Political Science 328A
Spring 2002
Instructor:
Alexandra Samuel
alex@alexandrasamuel.com
Buchanan C456
Office hours: Tuesday 3:30-5pm or by appointment
How does the Internet change the rules of politics? This course examines the many ways the Internet challenges core concepts in political science. We will examine emerging phenomena like online voting, electronic political discussions, the digital divide, and electronic government. We will look at these innovations in the context of comparative politics literature on topics including political participation, social capital, political institutions, and democratization. Readings will be drawn from recent works on electronic democracy and electronic government, as well as from core texts in comparative politics. Students will have the option of completing the final paper in the form of an annotated web site that guides users through a topic in online politics.
This course uses core concepts in comparative political science to analyze emerging patterns in Internet politics, and uses observable patterns of Internet politics to challenge existing theories of comparative politics. By the end of the course, you should be able to:
1. Identify the causal argument (explicit or implied) in a political science work.
2. Recognize and define certain core concepts in political science.
3. Use these concepts to analyze selected Internet-related policy challenges, as well as selected trends in online politics.
4. Identify challenges that patterns in Internet politics pose for some core concepts in political science.
5. Use the Internet to increase your knowledge and understanding of any political issue.
This course is Internet-intensive. Many of your assignments will require you to spend time visiting web sites or interacting online. You will need to have basic computer skills in order to do this work. You will also need regular access to a computer that is connected to the Internet, either on campus or at home.
UBC has a number of excellent resources that can help you acquire the computer skills you need for this course. A list of the skills expected in the course is below; please complete one of the training options listed on the course web site unless you:
1) know how to use a standard, mouse-based operating system (Windows or Mac)
2) know how to browse the web using Internet Explorer or Netscape
3) know how to search for resources on the Internet using a search engine like Yahoo or Google
4) know to send and retrieve e-mail
5) know how to use a word processor, such as Microsoft Word
AND
5) have an e-mail account through UBC or another internet service provider
On alternate Thursdays, the course will meet for one-hour lab sessions in place of the lecture. These sessions will provide a chance for us to do some hands-on exploration of the issues we are addressing in lectures and readings. Please sign up in class for either the 1-2pm or 2-3pm lab section.
The course web site is an integral part of the course. It is online at http://www.politics.ubc.ca/samuel/
The course readings include both online and printed materials. All of the printed materials are in the course pack, which you can purchase directly from me for $45. The online materials are listed in the syllabus, and you can also find them on the course web site. The web site is a core part of the course; be sure to visit it regularly (i.e. at least once between each lecture) to check for any reading changes or updates.
You are responsible for completing all readings before coming to the class for which they are assigned. A typical week includes about 60 pages of reading.
Internet access problems are
not an excuse for incomplete reading. If you have difficulty reading online,
print out the online readings. A full set of the online readings is available
in printed form in the reserve room.
Web guide (3 pages) and facilitation: 20%
Participation in lab classes and online discussion: 10%
Final paper, 12-15 pages, due in class April 4: 40%
Final Exam: 30%
The web guide is a short (3 page) paper that provides a guide to a small set of web sites (3-6 sites) relevant to one week's readings. Each student will submit one web guide at some point in the semester; a sign-up sheet will be circulated in class so that you may pick a date/topic.
I encourage students to complete the final paper in the form of an annotated web site on some aspect of Internet politics. We will cover the necessary web design skills in a lab class. More details will be provided in class and on the course web site.
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Part 1: Comparative Politics and the Internet Core questions: What is comparative politics? What is the Internet? |
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January 8 |
Introduction and logistics |
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January 10 |
Introduction to the Internet |
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January 15 |
Comparative Politics and Political Science Methodology |
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January 17 |
Lab class: Internet research skills |
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Part 2: Political Alignments Core questions: Where do political divisions come from? What political divisions do we see online? |
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January 22 |
Introduction to social and political alignments |
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January 24 |
Political alignments on the Net: Cyber-libertarianism |
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January 29 |
Political alignments on the Net: Free speech case study |
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January 31 |
Lab class: Political alignments on the Net: Gender & Race |
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Part 3: Parties and Interest Groups Core questions: How do people organize in order to pursue their goals? How do political organizations use the Internet to pursue their goals? |
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February 5 |
Introduction to parties and interest groups |
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February 7 |
Parties online |
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February 12 |
Interest group organizing online |
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February 14 |
Lab class: Napster case study |
BREAK
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Part 4: Political Participation Core questions: Why do people participate in political activities? How does the Internet affect patterns of political participation? |
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February 26 |
Introduction to political participation |
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February 28 |
Political participation on the Internet |
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March 5 |
Civic engagement, social capital, and the Internet |
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March 7 |
Lab class: Web page design |
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March 12 |
Social movements online |
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March 14 |
Activism online: Hacktivism case study |
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Part 5: Political Economy, Modernization and Democratization Core questions: How does the economy affect political structures and decisions? Does the Internet create new opportunities for economic modernization and political democratization? |
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March 19 |
Introduction to political economy, modernization, and democratization |
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March 21 |
Lab class: The Internet and democratization |
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March 26 |
The Internet and development |
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March 28 |
Political economy case study: The Digital Divide |
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Conclusion: Policies for a Political Internet Core questions: How can governments shape the Internet to maximize its political potential? How do the political dynamics of the Internet shape government policy-making? |
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April 2 |
Conclusion: Policies for a Political Internet |
April 4 |
Lab class: Policy case study: Privacy online |
January 8 - Course logistics and Introduction
January 10 - Introduction to the Internet
Note: Make sure your computer skills meet the standards outlined on page 2 of the course syllabus. If not, please complete the following:
January 15 - Comparative Politics and Political Science Methodology
Ch. 1, "Why Compare Countries?" in Landman, Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics (London: Routledge, 2000).
