POLITICAL SCIENCE

POLS 247 - AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Beth K. Dougherty Fall 2007

MWRF 1pm

MI 112B x 2084

Course Description

This course examines some of the major issues in contemporary African politics. It covers five representative conflicts which illustrate broader themes such as the interrelationship of war and famine, ethnic identity and violence, intervention, illicit trade in natural resources, and the politics of complex humanitarian emergencies. The case studies will be Eritrea & Ethiopia; Rwanda and the subsequent war in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Darfur; Angola; and Liberia & Sierra Leone. The course will combine lectures, interactive techniques, including structured debates and role-play simulations, and videos. This is the required gateway course for the African Studies minor; please contact me for details if you are interested in the minor.

Course Readings

There are five required texts for this course, all of which are available at the bookstore and on reserve if possible. Additional REQUIRED readings are on reserve in the library.

Alex De Waal. Famine That Kills. London: Oxford University Press (2005).

Stephen Ellis. The Mask of Anarchy (2nd edition). New York: New York University Press (2007).

Karin Moorhouse. No One Can Stop the Rain. Toronto: Insomniac Press (2005).

Scott Straus. Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press (2006).

John Young. Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia. New York: Cambridge University Press (1997).

There is a lot of reading in this course; if you fall behind you may not be able to catch up. If you are not willing to do it, please do not take this class. You will also be expected to follow events in Africa; read a major daily newspaper, or check out www.allafrica.com for local press coverage of a specific country.

Course Requirements

Four 6-8 page Briefing papers - 80%

We will run four interactive exercises during the term: a mock peace conference, mediated by the U.S., between Eritrea and Ethiopia (DUE SEPT 24); group presentations on third party intervention in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DUE OCT 26); a reconstruction conference for Angola (DUE NOV 16); and a roundtable on the search for justice and reconciliation in Liberia and Sierra Leone (DUE DEC 4). Each student will chose a role to play / a topic from a list provided by the instructor; where appropriate, students will be able to play in teams. You are expected to research the position of your party prior to the scheduled exercise, and then based on that knowledge to “play” your role / present your position in class. Additional details will be provided closer to the assignments. The grade will be based on the thoroughness of your research, the accuracy of your positions, the persuasiveness of your argument, and the clarity of your writing. Briefing papers MUST include citations and a bibliography; failure to include both will result in your paper being handed back without a grade. Please follow the Chicago Manual of Style.

NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT SUBSTANTIAL PENALTY. If you plagiarize, you will fail the course.

Class participation, 20%

There are multiple components to this grade: discussion, a book or film review, and a map quiz.

Discussion: You are expected to make informed contributions to class discussions, and to actively participate in the interactive exercises. We will regularly hold discussions of the readings and films; you are expected to be prepared to critically analyze the materials assigned for those discussions.

Novel / film review: You will read an African novel or view an African film, and write a 2 page, single-spaced review, due no later than NOV 5. I can suggest some titles, and the library has an excellent collection of African feature films.

Map quiz: Please see the list of countries and capitals at the end of the syllabus. The quiz will be in class on September 3. Repeated absences or late appearances will result in a substantial grade penalty. I reserve the right to issue you a failing grade for excessive absences.

Course Outline

Aug 29 The first day

Aug 30 Watch Consuming Hunger

READING: Start deWaal, Famine That Kills.

Aug 31 Watch Living With Hunger

Section I: Darfur (Sept 3 – Sept 10)

READING: deWaal, Famine That Kills

Sept 3 Intro to Sudan (MAP QUIZ)

Sept 5 War and Famine

Sept 6 Discuss Famine That Kills& documentaries

READING: You must have completed Famine That Kills.

Sept 7 Darfur in crisis

Sept 10 Intervention: Too little, too late?

