THE FUTURE OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS

Pol Sc 673

Spring 2004

Jim Dator

Department of Political Science

University of Hawaii at Manoa

This course will focus on the design of new political systems and is intended especially for students in the Alternative Futures MA option within the Department of Political Science. Other students are most heartily welcome. The course will be in three major parts.

THE FIRST PART, for which the instructor will be primarily (but not exclusively) responsible for leading class discussion, will begin with a review of some of the basic ideas about political futures studies and the design of political systems. Next we will problematize the dominant mode of thinking about designing political systems, "constitutionalism", in light of what a "quantum" political design, or one based on evolutionary systems theory, might suggest instead. This will be followed by a consideration of some non-western political design cosmologies.

THE SECOND PART: Then we will consider six of the many complaints levied against all existing governments: that they are bureaucratic, placing the convenience of the governors over the needs of the governed; that they too nationalistic, privileging the nation-state over both smaller and larger units; that they are undemocratic, thwarting participation of some, while favoring other, groups and individuals; that they are repressive, using and causing both direct and structural violence; that they are patriarchal, insisting on a gender binary and within that binary privileging men and masculinity (particularly violence), while ignoring or marginalizing the mobility of gender as well as the participation and perspectives of women; and that they are unfuturistic, basically discounting the future and concerning themselves with at best immediate and in many instances past, and almost always comparatively trivial problems. In each instance, we will consider several examples of recently-proposed political designs which are intended to address one or more of these major complaints

By the third meeting of the class (January 28) each member of the class will identify one of the six "complaints" about which she wishes to become expert. Persons choosing the same "complaint" will then form teams. These individuals or teams will be responsible for (1) leading the discussion on solutions to the complaint the night it is scheduled for class discussion, (2) discovering and revealing to the rest of the class other political designs attempting to solve the same problem; (3) and in general, serving as expert consultants to the rest of the class on this matter. Of course all students are expected to include their solutions to all six complaints (plus any others of particular concern to them) in their final paper.

THE THIRD PART, for which the members of the course will be responsible, individually and collectively, will focus on political designs in any area of each student's choosing. However, students are expected in their political design to address the "major complaints" plus any other concerns they may have. Moreover, students are especially encouraged to develop designs that are not based upon traditional Western political designs and/or philosophical assumptions. For example, you might consider developing Hawaiian, Confucian, Islamic or Buddhist political designs; and/or those made on the basis of feminist, Gaian, or Green values; and/or on the assumptions of evolutionary, biological, quantum, catastrophe, or chaos theories.

1/14 Introduction to the course. Review of the basic concepts of futures studies

1/21 Society as a human invention

Studer, "Behavior contingent design"

Michael, "Forecasting & planning in an incoherent context"

O'Hara, "Future mind"

Dator, "Bright future for democracy?"

Dator, "Responsible for your rose"

Dator, "From 'Parking'.."

Dator, "The New American Empire?"

1/28 Constitutions and "constitutionalism"

Wheeler, "Constitutionalism"

Platt, "Federalists and the design of stability"

Riggs, "Constitutional reform: Some guidelines"

Wiatr, "Lessons from Eastern Europe"

2/4 Towards quantum politics and evolutionary systems design

Slaton, "Quantum theory and political theory"

Huston, "Evolutionary systems theory and parapolitics"

Kelly, "Out of control" (excerpts)

Panteli, Dibben, "Revisiting..virtual organizations"

2/11 Towards new political cosmologies

Inayatullah, "Frames of reference"

Mushakoji, "Post-modern cultural development in East Asia"

Madsen, "After liberalism...Confucianism becomes hegemonic..."

Sardar, "Islamic state in the post-industrial age"

Kanahele, "In search of Hawaiian values"

Heaukulani, "Aspects of Hawaiian cosmology"

2/18 Towards governance for future generations

Kim and Dator, "Future Generations: They are our conscience"

2/25 From bureaucracy towards service

Dator, "US public administration from laissez-faire to empire

Fainstein, "The political economy of American bureaucracy"

Barzelay, "Beyond the bureaucratic paradigm"

Donahue, "The privatization decision" (excerpts)

Inbar, "Routine decision-making"

Pratt, "The New Public Management"

3/3 Towards global/local governance

Report of Global Governance commission

Cleveland, "Birth of a new world" (excerpts)

Cerny, "Globalization & the residual state"

Deetz, "Democracy in an age of corporate colonization"

Rosecrance, "Rise of the virtual state"

Tonn, "Non-spatial governance"

Garreau, "Behold the nine nations"

Rohter, "Envisioning a Green Hawaii"

3/10 Towards direct democracy

Dator, "Civil Society and Governance Reform"

Held, "Models of democracy"

Barber, "Strong democracy"

Rasanen, ""The platform of Aanivalta"

Tehranian, "The promises of teledemocracy"

London, "Electronic democracy"

Pieterse, "Participatory democratization reconceived"

Becker, <http://www.auburn.edu/tann>

Long, "Emergent democracy"

Marien, "Improving democracy"

Hibbing & Theiss-Morse, "Stealth democracy"

3/17 Towards peace-promoting governance

Rummel, "The just peace" (excerpts)

Paige, "Nonviolent political science"

Los Horcones, "Personalized government"

3/24-Spring Vacation

3/31 Towards gender-blind governance

Ferree and Martin, "Feminist organizations"

Wheeler and Chin, "Peace and power"

Coontz, "Where are the good old days?"

Little, "You CAN fool Mother Nature"

Cerroni-Long, "Sexual dimorphism"

Nausbaum, "A question of gender"

Johnson, "The new nature vs. nurture"

4/7 Towards future-oriented governance

Toffler, "Future-conscious politics"

Dator, "What futures for governance?"

Tonn, "The court of generations"

Pollard and Tonn, "Revisiting the 'Court of Generations'"

4/14, 4/21, 4/28 , 5/5--Student Reports

5/12 --Final papers due in Dator's mailbox, Saunders Hall 640, by 4:30 PM, May 12

A Note on Grades. The primary focus of this class is each student's final political design project. The in-class presentation of this project is worth 20% of each student's total grade, and the final written report is worth 50%. Regular attendance and team participation is worth 25%. Participation on listserv is worth 5%.

Office hours: Dator's office is Saunders Hall 604. Office hours are usually Monday through Thursday, 1:00-3:00 PM, or by appointment. Phone 956-660l. Please leave messages on my voicemail at this number. However, I strongly urge you to use email to discuss things with me instead of, or in addition to, visiting my office. My email address is dator@hawaii.edu

Because of my duties as Director of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, I may have to miss a class or two. However, someone will come in to take over any class I miss so please attend and participate in class as usual. Moreover, I will take my PowerBook with me on most trips and access the listserv and email, so you can and should continue to communicate with me even when I am not physically in Hawaii. However, if my absence from some classes presents any problem to you, please discuss this with me, or please do not take the course.

pol673-l Listserv: Participation in the class listserv, pol673-l, is an essential part of this class. You will be expected, at least once each week, preferably daily, to post your comments on poldes-l concerning the assigned readings, class lectures, and class discussions, and to engage in the discussion with others online.

Background material. This class is intended to be the second in a two-part sequence, the first part being Pol Sci 672. If you have not had that class I urge you as soon as possible to read the following material about futures studies (available from Dator's office, Saunders 604):

Jim Dator, "The future lies behind!"

Ziauddin Sardar, et al, "Colonizing the future"