Political Science
Note: This page contains all of the regular courses taught by this department. Not all courses are offered every year. Check the searchable schedule to see which courses are being offered in the upcoming semester.
PSCI 101Y Quest for Justice
Credit: 0.5
This course explores the relationship between the individual and society as exemplified in the writings of political philosophers, statesmen, novelists, and contemporary political writers. Questions about law, political obligation, freedom, equality, and justice and human nature are examined and illustrated. The course looks at different kinds of societies such as the ancient city, modern democracy, and totalitarianism, and confronts contemporary issues such as race, culture, and gender. The readings present diverse viewpoints and the sessions are conducted by discussion. The course is designed primarily for first-year students. Offered every year.
PSCI 200D Liberal Democracy in America
Credit: 0.5
The course explores the guiding principles, major institutions, and national politics of the American political system. The Founders' view of liberal democracy and of the three branches of our government (presented in the Federalist Papers) will provide the basis for consideration of the modern Supreme Court, presidency, bureaucracy, Congress, news media, and political parties and elections. The course concludes with Tocqueville's broad overview of American democracy and its efforts to reconcile liberty and equality. The themes of the course will be illustrated by references to current political issues, events, and personalities. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or PSCI 101Y. Offered every year. This course is the same as AMST 200D, listed in the American Studies Program.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 220 Classical Quest for Justice
Credit: 0.5
This course introduces students to classical political philosophy through an analysis of Plato's Apology and Republic and Aristotle's Ethics and Politics. The course addresses enduring questions about the community, the individual, happiness, and justice. Other themes to be discussed include the ideal political order, the character of virtue or human excellence, the relationship between politics and other aspects of human life (such as economics, the family, and friendship), the political responsibility for education, and philosophy as a way of life.
Instructor: D. Leibowitz
PSCI 221 Modern Quest for Justice
Credit: 0.5
This course examines and evaluates the world revolutionary challenge to classical political philosophy posed by such writers as Machiavelli in his Prince and Discourses, Hobbes in the Leviathan, and political writings of Locke, Rousseau, and Nietzsche. We will consider the differing views of these authors about how best to construct healthy and successful political societies; the role of ethics in domestic and foreign policy; the proper relations between politics and religion, and between the individual and the community; the nature of our rights and the origin of our duties; and the meaning of human freedom and the nature of human equality.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 240 Modern Democracies
Credit: 0.5
Representative democracy came to be the most common form of government in Europe and the Americas in the twentieth century, and in the last half of the century it became increasingly popular among the peoples of the rest of the world. Representative democracy takes many forms and confronts many constraints in its implementation. This course will explore the institutional variety of representative democracy, the causes of political stability and instability in democratic regimes, and the possibility of successful creation of democratic regimes in countries in which the political culture has not traditionally supported democracy. Case studies may include Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or PSCI 101Y. Offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 260 International Relations
Credit: 0.5
This course provides a brief introduction to the study of international relations. It focuses on three central themes: (1) contending theories of international relations; (2) the rise of the modern international system; and (3) recent developments in the international arena. Other topics will include the causes of war and the chances of peace, the shift from politics based primarily on military power to more complex relations rooted in politics among democracies, economic interdependence and dependency, and the recent resurgence of nationalism and ethnic conflict. Issues such as nuclear proliferation, human rights, peaceful conflict resolution, and the role of ethics in international politics may also be covered. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or PSCI 101Y. Offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 261 America and the World in the Twenty-First Century
Credit: 0.5
This course explores the U.S. role in world politics at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Not only does the United States face a number of new challenges--from building democracy in the Middle East, to defending against catastrophic terrorism, to managing globalization--but many of the institutions and alliances that previously served U.S. interests and structured world order have come under increasing stress from U.S. actions. We will explore topics such as whether the United States should pursue a more multilateral or unilateral foreign policy, the origins and implications of the Bush doctrine, American relations with key allies, and how to manage the most important challenges of the twenty-first century.
