POLS 208 Democracy Video Screenings 2015

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POLS 208 Democracy Video Screenings

Video Documentaries

• Blade Runner - Opening Scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIstljYkwjg

• Matrix Trailer HD (1999)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8e-FF8MsqU

• Snowpiercer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX5PwfEMBM0
• The Edge of Tomorrow (Live, Die, Repeat)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLe_qO4AE-M

• A two minute introduction to Athenian democracy that correctly emphasises that it was a direct particiaptory form of democracy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J315e03RkOA 


• A useful and informative introduction to the revolutionary creation and central features of Athenian democracy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6KjOTABL3Y

• A brief introduction to the central features of Athenian democracy.
Less interesting than the videos listed above but still worth watching. A brief introduction to the central features of Athenian democracy by
Professor Jeffrey Rusten from Cornell University in the United States.
http://www.cornell.edu/video/ancient-athens-5-the-heart-of-athenian-democracy-the-agora-and-the-pnyx


• The Expansion of the Roman Empire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiIXC1U8HNo 

• The English Civil Wars
Although produced way back in 1992 this is a better video documentary than anything I've seen that has been uploaded to the internet. It is available in VHS format in the AV section of the university library.

• Location:Dn: Central Library: AV Services: Videocassettes
  
• Call Number: O98998  

• Causes of the English Civil Wars, The Trial of Charles 1st.
These short videos are worth looking at for the background and the trial of the King.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3h_RyFEV0M&list=PL46EF350E7F5407DF

• The French Revolution
- This video is not entirely accurate but it is mildy amusing and contains some useful visual material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvSod16wfgg

- A music video by Jeffrey Lewis that outlines the timeline of the French Revolution in 2 and a half minutes!
http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution/videos/the-french-revolution 

- A much better video documentary (around 30 minutes in length), is presented by the middle-of-the road academic historian Gwynne Lewis. Unfortunately it is not available online, but it can be consulted in the AV section of the library or purchsed as a DVD.

The title is: The French Revolution.
The call number is O95138
The Otago library link is:
http://otago.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=detailsTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=OTAGO_ALMA21130226340001891&displayMode=full&vid=DUNEDIN&group=GUEST&onCampus=true&lang=eng

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• US Constitution and Bill of Rights – 097616 (two videos, the first is on the Constitution and system of government; the second focuses on the Bill of Rights). 50 minutes each. Both boring but very useful provide useful descriptions of the US system of government by conservative American political science academics.

The title is:
The United States Constitution The United States Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments The call number is O97616
The Otago library link is:
http://otago.lconz.ac.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=10084&recCount=25&recPointer=0&bibId=504523

• Milton Friedman - Redistribution of Wealth
Chicago and monetarist economist, Milton Friedman, providing a neoliberal justification of the unequal distribution of wealth in advanced capitalist societies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJwUaVDIPXg 

• Hayek on Socialism
Friedrich von Hayek providing a brief critique of socialism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNbYdbf3EEc 

• David Harvey on the Global Financial Crisis and Crises of Capitalism.
Animation of David Harvey providing a 10 minute oral outline of the Marxist analysis of capitalist economic crises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0 

•  Climate Change and Capitalism
• To access the 2014 major assessment report (AR5) by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), go to: http://www.ipcc.ch/

If you want to download the most important graphs and figures then go to: http://www.climatechange2013.org/report/reports-graphic/ch2-graphics/

• To access the 2007 major assessment report (AR4) by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 
go to: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm 

• Video showing thinning of Greenland polar ice based on international study using satellite data and photographs from the University of Leeds website.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GAhA8NBHZIo 


• See also the British channel 4 news report on the study (2012) at:
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/3336/ 

• "2012 Record Low Artic Ice Sheet". The Arctic ice cap is melting at a rapid rate and may shrink to its lowest-ever level within weeks as temperatures continue to rise. Al Jazeera's Nick Clark joined an expedition travelling deep into the Arctic Circle to Qaanaaq, in Greenland. Three minute report on the melting of the Arctic ice caps. Well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwwBcdmT8tc

• Very interesting report on the 'carbon bubble' on the Guardian website. Highlights which stock exchange listed companies have the greatest carbon assets and the financial risks that they face if these assets become unburnable due to the introduction of more effective environmental policies addressing the causes of climate change. This also indicates just how powerfully motivated these companies are to lobby governments to prevent them introducting more effective environmental policies to counter global warming.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2013/apr/19/countries-exposed-carbon-bubble-map 

• Really interesting article in The Guardian: "The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests." 
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-global-warming-emissions-climate-change

• John Bellamy Foster gives lecture on capitalism and climate change.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmhFc9kdTRU&list=PL432220236CB86FAB 


•  The Russian Revolution


The most accurate video documentary on the Russian Revolution that I have been able to find on Youtube is in three parts at:

The Russian Revolution - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMGrIwLj7gU

The Russian Revolution - Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpEaPxNW0g 

 

The Russian Revolution - Part 3 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mReH_vgrf-U

•  Comparative Data on Democratisation- Polity IV and Freedom House

These are US research institutes sponsored by the US Government, including the C.I.A, and accordingly some of the assessments are biased, for example, South Korea is designated as being 'free' while Venezuela is only 'partly free'. Nonetheless, the data provided by Polity IV and Freedom House does give an indication of the growing global spread of representative democracy.
http://www.systemicpeace.org/polityproject.html
http://www.freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-world 

• The Centre for Reponsive Politics provides lots of interesting and useful data on the American political system, especially on how business exerts disproportionate influence.
http://www.opensecrets.org/elections/ 

Comparative Statistics on Gender Inequality
• UN Women provides lots of interesting and useful comparative data on gender inequality and women's participation in government.
http://www.unwomen.org/ 

The most recent (2011) Progress of Women report can be downloaded from:
http://www.unwomen.org/resources/progress-of-the-worlds-women/ 

The World's Women 2010: Trends and Statistics can be downloaded from: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/Worldswomen/WW2010pub.htm 

• Statistics New Zeland bar graphs describing female representation in parliament and local government from 1996 to 2014 can be found at: 
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-social-indicators/Home/Trust%20and%20participation%20in%20government/female-rep-parl-local-govt.aspx

David Held interviewed on globalisation, democracy, and the need for reform of the global order during the 21st century
Very interesting eight minute interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Y4f1c6VSI
 

Videos on the Global Justice and Occupy Movements
• Dystopian Futures- A Compilation of Dystopic Sci Fi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJxkI4vPXlE 


• Showdown in Seattle- 'This is what democracy looks like'. Part V of the Indy Media documentary on the global justice protests that successfully shutdown the millenium round of the WTO at the end of 1999. This sparked the dramatic growth of the global justice movement during the first half of the 2000s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYyCDE6dbDU&list=PLBA3384E63E9826B2&index=5

• Occupy Wall Street Video: Global Day of Action, 15OCT 
Six minute video focusing on the protests of Occupy New York.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfXPCkXBqRE
• The Guardian: Occupy Protests Mapped Around The World
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/oct/18/occupy-protests-map-world

• The Guardian: Images of the World Social Forum 2013 in Tunis
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/gallery/2013/mar/28/world-social-forum-alternative-world-in-pictures?INTCMP=SRCH#/?picture=406383884&index=0

• A Twenty Year Programme of Neoliberal Fiscal Austerity?
British Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, said in 2013 that the cuts pushed through by the Coalition did not go nearly far enough. He said that there was a “very long way to go” and added: “This is not a two-year project or a five-year project. This is a 10-year project, a 20-year generational battle to beef up the economy in ways that we have not seen for many, many decades.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10156170/Twenty-years-to-fix-economy.html