James Madison University

POSC 361 - Introduction to Peace Studies: The Theory and Practice of Nonviolence
Spring 2000
Dr. Robin Teske
Office: Maury 217
Phone: 568-6149
Office Hours: T/Th: 5:00-5:30
Email: teskerl
Wed.: 12:30-4:30 p.m. (and by appointment)

"People try nonviolence for a week, and when it doesn’t work they go back to violence, which hasn’t worked for centuries."

Professor Theodore Roszak

"We have too many men of science, too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living."

Gen. Omar N. Bradley

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

This "contemporary problems" course is an introduction to the field of Peace Studies, with a focus on the theory and practice of nonviolence. How we wage and resolve conflict, how we effect social change, and how we provide for security through nonviolent means are some of the most important issues facing the political system, and all of us as individuals. The course will explore both what is sometimes called "principled nonviolence," as well as strategic nonviolence. The course will begin with an introduction to the field, and to the basic concepts and methods underlying nonviolence. The course will then examine the thought and action of such theorists and practitioners of nonviolence as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The concept and practice of "alternative defense" also will be explored. The course will conclude with an examination of alternative futures. The course will be interdisciplinary in scope, and will utilize a variety of case studies from both the domestic and the international arena.

The course objectives include the following (the objectives are phrased as opportunities):

- give students the opportunity to examine both the theory of nonviolence, and its role in domestic and international conflict resolution and social change movements

- give students the opportunity to explore the contributions nonviolence may make to alternative security systems

- give students the opportunity to explore nonviolence both as a technique to effect social change, and as a way of life

- give students the opportunity to improve their analytical, verbal, and writing and research skills

- give students the opportunity to form opinions on, and to think deeply about, some of the major issues facing all of us as we enter the 21st century

- The final objective of this course is simply to plant seeds. In fact, the etymology of the word seminar is from the Greek word seminarium, which means seedbed. In a sense, both Carl Sandburg and Rachel Carson were right. Carl Sandburg once said that "life is like an onion - you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep." We’ll probably raise more questions in this class then we’ll answer. As Rachel Carson said, each mystery solved brings us to the threshold of a greater one....

II. ASSIGNED READING MATERIALS

The following books comprise much of the reading required for this course, and are available for purchase from the bookstore:

- Peter Ackerman and Christopher Kruegler, Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: The Dynamics of People Power in the Twentieth Century

- Louis Fischer, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World

- Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

- David J. Garrow, Ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started it: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson

OR

- Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story

In addition to these books, required readings will be placed on reserve in Carrier Library, and occasional 'handouts' will be distributed in class. Please note that some of the reserve readings also are available on the Internet. I have noted on the syllabus when the articles are available on-line.

III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Course grades will be based on the fulfillment of the following criteria:

- Class preparation and class participation (15%). We are all here to explore a topic together, and to learn from each other. In order for this learning to occur, everyone has to attend class; everyone has to do the reading and spend the time to try to understand it; and everyone has to participate actively in class discussions. You should be prepared to answer factual questions about the reading; to raise issues you’d like the class to discuss; and to respond to the ideas and concerns of others.

- A midterm examination, which will be worth 25% of the course grade. The midterm will be a combination of multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. Please note that make-up exams will be given only in extreme situations, and only when arrangements have been made with the professor prior to the regularly scheduled exam period.

- A final examination, worth 30% of the course grade. The final also will be a combination of objective and essay questions. The final will be comprehensive.

- Research paper, 15 typed pages in length, on an individual nonviolent activist, a nonviolent organization, or a nonviolent campaign. As a colleague has said in his syllabus, "here you may honor a hero, follow your passion, or examine a group that intrigues you, and turn the rest of us on at the same time! Ah, such a deal...." In addition to writing the paper, each student toward the end of the semester will be expected to present to the class the results of his or her research. Each presentation should be about 15 minutes in length. The paper will be worth 25% of the course grade; the oral presentation will be worth 5%. Please note that it is against the JMU Honor Code to use the same paper to fulfill the research requirements in two classes.