Instructor: Rowe
PSCI 280 Political Analysis
Credit: 0.5 QR
Political scientists increasingly employ quantitative tools to analyze politics. In this course students will be introduced to the fundamentals of quantitative political analysis. The core of the course will be devoted to the basic linear regression model and its variants, which are used widely in political science research. We will also cover hypothesis formation and hypothesis testing, basic descriptive statistics, and the presentation via tables and charts of the findings of quantitative analysis. To better situate quantitative analysis within the discipline, we will also introduce qualitative methods and discuss research design. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
Instructor: Erler
PSCI 300 Congress and Public Policymaking
Credit: 0.5
Does the U.S. Congress possess the capacity for independent and effective law-making, budgeting, and oversight of the executive? To what extent has Congress ceded policymaking responsibility to the president? How does Congressional performance vary across policy areas and what accounts for these variations? How have recent reforms affected Congressional performance? This course explores these questions by examining the historical development and contemporary performance of the U.S. Congress. We will analyze the factors that influence the policymaking process, including the electoral setting in which legislators operate, the relationship of Congress to interest groups, and the party and committee systems within the institution. We will also analyze the performance of Congress in several policy areas. This course can be used to complete the requirement in American politics for political science majors.
Instructor: Camerra-Rowe
PSCI 301 The American Presidency
Credit: 0.5
This course explores different views of the presidency and the nature of presidential leadership. The Founders' view will be compared with developments since Franklin Roosevelt, including the imperial and post-imperial presidencies. A central concern will be understanding the constitutional powers of and restraints on the modern president. We will study presidential selection, the president's relations with other parts of the government, and the president's role in domestic and foreign policy making. The course concludes with a study of presidential leadership and of the proper ends and means by which to exercise political power, with particular attention to the presidencies of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. This course can be used to complete the requirement in American politics for political science majors.
Instructor: Erler
PSCI 303 Elections and Political Parties
Credit: 0.5
This course examines the influence American citizens have on their government through political parties and elections. Major topics include the character of American parties; the political behavior and beliefs of citizens, especially as voters; recent history of the party system and elections; election campaigning; the role of the news media in elections; the impact of public opinion and elections on government policies; the future of the party system; and an evaluation of the party and electoral systems from the perspective of democratic theory. We pay special attention to current presidential and congressional elections. This course can be used to complete the requirement in American politics for political science majors. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered every four years.
Instructor: Elliott
PSCI 304 News Media and American Politics
Credit: 0.5
How is American democracy shaped by the constantly evolving relationships among politicians, journalists, and citizens? What is news? How do journalists define their job? Is the news more a medium which allows politicians to manipulate the public, or is it the media that shapes public opinion? Or is it possible that the audience influences the news as much as it is influenced by it? The conflict between the media and the government is analyzed in terms of the constitutional rights of a free press and a political battle between an adversarial or biased press and a government of manipulating politicians. Current news serves as a testing ground for the ideas advanced by scholars, journalists, and politicians. This course can be used to complete the requirement in American politics for political science majors.
Instructor: Elliott
PSCI 309 American Political History
Credit: 0.5
This course covers Hoover, F.D.R., farmers, city people, agrarian conservatives, labor, the unemployed, politicians, demagogues, free market vs. national planning, wartime mobilization and alliances, and much more. Among other themes, this course will analyze the development of modern liberalism, the modern party system, and the modern presidency. Additionally, it will assess social, cultural, and intellectual currents of the World War II era. Course materials will include biographies, novels, film, and historical studies. Prerequisite: at least sophomore standing and two semesters of American history or political science, or permission of instructor.
Instructor: Elliott, Wortman
PSCI 310 Public Policy
Credit: 0.5
This course studies various views of the policymaking process in our national government and considers the different stages of policymaking, including how problems are defined, how new proposals emerge, and how certain solutions make it onto the national agenda and are debated before adoption, altered during implementation, and subsequently evaluated. We will also consider the role of politicians, experts, and bureaucrats in policymaking, study why specific policies were adopted, and debate whether these were the best possible policies. This course will analyze the policymaking process through case studies such as welfare reform, education, and national health insurance. This course is one of the required foundation courses for the Public Policy Concentration and is also open to other upperclass students. This course can be used to complete the requirement in American politics for political science majors.
Instructor: Erler
PSCI 312 American Constitutional Law
Credit: 0.5
The course explores basic issues in constitutional law relevant to the principles and problems of our liberal democracy. We begin with cases of the Marshall Court, which lay the foundations of our constitutional order, and define the role of the judiciary. But most of the course is devoted to controversial themes in our twentieth-century jurisprudence. Emphasis will be placed on recent Supreme Court decisions in the areas of equal protection of the laws, due process, the right to privacy, freedom of speech and press, religious freedom, and the separation of powers. This course can be used to complete the requirement in American politics for political science majors.
