democracy and Economics
Readings:
Selection 17 From Capitalism and Freedom (Milton Friedman) D
October 28: Democracy and Economics
Readings:
Selection 18 From Democratic Theory (C B MacPherson) D
Charles Lindblom, “The Market as Prison” D2L
October 30: Democracy and Economics Preference Formation and Capitalism
Readings:
Phillip Green, ed. Democracy, Selection 21 and 19 D
November 2: Radical Democrats
Readings:
Hannah Arendt, Selection 26 From On Revolution D
Michael Walzer, Selection 28 from Dissent D
November 4: Democracy and Inclusion
Readings:
John Dryzek, Inclusion, D2L
Suzanne Dovi, In Praise of Exclusion D2L
PART V: DEFINING OPPRESSION
November 6 Power
Readings:
John Gaventa, excerpts from Power and Powerlessness D2L
Robert Dahl, Power as the Control of Behavior Chapter D2L
November 9: Iris Marion Young Faces of Oppression
Readings:
Iris Marion Young, 5 Faces of Oppression, D2L
November 11 No Class Veteran’s Day
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November 13, 16, 18 : Democracy and Oppression
IN CLASS FILM: The Corporation
November 20: Economic Oppression
Readings:
Max Weber, Domination by Economic Power and by Authority Chapter 2 D2L
Karl Marx, Excerpt D2L
November 23: Violence and Power
Readings:
Hanna Arendt, “Communicative Power” Chapter 4 D2L
November 25: Torture and Oppression
Readings:
Henry Shue, “Torture” D2L
Alan Dershowitz, “Tortured Reasoning” D2L
Elaine Scarry, “Five Errors in the Reasoning of Alan Dershowitz” D2L
November 27: Thanksgiving no class
November 30: The Problem of Dirty Hands
Readings:
Michael Walzer, “Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands” D2L
December 2: The Invisibility of Oppression
Readings:
Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege” D2L
Marilyn Frye, “Oppression” D2L
PART V: EDUCATION AND DOMINATION
December 4: The Banking Concept of Education
Readings:
Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed Chapter 1 & 2
December 7 Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Readings:
Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed Chapter 3 and 4
December 9 Final Review/Conclusions
December 11: Final Exam
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