Global Politics, Law and Culture
Prof: Dr. Geoffrey Whitehall
Course: Political Science 1403
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00-11:30 in BAC 244
Office: BAC 215
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 11:30-12:00, Thursday 1-2 pm or by appointment
Contact: g.whitehall@acadiau.ca Phone: 902-585-1288
Website: http://www.acadiau.ca/~gwhiteha/site/Welcome.html
Course Overview:
POLS 1403 is an introduction to the study of Politics that focuses on contemporary global politics. The
objectives of the course are threefold: First, you will be introduced to the key concepts that provide the
foundation for subsequent courses in International Relations and Comparative Politics. Second, you will be
introduced to contemporary global issues and have the opportunity to discuss them. Third, you will develop the
core academic skills of critical reading and writing. In general, the course is designed for majors who seek a
future in global activities and non-majors who are simply interested in finding out more their world.
Course Expectations:
I will use an interactive format for this course. This is a performative space that I find most comfortable and
students have found most open, flexible and rewarding. What this means, however, is that each class will, to
varying degrees, rely on your participation. Generally, I will give an introductory lecture on the topic that we are
examining and explore some of the controversies that provide the context for the week’s readings. Since we are
engaging with the world(s) around us, I hope to provide an atmosphere that is sensitive to interests that emerge
in the class and are not limited to any pre-defined topics or problems. Therefore, the second half of the class
commonly requires that I move into a facilitating role, encouraging questions, helping develop your arguments
further and taking up missed opportunities etc.…
The amount of reading in this course might seem onerous to some; however, the texts have been chosen
because of their accessibility and with non-sadist intentions. For starters, I am starting from a place of respect. I
respect your abilities as thinkers and managers of your time. All these texts have been chosen because they are
written by public intellectuals or are written by academics for a public audience. We have tried to keep the books
to about 100-200 pages. More importantly, I want you to be able to do a couple of things after your first year at
University. First, I want to expose you to current issues and contemporary authors so that in upper level courses
you will have some context from which to draw. In other words, I want you to be able to get behind a
contemporary issue and look at its historical, cultural economic social and political complexity. This cannot
happen from excerpts from books or from abstractions and generalizations. To this end, the textbook industry
is failing you. Second, I want you to be able to read with intent. That means that I want you to learn how to
read a text with ease. This means that you should not think that you need to know everything in it. A book is an
invitation into a conversation, read with a purpose or question in mind. You should not be afraid of a book,
and the best way to improve your reading and writing skills is by reading.
This course aims to develop your skills of critical reading and critical writing. Critical reading and
writing implies reflecting upon the background workings in order to develop your political understandings. This
means, as you will see, more than simply reading a text or writing a paper. It means critically engaging with the
text, pulling it apart and putting it back together (sometimes in new ways). You should, therefore, always be
striving in your written work, and coming to class prepared to: 1) propose an interpretation of the texts; 2)
identify the central issues, concepts or conflicts that exist in the texts; 3) evaluate the "authors" tactics; 4)
investigate the implications of the arguments; and 5) relate your ideas to ideas presented by other students and to
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the world(s) around you. Your success in this course, and the success of the course for everyone else, depends
on your readings of the texts.
In order to make this class work, everyone must enter these classes with an ethic of mutual respect and
openness. The point of the class is neither to "win" arguments nor to "passively" receive information. Given this
course will raise peoples emotions please remember that we are all trying to figure things out and that NO
personal attack will be rewarding or helpful. We all have differing degrees of shyness, different reading speeds
and differing approaches to engaging with issues, so it is important that we all participate in active listening and
active participation. We all have things to teach and learn from each other.
Required Reading:
All of these texts are available for purchase at the Campus Bookstore but may be found cheaper elsewhere.
