PSC 356 introduces students to a range of conceptual formulations that political scholars and practitioners use to describe, analyze, and understand political conflicts. It offers students the experience of applying those resources analytically -- as a professional political analyst would -- to render comprehensible some episode of conflictual political contention.
The course consists of two modules. During the first module, we will review works aimed toward the development of generalizations (theory) regarding political conflicts. Although they treat the same topics, students should expect these works to overlap one another only partially. At points, students will find them contradictory or otherwise mutually incompatible. There is scholarly contention, it seems, about how to understand political contention. The first module includes two cumulative examinations that assess student comprehension of the material.
Students will have been organized in small teams oriented to the analysis of a specific political conflict. During the first module, students will propose particular conflicts to analyze. The instructor will then compose a list of conflicts approved for analysis. Students will then indicate their topical preferences. The instructor will consult these as he assigns students to teams.
Each team will prepare a briefing on the conflict they will have analyzed. They will each present their briefings in class during the second module. Each team will be allotted half the class period for its briefing, minus 5-10 minutes for questions. As the class period is 80 minutes, briefings should run 30-35 minutes. Teams are encouraged to be creative, yet professional, as the exercise simulates the briefings that one might be expected to deliver to officials in a foreign ministry, an intergovernmental organization, a non-governmental organization, or a multinational corporation. Students may freely utilize the multi-media classroom facilities (e.g., powerpoint, web, video, audio) in their briefings. Briefings should be rehearsed and polished. Do not read. Do not overload slides with text, as these distract members of your audience.
Each team should meet with the instructor and/or TA after having constructed an initial work plan for their project. They may also consult with the instructor and/or TA about their briefing, as necessary. Briefings will be graded on the bases of their quality and on their effective use of concepts developed in the first module.
Each team will be required to submit a written memorandum, the narrative of which should consist of a direct, terse report on the team's substantive findings. These memoranda should not exceed 10 pages, double-spaced, 12 point. Each should also be prefaced with a one-page executive summary.
Team projects are useful experiences for students, who will often in their professional careers be required to work jointly with others. However, the question of fair credit always arises whenever students are assigned team projects. Although all team members will receive the same base grade, the instructor will award extra credit to students who have made outstanding contributions in the preparation of their team's briefing. With their team's written report, each individual student will submit (for five points) a "briefing report," in which they characterize the extent of their own contributions and single out others on their team who have made outstanding contributions. Extra credit will be awarded on the basis of this information.
Under no circumstances will students be allowed to single out fellow team members who have not pulled their own weight in the briefing preparation. Students who complain about their fellow team members in these reports will not receive full credit for the briefing report exercise.
At the close of the semester, each individual student will submit brief (2 or 3 page) reviews of the briefings. In these "debriefings," students will assess the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the various briefings, offering suggestions for improvement.
| Task | Contribution |
| Exam I | |
| Exam II | |
| Briefing | |
| Briefing Report | |
| Debriefing | |
| Memorandum | |
| Participation |
Attendance is mandatory, and will be included in the participation grade. The instructor does not allow students to perform "extra work" at the end of the semester to improve their grades. Doing so only places unfair pressure on other faculty to do the same in their courses. All written assignments (i.e., briefing reports, debriefings, and memoranda) must be submitted in hardcopy. Emailed submissions are not accepted.
The most recent version of this document is available at http://web.syr.edu/~gavan/psc356s07.html.