Section II: The Horn of Africa (Sept 12 – 28)

READING: Young, Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia

Sept 12 Intro to the Horn

Sept 13 The Ethiopian Revolution

Sept 14 Construction of Eritrean national identity

Sept 17 How the EPLF won Eritrea’s independence

Sept 19 How the TPLF overthrew the Dergue (discussion)

READING: You must have finished Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia

Sept 20 Issaias and Meles – the disappointing record of the “new African leaders”

Sept 21 War, again

Sept 24 PAPER DUE

Sept 24, 26, 27 - SIMULATION: Peace Conference, Eritrea & Ethiopia

Sept 28 Last day for the Horn

Section III: Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Oct 1 – Oct 31)

READING: Straus, Order of Genocide.

Oct 1, 3 Hutus & Tutsis

Oct 4 catch-up day

Oct 5 Prelude to genocide

Oct 8, 10 The Genocide: Watch Ghosts of Rwanda

Oct 11 Discussion of Straus and the films

READING: You must have finished Order of Genocide.

Oct 12 Intervention and the lack thereof: a political and moral critique

BREAK

Oct 22 The refugee crisis

Oct 24 “Africa’s World War:” conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Oct 25, 26 - GROUP PRESENTATIONS: Intervention in the DRC

Oct 26 PAPER DUE

Oct 31 The DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda wrap-up

Section IV: Angola (Nov 1 – Nov 16)

READING: Moorhouse, No One Can Stop the Rain

Nov 1, 2 Angola in the Cold War

Nov 5 Bicesse Accords and their collapse

Nov 7 no class – International Symposium Day – attend Bellamy lecture, 8pm

Nov 8 UN intervention

Nov 9 War - again

Nov 12 The humanitarian toll (discussion)

READING: You must have finished No One Can Stop the Rain

Nov 14 Since Savimbi’s death

Nov 15 – 16 PAPER DUE - SIMULATION: Reconstruction in post-war Angola

Section V: Liberia and Sierra Leone (Nov 19 – Dec 11)

READING: Ellis, Mask of Anarchy

Nov 19 Liberia, ECOMOG, and spillover

Nov 21 no class – Happy Thanksgiving!

Nov 26, 28 Sierra Leone

Nov 29 Watch Cry Freetown

READING: Watch Return to Freetown

Nov 30 Roots of the conflict (discussion)

READING: you must have finished Mask of Anarchy

Dec 3, 5 The international response

READING: Watch Liberia: An Uncivil War

DEC 4 PAPER DUE, no later than 5pm

Dec 6, 7 - ROUND TABLE: Justice and Reconciliation in Liberia & Sierra Leone

Dec 10, 11 Liberia’s elections, Sierra Leone’s efforts to rebuild

Dec 12 Evaluations / wrap-up

MAP QUIZ – Sept 3 – Please know the following countries and capitals:

Sudan Eritrea Ethiopia Somalia Angola

Namibia Rwanda Burundi Ghana DRC

Guinea Nigeria Liberia Tanzania Sierra Leone

Zimbabwe Senegal Libya Kenya South Africa

Eritrea – Ethiopia Paper (DUE SEPT 24)

This simulation will be a fictional conference called to try and prevent a fresh outbreak of violence in 2007. You may be either Eritrea, Ethiopia, or the U.S. (as mediator). Your first task will be to set an agenda, and then you will discuss each issue in turn with an eye towards identifying the core grievance and finding a solution. If you are ERT or ETH, your paper should focus on the relationship between ERT / ETH since 2000, when the border war broke out. You may look at any aspect of this relationship that you wish from the perspective of your player: the roots of the conflict, the negotiating process that brought the fighting to an end, the economic and political repercussions of the crisis, the relationship between Meles and Issaias and their labels as "new African Leaders," the controversy over Badme, the proxy struggle in Somalia. The emphasis should be on analyzing why things happened, assessing the outcomes of these events, and where possible commenting on the future. If you are the U.S., your paper should focus on U.S. policy toward Eritrea, Ethiopia, or the Horn in general since 2000.

Valuable sources: Jaquin-Berdal & Plaut (ed), Unfinished Business, and Negash & Tronvoll, Brothers at War are on reserve.