Instructor: Erler
PSCI 313 Making U.S. Foreign Policy
Credit: 0.5
The course analyzes how the American political system produces foreign policy decisions. In seeking to discover the domestic influences on American foreign policy, we shall examine how the original framers of the constitution intended for the policy process to proceed. We will then use case studies of American foreign policy decision-making to explore how policy actually gets formed, examining the role of various political institutions, including the president, Congress, the news media, public opinion, the bureaucracies of state and defense, and the National Security Council. Our case studies will include turning points in Cold-War American foreign policy such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War as well as more current issues and events, including Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. How does a democracy make foreign policy? How does a democracy make decisions in an environment of partisan conflict and lack of consensus on the proper course of policy? This course can be used to complete the requirement in American politics for political science majors.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 320 Historicism
Credit: 0.5
Toward the nineteenth century, a number of thinkers began to embrace a novel idea: man does not have a fixed and enduring nature, but is the product of his times. History and culture replaced nature as the proper objects of philosophic inquiry, and eventually the possibility of philosophy itself was cast in doubt. In this course, we will examine the roots of historicism in Rousseau, Burke, and Kant, and its mature expression in Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche. We might also examine notable twentieth century historicists, like Collingwood and MacIntyre, and thinkers who question the basic historicist premise, like Davidson and Strauss. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered every three years.
Instructor: Spiekerman
PSCI 323 Politics and Literature
Credit: 0.5
This course explores perennial issues of politics broadly understood, as they are treated in literature. Topics vary from year to year. Most recently the course has focused on the question of freedom and tyranny.
Instructor: Baumann
PSCI 332 African-American Political Thought
Credit: 0.5
In this course we will explore contributions to the understanding of liberal democracy, its strengths and weaknesses, made by eminent African-American writers and political leaders, beginning with Frederick Douglass and ending with Ralph Ellison. We will be guided by the range of issues and questions they raise in their writings and speeches and by the lines of controversy developing among them over such issues as the legacy of slavery, the relations among races, and the prospects in America for community, cultural diversity, and individuality.
Instructor: Jensen
PSCI 340 Revolutions
Credit: 0.5
This course provides a comparative analysis of the process of revolutionary change, covering the origins, development, and outcomes of revolutions. It will focus on the revolutions in France, Russia, China, and one other case to be determined (i.e. the Iranian Revolution of 1979; the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe; the Arab Spring of 2011). A number of theoretical issues will also be addressed, including the relationship between revolutionary elites and "backwards elements" such as the peasantry; the tensions between the revolutionary process and the political requirements of revolutionary states; and the role and relative importance of leadership, ideology, and structural factors in shaping the outcomes of revolutions. The question of whether social media have changed the character and potential of social revolutions may also be addressed. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered every 3-4 years.
Instructor: Van Holde
PSCI 342 Politics of Development
Credit: 0.5
Alternative strategies of economic development pose the most difficult political choices for those countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America not yet blessed by economic prosperity. This course seeks to accomplish three related goals. First, it will explore the contending theories of development that have shaped the debate about development in the past half century: modernization theory, dependency theory, theories that emphasize state-led development, and theories that seek to define sustainable development. Second, it will compare alternative strategies of development, especially as exemplified by successful (or thought-to-be successful) developing and developed countries. Third, it will consider a set of contemporary issues that complicate the efforts of countries to develop: globalization, environmental catastrophe, population growth, and human rights considerations. Throughout, the definition of development and the desirability of economic growth will be questioned. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered every two years.
Instructor: Klesner, Mood
PSCI 345 European Politics: The European Union
Credit: 0.5
The European Union is viewed by many as a model of international economic and political integration. The twenty-seven member states have pooled their sovereignty in a way that is unique in the history of political systems. They have not only removed barriers to trade between the countries, but they have implemented a common currency and gradually developed a common foreign and security policy. This course is designed to provide students with knowledge of the history, structure, and policymaking process of the European Union. It also is designed to provide students with an understanding of the motivations that led independent nation states to pool their sovereignty, the theoretical debates and issues surrounding integration, and the current issues and challenges facing the European Union. This course can be used to complete the upper-level comparative politics/international relations requirement for political science majors.