January 17 - Lab Class: Net research skills
" Criteria for Evaluating Internet Resources", online at http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/evaluating/
Sharf, "Beyond Netiquette:
The Ethics of Doing Naturalistic Discourse Research on the Internet"
in Jones, Doing Internet research : critical issues and methods for
examining the Net (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1999).
January 22 - Introduction to Social and Political alignments
"Social structure and divisions," pp. 177-84 in Heywood, Politics (London: MacMillan, 1997).
Ch. 10, "Cyberculture" in Norris, Digital divide : civic engagement, information poverty, and the Internet worldwide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
January 31 - Political Alignments on the Net: Cyber-libertarianism
Barbrook and Cameron, "The Californian Ideology," and Rossetto, " Rebuttal of the Californian Ideology," 1995, online at http://www.alamut.com/subj/ideologies/pessimism/califIdeo_I.html
Jon Katz, "The Digital Citizen," in Wired , December 1997, online at http://hotwired.lycos.com/special/citizen/
January 29 - Political Alignments on the Net: Free Speech case study
Newey,"Freedom of Expression: Censorship in Private Hands," in Liberating Cyberspace (London: Pluto Press, 1999).
Elmer-Dewitt, "Censoring Cyberspace," in Ludlow, High noon on the electronic frontier : conceptual issues in cyberspace (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996). (259-262)
"ACLU letter to CMU" in Ludlow, High noon on the electronic frontier : conceptual issues in cyberspace (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996).
January 31 - Lab class: Social alignments on the Net: Gender & Race
Lekhi, "The Politics of African America On-Line" in Ferdinand, The internet, democracy, and democratization (London: Frank Cass, 2000).
Morahan-Martin, "Women and Girls Last: Females on the Internet", online at http://www.sosig.ac.uk/iriss/papers/paper55.htm
February 5 - Introduction to parties and interest groups
"Elections, Representatives, Parties, Leaders," pp. 287-303, in Esberey and Johnston, Democracy and the State, (Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 1994).
Ch. 4, "Group Politics" in Bill & Hardgrave, Comparative Politics: The Quest for Theory, (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill, 1973).
February 7 - Parties online
Ch. 8, "Virtual Parties" in Norris, Digital divide : civic engagement, information poverty, and the Internet worldwide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Cross, "Teledemocracy: Canadian Political Parties Listening to Their Constituents," in Alexander and Pal, Digital democracy : policy and politics in the wired world (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1998).
February 12 - Interest group organizing online
Bonchek, "Grassroots in Cyberspace: Recruiting Members on the Internet," 1995, online at http://www.uni-koeln.de/themen/Internet/cmc/text/bonch95a.htm
February 14 -Lab class: Intellectual property/Napster case study
Poblocki, "The Napster Network Community," online at http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_11/poblocki/
Ch. 5, "The Established Order," in Alderman, Sonic Boom (Cambridge, MA: Perseus Press, 2001).
BREAK
February 26 - Introduction to political participation
February 28 - Political participation on the Internet
March 5 - Civic engagement, social capital, and the Internet
March 7 - Lab class: Web page design
March 12 - Social movements online
March 14 - Activism Online: Hacktivism case study
March 19 - Introduction to political economy, modernization, and democratization
Ch. 13, "The Political Economy of Development" in Almond and Powell, Comparative Politics: System, Process, and Policy (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1978).
"Fisherman on the Net" and "Fewer buffaloes, livelier democracy" in "A survey of technology and development", The Economist,, November 10th, 2001.
March 21 - Lab class: The Internet and Democratization
Kalathil and Boas, "The Internet and State Control in Authoritarian Regimes: China, Cuba, and the Counterrevolution" online at http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_8/kalathil/index.html
"The Enemies of the Internet" (Introduction plus any 3 country profiles) online at http://www.rsf.fr/uk/homennemis.html
March 26 - The Internet and development
March 28 (Passover) - Political Economy case study: The Digital Divide
Sanyal and Schön, "Information Technology and Urban Poverty: The Role of Public Policy" pp 373-93 in Schön, Sanyal et al., High technology and low-income communities : prospects for the positive use of advanced information technologies (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999).
"Access and Opportunity," pp. 20-34 in Premier's Technology Council, First Quarterly Report, November 2001, online at http://www.gov.bc.ca/prem/down/the_ptc_report_q1.pdf
April 2 - Conclusion: Policies for a Political Internet
Zysman and Weber, "Governance and Politics of the Internet Economy" online at http://brie.berkeley.edu/~briewww/pubs/wp/wp141.pdf
Bennett, "Convergence Revisited: Toward a Global Policy for the Protection of Personal Data?" in Agre and Rotenberg, Technology and privacy : the new landscape (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997).
April 4 - Lab class: Policy case study: Privacy online
Rosen, "The Eroded Self," New York Times magazine, online at http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000430mag-internetprivacy.html