91096 |
PS 104 International Relations |
Michelle Murray |
. T . Th . |
1:30 -2:50 pm |
Olin 201 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: GIS, Human Rights This
course will focus on the major theories and concepts in international
relations. We will start the semester looking at the major schools of
international relations theory: realism, liberalism, and
constructivism. What are the implications of these theories for foreign
policy decision making (and for the future of the world!)? The course
will also look at international organizations, including the UN and WTO, and
how foreign policy is carried out. We will end the semester by looking at
some of the “hot” issues in the world today including: terrorism, preventive
war, the rise of China, and the spread of democracy. The goal of the class is
to see how (or if) theories of international relations can explain how
organizations function and how foreign policy is made and to see what answers
theory can provide for how to deal with the problems of a “post 9/11
world.” Authors to be read include: Thucydides, Morgenthau, Russett,
Huntington, and Mearsheimer, among many others.
91092 |
PS 105 Comparative Politics |
Omar Encarnacion |
M . W . . |
11:50 -1:10 pm |
Olin 202 |
SSCI |
(PS core course) Cross-listed: GIS The basic
intellectual premise of comparative politics is that we can better understand
the politics of any country by placing it within a broader, global
context. This comparative “method”
allows us to address some of the most fundamental questions in the study of
politics, such as what makes democracy possible, how is political
representation organized around the world, and why some nations are more
successful than others at generating wealth and prosperity, while contributing
to the building of theories about the nature and evolution of states, interest
groups, civil society, and the dynamics of political processes such as
revolution, modernization, and democratization. Class lectures and discussions will cover developed and developing
states, as well as democratic and non-democratic ones.
91524 |
PS 109 Political Economy |
Sanjib Baruah |
. T . Th . |
10:10 - 11:30 am |
Olin 201 |
SSCI |
(PS core course) Cross-listed: GIS The term
Political Economy refers to the interrelationship between politics and
economics. However, political scientists and economists do not always use the
term in the same sense. Even within these two disciplines the term has multiple
meanings. The course will review the ideas of a few major thinkers such as Adam
Smith, Karl Marx, Karl Polanyi, Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes, and John
Kenneth Galbraith, and will introduce students to two subfields in particular:
international political economy and the political economy of development. Among
the questions we would ask are: Why are some countries rich and others poor?
What is development? What are the prime movers of globalization? Is the US an
empire given its influence and power in the global economy? How can development
be redefined to tackle the challenge of climate change? Among issues that we
will look at closely is the role of organizations such as the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization in managing the
global economy and the current debates about reforming these
institutions.
91102 |
PS 115 Intro to Political Thinking |
David Kettler |
. . . Th . |
10:10 -12:30 pm |
Olin 301 |
SSCI |
(PS core course) From Plato to Hannah Arendt, great thinkers
in the Western tradition have asked about the nature and practice of
political action. Thinking about politics is, knowingly or not,
conducted against the background of this shared tradition. This is no less
true of political thought that aims to break away from “the classics” than
of political thought that finds in them a constant resource for
both critical and constructive thinking. This course explores
fundamental questions of politics through a core body of readings by
thinkers including Plato, More, Machiavelli, Rousseau, Marx, and
Arendt. Looking comparatively at texts from ancient to recent
times, we will compare more “utopian” with more cynical or “realist”
approaches to political thinking while reflecting upon key political
concepts such as justice, democracy, and “the individual”. We will also
explore such enduring questions as the relationship between the state and
the individual; the conditions for peaceful political order; and
the connection between morality and politics.
91523 |
PS 122 American Politics: Issues &
Institutions |
Verity Smith |
M . W . . |
3:10 – 4:30 pm |
Olin 203 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed:
American Studies, Social Policy This
course introduces students to the basic institutions and processes of American
government. The class is meant to provide students with a grasp of the
fundamental dynamics of American politics and the skills to be an effective
participant in and critic of the political process. During the semester, we
will examine how the government works, interpret current political developments
and debates, and consider how to influence the government at various
levels.