Instructor: Camerra-Rowe
PSCI 346 Riots, Ballots, and Rice: Comparative Asian Politics
Credit: 0.5
This course will explore the roots and realities of the explosive changes rocking Asia today, with an eye to the politics that shape and are shaped by them. Headlines today point to human-rights violations, democratic elections, and riots against corruption and pollution amidst phenomenal economic development. We will look at the historical growth and modern development of the Chinese, Japanese and Indian nation-states, and compare their changes and challenges so as to draw larger lessons about the processes of social and political change in a particularly vital and important region of the world. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
Instructor: Mood
PSCI 347 Democracy and Development in Latin America
Credit: 0.5
This course in contemporary Latin American politics examines the region's substantial and inter-connected processes of political and economic change over the past forty years. Until quite recently, democracy was elusive in most of Latin America, and economic and human development lagged compared to most other regions of the world. Today, democracy and market-oriented, expanding economies are the norm in the region. This course explores the causes and consequences of those changes in political and economic direction. It also examines the ongoing challenges for the quality of the region's democracies, particularly in light of poverty and extreme inequality. Focus cases typically include: Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, and/or Brazil. Key themes include the authoritarian regimes of the mid-to-late 20th century, transitions to democratic rule; economic policy changes; human rights; political institutions; poverty and inequality; populism; and indigenous identities and rights. Prerequisites: sophomore standing.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 351 States, Nations, Nationalism
Credit: 0.5
This course provides an introduction to comparative political development. It focuses on two key issues in the development of the contemporary world: the rise of the modern state and the emergence of modern nationalism. By analyzing the processes of state and nation-building in selected countries, we will come to understand the means by which state power is constructed, maintained, and legitimated in political systems as varied as absolutist monarchies and modern nation-states. And by examining nationalism in a variety of historical and geographical settings, we will begin to comprehend the intriguing power and persistence of national identities in an increasingly multinational world. Although the course will be explicitly analytic and comparative in character, analysis will be supplemented as appropriate with case studies drawn from countries around the world.
Instructor: Van Holde
PSCI 355 Immigration, Citizenship, and National Identity
Credit: 0.5
Migration is a worldwide phenomenon posing both opportunities and challenges for immigrants, their families, their countries of origin and the countries to which they move. Immigration policy often inspires virulent debates over border control, national identity, admission and citizenship policies, "guest" workers, and bilingualism. The issues raise fundamental questions about human rights and about a political community's rights to define and defend itself. What does it mean to be an American? Who can be German? What obligations do we have to people fleeing tyranny? Fleeing poverty? The challenges are exacerbated by the facts that contemporary immigration is managed by nation-states, while migrants move in response to global economics and transnational relationships. This course deals with these issues by examining the social, economic, and political forces giving rise to immigration today; the different ways nations have chosen to define citizenship and how those rules affect immigrants; the different strategies nations have used to incorporate immigrants, ranging from multiculturalism to assimilation; attempts to control immigration and their consequences; and the implications of immigration for recipient societies' well-being. About half of the course deals with the immigration experience and controversies in the United States, particularly with respect to migration from Mexico. The other half looks at these issues from a variety of other perspectives, in Western Europe as well as in the developing world. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered every two years.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 360 The Relations of Nations
Credit: 0.5
With the Arab Spring and the rise of China, among other things, the international order continues to transform itself. This course will examine the modern history of these transformations, using specific periods and events, like the Spanish Armada, The Congress of Vienna, and World Wars I and II as vantage points from which to assess the changes that have taken place both in the arrangement of the international state system and the character of the states composing it. The course has two chief pedagogic aims: (1) to create a context for understanding our current situation, and (2) to learn something about what is permanent and what is variable in human beings faced with the most decisive choices. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
Instructor: Baumann
PSCI 361 Globalization
Credit: 0.5
Globalization has become an increasingly prominent phenomenon in contemporary politics. Some argue that globalization can generate a world of increased wealth and international peace. Others contend that globalization undermines traditional culture and generates social conflict. This course investigates the origins and nature of globalization. It explores the key actors, institutions, and processes that gave rise to and shape modern globalization; the potential benefits that globalization brings; and the sources and nature of the modern backlash against globalization. The course concludes by exploring the implications of globalization for the nation-state and international order.
