91779

PS 104 International Relations

Christopher McIntosh

M . W . .

10:10 am- 11:30 am

OLIN 202

SSCI

(PS core course) Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights This course provides an introduction to competing theories about the structure, functioning and transformative potential of the international system. Part 1 deals with the traditional problem of international life, maintaining order among relatively equal states in a condition of anarchy. Part 2 calls the assumption of anarchy into question by looking at hierarchical power relationships in a variety of issue areas. Part 3 addresses contemporary challenges to the state’s authority and the problems of governing in an increasingly global community. Throughout the course an effort will be made to illustrate the relevance of theoretical disagreements for the real world. Students will be evaluated on their understanding of the assumptions and logics of competing theories as well as their ability to apply those theories to historical and contemporary global problems. Class size: 22

91791

PS 109 Political Economy

Sanjib Baruah

M . W . .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

RKC 101

SSCI

(PS core course) Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights 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. Class size: 22

91828

PS 115 Introduction to Political Thinking

Michiel Bot

M . W . .

3:10 pm -4:30 pm

HEG 102

SSCI

(PS core course) From Plato to Nietzsche, 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 writings.  Class size: 22

91795

PS 122 American Politics: Issues and Institutions

Simon Gilhooley

M . W . .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

HEG 308

SSCI

(PS core course ) Cross-listed: American Studies 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. Class size: 22

91980

PS 167 QUEST FOR JUSTICE: FOUNDATION OF LAW

Roger Berkowitz

M . W . .

3:10 pm– 4:30 pm

OLINLC 208

HUM

Cross-listed: Human Rights , Philosophy 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. Class size: 22

92288

PS 213 The Unmaking of Americans:

Roger Berkowitz

. . W . .

5:00 – 6:20 pm

RKC 103

HUM

Cross-listed: Experimental Humanities (1 credit) In the last year, popular books like The Unwinding by George Packer and Coming Apart by Charles Murray have bemoaned the fading of the American Ideal. On the left, The Unwinding tells the tale of the demise of American institutions and the loss of American ideals as an inspiring dream. On the right, Coming Apart gives voice to the sense that America no longer exists as a single nation; Murray argues that Americans in wealthy zip codes have pitifully little in common with their countrymen in poor zip codes. These differences include not simply lifestyle, but also values and dreams. If Murray thinks Americans are increasingly living in fundamentally different worlds, Packer sees the once great American dream crumbling around us, consumed by corruption, consumption, and institutional failure. We confront today the weakening of our collective vision of freedom and equality. Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party manifest anger at the betrayal of American constitutional democracy, but with little awareness of a common heritage. Americans are dismayed at the power of money, the decay of self-governance, and a bureaucracy that seems impervious to popular control. And yet few dare to articulate a collective vision that might hold the country together. The 2014 Hannah Arendt Center Conference will ask: Are there common ideals left that we share as Americans? How can racial justice co-exist with American ideals? How can we save and reinvigorate American Dream? Can Americans build myths and institutions that nurture a common world? This 1 unit class will meet 5 times. At four meetings prior to the Arendt Center Conference on Oct. 9-10 we will read material by speakers at the conference, such as excerpts from Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Lawrence Lessig, Kendall Thomas, George Packer, Charles Murray, Joan Richardson, and Hannah Arendt. We will discuss as well John Ford’s film “The Searchers” and George Cukor’s “Philadelphia Story.” Students will attend the conference and have the opportunity to respond by creating humanistic essays in the medium of their choice. These may include blog posts, videos, digital maps, or other forms. There will be one post-conference meeting to discuss the conference and students will be able to present their work at the Experimental Humanities Share Event at the end of the semester. Class size: 50

91965

PS 214 US / LATIN AMERICAN RELATIONS

Omar Encarnacion

M . W . .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

OLIN 301

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies; Global & Int’l Studies; 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. Class size: 20

