Between Panic and Hype: Disclose and Defend Pedagogy for AI Writing in Political Science Classrooms in the Global South

Abstract

ABSTRACT Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has provoked polarized reactions in higher education, ranging from fears of plagiarism and the “death of the college essay” to claims of pedagogical transformation. Political science, in which writing remains central to learning, is at the center of this debate. This study advances a critical middle ground, arguing that generative AI should be treated as neither an existential threat nor a pedagogical shortcut but instead as a tool whose use must be structured around accountability, critical literacy, and equity. By synthesizing scholarship on AI in higher education, writing-as-process pedagogy, and educational inequality, this article challenges the “replacement” logic that equates writing with text production and examines the limits of framing AI as a neutral assistant. It introduces Disclose and Defend Pedagogy, a design framework that organizes pedagogical responses to AI along two dimensions—openness and accountability—and incorporates equity-aware practices related to access and language. A practice-grounded, instructor-led case study from a political science course taught in Lebanon during Spring 2025 illustrates how disclosure requirements, process-oriented assessment, and classroom dialogue made AI use visible and accountable in a resource-constrained, crisis-affected setting while also highlighting the practical limits and implementation lessons of this approach. The study concludes that Global South contexts clarify what is at stake in AI integration: safeguarding responsibility, judgment, and voice in political science writing while equipping students to use and interrogate generative tools critically under unequal conditions of access.