91301 |
PS 167 Foundations of the Law |
Roger Berkowitz |
. . W . F |
1:30 -2:50 pm |
Olin 101 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Human Rights
Corporate executives hire high-priced lawyers to flout the law with
impunity. Indigent defendants are falsely convicted, and even executed for
crimes they did not commit. We say that law is the institutional embodiment of
justice. And yet, it is equally true that law, as it is practiced, seems to
have little connection to justice. As the novelist William Gaddis writes:
“Justice? You get justice in the next world. In this world, you have the law.”
This course explores the apparent disconnect between law and justice. Can
contemporary legal systems offer justice? Can we, today, still speak of a duty
to obey the law? Is it possible for law to do justice? Through readings
of legal cases as well as political, literary, and philosophical texts, we seek
to understand the problem of administering justice as it emerges in the context
of contemporary legal institutions. Texts will include Immanuel
Kant, Groundwork of a Metaphysic of Morals, Herman
Melville, Billy Budd, and selections
from Dostoevsky, Twain, Melville, Plato, Blackstone, Holmes, Milton, Kant, and
others.
91093 |
PS 214 US-Latin American Relations |
Omar Encarnacion |
M . W . . |
3:10 -4:30 pm |
Olin 202 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed:
GIS, LAIS Despite
common origins as off springs of European colonialism and close economic and
political ties during their respective period of independence and
state-building, conflict rests at the heart of the relationship between the
United States and the nations of Latin America. This course unpacks the
historical and ideological roots of that conflict, how it has developed over
the course of the years, and what possibilities exist for its resolution in the
future. The course is divided into three main sections. The first
one covers the years between the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the events
leading to World War II. It emphasizes U.S. attempts at creating a
"sphere of influence" over Latin America, highlighted by numerous
military interventions in places like Mexico, Central America, and the
Caribbean, as well as Latin American responses to what they perceived to be an
American project of imperialism. The second section focuses on the
dynamics of the Cold War as played out throughout Latin America. It
emphasizes the real and perceived fears by U.S. policy-makers about the advent
of Marxist-inspired revolutions in Latin America, which led to interventions in
Cuba, Chile, and Guatemala, among other nations, and the high toll that the
Cold War exacted upon the peoples of Latin America. The third and final
section looks at the most salient issues in contemporary U.S-L.A. relations:
economic integration, the illicit drug trade, and Latin American migration to
the United States.
91120 |
PS 239 United Nations and Model UN |
Jonathan Becker |
. . . . F |
1:30 -2:50 pm |
Olin 202 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: GIS, Human Rights 1 credit* The course will be divided into two parts.
The first part will explore the history of the United Nations and will
introduce students to its structure and principal aims. It will also focus on
the role of specialized agencies and the ways in which alliances impact on the
UN’s day-to-day operations. The second part of the course will focus on an
assigned country (for each Model UN, each college is assigned a country to
represent. It will entail a study of the country’s history, politics and
economics and will conclude with the writing of ‘position papers’ that reflect
that country’s approach to issues confronting the UN. In addition, there will
be a public speaking component. Students taking the course will have the
opportunity to participate in a Model United Nations. Students wishing to participate should e-mail [email protected] with 1-2
paragraphs indicating why they would like to participate. *One credit per
semester, two-credit course. Students must take both halves to obtain credit.
91514 |
PS 247 American Foreign Policy Traditions I |
Walter Russell Mead |
. . W . F |
11:50 – 1:10pm |
RKC 102 |
HIST |
Cross-listed:
GIS, Human Rights This course will be an introduction to the history of
American foreign policy and to the connections between foreign policy and
domestic policy that developed from the founding of America through the
Spanish-American War. Students will be introduced to the principal
geopolitical, economic and ideological pillars that have shaped American
strategic thought. Particular attention will be devoted to how popular
religious, cultural and political movements have attempted to influence
American foreign policy, including anti-war movements: What, for example, are the
similarities between today’s anti-war movements and those that have existed
since the country's founding? In the context of the course, students will be
asked to read key documents that have defined American foreign policy. In the
Spring Semester there will be an opportunity to continue this study in a
related course that focuses on the history of American foreign policy from the
Spanish-American war to the present.