91797

PS 221 THE Legacy OF THE Civil Rights Movement

Simon Gilhooley

. T . Th .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

HEG 308

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies; Human Rights Fifty years ago the historic Civil Rights Act was signed in to law. A central and symbolic moment in civil rights history, this anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the history and legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. The course will examine the development and consequences of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1940s through to today. We will explore the domestic, international, and ideological origins of the movement, the structures and actions of organizations such as SNCC, SCLC, NAACP, and CORE, and the consequences and legacies of the “classical” period of 1954-1966. The course will encourage consideration of the effects of the Civil Rights Movement on subsequent mobilizations, contemporary American society, and the modern American political landscape, and ask when – if at all – the Civil Rights Movement ended, and how we might assess its success. Alongside documents from the period and secondary analysis, students will be encouraged to participate in public talks from guest speakers on the topic. Class size: 22

92001

PS 230 RELIGION AND POLITICAL THOUGHT

Pinar Kemerli

M . W . .

11:50 am – 1:10 pm

OLIN 310

SSCI

Cross-listed: Human Rights; Religion This course explores the complex relationship between religion and politics.  While secular wisdom emphasizes the privatization of religion and its separation from politics, religion constitutes an important part of modern political experience, influencing our conceptions of sovereignty, belonging, identity, gender, war, and so forth. We will examine complicated engagements with religion and theological concepts in the works of influential theorists who addressed these themes and address contemporary dilemmas concerning religion and religious freedoms. A wide range of topics will be examined including civil religion, fanaticism, religious resistance, secularism, the headscarf debate, witchcraft, and apocalypticism. Theorist include Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Paul Khan, Saba Mahmood, Roxanne Euben as well as thinkers from non-Western traditions such as Sayyid Qutb and  Ziya Gökalp. Class size: 18

91953

PS 237 COMPARATIVE Politics of the Middle East and North Africa

James Ketterer

. T . Th .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

ASP 302

SSCI/DIFF

Cross-listed: Africana Studies; Global & Int’l Studies; Middle East Studies This course introduces students to the major questions and theoretical approaches involved in the study of comparative politics as applied to the states of the Middle East and North Africa. Topics covered include: state formation and consolidation; the persistence of authoritarianism; nationalism and identity; civil society and democratization; uprisings and revolutions; the role of oil; political economy of the state; gender; and, Islamist politics. The course will cover the core literature in the field, relevant case studies and pressing issues facing policymakers. Class size: 22

91815

PS 239 United Nations and Model UN

James Ketterer

. . . . F

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

OLIN 205

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights 1 credit* This is a year-long course, 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 enroll should e-mail [email protected] with 1-2 paragraphs indicating why they would like to participate. Class size: 15

92002

PS 241 POLITICS AND VIOLENCE

Pinar Kemerli

. T . Th .

3:10 pm – 4:30 pm

OLINLC 206

SSCI

In this class our goal is to examine violence as a political phenomenon that constitutes an important dimension of modern political structures and experience. We will study the place and role of violence in basic political institutions such as the state, law, and the penal system, and in political movements and ideologies including nationalism, revolutionary thought, and anticolonialism. The course is divided into five sections: the State, Resistance, Race and colonialism, Structural violence, and Emerging issues. We will read about a wide range of topics including just war, terrorism, patriotism, partisan warfare, piracy, and gender. Authors include Hobbes, Kropotkin, Schmitt, Foucault, Fanon, Mahmood Mamdani, and Talal Asad. Class size: 20

91816

PS 280 Nations, States, and Nationalism

Sanjib Baruah

M . W . .

10:10am - 11:30 am

RKC 100

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights, Middle East The twentieth century was the century of nationalism and the century when the nation-state as a form of political organization became universalized. But the difficulties with the idealized model of the nation-state are quite apparent for all to see. For instance, various forms of ethno-national mobilization--based on solidarities both larger and smaller than the nation-state—have challenged official state nationalisms. The twenty first century opened with talk of moving beyond the nation-state. But at that time in certain parts of the world multi-national political spaces were getting reorganized along national lines. This was also when failing and collapsed states became top foreign policy concerns of major powers, and a new form of international regimes of intervention came into being. The course will examine the idea of the nation -- its historical and contemporary competitors -- the emergence of the nation-state system, and the challenges confronting this system. Our approach will be comparative and we will draw on the experiences of all world regions. Interested students should email Prof. Baruah prior to registration ([email protected]) with a short statement of why they would like to take this class. Class size: 20

91796

PS 291 DEALING WITH Data in Political Science

Simon Gilhooley

. T . Th .