Instructor: Rowe
PSCI 363 Global Environmental Politics
Credit: 0.5
This course covers a variety of issues in environmental politics, placing special emphasis on global problems, politics, and policy. Topics to be addressed will include population growth, consumption and consumerism, resource degradation, climate change, and energy. We also will examine environmental governance and the prospects for environmental activism in the coming century. Although the course examines environmental issues around the globe, we may focus on certain countries or regions in order to examine those issues in greater detail. Case studies and films will be used as appropriate to supplement lectures and discussions. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered every year.
Instructor: Van Holde
PSCI 366 Global Poverty, Policy, and Politics
Credit: 0.5
This comparative politics course examines the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality in the developing world. Topics include the conceptualization, definition, and measurement of poverty and inequality the lived reality of urban and rural poverty around the globe individual, structural, and governmental causes of and solutions to poverty and the possibilities for grassroots empowerment, public policy, international organizations, philanthropy, and foreign aid to reduce poverty and inequality globally.
PSCI 371 World War II
Credit: 0.5
This course presents a military and diplomatic history of the Second World War, focusing on the origins, conduct, and consequences of the war. The course will explain why the allies won the war and why the Axis Powers lost. It will discuss the performance of allied and enemy military forces. It will examine the possibility that the allies could have prevented the war by pursuing different policies. It will explain why the Grand Alliance of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union which defeated Nazi Germany collapsed after the war and will examine the origins of the Cold War conflict. It will look at the experience of battle for and on the men who were in the thick of the fighting. It will examine the end of the war in the Pacific theater and the use of atomic weapons by the United States to hasten that end.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 372 U.S. Foreign Policy since World War II
Credit: 0.5
This course will analyze and evaluate, on both prudential and moral grounds, the foreign policy of the United States since World War II. Both the Cold War and the post-Cold War eras will be covered. Major topics from the Cold War era are: the causes and course of the Cold War; the various strategies developed by the United States to contain the Soviet Union; the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War; the rise and fall of detente with the Soviet Union; and why and how the Cold War ended. From the post-Cold War era, the course will cover: the first and second wars with Iraq, military intervention in Somalia, and conflicts with Serbia over Bosnia and Kosovo. The attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, also will be discussed, along with the U.S. response--the war on terrorists who attack U.S. citizens. There will also be a discussion of the new challenges facing U.S. foreign policy in the post-Cold War world, and a comparison of the security situations facing the United States in both the Cold War and post-Cold War worlds.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 380 Gender and Politics
Credit: 0.5
This course will examine the participation of women in American political life. We will trace the development of feminism out of broader political and intellectual movements and consider the situation of women in American society today. We will also look at women in their roles as voters, candidates, party activists, and public officials. The ways in which gender relations are defined by public policy and law will be a focus, with particular attention given to constitutional equality, workplace and family issues, and reproductive rights. This course can be used to complete the requirement in American politics for political science majors.
PSCI 397 Junior Honors Seminar
Credit: 0.5
This seminar is intended to prepare students to undertake and successfully complete a senior honors project. To do so, we will read and discuss past examples of successful senior theses. Then we will consider different approaches to senior honors research, including close textual analysis and comparative, institutional, or policy analysis. We will emphasize the formulation of tractable research questions and how to define research objectives in ways likely to lead to successful research projects. Students will design a research project on a topic of their interest and complete a major paper on that theme. Students will read and critique each other's work.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 400 Politics of Journalism
Credit: 0.5
This seminar studies political journalism and its impact on American politics. Each year we focus on a different aspect of the politics of the news media in modern America. Usually, we will examine the relationship between the press and the presidency. We begin with the evolution from the Founders' constitutional office into the modern presidency, which stresses leadership of public opinion through the press. We also trace a parallel evolution of journalism through partisanship to passive objectivity and on to a modern emphasis on scandals and adversarial stances. The seminar concentrates on the modern era of the permanent campaign, in which a personal and rhetorical president sees manipulation of the press as fundamental to the job. Presidential conduct of foreign policy in this media age will receive significant attention. Current news serves as a testing ground for the ideas advanced by scholars, journalists, and politicians.
Instructor: Elliott
PSCI 421 Socrates Seminar
Credit: 0.5
This seminar will be devoted to a close reading of Plato's Gorgias, the sister dialogue of the Republic. Today, students often wonder: Why bother with Plato and his Socrates? Isn't their thought clearly outmoded? In studying the Gorgias--Plato's most sustained reflection on the human concern for justice--we will give him a chance to reply and make the case for the undiminished importance of his thought for politics and the good life. The guiding questions of the seminar will be: What is justice? Why do we care about it? And how is it related to politics and philosophy?