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Gwynne Dyer, Climate Wars (Toronto: Vintage, 2009)
Stephen Lewis, Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS Ravaged Africa. (Toronto: House of Anans Press, 2006)
Joe Sacco, Palestine, (Fantagraphics Books, 2001)
Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion, (Vintage Canada, 2010)
Charles Bowden, Murder City, (Nation Books, 2010)
The Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection, (Semiotext(e), 2009)
Malalai Joya, A Woman Among Warlords, (Scribner, 2009)
Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger, (Free Press, 2008)
Arundhati Roy, Listening to Grasshoppers, (Penguin, 2009)
Peter Sloterdijk, Terror from the Air, (Semiotext(e), 2009)
FYI: All books from last year:
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Stephen Lewis, Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS Ravaged Africa. (Toronto: House of Anans Press, 2006)
Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2007)
Benjamin Dangl, The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. (Oakland: AK Press, 2007).
Fareed Zakaria, Post-American World (New York: Norton, 2009)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus (Toronto: Random House, 2003)
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts (London: Verso, 2002)
Slavlov Zizek, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce (London: Verso, 2009)
Wade Davis, The Wayfinders (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2009)
Gwynne Dyer, Climate Wars (Toronto: Vintage, 2009)
Somaly Mam, The Road of Lost Innocence (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2009)
FYI: All books from 2009/10:
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David Batstone, 2007. Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade—and How We Can Fight It. New York: HarperOne.
Stephen Lewis, Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS Ravaged Africa. (Toronto: House of Anans Press, 2006)
Benjamin Dangl, The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. (Oakland: AK Press, 2007).
Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2007)
Robyn Meridith, 2008. The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us. New York: Norton
Michael Pollan, 2008. In Defense of Food. New York: Penguin.
Tariq Ali, 2008. The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Plan of American Power. New York: Scribner.
Chinua Achebe, 2000. Things Fall Apart. New York: Heinemann.
Judith Butler, 2004. Precarious Life. New York: Verso.
Thomas King, 2003. The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto: House of Anansi Press.
FYFI: All books from the 2008/09:
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Stephen Lewis, Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS Ravaged Africa. (Toronto: House of Anans Press, 2006)
Benjamin Dangl, The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. (Oakland: AK Press, 2007).
Mary Anne Weaver, 2003. Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Thomas Turner, 2007. The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth, and Reality. New York: Zed Books
Michael Pollan, 2007. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin.
Luis Alberto Urrea, 2004. The Devil’s Highway: A True Story. New York: Back Bay Books.
Jimmy Carter, 2007. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. New York: Simon and Schuster.
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Paul Gilroy, 2005. Postcolonial Melancholia. New York: Columbia University Press.
Margaret Somerville, 2006. The Ethical Imagination. Toronto: House of Anansi Press.
Thomas King, 2003. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto: House of Anansi Press.
Course Assignments:
Final grades in the course will be based on the following components:
Weekly journals (20%). The purpose of the 1403 Journal is to give you a chance to write down your
thoughts about the book you have just read. Keep this guideline in mind while reading the week’s book
since it will help you learn to read critically. To read critically does not mean “to read negatively;” instead, it
means to read with specific goals, questions or problems in mind. So, keep a pencil handy while reading.
This way you can flag the necessary elements (below) in your book and return to them later in your journal.
If you have not read (most of) the book, then you obviously cannot write the journal (please see very serious
plagiarism policy for this course below). In your journal you should:
1. Identify the key argument of the book. Using Chicago style citations, cite the page number (even
if you’ve paraphrased).
2. Explain the necessary steps that would be required in order to prove or support that
argument. Using Chicago style citations, cite the page number (even if you’ve paraphrased).
3. Identify the key supporting evidence used by the author. Using Chicago style citations, cite the
page number (even if you’ve paraphrased).
4. Identify and explain three concepts that are important to the author’s argument. Using
Chicago style citations, cite the page number (even if you’ve paraphrased).
5. Relate the argument to a news-article in this weeks’ global and mail. Reading the newspaper
is a good habit to get into. Using Chicago style citations, cite the page number (even if you’ve
paraphrased).