IV. COURSE OUTLINE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

A. Overview of Course

B. Introduction to Peace Studies and Nonviolent Action

Readings:

On reserve in library:

- Walter Wink, "Revisioning History: Nonviolence Past, Present, Future" (in Wink, Engaging the Powers, pgs. 242-257)

- Martin Luther King, "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" (in King, Strength to Love, pgs. 147-155

- Gene Sharp, "Nonviolent Action: An Active Technique of Struggle," and "The Technique of Nonviolent Action" (in Robert Holmes, Nonviolence in Theory and Practice, pgs. 147-152

- Please read TWO of the following:

- Pam McAllister, "The Women Are Watching" (in McAllister, You Can’t Kill the Spirit, pgs. 19-31)

- Pam McAllister, "Stopping the Cannons, Blocking the Tanks" (in McAlllister, You Can’t Kill the Spirit, pgs. 165-177)

- Lee Smithey and Lester Kurz, "‘We Have Bare Hands’: Nonviolent Social Movements in the Soviet Bloc" (in Nonviolent Social Movements,: A Geographical Perspective)

- Charles Chatfield, "Nonviolent Social Movements in the United States" (in Nonviolent Social Movements: A Geographical Perspective)

C. Exploration of Basic Concepts

Readings:

On reserve in library:

- Lao-Tzu, "Taoist Non-Contentiousness" (pgs 32-35); Motse, "Universal Love" (pgs. 36-42); Gotama Buddha "A Refusal to Accept Anger" (pgs. 43-47); and Leo Tolstoy, "Letter to a Non-commissioned Officer," "Letter to a Hindu" (pgs. 160-176) in Peter Mayer, ed., The Pacifist Conscience.

- The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew, Chapters 5,6,7

- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"

- Hannah Arendt, "Communicative Power" (in Steven Lukes, Power, pgs. 59-74)

- * David A. Meyer, "Social Movements: Creating Communities of Change"

- *Ray C. Gingerich and Bruce C. Busching, "New Approaches to Power in Grassroots Coalition Building : A Case Study of Common Ground"

- *Catherine Tinker, "Parallel Centers of Power: The View From a Nongovernmental Organization at the United Nations"

D. Principles of Strategic Nonviolent Conflict

Readings;

- Ackerman and Kruegler, Strategic Nonviolent Conflict, Foreword(s), Acknowledgments, Introduction, Chapters 1,2,9,3,4

E. Gandhi and Nonviolence

Readings:

- Louis Fischer, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World

- Ackerman and Kruegler, Ch. 5

- On reserve:

- Thomas Merton, Gandhi on Nonviolence, read what interests you

- Joan V. Bondurant, "Satyagraha: Its Basic Precepts" (in Bondurant, Conquest of Violence, pgs. 15-35)

- Thomas Weber, "The Marchers Simply Walked Forward Until Struck Down: Nonviolent Suffering and Conversion" (in Peace and Change, Vol. 18, No. 3, 1993)

- Nelson Mandela, "The Sacred Warrier" (in Time, December 31, 1999)

- Judy Costello, "Beyond Gandhi: An American Feminist’s Approach to Nonviolence" (in Pam McAllister, Reweaving the Web of Life: Feminism and Nonviolence)

- Jane Meyerding, "Reclaiming Nonviolence" (in McAllister, Reweaving the Web of Life)

- Lynne Shivers, "An Open Letter to Gandhi" (in Reweaving the Web of Life)

- David McReynolds, "The Philosphy of Nonviolence" and "The Inevitability of Conflict" (Parts One and Two of The Philosophy of Nonviolence; also available online at <http://www.nonviolence.org>)

F. Martin Luther King and the U.S. Civil Rights Movement

- Garrow, The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson

OR

- King, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story

- On reserve:

- King, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

- David McReynolds, "Why Nonviolence Works" (Part Five of The Philosophy of Nonviolence; also available online at <http://www.nonviolence.org>)

MIDTERM EXAMINATION: Tentative Date Thursday, February 24

G. Alternative Defense

Readings:

- Ackerman and Kruegler, Chapter 6

- On reserve:

- Thomas Merton, "Danish Nonviolent Resistance to Hitler" (in Thomas Merton on Peace, pgs. 165-167)

- Gene Sharp, "‘The Political Equivalence of War’ - Civilian Based Defense" (in Sharp, Social Power and Political Freedom pgs. 195-261

- David McReynolds, "Yes, But What About Hitler?" (Part Four of The Philosophy of Nonviolence; also available online at <http://www.nonviolence.org>)

- one more reading to be announced

- Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower (read pgs. 1-98, and your choice from the symposium section)

- Robert F. Worth, "The Legacy of a Lynching" (in The American Scholar, Spring 1998, pgs. 65-77)

H. Case Studies, cont.

Readings:

- Ackerman and Kruegler, Chapters 7, 8

- On reserve:

- Jirina Siklova, "Women and the Charta 77 Movement in Czechoslovakia"

- * Craig Warkentin and Elizabeth Daly, "Claiming Agency: Chilean Women and the Rescripting of Feminist Activism"

I. Alternative Futures

Readings:

- Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

- On reserve:

- Selections from Elise Boulding, Building a Global Civic Culture (reading to be announced)

FINAL EXAMINATION: Thursday, May 4, from 1:30-3:30