Politics
of Central America and the Caribbean
Political Science 332-001
Spring Semester 2012
Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Horan
Office: Leutze Hall 261
Phone: 962-7929
Office Hours: TR 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and by appointment
Class Location and Time: LH 111; TR 9:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
This course is designed to introduce the student to the core political issues facing the Central American and Caribbean regions. Students will be exposed to the region's political history as well as contemporary processes. The major problems facing this region: authoritarianism, Monroe Doctrine impact from the neighbor to the north as well as the influence on Caribbean countries of Commonwealth membership, political and economic development, natural resources, drugs and drug trafficking, democratic transition and consolidation, the presence of a “successful” communist revolutionary regime and other issues will be introduced in turn. Students will be encouraged to think critically about development and the problems associated with moving from underdeveloped to "developed" status. Why has this been so difficult for the majority of countries in this region? How has the colonial experience of Central America resulted in a different political legacy than the experience of the Caribbean?
Required readings:
We will be using four texts for this course. The first (Booth et al.) is a survey of Central America and the major issues facing the region. This text examines the region in a traditional comparative manner by offering case surveys of selected countries. This text will be our core text for the course. The second text (Walker and Wade) addresses Nicaragua from the perspective of its relationship over time with the United States. Indeed this entire course will continually return to the question of U.S. intervention, its causes and consequences for the region. Our third and fourth texts focus on the unique Guatemalan and Cuban experiences. Bitter Fruit is a classic case study of the U.S. intervention in Guatemala to overthrow the democratically elected Arbenz government in 1954. Bitter Fruit is the story of an intervention into Guatemala and the domestic consequences but it is also the gateway to a discussion of the international consequences of this particular set of decisions by U.S. policy makers. Finally, we will read Julia Sweig's book Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know for a contemporary examination of Cuba, the legacy of the revolution there and abroad and the current processes of change afoot in the country. We will supplement our course readings with some online reserve readings; some internet web site reading, at least one video presentation. All readings/presentation of information in all formats are REQUIRED. Please keep in mind that politics is not static and neither are our interests - consequently I reserve the right to adjust the readings as necessary to accommodate any unforeseen events of during the course of the semester.
Required Texts:
Booth, John A., Christine Wade, and Thomas W. Walker. 5th edition. Understanding Central America. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Walker, Thomas W. and Christine J. Wade. 5th eidtion. Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle. Westview Press.
Schlesinger, Stephen and Stephen Kinzer. 1982. Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala. David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
Sweig, Julia. 2010. Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press.
Required Reserve Readings:
Required Class Participation: TWENTY PERCENT of your course grade comes from your participation in this class. I do not take attendance but I do keep track of your participation. This means that I expect you to be prepared to discuss the readings and then to actually do so during class meetings. In addition each section will conclude with a reading based quiz. Quizzes must be taken on the dates listed on the syllabus. Quizzes will cover the readings. Each quiz will be worth 25 points for a total of 100 points of your participation grade.
Required Paper: Each student will complete a 20-25 page research paper on a topic of your choosing approved by me. All papers will utilize American Political Science Association (APSA) citation format. Information on this citation style can be found at http://www.ipsonet.org/data/files/APSAStyleManual2006.pdf. Your paper grade will be based on your overall research effort - research question, background research, writing and analysis and finally writing style (grammar and language). Drafts will be due to me throughout the semester to aid in organization and to provide benchmarks and structure to the project. This means that your work will be strongly critiqued. Late assignments are penalized a letter grade for each day past the due date.
Required Exams: Students will take one midterm and one final exam covering the course material. Each will be worth ten percent of your final grade for a total of 20%.
Grade Basis: Participation 20% (200 points - 100 points, classroom discussion + 100 points, reading quizzes worth 25 points each), Paper 60% (600 points - 30% - all drafts and / 30% final version), Exams 10% each for 20% of total grade (200 points) = 100% (1000 points). When I assign final grades I do not use the +/- system.
Religious Observance Policy:
In accordance with NC SL 2010-211, you are entitled to two excused absences for religious observances per academic year. You must inform me in writing the first week of class if you will be missing any classes due to religious observance and using one of the two permissible absences for the academic year. In addition, please inform the Registrar the first week of class who will then confirm your intentions to miss class with the impacted course instructors. Any absence for religious purposes will be considered unexcused unless you submit the request in writing the first week to either me and the Registrar.
Course Schedule:
Part I: Regional Background - Central American and the Caribbean
1/12 Introduction/Concepts
Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development on
Foreign Direct Investment
- this is a benchmark definition.
Manifest Destiny - reading, O'Sullivan, John. 1839. "Manifest Destiny."
Political Economy - reading, Watson. "The Caribbean in the Global Political Economy"
Currency devaluation - information from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Liberalism
- defined by the Department of Philosophy, Stanford University.