Group Presentations – DRC (DUE OCT 26)

For the DRC paper, you must sign up for one of the following roles: Angola, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda (RPF government), FGOR (former government of Rwanda), Zimbabwe, ADFL (as rebel forces and/or as recognized govt of DRC), rebel forces against Kabila government. Your paper should be focused on the interests, strategies, alliances, decision-making processes, etc. of the actor you choose. Basic questions: Who are you....who do you support or oppose.....how do you do this.....what do you want / what do you fear? The in-class portion of this will take place over two days. We will discuss the events in the Great Lakes region in the post-genocide period (after July 1994). Each person/group will be expected to be able to explain the role of their player in the events.

Valuable sources: John Clark, African Stakes of the Congo War; Nest, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Economic Dimensions of War and Peace; Clement, Post-conflict Economies in sub-Saharan Africa; and Adelman, War and Peace in Zaire-Congo are on reserve.

Angola Reconstruction conference – (DUE NOV 16)

We will run a mock conference for the reconstruction of Angola. There are three standing committees: humanitarian, economic, & political. I will ask that you sign up for a committee, but your topic within that committee is open to your choice. If you are not sure where your topic belongs, please ask me. On Nov 15, each standing committee will meet to share information and draw up a proposal for what needs to be done in their area. On Nov 16, each committee will report to the group, and then the group will attempt to draw up a prioritized list of what reconstruction needs must be addressed first.

Humanitarian committee: this committee will investigate issues related to "human security" in post-war Angola. Some examples would include: land mines, health / disease, food security, relief efforts, status of women / children, literacy / education, population growth.

Economic committee: this committee will investigate Angola's economic / financial status. Topics could include IMF / World Bank funding, debt, corruption, illegal diamond trade and efforts to end this, reconstruction costs, oil.

Political committee: this committee will look at the potential for political liberalization in post-war Angola. Possible topics include: the integration of UNITA into the government, army, police etc., the status of disarmament and demobilization efforts, civil and political liberties, an assessment of the accord between the MPLA and UNITA.

In each case, you can focus on something specific (the possible topics above) or more broadly address the overall humanitarian picture, an assessment of Angola's economy and its potential, or the prospects for political liberalization (or democratization).

Your papers should explain the current state of affairs, explain how the war contributed to this state of affairs, and then assess / offer recommendations for reconstruction in your area of focus. So for example, if you are writing about the integration of UNITA into the govt, you would want to put that into the context of UNITA's political grievances during the war and why the MPLA was so resistant to Jonas Savimbi joining the govt after a certain point.

Valuable source: Hodges, Angola: From Afro-Stalinism….is on reserve.

Peace & Justice in Liberia and Sierra Leone – (DUE DEC 4)

This roundtable will address the question of what the most effective mechanisms are to bring about peace, justice, & reconciliation in post-war Sierra Leone and Liberia (or alternately you could approach it as what are the main obstacles to achieving these goals). Possible topics: the DDR process, the TRC, the SCSL, rebuilding, corruption, the Charles Taylor case, elections in Liberia/Sierra Leone, etc.

SOURCES

In general, look at Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, International Crisis Group, US State Dept country notes / background notes /annual report on human rights practices. The websites for the UN and its specialized agencies (esp. UNICEF, UNHCR, OHCHR, OCHA) are outstanding – at the Security Council, you can get the periodic reports of the Secretary-General on peace keeping missions. Global Policy Forum (www.globalpolicy.org) is useful on some topics. The Clapham book African Guerrillas and the Boas book African Guerrillas: Raging Against the Machine will also help with some topics. Current History, Human Rights Quarterly, Journal of Modern Africa Studies, and African Affairs are all excellent sources. For legal issues, use the legal search engine on lexus-nexus. For news, use www.allafrica.com or www.irinnews.org. The US Institute of Peace has some info on its website, including audio/video of talks or conferences. The International Center for Transitional Justice is good for Liberia / Sierra Leone. If you want economic data, use the Human Development Report, IMF/World Bank reports, Economist Intelligence Unit reports (a quarterly report devoted to a country...would have to do it through inter-library loan but this is a gold mine of economic and financial data). If you go to Madison, look for Africa Confidential, a weekly newsletter.

Start researching early, b/c it takes a lot of scrounging around to get decent info on Africa! Do not expect to find a couple of articles devoted exclusively to the subject and write the paper in a day!