91094 |
PS 248 East Asian Politics & Society |
Kenneth Haig |
. T . Th . |
3:10 -4:30 pm |
Olin 303 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Asian Studies, GIS This course offers an introduction to the
comparative politics of Japan, Korea, and greater China. We will focus on
a few of the “big questions” that comparativists have posed about the politics
of the region, rather than attempt a comprehensive survey. The first part
of the course focuses on the question of economic development: how can
industrialization and sustained economic growth be achieved? After
examining how the economies of East Asia were surpassed by the European
industrial revolution, we will turn to the “miracle” of their resurgence in the
20th century, even as many other countries in the world tried and failed
to industrialize. In the second part of the course, we will turn to the
question of revolution: what are the causes underlying social
revolutions? Why did China and Korea undergo radical revolutions, when
both countries seemed to lack all the necessary ingredients for one? How
did Japan avoid a revolution in its rapid transformation from a closed,
agricultural society to an industrialized, imperial power? Finally, we
will address the question of democracy in a region with a long history of
authoritarian rule. In addition to examining democratization in Japan,
South Korea, and Taiwan, we will explore different cultural conceptions of
democracy and their impact on political reform.
91099 |
PS 253 Latin American Politics |
Monique Segarra |
M . W . . |
6:00 -7:20 pm |
ASP 302 |
SSCI/DIFF |
Cross-listed:
LAIS (core course), GIS, History This course is an introduction to the
politics of Latin America. We will
focus on the political regimes, social actors, and historical processes that have
characterized and structured the political life of Latin America. The course is divided in two complementary
parts. The first focuses on the widely
different political regimes that have marked the continent in the 20th
century up to today, and on the reasons for the transition from one type of
regime to another. It thus provides a broad and comprehensive picture of the
very distinct political phases and regimes that have characterized Latin
American societies. Students will
become familiar with: “oligarchical liberalism”, “neo-patrimonialism”,
“populism”, revolutionary socialism (through guerrilla warfare),
“bureaucratic-authoritarianism”, and liberal democracy. Since the return to electoral democracy in
the 1980s, the region has undergone major sociopolitical shifts, first to the
neoliberal right in the 1990s and then, this decade, to the left. We will pay
attention to issues of inequality, class, race (or color), and representation,
with the unifying theme of the “incorporation of the popular sectors.” The second part of the course examines the
political history of some of the most representative countries of Latin
America, from the most developed countries to the poorest ones. We will cover
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile (Allende/ Pinochet), Peru, Nicaragua or Cuba,
and Venezuela (here, especially under Chavez). The course will either provide
an overview of the broad political history of such countries during the 20th
century or focus on one key political event or process that has contributed to
make some of those countries well-known politically.
91097 |
PS 254 Security & International Politics |
Michelle Murray |
M . W . . |
10:10 - 11:30 am |
Olin 202 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: GIS, Human Rights Security is one of the foundational concepts in the study of international politics. As the principle rationale for war, the quest for security influences both states’ behavior in the international system as well as the structure of state and society relations in domestic politics. Too often, however, the meaning of security is taken for granted in the study of world politics, with individuals, societies and states homogenized into one coherent model. This course will interrogate the concept of security in an attempt to denaturalize the taken-for-grantedness of the traditional understanding of security. Some of the broad theoretical themes covered include challenges to the mainstream approach to security, the construction of dominant discourses of security and its representation in international politics, critical and discursive approaches to security and the politics of threat construction. The aim is to assess the validity of these alternative approaches and highlight their value-added to security studies. We will then (re)consider some contemporary security problems in light of these alternative conceptualizations of security: migration, the environment, health, development, the war on terror, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, among others. The course ends with a discussion of the ethics of national security by looking at the politics of torture, human rights and the suspension of civil liberties in the state of exception.
