On Amendment of Question No.3 of POL 4313 by the External Examiner

On Amendment of Question No.3 of POL 4313 by the External Examiner

 

When the Departmental Examination Officer returned from moderation of examination questions he informed me that external examiner amended one of the questions on "POL 4313 Peace and Conflict Resolution". I didn't take it serious as my response is that it is normal.

 

However, on the day of the examination when I saw the examination question papers I observed that not only the amendment changed the meaning of the question, but also that I had not treated that social problem with my students.

 

I must admit that it was embarrassing to me but I did not talk in order not cause commotion in Examination Hall.

 

With due respect let me restate the original question and the amended question. The first question asked:

• Is there a Marxian theory of ethnic and or nation? If No!, why not? If Yes! Make an assessment of the theory.
  
• This question is amended to read as "Is there a Marxian theory of ethnic conflict? Then the last part of the original question is retained.
  

 

I am not going to get into polemics on this matter but to say that the existing literature on these issues are entirely different from each other. On the original question there has been long standing debates which bring wide range of positions of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Rosa Luxemburg, Kautsky, Otto Bauer, etc. on the question of nation, nationality and nationalism. The ethnic featured there because the course is framed around a sub-theme globalization and ethnic conflict. But most fundamentally, especially in the history of Europe the ethnic was a nation and the nation was an ethnic or ethnic groups transformed to assume a national identity.

 

On the amended question there is no much existing independent literature. Yes! Many on conflict. But mostly conflict from class relations. While Marxian method has many instruments which could allow formation of ideas on whether there is Marxian theory of ethnic conflict or not, but there is no much contestation to build structures of arguments. Only to try to fit ethnic conflicts into class relations or state power.

 

The teaching programme of this academic session (2009/2010) did not give this latter issue a detailed examination (see the programme here attached). Nevertheless, inspite of this confusion some students have attempted this question. I think their contribution or responses should be seen in light of this confusion as a result of the amendment of the question

 

M. M. Yusif

March, 2010