The Commonwealth of Nations - Web presence with background information
on the Commonwealth.
Ethnicity, Race, Class and Nationality - Baranov and Yelvington, in Hillman & D'Agostino, Chapter 8
*I recommend you begin reading Sweig
1/17 Crisis and Transformation - Booth, Chapter 1
Introduction - Hillman & D'Agostino,Chapter 1
1/19 Geography -
"The Caribbean: A Geographic Preface" – T.D.
Boswell, in Hillman & D'Agostino, Ch 2
Global Forces - Booth Chapter 2
1/24 The Common History - Booth, Chapter 3
1/26 The Common History - S. J. Randall, in
Hillman & D'Agostino, Chapter 3;
Reading Quiz 1 on introductory material today 1/26.
Part II: Revolution! Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua
1/31 Sweig, Introduction and Chapter 1: Cuba before 1959, pgs 1-35
2/2 Sweig, Chapter 2: The Cuban Revolution
& the Cold War1959-1991, pgs 36-74
Manifesto on
Cuban Affairs 1852
The
Sierra Manifesto
Leonard Online Reserves “The Cuban
Revolution” and
Revolution: Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada
Research question and preliminary thoughts of how you will answer the question due today - two pages
2/7 Sweig,
U.S.- Cuba, pgs 74-103
Cuba map
2/9 Sweig, Cuba in the World, pgs 104-125
Reading Quiz 2 on early Cuba material today 2/9.
2/14 Sweig, The Cuban
Revolution after the Cold War 1991-2006, pgs 126-161
"Fidel's Final Victory" Sweig 2007. Foreign Affairs.
2/16 Sweig, U.S. - Cuba, pgs 161-206.
2/21 Sweig, After Fidel, Under Raul, pgs 207-256.
2/23 Haiti and Toussaint L'Overture, reserve readings; Hillman & D'Agostino Chapter 4 pgs 121-124
2/28 Haiti - the Uses of Haiti -
excerpts from Farmer, Paul "The Coup of 1991" and " The Uses
of Haiti (Reprise)"
Religion in the Caribbean – Desmangles,
Glazier and Murphy, in Hillman & D'Agostino, Chapter 10
Second draft of paper due today, 2/28. Research question, plan of the paper, literature review: 8 pages
3/1 Booth, Chapter 5,
Nicaragua, all
Walker – Online Reserves “The Nicaraguan
Revolution”
Iran-Contra - Van Evera, Stephen. "American Intervention in the Third World: Less Would Be Better".
Reading Quiz 3 on Cuba, Haiti
and Nicaragua reading material today 3/1.
3/6 Walker and Wade, Chapter 3, Recent History, Part I The Somoza Era and the Sandinista Revolution, pgs 25-62.
3/8 Walker and Wade, Chapter 4, Recent History, Part II The Conservative Restoration and the Return of Daniel Ortega, pgs 63-83.
Hillman & D'Agostino, Chapter 4 "Caribbean Politics", all
Bill
Stewart - ABC News reporter murdered by Nicaraguan government officials.
The Central
American Common Market
Begin reading Bitter Fruit in preparation for in class discussions beginning immediately after Spring Break.
March 10 - March 18, 2012 Spring Break Week
3/20 U.S. Policy in Central America – Booth, Guatemala, Chapter 7; Interventions, Chapter 10
Frontline Series Guatemala Toward Justice
3/22 Midterm Examination - all material day one to 3/8
Part III: U.S. Intervention - Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Caribbean
3/27 Schlesinger and Kinzer, Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala, Preface to 119.
Frontline Series
Guatemala Toward Justice
3/29 Schlesinger and
Kinzer, Bitter Fruit 119-204.
Third draft of paper due today, 3/29. Research question, plan of the paper, literature review, hypotheses, hypotheses tests, preliminary discussion: 14 pages
4/3 Schlesinger and
Kinzer, Bitter Fruit: ,
pages 206-266.
El
Salvador, Booth, Chapter 6;
Video:
Romero
Recommended:
Joan Didion.
1983. Salvador
From Madness to Hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador: Report of the
Commission on the Truth for El Salvador;
4/5 Easter Break - No Class
4/10 Honduras – Booth, Chapter 8 .
4/12 Political Participation, Attitudes, Democracy – Booth, Chapters 9 & 11
Reading quiz 4on Honduras, Democracy in the Central America and the Caribbean
4/17 Iran-Contra - Nicaragua, Honduras, U.S., Reagan administration.
4/19 Walker and Wade, Chapter 8, all.
4/24 Caribbean economy - The Greater
Antilles and the Lesser Antilles
4/26 Last Day of Class -- Final Paper Due
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
8:00-11:00 a.m.
Leutze Hall 111
