Winter Term 2011/12

Interdisciplinary Courses

Democratization and Decentralization in Southeast Asia

Prof. Rueland (Political Science) & Prof. Schulze (Economics)

• Time / Place
  
  • Thursday 21.7.2011, 10-13h, Room 220 (Alte Uni) (preparatory meeting)
  • Friday/Saturday 4./5.11.2011, 10-18.30h, HS 1228
  • Friday/ Saturday 2./3.12.2011, 10-18.30h, HS 1228
  • Friday 13.1.2012, 10-18.30h, HS 1228
• Language: English
• Applications
  • Preparatory meeting and/ or via email to judith.mueller@vwl.uni-freiburg.de or sekretariat.rueland@politik.uni-freiburg.de
  • The seminar is open to a maximum of 20 students. Preferably one half should be economics students, the other half students of Political Science.

• Summary
  The seminar examines from an interdisciplinary economics and political science perspective issues of democratization and decentralization in Southeast Asia. Guided by theories of both disciplines, it seeks to explore why the Third Wave of Democratization (Huntington) had only limited impact in Southeast Asia. Exemplified by the more successful transition countries in the region - Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand - the seminar studies the problems associated with the transition und the consolidation of democracy in the region. This also entails the crucial question whether democratization should go hand in hand with a decentralization reform. Does decentralization deepen democratization or does it rather have adverse effects on democratic change? This implies a thorough analysis of the effects of decentralization: In terms of elite circulation and elite capture, services delivery, poverty alleviation, economic growth, income distribution, spatial disparities, ecological sustainability, corruption, gender etc.
• Literature
  • Bünte, Marco & Ufen, Andreas: Democratization in Post-Soeharto Indonesia, London: Routledge 2009.
  • Ichimura, Shinichi & Bahl, Roy (eds.): Decentralization Policies in Asian Development, Singapore: Hackensack 2009.
  • Croissant, Aurel: Von der Transition zur defekten Demokratie: Demokratische Entwicklung in den Philippinen, Südkorea und Thailand, Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag 2002.
  • Croissant, Aurel: Die politischen Systeme Südostasiens, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2011.
    
    (Economic literature to be announced)

Globalisierung und Lokalisierung in Indonesien

Prof. Schlehe (Social and Cultural Anthropology) & Prof. Rueland (Political Science)

• Time / Place: every Thursday 16-18h, Werthmannstr. 4 - HS 01 024a (Belchen)
• Language: German
• Summary:
  In diesem einführenden interdisziplinären Seminar von Ethnologie und Politikwissenschaft soll ein Überblick über Geschichte, Politik und Kulturen Indonesiens gegeben werden. Dabei soll ein Schwerpunkt auf der Frage liegen, wie sich die Einbindung in die globale Welt auswirkt und wie Globalisierung lokal angeeignet wird. Was wird unter Globalisierung verstanden, wie werden Globalisierungserfahrungen verarbeitet, welche politischen, ökonomischen, religiösen und sozio-kulturellen Dimensionen spielen dabei eine Rolle? Diesen Fragen soll anhand der Themenbereiche „Koloniale und post-koloniale Strukturen“, „Modernisierungs- und Entwicklungspolitik“, „Demokratisierung und Dezentralisierung“, „Kulturpolitik“, „Religion(en) und Politik“, „Geschlechterpolitik,“ „Internationale Institutionen“, „Regionalismus“, „Wahrnehmungen des Westens und der Welt“ u.a. nachgegangen werden. Neben der inhaltlichen Arbeit ist es ein Ziel des Seminars, interdisziplinäre Kompetenzen einzuüben. Daher soll möglichst jedes Referatsthema von beiden Fächern bearbeitet werden. In die Lehrveranstaltung wird ein Gastvortrag integriert und es kommen weitere Lehrformen zum Einsatz.   
• Die Teilnahme an diesem Seminar stellt eine Voraussetzung für die Teilnahme an der gemeinsamen Tandem-Lehrforschung (DAAD finanziert in Hochschuldialogprogramm) in Yogyakarta im Sommer 2012 dar.
•  Literature:
  • Acharya, Amitav: “How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism,” International Organization, 58(2) 2004: 239-275.
  • Anderson, Benedict: The idea of power in Javanese culture. In: Holt, Claire (Hg.), Culture and politics in Indonesia, Ithaca, London: Cornell Univ. Pr. 1972, S. 1-70 oder in: Ders.: Language and Power. Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia. Ithaca 1990.
  • Antlöv, Hans/Jörgen Hellman (ed.): The Java that never was. Academic theories and political practices. Münster: Lit 2005.
  • Bünte, Marco & Ufen, Andreas: Democratization in Post-Soeharto Indonesia, London: Routledge 2009.
  • Fealy, Greg (ed.): Expressing Islam: religious life and politics in Indonesia. Singapore : Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2008
  • Gerke, Solvay: Global Lifestyles under Local Conditions. In: Beng-Huat, Chua (ed.): Consumption in Asia. Lifestyles and Identities. London: Routledge 2000: 135-158.
  • Hefner, Robert W.: Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2000.
  • Perwita, Anak Agung Banyu: Indonesia and the Muslim World: Islam and Secularism in the Foreign Policy of Soeharto and beyond, Copenhagen: NIAS Press 2007.
  • Ricklefs, Merle: A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200, Basingstoke: Palgrave 2001.