Instructor: D. Leibowitz
PSCI 422 Thucydides: War and Philosophy
Credit: 0.5
This seminar will be devoted to a careful reading of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. The themes of the course will be Thucydides' account of international relations, the connections between foreign and domestic politics, and his account of human nature and of political morality.
Instructor: Baumann
PSCI 425 Machiavelli and Shakespeare
Credit: 0.5
In this seminar we will explore various points of contact in the respective political understandings of Machiavelli and Shakespeare. Our readings will include selections from The Prince, The Discourses, and Machiavelli's plays, and selections among Shakespeare's history plays, tragedies, and comedies.
Instructor: Jensen
PSCI 426 John Locke's Liberalism
Credit: 0.5
In this seminar, we will explore the liberalism of John Locke, perhaps the most important founder of liberal democracy. Mindful of the criticisms leveled since Locke's time against liberal democracy, we will be particularly interested in recapturing the original arguments on its behalf. We will aim to see liberalism as it came to light and to assess, insofar as is possible from Locke's own writings, its intentions and its anticipated effects. Our readings will be drawn from Locke's works on politics, education, religion, and epistemology. Prerequisites: junior standing or permission of the instructor. Offered every three years.
PSCI 427 The Political Philosophy of Montaigne
Credit: 0.5
Montaigne's Essays, one of the acknowledged classics of modern thought, contains a breathtaking, wide-ranging, and dialectically complex account of the human soul in its confrontation with others, with the world, and with itself. Apparently artless and off-the-cuff, the essays require the most careful reading. The course will consist of close reading of many of these essays in order to understand the position Montaigne ultimately takes on human nature and on the political implications of that position.
Instructor: Baumann
PSCI 428 The Political Thought of Nietzsche
Credit: 0.5
Nietzsche's thought is in one sense the culmination of the tradition of political philosophy, in another its destruction, and in yet another, the chief obstacle and point of perpetual return to his successors. In this course, we will read one book, Beyond Good and Evil, with great care. That will help us understand the paradoxical way in which Nietzsche writes, the implications of his radical relativism for thought, culture and politics and whether he has a political teaching at all, and if so, what kind. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
Instructor: Baumann
PSCI 431 Ambition and Politics
Credit: 0.5
In this course we will examine the presence and rightful place of ambition in politics. We will read literature, biography, and political theory in an attempt to answer the following questions: Is the desire to rule a permanent and independent feature of political practice? Is it compatible with concern for the common good? Must ambition be limited, or somehow rendered undangerous? Can it be? Readings may include Homer, Xenophon, Plutarch, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, the Federalist Papers, and Bullock's Hitler: A Study in Tyranny.
Instructor: Spiekerman
PSCI 432 The Idea of Community
Credit: 0.5
Political thinkers regularly claim to have discovered the community best suited to man, the just community. Yet suspicion toward the idea of community also enjoys a venerable history. Is not the individual prior to, and thus more important than, the community? Don't communities usually stifle, violate, and oppress individuals, particularly members of the minority? Individualism is so pervasive in the most advanced countries that many now wonder if we have gone too far. Has concern for the individual at the expense of the community made us selfish, disconnected, alienated, and unhappy? In this seminar we will read classic statements on the ideal community (e.g., Thomas More's Utopia, Rousseau's Social Contract, Huxley's Brave New World) on our way toward studying contemporary "communitarian" thinkers (e.g., Bellah, Barber, Heidegger, MacIntyre, Putnam, Sandel, Walzer). We will begin the semester by viewing Ang Lee's film The Ice Storm and end it by reading Hawthorne's Blithedale Romance, a fictional account of the socialist experiment at Brook Farm. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Offered every three years.
