Master of Social Science (MSS) Program under Semester System - One Year duration divided into 02 (two) Semesters consisting of 08 compulsory courses for a total of 800 marks equivalent to 32 credit hours.
COURSE OF STUDY
* This syllabus has been designed for the students of M.S.S. Program for the academic sessions 2010-11 to 2016-17.
* The duration of M.S.S. degree program is 01 (one) year with 02 (two) semesters consisting of 08 (eight) compulsory courses.
* Each full course consists of 100 marks.
* Students are required to take 04 (four) compulsory courses in each semester. 1st semester: 901, 902, 903 and 904. 2nd semester: 905, 906, 907 and 908.
* After written examinations of 400 marks (each course 100 marks) students will have to appear for viva voce of 12.5 marks in each semester.
* Distribution of 100 marks in each course is as follows:
* Courses numbering 901, 902, 903, 904, 905, 906, 907 and 908 will be of 100 (one hundred) marks in total. The distribution of marks in each course will be as follows:
Part- A
Part- B
Research monograph based on fieldwork starting from the beginning of the semester and carried throughout the 2nd semester on a topic approved by concerned teacher consisting of 10 marks.
* In addition to that, there will be 25 marks to be distributed for viva-voce of M.S.S. 1st and 2nd semester final examinations each consisting of 12.5 marks.
8 courses · 32 credit hours across 2 terms
| Code | Course title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS 901 | Political Philosophy: Modern Trends | 4 | Political Philosophy: Identity, Ideology and Philosophical Roots; Growth of Bourgeoisie and Establishment of Capitalism - English, American and French Revolution; George Hegel: Dialectical Idealism - Divinity, History, Cult of the State, Freedom and Authority; Jeremy Bentham: Utilitarianism, Pleasure and Pain Theory, Greatest Happiness Principle, Liberalism - Critique; John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism, Liberty, Liberalism and Representative Government - Critique; Marxism: Karl Marx and Frederich Engels: Alienation - Capitalism - Economic and Social Analysis - Surplus Value - Class Struggle - Dialectical and Historical Materialism - Base and Superstructure - State - Revolution - Dictatorship of the Proletariat - Communism and Withering Away of the State; Marx - Thesis on Feuerbach; Engels - Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State - Anti Duhring; V.I. Lenin and Leninism: Materialism and Empirio Criticism - State and Revolution - Russia and Bolshevik Context - What is to be done? - Imperialism Highest Stage of Capitalism - Theory of Uninterrupted Revolution Vanguard Party and Democratic Centralism; Joseph Stalin: Socialism in one country; Leon Trotsky: Permanent Revolution; Plekhanov - Role of Individual in History; Mao TseTung: Practice, Contradiction, Handling of Contradictions, Sources of Correct Ideas; Chinese and Agrarian context, Revolution, Protracted War and Long March - Concept of Peoples War - Role of the Masses - Cultural Revolution - Role of the Intellectuals; Green, Barker and Laski: Force and Consent - Self Aggrandizement and Altruism Individual and Collective Entity - Law and Liberty - Rights and Obligations - Equality and Equity - Government, Authority and State - Obedience and Rebellion - Reform and Revolution; Pareto, Mosca, Mitchels: Elitist Paradigm - Perpetuating Ruling Class - Residues and Derivation; Bertrand Russell: Power and Impulse - Possessive Impulse and Creative Impulse; Herbert Marcuse: One Dimensiona- Democratic Unfreedom - Welfare and Warfare State - Progressive Brutalization and Degradation of Man; Capitalist and Communist Systems - Concept of Negative Thinking and Revolution - Alienated Individual and Creative Happiness; Barker, Hobhouse, Rawls, Sen and Khadduri - Justice: Ontological Basis - Absolute and Relative - Justice: Social, Political, Economic, Personal, Transactional, Legal, International and Global; The Purpose of the State and the Idea of Justice - Aristotelian and Justinian Roots - Distributive Justice, Corrective Justice, Communicative Justice - Moral and Ethical Justice; Administration and Dispensation of Justice; Antonio Gramsci: Hegemony - Base and Superstructure - Importance of Super Structure - Role of Collective Intellectual; Jacques Derrida: Deconstruction; Michel Foucault: Power; Frantz Fanon: Protest against Bourgeois Method and Discipline - Fight against Colonization - Critique of Intellectuals - Emancipation of History - Role of the Mass People; Edward Said: Orientalism Project - Questioning Orient and Orientalization Dominance-Dependence Relationship; Jurgen Habermas: Public Sphere Transformation, Communicative Action and Moral Consciousness; Noam Chomsky: Political Myths, Myth of Classless Society, Who are Rulers, Welfare for the Rich, Client States, Brute Force and Spreading Democracy; Media Control, Force and Manufacturing Consent, Failed State, Intellectual Self-defense and Questioning Everything. Crisis, Dysfunction and Decay of Isms - Diminishing Giant Syndrome (DGS) and Fall of Isms - A Holistic Critique. |