Political Science

Democracy and Development - A Comparative Asian Perspective

Christian von Lübke

• Time / Place: Weekly every Wednesday 16-18h, Peterhof, HS4
• Language: English
• Applications: via email to christian.von.luebke@politik.uni-freiburg.de
• Summary:
  Asia lends itself well to a comparative analysis of political change. Regional political dynamics - ranging from Indonesia's consolidating democracy, over Malaysia and Singapore's electoral authoritarianism, to the Philippines and Thailand's democratic rollback - provide important insights into the relationship between democracy and development. By drawing on the experience of selected North/Southeast Asian countries (Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore), this course will trace historical and institutional underpinnings, explore the characteristics of political agency, and examine regional policies and development outcomes. During the seminar, students will investigate a range of thematic questions that help to understand the workings of democratic governance and state-society relations - in Asia as well as other developing democracies. The course combines theoretical and empirical perspectives of democratic change and development. The aim is to introduce students to the diversity of the region and, at the same time, encourage a critical awareness of the forces that drive (or constrain) broad policy reforms and socio-economic development. By the end of the seminar, students will have gained a deeper understanding of contemporary Asian politics and current governance/democracy debates.
• Literature:
  • Case, W. (2003). Politics in Southeast Asia: Democracy or Less, Routledge, London and New York.
  • Huntington, S. (1991). The Third Wave: Democratization in the late 20th Century. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman (Chapter 1).
  • Lipset, S. M., (1994). "The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited: 1993 Presidential Address", American Sociological Review, 59, 1: 1-22.
  • Olson, M. (1993). "Dictatorship, Democracy and Development." American Political Science Review, 87, (pp. 567-576).
  • Osborne, M. E. (2005). Southeast Asia: An Introductory History. Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