Instructor: Spiekerman
PSCI 440 Senior Seminar in Public Policy
Credit: 0.5
This seminar brings together a political scientist and an economist to consider how these disciplines approach the study of public policy. The course will concentrate on applying both of the disciplines to the study of a selection of public policies, ranging from poverty to budget deficits or globalization. We will explore the substantive issues and the process of governmental policymaking in specific policy domains. How is policy made? What should the policy be? The work of scholars in each discipline will be studied to better understand the differences in approaches and to consider the potential for combining them. What does political science contribute to the study of economic policymaking? What can the tools and perspective of economics contribute to the study of a topic like welfare reform or global warming? This seminar is required for students completing the Public Policy Concentration, and it is open to other seniors. Prerequisites: ECON 101, ECON 102, and one course in American politics, or permission of instructors. This course is also listed as ECON 440. Offered every year.
Instructor: Elliott
PSCI 445 Seminar in European Politics
Credit: 0.5
European governments face a number of challenges in the twenty-first century--welfare and job-market reform, immigration, right-wing party activity, and the forging of a new European identity. In this seminar, we will explore some of the major economic, social, and political issues facing European nations since the collapse of communism in 1989. The course focuses in particular on Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, with some attention to Sweden, the Netherlands, and the countries of Eastern Europe. Prerequisite: junior standing or permission of instructor. Offered every two years.
Instructor: Camerra-Rowe
PSCI 446 The Politics of the Welfare State
Credit: 0.5
During the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the advanced industrialized democracies in Europe and North America set up extensive social welfare systems in order to reduce class inequalities and eliminate risks across the life cycle. These included income support, family benefits, health care, pensions, unemployment, disability insurance, and child care programs. Beginning in the 1970s, these social welfare programs faced a variety of social and economic challenges, including the aging of the population, globalization, changes in family structure, the feminization of the labor force, and de-industrialization. This has led to welfare retrenchment and restructuring. In this seminar, we examine the different welfare regimes across the United States and Europe and discuss the challenges confronting postwar welfare arrangements. We explore at the politics surrounding the creation and retrenchment of welfare states across different political settings and in specific policy areas including pensions, health care, and family policy and we look at the future of the social welfare state. Prerequisites: junior standing or permission of instructor. Offered every two years.
Instructor: Camerra-Rowe
PSCI 460 The Role of Morality and Law in International Politics
Credit: 0.5
The following issues will be examined in this seminar: the Western justified-war tradition; the concept and conduct of humanitarian military interventions; the ability of moral values to influence calculations of interest and to restrain the use of power in foreign policy; the problematic nature of justice in international politics; the ability of international laws and organizations to have a positive influence on the conduct of nations; and the impact that the United States, by far the most powerful nation in the world today, might have for good or ill on the levels of peace, prosperity, and liberty in the world.
PSCI 461 U.S. Defense Strategy Seminar
Credit: 0.5
This seminar analyzes and debates some of the main issues and choices facing the makers of U.S. defense strategy and foreign policy in the post-Cold War world. The major topics covered in the course are U.S. military interventions: Iraq in 1991; Afghanistan starting in 2001; and Iraq, again, starting in 2003. The course also analyzes and evaluates various threats to U.S. security in the unipolar world which has existed since the collapse of the Soviet superpower, especially the proliferation of nuclear weapons and terrorism. The main issue of the course is what role the United States can and should play in fostering international security.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 462 U.S. Foreign Policy after the Cold War
Credit: 0.5
This seminar will focus on three main issue areas in current US Foreign Policy: 1) U.S. relations with China and Chinese relations with the states of Central Asia, Southern Asia and Eastern Asia; 2) U.S.-Iranian relations, especially Iran's nuclear weapons program and Iranian support for various terrorist organizations in the Middle East; and 3) the threats posed by Islamic terrorist organizations. The course will open with a recent book on a significant aspect of U.S. Foreign Policy. This year that book was The Case for Goliath by Michael Mandelbaum which focuses on the role the U.S. has played since World War II to foster the expansion of a relatively open international economy, and the role the U.S. had played in building a stable and relatively peaceful community of liberal democratic nations. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Normally Offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 464 International Law
Credit: 0.5
This course presents an overview of the concepts, operation, genesis, and content of international law and organizations, both respecting the international community generally and with particular reference and application to the United States. Our primary focus is public international law--those legal regimes and apparatus made by and for states and the handful of nongovernmental organizations endowed with international legal personality--we will also touch upon private international law, as respects corporations and individuals in such areas as trade and crimes. Contemporary issues covered include the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the law of armed conflict (LOAC), international trade, and human rights law (HRL) and emerging issues such as environmental and outer space law. Students will be familiarized with the current state of the international legal order, situate international law among competing theoretical approaches, and provide a toolkit for analyzing contemporary international controversies.
