Seminar
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Winter Semester 2009/10, Tuesdays 10-12
PD Dr. Reinhard Isensee
The course will address two important dimensions of federalism and regionalism in the United States/Canada and Europe/Germany
in a transatlantic perspective. Based on a discussion of the historical emergence of the formal power division between national,
state and regional governments and its functions in both North America and Europe, we will first explore how the actual balance
of power is institutionalized, negotiated, and translated into political practice in various fields. At the backdrop of these questions,
the course will then analyse specific forms and functions of constructions of national cultures, as well as the characteristics of
subnational, regional and local cultures by looking at "Southern", "Western" and "New England", city cultures or manifestations of
minority vs. mainstream cultures in the United States and "the West" and Quebec in Canada on the one hand and national, regional
(Berlin vs. Bavaria, Thuringia vs. Hanseatic Cities etc.) and local cultures (village vs. city, for instance) in Germany on the other.
Due to its special format the course particularly builds on active student participation. As part of the 8th Transatlantic Student
Symposium in collaboration with Georgetown University the course will prepare and accompany this transatlantic student project.
It will take a group of selected German students together with American students to a field trip in the United States/Canada and
culminate in an academic style symposium at Georgetown University, Washington D.C. in March 2010. Course requirements include
active class participation, class presentations and independent project work as well as a final paper/symposium presentation.
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