| PS 902 | Development Discourse and Social Change | 4 | Modernity-crises of modernity, post-modernity and problems of social change; Modernization: capitalist, non-capitalist and indigenous forms; Political modernization and critique; Re-interpretation of the role of agents in modernization; External factors: international donors and aid agencies- role and interference; Debates on development: third system politics, growth with equity, redistribution; Basic human needs approach: human development, human security and sustainable development; Neo Marxist approach to development- Latin American contribution: Dependency school of thought - A. G. Frank, S. Amin, I. Wallerstein; Radical approach: Class politics and social formation- E. Laclau; Asian perspective and participatory development; Choice, change and self reliant path of development: Case study- Venezuela and Bolivia. |
| PS 903 | Bangladesh Politics: Issues and Priorities | 4 | Background and nature of Bangladesh as a nation state, national integration, nation and state building; Executive: Dictatorship of the elected government; Legislature: Role of treasury and opposition, Function of Parliamentary committees, Article 70 of the constitution-public accounts committee and public hearing; Judiciary: Structure and Jurisdiction, operational problems, Contempt of Court Issue and Accountability of Judiciary; Election commission: independence of election commission-structural and budgetary, separation from Prime Minister's office, fundamental principles of transparency, accountability and public access; Power transfer: procedure, method and execution; Party system: leadership, recruitment process, socio economic background of political leaders; Factionalism and dynastic politics; Party conventions, party political process at the grassroots; intra and inter-parties conflict and cohesion; Future prospects of coalition/alliance politics; Institutional nature of corporate and clientelistic politics; Political confrontation and violence, conflict between national and local representatives; Process of consensus building: transit, corridor, national boundary, border conflict; Basic consensus and policy continuity: consensus on energy, water and environment resource policy, Partisanship: administration, Judiciary, media, educational institutions and student and trade unions and NGOs; Future prospect of democratic politics. |
| PS 904 | Governance Studies | 4 | Governance: Conceptual issues, from government to governance, performer to performance, formal structures to operational consent-based polity; effective, good bad and lack of governance; governance and corruption; Governance, policy continuity and stability; Corporate capitalism, globalization and critique of governance discourse; Legislative governance and functional Legislature: Parliamentary procedure, business of parliament, parliamentary deliberations, public hearing, floor crossing, functions of committees and public accounts committee; Executive governance: effectiveness, growth of excessive power, management of development programmes; Governance of economy and regulation of market; functioning of cabinet and shadow cabinet, culture of tolerance, accommodation and adjustment; political violence; Effective Judiciary: Role of court as protector of Constitution- proactive legislation, effectiveness of dispensation of justice, limits of court's jurisdiction, political influence over judiciary, contempt of court, accountability of judges; Max Weber's legal rational impersonal bureaucracy: process of recruitment, promotion, transfer and exercise of excessive power, over developed bureaucracy and bureaucratic neutrality; The Fourth Estate: Role of print and electronic media, vigilant role in making different organs of government accountable, shaping public policy discourse; generating political knowledge; Media politics, corporate interest and manufacturing consent; Effectiveness of statutory bodies- Anti Corruption Commission, National Human Rights Commission, Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General's office. |
| Code | Course title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS 905 | Understanding Public Policy | 4 | Public Policy: definition, concepts, study of public policy in Political Science. Policy analysis and policy advocacy; Models of Policy Analysis: Institutional model- policy as institutional output; process model- policy as political activity; rational model- policy as maximum social gain; Incremental model- policy as variation of the past; Group model policy as rational choice in competitive situation; Public choice model- policy as public choice; Game Theory. The Policy Making Process: decision making activities- identifying issues; setting policy agenda; stakeholders' analysis- elite/mass; alternative decisions, experts' input, draft policy formulation, sharing with interested stakeholders, persuasion by interested parties at different ministries, enactment of policy; Policy legitimization: policy makers; policy implementing bureaucracy, policy monitoring and evaluation-output mapping process; Policy making institutions in Bangladesh: Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission, Experts, Civil Society Actors, International Actors, Private Sector, Development Partners. Process Analysis of Selected Public Polices of Bangladesh: Education policy, industrial policy, agricultural policy, energy policy, Human resource development policy, National Security policies - defense, border, natural resources, water; Poverty reduction polices SAP, PRSP, PRGF, Perspective Plan 2010-2021, Sixth Five Year Plan, Overseas Employment Policy 2006. |