10:10am - 11:30 am

OLIN 203

SSCI

The central element of making a convincing argument in politics is the ability to show that it is supported in “real” world. This course will examine the different ways in which scholars of politics make use of data in constructing and supporting their arguments. To begin with we will consider to what extent any artificial replication of the world around us can be completely accurate – and what that means for our own study. Examining a variety of different approaches including regressions, game theory, discourse analysis, experimentation, and historical analysis, the course will consider the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches and discuss examples of each. For students thinking about a senior project in political studies, this course will give the opportunity to think about how they will construct their own research project. Class size: 22

91817

PS 358 Radical American Democracy

Roger Berkowitz

. T . . .

4:40 pm -7:00 pm

ARENDT CENTER

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies, Human Rights, Philosophy This seminar is an exploration of radical American democracy. While most characterizations of democracy see it as a form of government, this course explores the essence of democracy as a specifically modern way of life. To do so, it turns to some great thinkers of American democracy such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Ralph Ellison, W. E. B. DuBois, and Hannah Arendt. What unites these radical democrats is the conviction that democracy is a practice of individuals rather than an institutional form of governance. As an ideal of radical individualism, American democratic thought offers, perhaps surprisingly, an aristocratic critique of the limits of democratic government even as it, seen from another side, makes possible our culture of narcissistic consumerism. Our aim is to understand the democratic spirit of radical individualism that has proven so seductive and powerful since its modern birth in the American revolution. Texts will include Emerson’s essays The American Scholar and Experience, Thoreau’s Walden, Ellison’s Invisible Man and Arendt’s On Revolution. Class size: 15

91543

PS 363 Ethics & International Affairs

Christopher McIntosh

. T . . .

10:10 am- 12:30 pm

OLIN 310

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights Current debates in US foreign policy have centered on questions surrounding drone strikes, civilian casualties, the targeted killing of Americans, and humanitarian intervention with advocates on both sides of these issues citing moral and ethical justifications for their respective positions. Each of these debates beg a central question—what does it mean to be ethical in international politics? To whom are we responsible? Do ethical concerns cross borders? What does it mean to be ethical in an arena defined by the modern sovereign state? This class will explore the underlying issues and tensions informing these questions by engaging the theoretical traditions and larger ethical conflicts underlying these policy questions. Theories/issues to be covered include cosmopolitanism, just war, and post-structural approaches to international obligation. After working through the larger questions theoretically, we will examine and apply these to contemporary debates surrounding intervention, terrorism, targeted killing, and torture. Class size: 15

91818

PS 368 Promoting Democracy Abroad

Omar Encarnacion

. T . . .

10:10 am- 12:30 pm

ASP 302

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies, Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights Almost alone among the world’s superpowers, the United States has made promoting democracy abroad a central objective of its foreign policy. The origins of what has been called “America’s Mission” runs from the very birth of the American state in 1776, when the founding fathers declared the United States to be an exemplar state to guide the political development of other nations, to the ongoing attempt by the George W. Bush administration to give Iraq a democratic makeover. This course explores three core questions about America’s attempts to promote democracy abroad. What explains the genesis and persistence of the centrality of democracy in American foreign policy? How have American administrations endeavored to construct policies to advance democratic development abroad? And why have American attempts on behalf of the promotion of democracy abroad so often fallen short of their intended goal of creating stable democratic states, a point underscored by the American experience in Iraq. Readings will include Abraham Lowenthal, ed., Exporting Democracy: The United States and Latin America; Tony Smith, America’s Mission: The United States and the Global Struggle for Democracy in the Twentieth Century; Thomas Carothers, Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve; Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How it Changed the World; and Larry Diamond, Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. Class size: 15