PPE 3203: Politics in South Asia Spring Semester, 2012 Instructor: Prof. Jolie Wood Instructor: Prof.

Jolie Wood Class location: Room H-401 Email: jolie.wood@auw.edu.bd Office: H-605 Office hours: Sunday 10:30am-12:30pm Monday 2:30pm-4:15pm Wednesday 2:30pm-4:15pm

This course provides an introduction to the politics of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The first part of the course constitutes a brief survey of the political histories of each country. The second part explores the following topics and invites comparison among the different countries: Caste, Class, Language and Ethnicity; Parties and Elections; Political Movements, Insurrections, and Revolution; and Culture, Religion, and Gender. You will be provided with course packets containing a variety of readings drawn from academic books and journals. You are expected to keep up with current events in South Asia, reading reputable, regional online sources of daily news from the region. The New York Times (Global Edition) and bbc.com also have good articles and blogs with news from South Asia. ASSESSMENT First research paper (25%): Choosing one of our countries of studynot your ownchoose a topic/theme/issue in the political history of that country, showing how this issue has affected recent political development. This paper should be about 5-7 pages (no more than 10 pages). For this writing assignment, you should use at least one book and at least two journal articles as your sources beyond the assigned readings. Due 5 March. Second research paper (30%): Choosing the same or different country that you chose for the first paper, consider a political issue, event, or process related to the themes covered in the second half of the course. You may choose to compare two countries with regard to an issue/process; if you do so, the second (comparison) country may be your own if you wish. This paper should be about 7-10 pages (no more than 15 pages). Due 9 May. Topic Proposal (5%): You will submit a one-page topic proposal for your second research paper. We will then meet individually to discuss your topic and strategies for research. Due 9 April. In-class impromptu essays on assigned readings (10% total): I will frequently give you questions on the days discussion topic, to which you will have about 15 minutes to provide a written answer of one or two paragraphs. You will be expected to refer to at least two of the readings you have been assigned for that topic. These short responses will cumulatively count for a total of 5% of your grade. Discussion lead (5%): Early in the course you will select a reading to discuss in class. When leading discussion on this reading, you will give your analysis and reaction to it (NOT a summary), posing thoughtful discussion questions for the class to consider. In-Class Participation (10%): Students must read the bulk of assigned readings in advance of class discussion. The reading material may be challenging but your understanding of it will be

greatly enhanced if you are prepared to participate actively in class discussion and ask relevant questions. Active participation in class discussion is essential to an interesting, enriching course and to a strong final grade. To receive maximum credit for class participation, you should make at least one thoughtful contribution to each days discussion. Discussion Board Participation (10%): By 6:00pm on the evening before each class, you should post one question or point of interest about each reading on the class discussion board. You should post by this time so that everyone in class can see everyone elses contributions after 6:00pm. I myself will check the discussion board at this time to see your contributions. Attendance (5%): Students are expected to attend every class; more than two unexcused absences will affect your grade. I may request documentation for medical excuses. However, please be aware that even if an absence is excused, your grade could still be affected if you are not present in class, as your understanding of the material might be negatively affected. Assessment Summary: First research paper (25%) Second research paper (30%) Topic Proposal for second research paper (5%) In-class impromptu essays on assigned readings (10% total) Discussion lead (5%) In-Class Participation (10%) Discussion Board Participation (10%) Attendance (5%) TOTAL: 100% ACADEMIC HONESTY All your research, as well as any reference to course texts, should be properly documented and cited in your papers. In this class you can use either Chicago Style or MLA Style. If using Chicago Style, you may choose to use either the Notes and Bibliography system (for footnotes) or the Author-Date system (for in-text citations). Whatever citation system you use, you must be consistent. For information on how to use either style, see the many style guides online. In our library we have the latest print edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, which offers far more extensive guidance than the online guide. I do not tolerate plagiarism. Plagiarism means presenting another persons words or ideas as your own. Any sequence of three or more words taken from another source must be denoted with quotation marks. Borrowed concepts that are paraphrased (reworded) must also be properly attributed to the source. This includes anything you find on the internet and your classmates work. Any paper with text or ideas taken from another source without proper notation and attribution will receive an automatic grade of zero (0). Please carefully review AUWs Policy on Plagiarism and other Academic Cheating For Undergraduate Students, attached herewith. Submitting assignments on time is another form of academic honesty. Unless you have been ill or dealing with other extraordinary circumstances, you may not take extra time to complete an assignment, as this would give you an unfair advantage over your classmates. Therefore, deadlines are to be observed strictly. Late papers submitted without an acceptable excuse will

