Digital Politics

Dear students, 

 

We will have a quiz tomorrow. Please read the slides. 

 

 ____________________________________________________

 

 

 

AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

COMMUNICATION STUDIES

Version 1.0

(Last Updated 23 January 200 [1]

CONTACT DETAILS:

Class time: M-F 08.00 to 09.20

Class place: 4/101

First class Wednesday 23 January 2008

Last class Tuesday 8 May 2008

Total 31 classes

Supervisor: Mohammed Ibahrine

Office: Building 6, Room 9

Tel.: (212) 0 35 86 24 42

Email: mohammad.ibahrine@googlemail.com

OFFICE HOURS:

Tuesday: 11.00-12.30 am

Tuesday: 14.00-15.00 am

Wednesday: 08.30-12.30 am

Thursday: 11.00-12.30 am

Thursday: 14.00-15.00 am

COURSE SYNOPSIS

The course examines the major issues in Internet politics through analyses of the “history of the Internet, patterns of citizen use, debates over the impact of e-politics, and comparative perspectives on e-government, citizen participation, activism, privacy issues, and the governance issues facing the most decisive political technology of the twenty-first century”. Students will evaluate the political impacts of ICTs, the shifting relationships between leaders and led, governors and governed and rulers and ruled, and the political communication trends associated with the rise of the Internet.

THE AIM OF THE COURSE

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the main concepts, theories, practice and controversies of the history and modern state international communication. The overall objective of this course is to develop the knowledge for understanding and critically assessing the role of new media communication, especially in poltics, political communication, in the international relations and diplomacy.

THE COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course presents a comprehensive examination of significant political issues in the exciting field of political communication. The course also deals with the issues of how, why, and with what consequences the Internet affects politics in democracies and authoritarian regimes. The Internet as a new political communication medium is fraught with tensions, paradoxes, and contradictions. How do we make sense of these? In this course, we will address such concerns and gain a comprehensive overview of Internet politics.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

The lecturer will follow lectures and seminars format. The student’s participation in class and seminar discussions is expected and encouraged and will be considered in final course evaluations (30%). Broad understanding of participation includes the preparation of outline before the class and a detailed content outline after the class, the maintenance of a blog and contribution to the Wikipeida. Students should also be prepared, during each class session, to discuss current media events and news as they relate to the subject. Each student has to present two required chapters of the textbook (25%) and one research paper (20%). Six tutorial quizzes (12%) and final exam (13%).

One of the major requirements for this course-seminar is the research paper. It should be from 2500-3,000 words, excluding notes and references. It should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins, 12-point font, and consistently adhere to an accepted style, such as Harvard or American Psychological Association (APA). The papers will be presented in class, prior to the final session, and discussed from time to time throughout the term. The paper could take the form of a proposal for future capstone. Deadline, March 2, 2008.

The research paper should be based on desk research, conducted in the library and over the Internet, including the readings central to this course. However, students should move beyond this base, where feasible in the context of a one semester course. For example, they might include a limited number of interviews, a pretest or pilot of a survey or questionnaire, secondary analysis of an existing database, content analysis, direct observations, participant observation, ethnography or other approaches that involve you directly in researching your topic.

ACADEMIC HONESTY:

If you expect others to respect you, please respect yourself. So if you feel desperate, don’t make things worse by acting out of desperation: please come and talk to me about your problems before you do anything foolish. We will find a way. Office hours are of great value for intellectual and educational exchange, please respect the office hours. This is useful for the professionalism.

Please note that the intellectual involvement in the co-creation process of the lecture (attendance + participation) has the lion’s share of this class’s grade. And since there is no class participation without attendance; attendance is highly encouraged to increase your grade. The university’s new attendance policy will be enforced in this class.

READINGS:

Do the readings before class and come to class. You will come to class having completed the assigned readings and participate fully in class discussion. I expect you to be a fully contributing member of the class by being prepared, taking responsibility for having productive discussions, helping yourself and others understand the material, and generating interesting ideas. I want to avoid the “professors teach, students learn” view of this enterprise.

Please note: The course requires a minimum of 8-10 hours of outside work per week (e.g., reading, analysis, group meetings, writing assignments).

REQUIRED READINGS

In addition to the basic textbook reading, there are many sources of reading for this course: one textbook.

1. Andrew Chadwick, Internet Politics: States, Citizens, and New Communication Technologies (Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, April 2006).

1. Pippa Norris, (2002) Digital Divide Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide (http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~pnorris/Books/Digital%20Divide.htm)

1. Pippa Norris, (2003) A Virtuous Circle Reinventing Political Activism (http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~pnorris/Books/Virtuous%20Circle.htm)

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE AND READINGS

Week 1.
January
Week 2.
January 29	Historical Accounts of the Digital Revolution
January 31:
Week 3.
February, 5	Theories of Digital Democracy
February, 7:
Week 4.
February 12:	Understanding Political Communications
February 14:
Week 5.
February 19:	Online Parliament
February 21:
Week 6.
February 26:	Virtual Parties
February 28:
Week 7.
	Deadline for the submission of the research paper, March 2, 2008.
March 4:	E-Activists and e-Civil Society
March 6:
Week 8.
March 11:	eGovernment or eGovernance?
March 13:	Mid Semester Exam
Week 9.
March 18:	Web 2.0, Social Media Open Source Politics
March 20:
Week 10.
March 25:	Networked Politics in the Google Society
March 27
Week 11.
April 1:	International Relations Theories and the Digital Paradigm
April 3:
Week 12.
April 8:	Global Security, War Games and Video Games
April 10:
Week 13.
April 15:	Cyper-Terrorism, Web 2.0 and Al-Qaeda 2.0
April	(free)
Week 14.
April 22:	InfoTech, InfoWars and InfoPeace
April 24:
Week 15.
April 29:	E-Diplomacy, Virtual Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy
May 1:	(Holiday)
Week 16.
May 6:
May 8:
Week 17.
May 10:	Final Exam

---

[1] This syllabus is subject to change if necessary.