Asiens Regionalismus im Wandel

Prof. Rueland & Stefan Rother

• Time / Place: Weekly every Wednesday 16-18h, Bismarckallee 22, Room 1
• Language: German
• Summary:
  Asiens Regionalismus hat sich seit der Asiatischen Finanzkrise 1997/1998 erheblich gewandelt. Die Ohnmacht, die Finanzkrise durch regionale Kooperation zu bewältigen, hat zu zahlreichen Maßnahmen der Schadensbegrenzung und einer intensiven Debatte über die Reform regionaler Organisationen und Institutionen geführt. Im Zentrum dieser Bemühungen um eine Neuausrichtung des Regionalismus stand die Gemeinschaft Südostasiatischer Staaten (ASEAN). Die 2008 in Kraft getretene ASEAN Charter versuchte diese Reformbemühungen in bindenden Regeln festzuschreiben.
• Objectives
  Ziel des Seminars ist es, den Studierenden einen Überblick über die Entstehungsbedingungen, Kooperationsformate, Funktionen, normativen Grundlagen und Entwicklungsperspektiven der wichtigsten Regionalorganisationen Asiens und ihrer Umfeldorganisationen (wie ASEAN Plus Three, ASEAN Regional Forum, East Asian Summit und Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) zu bieten.. Dazu werden zunächst die theoretischen und methodischen Grundlagen der Regionalismusforschung erarbeitet, mit deren Hilfe anschließend die empirischen Befunde erklärt und bewertet werden sollen.
• Target group:
  Das Seminar ist offen für BA, Master-, Magister- und Lehramtsstudierende.
• Literature:
  • Acharya, Amitav: Constructing a Security Community on Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order, 2nd ed. London: Routledge 2009
  • Acharya, Amitav : Johnston, Alastair Iain (eds.) Crafting Cooperation,.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2007.
  • Acharya, Amitav: Whose Ideas Matter? Agency and Power in Asian Regionalism, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press 2009.
  • Acharya, Amitav; Buzan, Barry: Non-Western International Relations Theory: Perspectives on and Beyond Asia, London: Routledge 2011.
  • Ba, Alice D.: (Re)Negotiating East and Southeast Asia. Region, Regionalism and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • Dent, Christopher M.: East Asian Regionalism, London: Routledge 2008.
  • Haacke, Jürgen: ASEAN Diplomatic and Security Culture: Origin, Developments and Prospects, London: RoutledgeCurzon 2003.
  • Hund, Markus: ASEAN and ASEAN Plus Three: Manifestations of Collective Identities in Southeast Asia and East Asia, Münster: Monsenstein und Vannerdat 2003.
  • Nguitragool, Paruedee: (2011): Environmental Cooperation in Southeast Asia: ASEAN's Regime for Transboundary Haze Pollution, London: Routledge.
  • Rother, Stefan (2004): Normen, Identitäten und die Logik der Anarchie: Die ASEAN aus konstruktivistischer Perspektive, Freiburg: Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut.
  • Rüland, J. and Jetschke, A. (guest editors) (2008): Special Issue - Toward ASEAN's Fifth Decade: Performance, Perspectives and Lessons for Change, in: The Pacific Review, Vol. 21, No. 4, December
  • Severino, Rodolfo C.: Southeast Asia in Search of an ASEAN Community: Insights from the former ASEAN Secretary General, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 2007. 

Social and Cultural Anthropology

Media Imaginaries in Thailand and Cambodia

Dr. Eric Haanstad

• Time / Place: January/ February 2012, to be anounced
• Language: English
• Summary:
  Anthropological attention increasingly focuses on the “imaginary” as a concept that explores the centrality of media in constructing national and individual identities.  How are media imaginaries created and circulated within different national contexts and what cultural purposes do they serve?  To examine the role of Thai and Cambodian media and its relationship to cultural imaginaries, this course integrates mass media studies of theatrical performance, national conflict, violent expression, millennial capitalism, and human creativity.  This holistic approach offers broadly considered definitions of the the myriad forms of “media” including news production, film, television, graphics, iconography, comics, magazines, advertisements, internet publications, and other informational sources.  As specific case studies of these arenas, the course will examine: 1) mediated theatrical performances within both staged and improvisational “street” settings, 2) the ongoing Thai-Cambodian border conflict as a site of media-based spectacles of nationalist statecraft, 3) the role of media in the relationship between violent cultural imaginaries including crime beat news reportage and popular film 4) an ethnographic examination of the media of millennial capitalism and market development, and 5) media as a site of creative human expression.  The course material eschews theories based wholly on media production, choosing to also incorporate cultural media consumption as a key interpretive factor.  In this way, we will ethnographically investigate the process by which media is produced and consumed as well as media’s vital centrality to the social merger of theatrical performance, nationalism, violence, capitalism, and creative expression.  This course thus provides a cartography of Thailand and Cambodia’s media imaginaries by analyzing a variety sources that are locally-based, but globally-embedded.

Economics

The Economics of Corruption

Guenther Schulze & Bambang Sjahrir Putra

• Time/ Place:
  • Thursday 4.8.2011, 16-19h, Room 2330 (preparatory meeting)
  • Monday 7.11.2011, 14-20h, Room 2330 (progress report meeting)
  • Friday- Sunday 20.-22.1.2011, outside Freiburg (seminar)
• Language: English
• Application
  The seminar is restricted to 15 participants, slots will be allocated during the first meeting. If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to Ms Müller at judith.mueller[at]vwl.uni-freiburg.de to register (without obligation).