Instructor: Karako
PSCI 465 International Terrorism
Credit: 0.5
This course explores the causes and consequences of international terrorism. It examines how terrorists use violence to shape identities and achieve social change; the grievances that give rise to modern terrorism; the goals of modern terrorist groups such as al Qaeda; and the potential for "catastrophic terrorism" using weapons of mass destruction. The final segment of the course explores the complex issues raised by the terrorist challenge to liberal democratic states and the rule of law.
Instructor: Staff
PSCI 466 National Security Law
Credit: 0.5
Cicero is credited with saying that the laws are silent during war. But military commanders today often go nowhere without legal counsel at their side. A growing apparatus of international and domestic law now shapes and regulates Americas foreign relations and military operations to a remarkable degree--from high politics of diplomacy to rules of engagement for a young soldier stationed at a checkpoint in Afghanistan. Perennial issues include how the American separation of powers affects the authority to initiate hostilities, balancing security with civil liberties, the status of international law in U.S. courts, government secrecy. This course will highlight current and emerging controversies, such as terrorism and the law of armed conflict, drones and targeted killing, extraordinary rendition, interrogation and torture, military commissions, intelligence gathering, enemy combatant detention, and cyber-attack. Prerequisite: junior standing. Offered every two years.
PSCI 470 Power, States, and Markets: The Making of Modern Social Order
Credit: 0.5
This seminar explores the complex and dynamic relations between the state and market, the two most pervasive institutions that structure modern social life. We will examine issues such as the role of state violence in constructing political and economic order, the political foundations of markets, how warfare led to the emergence of modern states and global capitalism, the political sources of economic growth and decline, and how markets can undermine states and social order. The seminar will read scholars from a diverse array of disciplines, including political science, economics, history, and sociology, and will draw on a wide range empirical materials, ranging from medieval Europe and colonial Africa to modern Africa and the advanced industrial states. Prerequisite: junior standing or permission of the instructor. Offered every two years.
Instructor: Rowe
PSCI 480 Science and Politics
Credit: 0.5
This seminar examines the relationship of science and politics from early modernity to the present, and considers the probable course and character of that relationship in the foreseeable future. Topics to be considered include Galileo's conflict with the Church, the theory of evolution, Social Darwinism, and the origins and implications of nuclear weapons research. We will also examine a number of contemporary controversies at the intersection of science and politics, including genetic testing and therapy, intelligence testing and the IQ debates, global warming, and the debates surrounding the science and politics of AIDS. Issues such as the value neutrality of science, the politics of risk assessment, and the proper role of scientists in shaping policy also will be examined. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of instructor. Offered every three to four years.
Instructor: Van Holde
PSCI 483 The Political Philosophy of Rousseau
Credit: 0.5
In this seminar we will examine Emile, which Rousseau considered to be his most important and most comprehensive work--in brief, as the reply, point to point, to Plato's Republic. Whereas Plato became famous for presenting an imaginary city, Rousseau presents an imaginary soul or person; his philosophical novel covers the education of Emile from birth until just after marriage. Our discussion will conform to the scope of the themes of the book: nature, economics, morality, religion, sexuality, aesthetics, and politics. Prerequisite: junior standing.Offered every two years.
PSCI 493 Individual Study
Credit: 0.5
Individual study in political science is available to students who want to pursue a course of reading or complete a focused research project on a topic not regularly offered in the department's curriculum. To enroll, a student must prepare a proposal in consultation with a member of the political science faculty who has suitable expertise and is willing to work with the student over the course of a semester. The proposal should include: a statement of the questions the student plans to explore, a preliminary bibliography, a schedule of assignments, a schedule of meetings with the faculty member, and a description of the elements that will be factored into the course grade. The student should also briefly describe any prior coursework that particularly qualifies him or her to pursue the project independently. The department chair must approve the proposal. The department expects the student to meet regularly with the instructor for at least the equivalent of one hour per week. Reading assignments will vary depending on the topic but should approximate a regular departmental course in that field. Students should expect to write at least thirty pages over the course of the semester, for an individual study bearing .5 unit of credit. The department urges students to begin planning a proposed individual study the semester before they hope to undertake it, by discussing it with the supervising faculty member and the department chair. The chair must receive proposals by the third day of classes.