6. Show how the book and news-article relates to the concept explored in last weeks’ class.
Use examples or definitions provided in the lecture to develop your argument. This should
be about ½ of your journal
Although numbering the required elements might be a good idea, your journal should be written in prose
form and should not be presented in either point form or question/answer style. It should be thoughtful
and written well. The journal is a key space where you get to explore your writing voice – be interesting,
funny and/or creative. The journal will be graded on the following Pass/Fail system:
1. A journal that includes all these elements and is well written will earn full marks 100% or 
2. A journal that includes all these elements but includes them imperfectly or in a poorly written
journal, will earn partial marks 70% or ~
3. A journal that includes only none or only some of these elements will not earn any marks 0% or 
4. Your worst journal grade will be dropped at the end of the term. This means that no missed, late or
emailed journals will be ever be accepted regardless of circumstances. Period. Journals are due at
the beginning of each Tuesday’s class.
5. Since attendance is part of the journal grade assigned, if you are not present to pick up your journal
on Thursday it will drop to the next lowest grade level in my records.
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Class Participation (10%). Thursdays will be devoted to large group discussions of the assigned text and
how it illustrates the week’s concept. You will be expected to participate regularly in these discussions (i.e.,
say something every Thursday). Participation is not simply about being present or giving your opinion,
although both are valuable to the class. Rather, quality participation involves demonstrating that you have
read and engaged with the text, have critical questions about it, and have given thought to how it relates to
lecture material. A stellar contribution is one that develops your opinion into an argument rooted in
evidence from the course texts or other verifiable sources. It is difficult for some of us to engage in
large discussions because we are easily intimidated by others or shy about speaking in public. If this sounds
like you, please talk to me about strategies you can use to become more comfortable speaking in class, but
most importantly, make an effort to become engaged.
TA Workshops (5%) We are lucky enough to have TAs for this course, which means that you can get extra
help with the your core skills. The workshops are designed to help you learn the skills of critically reading
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and writing that are essential to doing well in this course and in future university courses. Specifically, they
are designed to help you succeed on your reflective paper. You attendance and participation in these
workshops, therefore, will be mandatory.
Reflective Paper (25%). This research paper will require you to analyses a movie, song, or novel that you
think touches on the course content the best. In your analysis you will be required to use three course
concepts and three course texts to create an argument. For example, I might use the concepts of
sovereignty, gender and power to analyze the film “V is for Vendetta” by making the argument that in
contemporary global debates (like those surrounding the War on Terror, UN reform, and World Bank
Policies) freedom of speech and open dialogue is paramount. The paper should be 5 pages and doublespaced. You should choose a citation and bibliography style like the Chicago Manual of Style that is
recognized in the social sciences (see http://library.acadiau.ca/help/writing.html). The paper is due on Feb.
18th. Emailed papers will not be accepted. Late papers will be devalued by one grade point per day. Hand
them into the department secretary and get a signature and time stamp – papers slid under my door or
dropped in my box will be dated when I find them.
Final Exam (40%). In the final exam, a series of essay questions will provide you with the opportunity to
demonstrate your ability to apply the key concepts discussed in class and develop your knowledge of the
issues presented in the required texts. It is important that you do not make any summer travel
arrangements prior to the release of the final exam schedule by the registrar.