| PS 906 | Religion and Politics: Contemporary Trends in Society and State | 4 | Religion based politics, Difference between 'Religion as faith' and 'Religion as ideology'; Arguments in favour and against separation between State and Church; Religion and the subalterns; Religion-based politics- pre and post 9/11 phase; Religious fundamentalism, reality and western propaganda. Politics of Communalism: India and Pakistan; Religion and politics: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Senegal. Secularism and its perspectives: Hard secularism (France and Turkey), soft secularism (USA), secular society non-secular state (UK); Arguments in favour of secularism: Charles Taylor, Rajeev Bhargava. Arguments against Secularism: Muhammad Asad, Altaf Gauhar, Rashid Moten, Talal Asad, Ashis Nandy. Crises of ethical, moral and religious values - rethinking process; Trends of desecularization, global resurgence of religion in societies, states and politics; Era of post secularism. |
| PS 907 | Politics and Law: Global and National Institutions, Instruments and Issues | 4 | Evolving interfaces among State, law and politics; Major legal systems: common law, civil law, socialist law; Courts in major legal systems. Public International Law: sources of international law, law of treaties, customary international law, international law and municipal law, legal personality in IL, territorial sovereignty, major institutions: UN, ICJ, ICC, International Law Commission, and other tribunals; settlement of international disputes, arbitration. Comparative aspects between International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law; UDHR, ICCPR, ICESCR, Geneva Conventions on International Humanitarian Law; Evolving aspects of environmental human rights and its impacts on inter-state environmental conflicts. Law of the Sea: Baseline for measurement of the territorial sea, recent developments and further problems, specialized rights, the concept of the contiguous zone, delimitation of the contiguous zone, problems of enforcement, the continental shelf and its delimitation, exclusive economic zones, dispute resolutions mechanisms, IMO, UNCLOS, Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea. International Water Courses Law: role of bilateral and international treaties, and international and regional organizations; case studies: legal regimes of Danube, Rhine, Ganges; case studies: legal aspects of Farakka Barrage, Tipaimukh Barrage and other trans-boundary aspects. International Criminal Law: Relative aspects of the concepts of crime, evolution of the relevant international legal regime, war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity; case studies: ICC, ICTY, Special Court of Sierra Leon, Cambodian Tribunal, war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh; conceptual aspects of terrorism, UN and regional responses to terrorism, post 9/11 war on terror and its legal aspects. Contemporary Legal System of Bangladesh: The Supreme Court, The Subordinate Courts and Tribunals, independence of judiciary, public interest litigation, institutional and procedural setbacks, corruption in legal system, judicial corruption, contempt of court and relevant aspects. |
| PS 908 | Social Science Research Methodology | 4 | Philosophy of Research in Social Science, Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programme, Social science research methods: Utility, limitations, objectivity, ethics; Typology of Research- Basic and Applied Research, Exploratory, Experimental, Evaluative, Policy Research, Major Paradigm and approaches- Constructivist, Interpretive and Positivist. Qualitative Methods: Listening, Exploring the Case and Theorizing- Case Study, Ethnography and Focus Group Discussion; Research for Impact- Participatory Action Research, Policy Analysis, Output Mapping Process; Observing Queries and Interpreting Discourse Analysis; Reading and Representing Social Culture: Meaning- Life History Narratives and Content Analysis; Quantitative Methods: Survey Method, Principle of Sampling, Probability, Sampling Errors, Sample Size, Questionnaire Design and Administration, Use of Statistics in Describing Data, SPSS X; Using Internet and Digital Technology in Social Science Research- Introduction to the E-resources, Exploring Databases, Websites, Electronic Journals, Digital Books and Thesis. Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Designing Research, Developing Research Proposals and Writing Techniques, Dissemination of Research Findings. |