receive a grade penalty of five points per day (e.g., if your paper would otherwise receive a grade of 80, it will get a 75 if it is one day late, a 70 if it is two days late, and so on. All papers are due in class, not later in the day. IMPORTANT DATES First Research Paper Due: 5 March Spring Break: 16-26 March No class: 28 March Topic Proposal Due: 9 April Last day of class: 2 May Second Research Paper Due: 9 May COURSE PLAN Introduction (18-23 January) B. H. Farmer, An Introduction to South Asia, second edition (London, New York: Routledge, 1993), pp.5-25. SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia (Delhi: Oxford University Press and Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, 2008): Ch. 1-2. Ian Talbot, India and Pakistan, in Paul R. Brass (ed.), Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics (New York: Routledge, 2010) [hereafter Routledge Handbook]: pp. 27-40. Political Histories: Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh (25-30 January) 25 January Farzana Shaikh, Making Sense of Pakistan (London: Hurst; and New York: Columbia University Press, 2009): Ch. 1. S. Akbar Zaidi, State, Military and Social Transition; Improbable Future of Democracy in Pakistan, in Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 40, No. 49 (December 3-9, 2005): pp.51735181. 30 January Philip Oldenburg, A Place Insufficiently Imagined: Language, Belief, and the Pakistan Crisis of 1971 in Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 44, No. 4 (August 1985): pp.711-737. Stephen Cohen, The Idea of Pakistan (Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2004): pp.39-96. Recommended: Charles H. Kennedy, Constitutional and Political Change in Pakistan: The Military-Governance Paradigm, in Rafiq Dossani and Henry S. Rowen, eds., Prospects for Peace in South Asia (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005): 37-74.

Political Histories: Bangladesh (1-6 February) 1 February Willem Van Schendel, A History of Bangladesh (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009): pp. 96-130, 161-171. 6 February Rehman Sobhan, Structural Dimensions of Malgovernance in Bangladesh in Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 39, No. 36 (4-10 September 2004): pp. 4101-4108. Dina Mahnaz Siddiqi, Political Culture in Contemporary Bangladesh, in Ali Riaz and C. Christine Fair (eds), Political Islam and Governance in Bangladesh (New York: Routledge, 2011): 7-26. Nizam Ahmad, From Monopoly to Competition: Party Politics in the Bangladesh Parliament (1973-2001) in Pacific Affairs Vol. 76, No. 1 (Spring. 2003): pp. 55-77. Political Histories: India from 1947 (8-15 February) 8-13 February Stuart Corbridge and John Harriss, Reinventing India: Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and Popular Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000): pp. 20-139 (SCAN). 15 February John Harriss, Political Change, Political Structure, and the Indian State since Independence, in Routledge Handbook. Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Rudolph, The Old and the New Federalism in Independent India, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 147-160. Yogendra Yadav, Politics, in Marshall Bouton and Philip Oldenburg, eds., India Briefing: A Transformative Fifty Years (Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1999). Political Histories: Sri Lanka (20-22 February) 20 February Nira Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankas Independence: Shadows Over a Colonial Graft, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 41-50. Neil DeVotta, Politics and Governance in Post-Independence Sri Lanka, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 118-130

22 February Radhika Coomaraswamy, The Politics of Institutional Design: An Overview of the Case of Sri Lanka, in Sunil Bastian and Robin Luckham (eds), Can democracy be designed? The Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-Torn Societies (London: Zed Books, 2003): pp. 145-169. Neil DeVotta, From Ethnic Outbidding to Ethnic Conflict: The Institutional Bases for Sri Lankas Separatist War, in Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 11, No. 1 (January 2005): pp.141-159. Political Histories: Nepal (Monday, 27 February) Krishna Hachhethu and David N. Gellner, Nepal: Trajectories of Democracy and Restructuring of the State, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 131-146. John Whelpton, A History of Nepal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005): pp. 86-121, 189-235. Recommended: International Crisis Group, Nepals Future: In Whose Hands? Asia Report No. 173 (13 August 2009). Caste, Class, Language, Ethnicity (six class meetings to be held 29 February 14 March) India Oliver Mendelsohn and Marika Vicziany, The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998): pp. 258-271. Steven Wilkinson, Communal and Caste Politics and Conflicts in India, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 262-273. Paul R. Brass, The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press; and Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003): 355-384. E. Annamalai, Politics of Language in India, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 213-231. Recommended: Paul R. Brass, Elite interests, popular passions, and social power in the language politics of India, in Ethnic and Racial Studies Vol. 27, No. 3 (May 2004): pp. 353-375. Pakistan Farzana Shaikh, Who is a Pakistani? in Making Sense of Pakistan (London: Hurst; and New York: Columbia University Press, 2009): Ch. 2. Tariq Rahman, Language Problems and Politics in Pakistan, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 232245.

