Civic Participation and Community Leadership

PPS 49, Fall 2005
Tuesdays: 2:50-4:05 p.m.; Thursdays: 2:50-4:05; 4:25-5:40 p.m.
102 Sanford Institute Building

Alma G. Blount, Instructor
Room 104 Sanford; 613-7323; blt@duke.edu
Office hours by appointment
Blackboard: http://courses.duke.edu

This seminar explores ways in which value conflicts in communities affect civic and political participation, as well as policy design. Students will be challenged to develop a framework of problem-solving approaches and to consider diverse ways of exercising leadership in the face of competing interests.

The centerpiece of the fall 2005 seminar will be an intensive study of U.S. involvement in Iraq. Examining the situation at the international, national, and local level, we will consider questions of moral and civic responsibility—and debate where our country should go from here in its policy towards Iraq. We will frame our investigation by asking a series of questions about democracy. The goal of the course is for students to discover specific, tangible, politically savvy ways of addressing these questions, free from abstractions or platitudes. What does it mean to be an engaged citizen? What is democratic participation, and what does it have to do with leadership?

The course is divided into three sections, each exploring the meaning of citizenship for individuals and collectives:

1. Learning the tools of democratic participation. What are the basic tools of public discourse? What is our vision of the common good? How does one mobilize groups with divergent interests to engage in problem-solving work on issues of common concern?

2. Developing a reasoned perspective about the U.S. role in Iraq. What resources and skills can help us make sense of the current situation in Iraq, develop our own point of view, and engage in serious dialogue and debate with others about the choices confronting our country? How do we address the political polarization that divides us, and find common ground as we deliberate about where to go from here?

3. Forming a commitment to public life. What kind of leadership can help us work productively with individuals and groups that have conflicting political perspectives and values? How do we find the courage to engage in sustained, collective problem-solving work in the public arena?

In addition to two regular classes per week, the course will include an additional session each Thursday afternoon from 4:25-5:40. This session will be used for group discussions and group projects.

The course is designed to give first year students the opportunity to develop their leadership capacities for contributing to and facilitating robust group conversations. Class participants will be required to analyze current events, develop their own points of view about complex political issues, and participate in fast-paced discussions with fellow students and guest speakers with whom they may disagree. A central goal of the course is to give students a sense of the challenges and rewards of public discourse and group problem-solving efforts.

What does it mean to be an engaged citizen?

Introduction to the course

Week 1—Tuesday, August 30; Thursday, September 1

Reading Assignment:

1. Articles about leadership and public life distributed in class, including:
o “Political Leadership: Managing the Public’s Problem Solving,” from The Power of Public Ideas, Robert Reich, editor. Ronald A. Heifetz and Riley M. Sinder. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1988.
o “Values in Leadership,” “To Lead or Mislead?”, and “Mobilizing Adaptive Work,” from Leadership Without Easy Answers. Ronald A. Heifetz. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1994.

2. News articles and opinion pieces from New York Times, selections from the Opinion Journal of the Wall Street Journal.

I. Learning the tools of democratic participation.

Week 2—September 6, 8
Week 3—September 13, 15
Week 4—September 20, 22
Week 5—September 27, 29

Reading Assignments:

1. Promises Betrayed: Waking Up from the American Dream, by Bob Herbert. New York: Times Books, 2005.

2. It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, by Rick Santorum. Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 2005.

3. News articles and opinion pieces from New York Times, selections from the Opinion Journal of the Wall Street Journal.

Class exercises and requirements:
• Weekly point-of-view essays.
• Occasional quizzes.
• Extemporaneous speaking exercises.

II. Developing a reasoned perspective about the U.S. role in Iraq.

Part 1: Examining diverse viewpoints to understand the context

Week 6—October 4, 6
• Mid-term essay due Thursday, October 6.
• No class on Tuesday, October 11: Fall Break
Week 7—October 13
Week 8—October 18, 20
Week 9—October 25, 27
Week 10—November 1, 3

Reading Assignments:

1. Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq, by Kanan Mikaya. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, 1998.

2. A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal, by Asne Seierstad. New York: Basic Books, 2005.

3. The Gift of Valor: A War Story, by Michael M. Phillips. New York: Broadway Books, 2005.

4. Excerpts from Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army, by Kayla Williams. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2005.

5. Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq, by Larry Diamond. New York: Times Books, 2005.

6. Articles distributed in class, including:

Neoconservative perspectives about U.S. policy in Iraq:
o “Democratic Realism: An American Foreign Policy for a Unipolar World,” by Charles Krauthammer. Washington: The American Enterprise Institute Press, 2004.
o “Introduction: Neocons in Power;” “Trotsky’s Orphans,” from Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism and the New Pax Americana. Gary Dorrien. New York: Routledge, 2004.
o “National Interest and Global Responsibility,” by William Kristol and Robert Kagan. The NeoCon Reader. Edited by Irwin Stelzer. New York: Grove Press, 2004.