91105 |
PS 256 Politics and News Media |
Jonathan Becker |
M . W . . |
11:50 -1:10 pm |
Olin 205 |
SSCI |
Related
interest: GIS, Human Rights, Social
Policy, PIE core course
This course examines broad questions about the relationship between the
news media and politics. It addresses the interaction between government and
news media, concentrating on the characteristics of different national media
systems, legal regulation of the media, the impact of corporate ownership and
globalization, and the role of new media technologies. Particular attention
will be devoted to the role of media in elections and restrictions related to
national security concerns. A little more than half of the course will be
devoted to media and the system of political communication in the United
States. The rest of the course will involve thematic comparisons of media in a
number countries, including Russia, Hungary, Sweden, Italy, Germany, the United
Kingdom, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
91211 |
PS 280 Nations, States, and Nationalism |
Sanjib Baruah |
. T . Th . |
1:30 -2:50 pm |
Olin 310 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: GIS; Human
Rights, MES
The twentieth century was the century of nationalism. The national
conflicts that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in the territory of
the former USSR and in the rest of Eastern and Central Europe were only the
most recent evidence of the power of nationalism. But even though we talk
of national identities as if they are natural, terms such as nations,
nationalities and nationalism are difficult to define. The competition
faced by official nationalisms from other comparable solidarities ? those that
are larger than official nations, e.g. pan-Arabism, or pan-Islamicism, or smaller
than official nations, e.g. Quebec, Basque, Kashmiri or Sri Lankan Tamil
national identities -- is often underestimated or misunderstood
because we tend to take the national order of things as given. We will
examine the history of the idea of nations and the "nation state" and
will read a number of key theoretical texts.
91100 |
PS 311 Immigration & Citizenship |
Kenneth Haig |
M . . . . |
4:40 -7:00 pm |
Olin 303 |
SSCI/DIFF |
Cross-listed: GIS, Human Rights, Social Policy; Related interest: French Studies, German Studies This course examines the ways that
responses to immigration have affected existing policies and practices of
citizenship. The course will focus primarily on the post-World War II
experience of developed countries and the practical and theoretical issues it
has raised. One of the challenges that migration to these countries has
presented has been that of politically integrating culturally and religiously
diverse new social groups of immigrant origin. The course will explore the
often contrasting ways in which different countries have confronted this task
and the historical, social, and intellectual roots of variations in their
approaches, and levels of enthusiasm. Topics addressed include
multiculturalism, minority rights, visions of state and nationhood, nationality
law, alien voting rights, migration-related social movements, and citizenship
of the EU.
91098 |
PS 326 Nuclear Proliferation Seminar |
Michelle Murray |
. . W . . |
1:30 -3:50 pm |
Olin 301 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: GIS; related interest: STS This advanced seminar
examines the origins of nuclear weapons proliferation and its impact on the
United States’ national and international security. To do this, we will consider the central academic debates about
why states want nuclear weapons and evaluate these ideas against the major
cases of nuclear acquisition and restraint in the twentieth and early
twenty-first centuries. The objective
of the course is to think analytically and critically about the causes and
consequences of nuclear proliferation and to develop theoretically informed
policy responses for how the United States can stop and/or manage the spread of
nuclear weapons in the years to come.
91516 |
PS 365 God’s Country? Foreign Policy and Religion in the United States |
Walter Russell Mead |
. . . Th . |
1:30 – 3:50 pm |
Olin 308 |
SSCI/DIFF |
Cross-listed: GIS; Human Rights The United States is an intensely religious country
profoundly affected by an individualistic form of Christianity with roots in
the British isles and the Protestant Reformation. Both religious and
non-religious people today have been shaped by this heritage, and America’s
engagement with the world continues to reflect the ideas and values of that
past. This course will examine the ideological, cultural and social
consequences of that influence on American foreign policy.
91091 |
PS 420 Hannah Arendt Seminar |
Roger Berkowitz |
. T . . . |
4:40 -7:00 pm |
Dubois |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Human Rights This course is dedicated to reading some of
Hannah Arendt's seminal works with a particular focus on her thinking
about science and art as these two human activities relate to the human
condition. In addition to close readings of some of Arendt’s most important
books and essays, we will also explore the challenge that scientific
rationality and artificial intelligence pose to the humanity of humans. In conjunction
with the 2010 Arendt Center Conference on “Human Being in an Inhuman Age,” we
will ask how Arendt’s work helps us to think about the ways that automation,
artificial intelligence, and rational machines are transforming the very nature
of what it means to be human. In addition to Bard undergraduates, the
participants will include visiting fellows from the Hannah Arendt Center for
Ethical and Political Thinking. The course is also open to select students from
the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS). Beyond scheduled class meetings,
students are expected to attend lectures and other events sponsored by the
Arendt Center and CCS.