Recommended: Mohammed Waseem, Ethnic and Islamic Militancy in Pakistan, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 274-289. Hasan-Askari Rizvi, Military, State, and Society in Pakistan (Lahore: Sang-E-Meel Publications, 2003): pp. 233-248. Sri Lanka Alfred Stepan, Juan Linz, and Yogendra Yadav, Tamils in Sri Lanka: How Nation-State Policies Helped Construct Polar and Conflictual Identities, in Stepan, Linz, and Yadav, Crafting StateNations: India and Other Multinational Democracies (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011): pp. 144-172. Recommended: Jayadeva Uyangoda, Ethnic Conflict and Civil War in Sri Lanka, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 291-301. Neil DeVotta, Sri Lankas Political Decay: Analysing the October 2000 and December 2001 Parliamentary Elections in Commonwealth & Comparative Politics Vol. 41, No. 2 (July 2003): pp.115-142. Amita Shastri, The Material Basis for Separatism: The Tamil Eelam Movement in Sri Lanka, in Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 49, No. 1 (February 1990): pp. 56-77. Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lankas Separatist Conflict: The Sources of Intractability, in Ethnic Studies Report Vol. 19, No. 2 (July 2001): pp. 207-241. Nepal John Whelpton, Political Identity in Nepal: State, Nation, and Community, in David N. Gellner, Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka, and John Whelpton, Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom: The Politics of Culture in Contemporary Nepal (London: Routledge, 1997): pp. 39-78. International Crisis Group, Nepal: Identity Politics and Federalism, Asia Report No. 199 (13 January 2011). 28 March: NO CLASS Parties & Elections (2 11 April) Monday, 2 April - Wednesday, 4 April SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia (Delhi: Oxford University Press and Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, 2008): Ch. 6.

Virginia Van Dyke, State-Level Politics, Coalitions, and Rapid System Change in India, Routledge Handbook: pp. 67-81. Niraja Gopal Jayal, Politics: The Rise and Decline of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in Alyssa Ayres and Philip Oldenburg (eds.), India Briefing: Takeoff at Last? (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2005): pp. 9-44. Monday, 9 April Harry Blair, Party Overinstitutionalization, Contestation, and Democratic Degradation in Bangladesh, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 98-115. Wednesday, 11 April International Crisis Group, Nepals Election: A Peaceful Revolution? Asia Report No. 155 (3 July 2008). Political movements, insurrections, and revolution (16-25 April) Monday, 16 April Gurharpal Singh, Crises of National Unity in India: Punjab, Kashmir, and the Northeast, in Routledge Handbook: pp.249-260. Robert G. Wirsing, Unholy Alliance: Religion and Political Violence in South Asia. South Asia Vol. 30, No. 1 (April 2007): pp. 25-42. Corbridge and Harriss, Reinventing India, pp. 173-199. Wednesday, 18 April Ramachandra Guha, Adivasis, Naxalites, and Democracy, in Rajesh M. Basrur (ed.). Challenges to Democracy in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009): pp. 167-188. Recommended: Sumanta Banerjee, Radical and Violent Political Movements, in Routledge Handbook: pp. 382397. Monday, 23 April Richard Bownas, The Nepalese Maoist Movement in Comparative Perspective: Learning from the History of Naxalism in India in Himalayan Research Bulletin Vol. 23, No. 1 (2003): pp. 3137. Shishir Khanal, Committed Insurgents, a Divided State, and the Maoist Insurgency in Nepal, in Mahendra Lawoti (ed.), Contentious Politics and Democratization in Nepal (Delhi: Sage Publications, 2007): pp.75-94

Recommended: International Crisis Group, Nepals Maoists: Their Aims, Structure and Strategy, Asia Report No. 104 (27 October 2005). International Crisis Group, Nepals Peace Process: The Endgame Nears, Asia Report No. 131 (13 December 2011). Wednesday, 25 April Shapan Adnan, Departures from Everyday Resistance and Flexible Strategies of Domination: The Making and Unmaking of a Poor Peasant Mobilization in Bangladesh. Journal of Agrarian Change Vol. 7, No. 2 (April 2007): pp. 183224. Culture, religion, and gender (30 April-2 May) Monday, 30 April Malathi De Alwis, Motherhood as a Space of Protest: Womens Political Participation in Contemporary Sri Lanka, in Amrita Basu and Patricia Jeffrey (eds), Appropriating Gender: Women's Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia (London: Routledge, 1998): pp. 185199. Sitralega Maunaguru, Gendering Tamil Nationalism: The Construction of Woman in Projects of Protest and Control, in Jeganathan and Ismail, Unmaking the Nation: pp. 157-173. Wednesday, 2 May (to be distributednot in course packet) Magnus Marsden, Women, Politics and Islamism in Northern Pakistan, Modern Asian Studies Vol. 42, No. 2/3 (2008): 405-429. Elora Shehabuddin, Jamaat-i-Islami in Bangladesh: Women, Democracy and the Transformation of Islamist Politics, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 42, No. 2/3 (2008): pp. 577-603.