MVZ241 Democracy, the state and conflict in Africa

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2016
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Prof. Dr. Siegmar Schmidt (lecturer), prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Kříž, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Zinaida Bechná, Ph.D. (assistant)
Mgr. Jana Urbanovská, Ph.D. (assistant)
Mgr. Hana Votradovcová (assistant)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Petr Suchý, Ph.D.
Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Olga Cídlová, DiS.
Supplier department: Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Mon 16. 5. 11:30–13:00 AVC, Tue 17. 5. 13:30–15:00 U33, Wed 18. 5. 9:45–11:15 U43, Thu 19. 5. 17:00–18:30 P22, Fri 20. 5. 9:45–11:15 U34
Prerequisites
Students should be able to follow English presentation and read English materials.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 47 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
To understand the relation between democracy, state and conflicts in Africa.
Syllabus
  • Lecture series May 18- May 25 at the Masaryk University, Brno 1. Sub-Saharan Africa: Historical legacies from Colonialism and the post-colonial independence Iliffe, John, 1995: Africans. The history of a continent, Cambridge, chapter 9: Colonial invasion, pp. 187-211 (+303-305 footnotes) Thomson, Alex, 2010: An introduction to African politics, London and New York, 3rd ed. pp. 1-31 2. Democratization in Africa: From authoritarian rule to a continent of “defective democracies”? Walle, Nicolas van de, 2002: Africa´s range of regimes, in: Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, pp. 66-80 Erdmann, Gero, 2003: Apocalyptic triad: state failure, state disintegration and state collapse: structural problems of democracy in Africa, in: Z Vgl Polit Wiss (2014) 8: 215–236 3. A “Curse of Resources”? The significance of Governance Collier, Paul, 2000: Doing Well out of War: An Economic Perspective, in: Mats Berdal/David M. Malone (eds.), 2000: Greed & grievance: economic agendas in civil wars, pp. 91-111 Basedau, Matthias/Wolfram Lacher, 2006: A Paradox of Plenty? Rent Distribution and Political Stability in Oil States, GIGA Research Program: Dynamics of Violence and Security Cooperation, (http://www.giga-hamburg.de/de/system/files/publications/wp21_basedau-lacher.pdf) 4. “Things fall apart again”? State collapse in Africa: causes and consequences (with reference to the DR Congo) Rotberg, Robert I., 2003: State failure and state weakness in a time of terror, Washington, Brookings, pp. 1-23 Riddell, Barry, 1992: Things Fall Apart Again: Structural Adjustment Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa, in: The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Mar., 1992), pp. 53-68 Reno, William, 2006: Congo: From State Collapse to 'Absolutism', to State Failure, in: Third World Quarterly, Vol. 27, no. 1, From Nation-Building to State-Building (2006), pp. 43-56 5. The African Union (AU) – an African response to Africa’s problems African Union: The CONSTITUTIVE ACT OF THE AFRICAN UNION, 2002 Mwanasali, Musifiky, 2008: From Non-Interference to non-indifference: The emerging doctrine of conflict prevention, in: Akokpari, John et al. (eds.): The African Union and its institutions, Auckland Park, pp.41-63 Murithi, Tim, 2007: Institutionalizing Pan-Africanism Transforming African Union values and principles into policy and practice, Pretoria, (ISS paper 143), 16pp.
Literature
  • ILIFFE, John. Afrika a Afričané : dějiny kontinentu. Edited by Luboš Kropáček. Vyd. 1. Praha: Vyšehrad, 2001, 375 s. ISBN 8070214686. info
Teaching methods
Presentations, readings.
Assessment methods
Written test based on the presentations and literature. Attendance 80%.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught only once.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2015, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2016, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2016/MVZ241