Statements by the Administration:
o “Bush Says U.S. Will Stay and Finish Task; President Honors Lives Lost, Defends Role in Iraq,” by Mike Allen and Sam Coates. The Washington Post, August 23, 2005.
o “President Addresses Nation, Discusses Iraq, War on Terror.” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, June 28, 2005.
o “Report to Congress Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq.” Department of Defense, July 21, 2005. www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2005/d20050721secstab.pdf

Commentary by other strategists and observers:
o “How To Win in Iraq,” by Andrew Krepinevich. Foreign Affairs. September-October 2005.
o Analysis and commentary from the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute.
o “A Hawk Questions Himself as His Son Goes to War,” by Eliot A. Cohen. The Washington Post, July 10, 2005.
o “Someone Tell the President the War is Over,” (Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005), “The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan,” (Sunday, August 21, 2005), and “The Vietnamization of Bush’s Vacation,” (Sunday, August 28, 2005), by Frank Rich. New York Times.
o “Exiting Iraq,” by John Deutch. Harvard Magazine. September-October 2005.

7. News articles and opinion pieces from New York Times, selections from the Opinion Journal of the Wall Street Journal.

Class exercises and requirements:
• Weekly point-of-view essays.
• Occasional quizzes.
• Extemporaneous speaking exercises.

Part 2: Group Projects

Week 11—November 8, 10—Group #1
Week 12—November 15, 17—Group #2
Week 13—Tuesday, November 22—Group #3
(No class on Thursday, November 24—Thanksgiving Break)
Week 14—Tuesday, November 29—Group #3 (continued)

Assigned groups will produce class projects on topics related to U.S. involvement in Iraq. Guidelines will be presented in class. Reading assignments, class exercises and requirements: to be announced.

3. Forming a commitment to public life.

Week 14—Thursday, December 1—“Going Public” with the group projects
Week 15—December 6, 8

Reading assignments:

1. Articles distributed in class, including:
o “Introduction,” The Heart of Danger,” “Get On the Balcony,” and “Think Politically” from Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading. Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

2. News articles and opinion pieces from New York Times, selections from the Opinion Journal of the Wall Street Journal.

Class exercises and requirements to be announced.

Course Requirements

• 100% attendance. Please show up on time. (If you have a cell phone, please turn it off before coming to class.)

• Please sign up for the New York Times and the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal (available through the Opinion Journal) the first week of class, and get into the habit of reading articles and op-ed columns about the assigned topics (and clipping or printing the articles) in each publication, every day.* (The NYT may be available to first year students on East Campus at no cost.)

• Be prepared to deliver a five-minute extemporaneous speech on an assigned current events topic. How to prepare? Keep up with the newspaper assignments, maintain a clip file of articles, and begin to develop your own point of view on the topic at hand.

• Weekly assignments will include essays and occasional quizzes. (Total of 12 weekly assignments.) Guidelines for essays will be announced in class and posted on the PPS 49 Blackboard web site. Please submit your assignments via Blackboard no later than 9:00 p.m. each Monday on the due dates.

• Find your voice. This is a leadership class. Be creative, challenging, authentic, and fully present in our class discussions.

• Be ready to conduct quick, individual “mini-research projects” about questions that arise in class. These short-term projects will be part of your class participation grade.

• Write a mid-term essay, due at the beginning of class on Thursday, October 6 (before fall break).

• Participate fully in your group project. Each group will teach the entire class about an assigned topic related to U.S. involvement in Iraq in the second section of the course.

• Produce a final paper (due Saturday, December 17) that integrates ideas about civic participation and leadership that you will have developed over the course of the semester. How to prepare? Do a good job with the reading, writing and class discussion assignments throughout the semester. As you complete this work, take responsibility for forming your own point of view about the themes of the course and the current event topics we study. Be able to explain to others—in a clear, persuasive and articulate way--what you think it means to be an engaged citizen, and what the process of engagement has to do with leadership. Please avoid abstractions. Ground your civic leadership framework in the specific details and analyses of the issues we explore in the course. Think of the final paper as your own distinct, carefully reasoned argument about the challenges and potential of participatory democracy. To do well on the final paper, work hard throughout the semester in developing and refining your thoughts.

Grading Policy
Class participation: 20%
Weekly assignments: 30%
Mid-term Essay: 15%
Group project: 15%
Final paper: 20%

Please plan on signing up for an evaluation meeting with the instructor after fall break. In this half hour meeting we will discuss your performance in class participation, the weekly assignments, and the mid-term essay.

Required Texts
1. Promises Betrayed: Waking Up from the American Dream. Bob Herbert. New York: Times Books, 2005.
2. It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good. Rick Santorum. Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 2005.
3. Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq, by Kanan Mikaya. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, 1998.
4. A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal, by Asne Seierstad. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
5. The Gift of Valor: A War Story. Michael M. Phillips. New York: Broadway Books, 2005.
6. Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. Larry Diamond. New York: Times Books, 2005.

The required books are available in the textbook department of the Regulator Book Shop on Ninth Street in Durham.

Additional readings (articles from political journals, chapters from other books) will be distributed in class.

*Please subscribe to the New York Times (daily and Sunday) for the entire semester (15 weeks), beginning the first week of class. Please register for free access to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal through the Opinion Journal website. You can register for the WSJ editorials and op-ed columns via the “External Links” section of our blackboard website, or through this URL: <www.opinionjournal.com>. (Go to Email subscription/Free updates. Choose the box that says, “Send me ‘On the Editorial Page.’”)

If the New York Times is not readily available on East Campus, please subscribe to it. I prefer that you have the print version of the newspaper, but the electronic version is also permissible. (Please note that I am referring to the exact digital reproduction of the print version, not the web-based, free version of the paper, which is formatted differently.) The print version costs $4.90 a week. The electronic version costs $6.70 week. Subscription information is available on our Blackboard web site, under “External Links.”