This course is designed to allow students to gain an appreciation of the ideas that provide the central organizing principles for the diverse array of government systems in our world. You will gain a solid understanding of the motivational forces driving revolution, national liberation movements, foreign intervention and war as well as the strategies governments use to claim legitimacy. By the end of this class, students will be able to identify and analyze competing arguments for the organization of society and government, especially the competition between liberal democracy and Islamism. Students will be able to explain the importance of economic justifications and cultural values such as equality, morality, justice and liberty for the legitimating function of the major ideologies considered. This will include special consideration of "democracy," the social conditions supporting democratic transitions and consolidation, and various strategies for defining practical application within political systems. In this class you will improve your ability to think, to examine issues critically and to express yourselves in an intelligent and honorable manner. To achieve these objectives, students will compare current political developments against the textbook and lecture presentations. Your achievement of these objectives will be measured in two intermediate exams, four short papers, a 15 minute class presentation, and a final exam.

      Your participation in class plays a necessary role in consolidating your understanding of the readings assigned. Class attendance and participation will account for 10% of your grade. For the first exam (worth 15 %) you will have the option of definitions and short answers, or essay format. The first test (Tuesday, February 15--15% of your grade) will cover the text and supplemental materials on democracy, liberalism and criticism of these ideas. In each exam you must learn to provide a detailed explanation with supporting arguments for the position that you take. The mid-term exam, (Thursday, March 17--15% of your grade) will cover the future of socialism and nationalism. The final exam will cover nationalism and modern social movements.

     The second test and final exam on Tuesday May 17 (25% of your grade) will be essay format, and written in class. You must prepare to present an exhaustive, thorough and well-analyzed essay. The questions will not be announced in advance, but review and preparation assistance will be available.

     Students will write four summarization papers, each presenting a comparison and critique of the ideas and theories presented in class (total 20%).

      Each paper serves the function of a take home practice exam. If you do not turn in the paper by the due date you will lose 10% of the possible grade. The timing is designed so that you will have the benefit of my suggestions as a form of preparation for the exam.

      Each paper should be at least 5 double-spaced typed pages of text (Times New Roman 12-point font-- all the best papers are frequently seven or eight pages long) with one-inch margins. The page requirement for text does not include the title page and bibliography, or any supportive graphs or tables, which must be placed in an appendix. Acceptable sources include legitimate news providers such as the London Economist, New York Times, which is available by subscription or on-line, library books, textbooks, government websites, E-books, JSTOR and other academic sites. Web sources from advocacy groups and organizations will not be accepted. Refer to the following link for information on how to appropriately cite material for these papers: www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPSA.html. Or consult The Chicago Manual of Style, on which the APSA Style Manual is based. Pages must be numbered. You must proofread your paper for spelling and grammar. Plagiarism or any other form of cheating will result in an F grade, in addition to any other sanctions. These papers must utilize the information gained in the class for analysis and criticism, and ideally will include reporting of contemporary events. You must learn to explain political topics of current interest, controversy and significance.

      Students must plan ahead and prepare to present one of these papers to the class as a whole-each taking 10-15 minutes. Please give great attention to the visual aids that you will use, whether maps, flags, props of any kind, PowerPoint presentations. Do not expect that you will receive a good grade for just reading parts of your paper. You must provide an outline of your suggested strategy for your class presentation to the instructor the class period previous to your scheduled presentation time so that you can benefit from additional advice regarding structure, goals and strategy. All class members will treat each other with respect and tolerance and seek to improve the learning experience for all of us. All class participation must seek to offer helpful measures for improvement.

      Attendance is mandatory and any missed classes will weigh disproportionately in reducing your score for class participation. No one will be admitted after class has begun. Water bottles are allowed, but no eating during class. No cell phones are allowed at any time for any reason. Turn them off at the beginning of class. There is no one who needs to contact you during the scheduled class period.

      I will gladly hold review sessions and be available for advice on demand and by consensus.

      Andrew Heywood, Political Ideologies: An Introduction, 3rd Edition, Palgrave Macmillan 2003. Important material, such as supplemental reading--newspaper articles, summarizations of books, sample quizzes and test preparation materials have been posted on the professor's website:
http://.www.ca-politicaltransitions.com/Classes/PoliticalIdeas/PoliticalIdeasIndex.html.
      For those class periods in which there is no assigned reading from the textbook by Heywood, you must down load your reading assignments from that website.

      The instructor reserves the right for minor modifications in the following schedule.