COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST FOR POLI 641: : PROBLEMS OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN AFRICA, FIRST SEMESTER 2019/2020 ACADEMIC YEAR.

COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST FOR

POLI 641: PROBLEMS OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN AFRICA

University of Ghana

Department of Political Science

Second Semester, 2019/2020 Academic Year

Lecturer: Dr. C. Amo-Agyemang

Teaching Hours /Venues: Wednesdays 12:30 PM-2:30PM @ D.L.R

Office Hours: Wednesdays 11pm-1pm

E-mail: c.amo-agyemang@ug.edu.gh,  camoagyemang@yahoo.com

Course Title	Problems of Government and Politics in Africa
Course Code	POLI 641
Purpose and Objectives	Course Description and Objectives: Over the last two decades and a half, African countries have undergone changes that have been as profound as those that have affected countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The most significant of these changes has been the democratization processes in several African countries, many of which have gone alongside economic and governance reforms. There are however several problems that confronts many democratic African states. These problems tend to undermine the quality of governance, development, and threaten to supplant the giant strides made in consolidating the few democratic gains made. This course therefore reviews the various issues and challenges confronting African countries and discusses practical proposals to dealing with them. The course would take the form of seminar presentations by students. There would be general discussions of the issues under the guidance of the instructor. The course will survey the following topics: 1.    Governments of Africa: Dictatorship and Democracy (what are the strengths and weaknesses of both) 2.    Globalization (How does globalization pose a threat to government and politics in Africa?) 3.    The continued threat/problem of military intervention in African countries, which constitutes a threat to development in Africa (Should there be any justification for military intervention in government?) 4.    The pervasive issues of Corruption, Poverty and Inequality (What is the most effective way of dealing with corruption in Africa? What is the link between corruption, poverty and inequality) 5.    Winner Take All Politics 6.    Political Leadership 7.    Women Marginalization 8.    Conflict and the problem for long-term development in Africa (ethnic, regional, religious, political) 9.    Terrorism and Security 10.  Migration (Push and Pull factors of migration; who benefits, host country or country from where they originated) Course Requirements and Assignments: The assessment for the course is based on the following: Class Attendance and Participation: 5% The course is driven by research and discussion and its success requires the active participation of students. Students should be prepared to be called upon to present their understandings, questions and views concerning the topic and the readings of the class/course. This includes sharing, either in full or in part, their analytical papers in the class. Both quantity and quality of contributions are taken into account. Good quality active participation should reflect the student’s knowledge and critical understanding of the readings, their enthusiasm for participating in a seminar and their ability to engage in constructive discussion with other students. 2 Analytical Papers (6-8 pages each) and Presentations (12.5% each): 25% Students are required to write two analytical papers during the course, each of which should be 6-8 pages size 12 font and double-spaced. Each paper is worth 12.5% of the final term mark; thus the two papers are worth 25% of the final mark. The choice of weeks for which analytical papers are written is at the student’s discretion.The analytical papers are a critical reflection of students’ reading of the assigned texts in advance; they can also be referred to as short thought-pieces or reading responses or mini review-papers. The analytical papers should not be summaries, but critical assessments of the readings. Simply put, they should contain your reactions (thoughts, questions, agreements, disagreements, etc.) to the readings. They are essentially a collection of well thought-out reactions or analysis of the readings written in an essay style. Final Exam on all topics covered: 70% There will be an in-class exam of critical essay writing on questions covering topics examined in the course. The exact format will be given in the course of the semester. Course Expectations: 1.    The Course Outline lists both required reading and further reading. You will be expected to have completed all the required readings for the week before you attend class for that week. The reading loads are not especially heavy but you should aim to read them carefully and reflectively. 2.    Before approaching each reading think about what the key questions are for the week and about how the questions from this week relate to what you know from previous weeks. Then skim over the reading to get a sense of the themes it covers, the countries, the periods, the methods and, before reading further, jot down on a piece of paper what questions you hope the reading will be able to answer for you: what do you hope to be able to learn from reading the article? Next, read the introduction and conclusion. It is very rare to find a piece of writing that you agree with entirely. So as you come across issues that you disagree with or are not convinced by, write them down and bring them along to class for discussion. 3. Students will be required to listen to Focus on Africa every day, Monday-Friday http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/default.stm. It runs for 40 minutes and will keep students well up to date with what is going on in the continent. While there will be no test or other way of checking whether students will do this, the content of Focus on Africa will be treated as background knowledge for class discussions. There is no excuse not to be able to keep up with the news: Regular news sources available on- line include but are not limited to: .    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/default.stm .    http://allafrica.com/ .    http://www.africanews.org Some Core Texts Chari, S. & Corbridge, S. (Eds.) (2008) The Development Reader. Desai V. & Potter, R.B. (Eds.) (2002) The Companion to     Development Studies Hoogvelt, A. (2001) Globalization and the Postcolonial World: the New Political Economy of Development, London: Palgrave. Gyampo, R.E.V. Dealing with Winner-Takes-All Politics in Ghana, Accra: IEA. Peet, R. and Hartwick (2015) Theories of Development, London: Guilford, 3rd ed. (Earlier editions are fine for the theories) McMichael, P. (2012) Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, 5th ed., London: Pine Forge Press. Some Key Journals African Development (CORDESRIA) Third World Quarterly World Development Development and Change Review of African Political Economy Journal of Modern African Studies Some Useful Websites  Focus on the Global South (http://focusweb.org/) Global Exchange (http://www.globalexchange.org.) Global Policy Forum (http://www.globalpolicy.org/) GRAIN (Genetic Resources Action International)               (http://www.grain.org/) IMF (http://www.imf.org/) One world (http://www.oneworld.org/panos/) (information on global issues with a developing country perspective) Public Citizens Global Trade Watch (http://www.tradewatch.org/) SACOM (Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior) (http: http://sacom.hk/) Third World Network (http://www.twnside.org.sg/) UNCTAD (http://www.unctad.org/) World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org/) WTO Watch (http://www.wtoaction.org/) Magazines, Newspapers and Databases Economic and Political Weekly (http://www.epw.org.in/) Economists (http://www.economists.com) Far Eastern Economic Review (http://www.feer.com/) Financial Times (http://www.ft.com) Finance and Development (http://www.worldbank.org/fandd/) PLAGIARISM POLICY Students must take note that the University of Ghana has deployed software under its current e-Learning platform that detects plagiarism in all forms, from class assignments to project works and other academic work. This is aimed at enhancing originality of thought among students and promoting excellent academic work. Plagiarism in any form would therefore not be countenanced.