DEMOCRACY & DIVERSITY
CURRICULUM
The highly intensive program, offering the equivalent of a full semester of graduate study, includes four core seminars, each co-taught by scholars from Africa and the United States. The curriculum will be complemented by a daylong concluding conference, evening guest lectures, panel discussions, and field trips. The guest speakers in the past Institutes have included Faried Essack (National Commission on Gender Equality), Judge Shenaaz Meer (South African Land Claims Court), Judge Dumisa Nysebese (Deputy Chair, Truth and Reconciliation Commission), Father Michael Lapsley (Trauma Center for Victims of Violence and Torture), Ahmedi Vawda (Director of Community Development, City of Cape Town), Sipho Maseko (University of the Western Cape), Sandile Dikeni (Editor, Cape Times), Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert (former leader of parliamentary opposition and co-founder, Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa [IDASA]), and other prominent civic leaders, policy makers, and public intellectuals from the region.
Classes begin on January 11 and run through January 26. Participants are expected to arrive on January 10 and depart by evening of January 27.
Sustaining Democracy? Challenges to Democratic Politics in the 21st Century -Seminar
David Plotke, Department of Political Science, Graduate Faculty, New School University; Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, and Centre for Democracy and Development in Accra
In the last two decades democratic institutions have been put in place in a larger number of countries than ever before. These efforts have had too many successes to be termed experiments any longer. Yet in some countries democratic institutions have collapsed amid ethnic and sectarian strife. Elsewhere democratic institutions are nominally in place but political life is dominated by military or religious elites. When do democratic institutions persist in open and vibrant forms? When does democracy become hollow, rotten, or end altogether? To address these questions we will evaluate contemporary experiences from different parts of the world and analyze major relevant theoretical texts. (Africa will be a major empirical focus.) We first survey recent efforts to sustain democracy in different parts of the world. Then we consider how democracy is sustained. What are the contributions of the design of political institutions, the extent and shape of economic development, and political and social values to maintaining and enriching democratic practices? Throughout the course we assess different challenges to democracy, such as via institutional failure, corruption, and extreme poverty. This year we will be especially interested in the challenges to democracy posed by anti-democratic ideas and practices. These challenges range from sectarian and intolerant political and religious views to terrorism and related forms of political violence. How can democratic politics be successfully and legitimately defended against antidemocratic ideas and activities?
Nationalism, Gender, Globalization -Seminar
Shireen Hassim, Department of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; and Elzbieta Matynia, Committee on Liberal Studies, Graduate Faculty, New School University; with Guest Speakers
This course will investigate three factors (and their accompanying movements) that have influenced both political discourse and action in the new democracies over the last decade. Whether defined as philosophical concept, ideology, attitude, or group state of mind, nationalism continues to be a major idee force, leading to successive reconfigurations of the world map. In Europe, as in Africa, nationalism has been both a force for progressive and revolutionary change, and a mobilizing factor in authoritarian politics. Recognizing that the principle of gender equity is still rarely reflected in actual social practices in the new democracies, we will discuss the challenging intersections of gender and nation in postcolonial and post-Communist societies. We will examine the relationships between women and nationalist projects, between nationhood and identity, between ethnicity and politics. Finally we will look at globalization, and consider how the political goals of nationalist movements (self-determination and state sovereignty) are challenged by the emergence of a supraterritorial system of growing interdependence involving the movement of goods, people, and knowledge across borders.
The Public Sphere: Problems of Democratic Culture and its Enemies -Seminar
Xolela Mangcu, Executive Director, Steve Biko Foundation, Johannesburg; and Jeffrey C. Goldfarb, Department of Sociology, Graduate Faculty, New School University
Democracy as a set of political and cultural practices proved to be significant alternative to 20th Century totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. In Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America and Asia, potent democratic oppositions initiated a wide variety of democratic transitions, with greater and lesser successes. The wave of new democracies led some to celebrate the end of history, while others struggled with the very difficult tasks of democratic constitution. On September 11, 2001, the profound character of the opposition to democracy was revealed to New Yorkers, Americans and the rest of the world. In this course, starting with a close reading of September 11th and its aftermath, the political cultures of authoritarianism, totalitarianism and terrorism will be compared and contrasted with each other and with democratic culture. Among the issues to be considered are: the relationships between democracy and nationalism, and democracy and social injustice; the legacies of dogmatic and democratic resistance; the problems of civil society; the dilemmas of multiculturalism; and the sociological spectacle of media politics (with special focus on terrorism as media performance).
Democracy and Development - Seminar
Stephen Gelb, Director, The EDGE Institute, Johannesburg; and William Milberg, Department of Economics, Graduate Faculty, New School University
The transition from an authoritarian system to democracy creates enormous political pressure for economic change. Economic policy must respond to the needs of a wider base of citizens. Coinciding with the wave of democratization over the past decade is a marked "globalization" of production and finance, involving greater international capital mobility and trade openness. This heightened interconnectedness of markets across countries has narrowed the scope for effective economic policy in any given country and contributed to new forms of cultural and political response, including global activism, international crime, and even terrorism. Many governments have relied more heavily on market mechanisms and adopted policies favoring business investors. What are the prospects for economic democracy in such an environment? Can the apparent conflict between globalization and democratization be resolved? What development strategy options are available? This course will explore these questions, relying heavily on experiences in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
The State of Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa - Concluding Conference
Guest speakers will include scholars, political commentators, and public figures from South and Southern Africa.
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