Grading Matrix:
Percentage
94-100
87-93
80-86
77-79
73-77
70-72
67-69
63-66
60-62
57-59
53-56
50-52
<50
Letter Grade
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
Description
Outstanding in every way
Exceeding expectations
Excellent work
Very good
Good work
Solid performance
Average
Satisfactory
Barely satisfactory
Marginal
Marginally passable
Barely passable
Unsatisfactory
An Unpleasant Note about Plagiarism:
Acadia does not tolerate plagiarism; instead, it recognizes the responsibility of the individual student for
her/his own education and assumes honesty and integrity in all academic work at the University. This
assumption is the foundation of all intellectual efforts and rests at the heart of this community. In matriculating
at Acadia, each student accepts the responsibility to carry out all academic work with complete honesty and
integrity and supports the application of this principle to others. Plagiarism and other violations of this principle
invite punishment. The adoption or reproduction of ideas or words or statements of another person as one’s
own, without due acknowledgment, is considered plagiarism and violates this principle. Citing of false or nonexistent sources is also a violation. Submission of the same or similar papers or academic exercises to two
different courses for a grade without the explicit permission of the instructors in both courses is prohibited. If
you are suspected of either cheating or plagiarism and you cannot prove otherwise, you will receive and “F” in
the course. All incidences of plagiarism and cheating will be sent to the University administration and may result
in expulsion.
Writing, Tutorial and Disability Services:
The mission of the Acadia Writing Centre, a key component of the new Fountain Learning Commons, is
to help students become the best writers they can be. The Acadia Writing Centre offers a range of services
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geared to your particular needs and you are encouraged to use the Centre as often as you like. Sign up for
tutorials, workshops and presentations, browse through our resource library, and hang out in the Great Hall.
Writing tutorials begin at the beginning of term so book early to make sure you get the help you need to succeed
in your courses! The Acadia Tutoring Service strives to ensure that all Acadia students have access to the services
to enable them to achieve academic success. They help by connecting them with peer tutors who have a strong
background in the areas where they need assistance. They offer both one time (i.e. help with a particular
assignment) and long term (i.e. week/biweekly) tutoring sessions. Acadia tutoring services also acts as a referral
service to additional academic resource that are available to students. If you are a new student with a disability at
Acadia, make an appointment to meet the Academic Support Coordinator at the Student Resource Centre. If you
have not already done so, bring a copy of your assessment. You may also want to visit the Disability Resource
Facilitator to discuss external funding, equipment loans and on site services such as tutors, note takers, scribes or
assistive technology.
Email Policy:
I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions about the course and will typically answer your email
within 24 hours (except on weekends, reading break or if I am traveling to a confernce). You should not use
email to ask substantive questions about topics or readings. If you need help understanding a reading or topic,
please come see me during my office hours or make an appointment.
Course Schedule:
Week 1 (Jan. 11~13) – Introduction
Introduction to the course and its objectives.
Week 2 (Jan. 18~20) – Politics
Required text: Stephen Lewis, Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS Ravaged Africa.
(Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2006)
Week 3 (Jan. 25~27) – Methods
Required Text: Charles Bowden, Murder City, (Nation Books, 2010)
Week 4 (Feb. 1~3) – Power and Hegemony
Required Text: The Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection, (Semiotext(e), 2009)
Week 5 (Feb. 8~10) – Sovereignty
Required Text: Joe Sacco, Palestine, (Fantagraphics Books, 2001)
Week 6 (Feb. 15~17) – Gender, Race and Identity
Required text: Gwynne Dyer, Climate Wars (Toronto: Vintage, 2009)
Week 7 (Feb. 22~24) – Study Week
Start reading Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion, (Vintage Canada, 2010)
Week 8 (Mar. 1~3) – Alienation
Required text: Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion, (Vintage Canada, 2010)
Week 9 (Mar. 8~10) – Borders
Movie Week
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Week 10 (Mar. 15~17) – Security
Required text: Peter Sloterdijk, Terror from the Air, (Semiotext(e), 2009)
Week 11 (Mar. 22~24) – Progress
Required text: Arundhati Roy, Listening to Grasshoppers, (Penguin, 2009)
Week 12 (Mar. 29~31) – Neoliberalism
Required text: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger, (Free Press, 2008)
Week 13 (Apr. 5~Apr. 7) – Justice
Required text: Malalai Joya, A Woman Among Warlords, (Scribner, 2009)
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