92093

PS 109

 Political Economy

Sanjib Baruah

M  W       1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLIN 101

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Sociology (PS core course) Related interest: Environmental & Urban Studies  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: 20

 

92095

PS 115

 Political Theory

Kevin Duong

M  W       10:10 am-11:30 am

OLINLC 115

SA

SSCI

(PS core course) This course offers a survey of Western political thought. We will examine themes like justice, freedom, and equality by exploring the writings of thinkers stretching from Plato to Malcolm X. In each case, we will attend to the particular crises these theorists addressed in their work, like civil war, revolution, democracy, and capitalism. We'll also learn how authors used their concepts and ideas to address the problems of their day, and how we may draw on them in our own political struggles. Class size: 22

 

92096

PS 122

 American Politics: Issues and Institutions

Samantha Hill

 M  W      11:50 am – 1:10 pm

HEG 204

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies (PS core course )  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

 

91859

PS 167

 The quest for justice: Foundations of the Law

Roger Berkowitz

M  W       1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLIN 204

MBV

HUM

Cross-listed: Human Rights; Philosophy (PS core course )   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

 

91861

PS / GIS 207

 Global Citizenship

Michelle Murray

M  W       8:30 am-9:50 am

OLIN 201

SA

D+J

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies (GIS core course); Human Rights What does it mean to be a global citizen? This question has gained increasing salience as the world has become more globalized. With globalization new problems surface that cut across national borders and fall outside the jurisdiction of individual nation-states. In response new forms of political organization have emerged to address these problems, which challenge the state as the primary locus of political authority and ultimate source of individual rights. In particular, these individuals and groups have appealed to a kind of global citizenship from below to call for action on and demand redress for the harms created by globalization. This interdisciplinary course critically examines the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the concept of global citizenship and investigates how the idea might work in practice. We begin by considering the conceptual, philosophical and historical debates about citizenship. What does it mean to be a citizen of a particular state? What obligations and responsibilities accompany citizenship? How have understandings of citizenship changed and expanded over time? What is global citizenship and how does it differ from national citizenship? Next we evaluate these ideas about citizenship in the context of globalization and the new problems created by an increasingly interdependent world. Topics covered may include: migration and refugees; the environment and resources; (in)security and borders; health and infectious disease; and development and inequality. We conclude by assessing the role (if any) global citizenship can play in global governance and consider how the international system might be transformed to better address the challenges of globalization. This course will be taught concurrently at Bard's international partner institutions. Students will benefit from collaboration with peers at these institutions. 

Class size: 22

 

92039

PS 222

 Latin America: Politics and Society

Omar Encarnacion

M  W       11:50 am-1:10 pm

OLIN 303

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Latin American Studies  This course examines politics in contemporary Latin America.  Much of the emphasis is on the evolution of democracy across the region, including examining such questions as why it has taken so long for democracy to take root in Latin America, at least in contrast to the United States and Western Europe, and why does the quality of democracy varies so greatly across the region.  Although some democracies are among the most developed in the world, such as Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica, the region is also home to some notorious “illiberal” democracies, such as Guatemala, and one of the world’s few remaining Communist states, Cuba.  The course is organized in three main sections.  The first provides a broad historical overview of patterns of political development in Latin America from the independence period to the present.  The second part highlights theoretical approaches to Latin American political development drawn from cultural analysis, Marxism, and state-centric perspectives.  The third and final section examines democratic development in five Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela).    Class size: 18

 

92267

PS 228

 tragedy and political theory

Libby Barringer

 T  Th     4:40 pm – 6:00 pm

OLIN 203

SA

 

SSCI

Cross-listed: Classical Studies  In ancient Greece, going to the theater was understood as a political activity and part of democratic, civic education. This seminar critically examines how the classical tragedy of ancient Greece provides ways of thinking through fundamental political questions, and considers ‘tragic thought’ within political theory. We will examine ancient and modern works by (among others) Sophocles, Thucydides, Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Arendt. Through these we will consider how these plays and text pose fundamental political dilemmas: how can we uphold justice in uncontrollable, unpredictable circumstances? Is obeying the law more important than doing the right thing? Can a democratic order be founded without an initial act of violence? If popular entertainment truly shapes our political culture, should we therefore approve government censorship? Through these texts we will how classical tragedy gives us a form of political, ethical, and historical thinking that has been taken up by many political theorists. Our task in this class is to see how thinking tragically has been used to illuminate, and navigate, ethical and political conflicts; and to ask how such thinking might remain important today. Class size: 20

 

92541

PS 247

 American Foreign Policy Tradition

Malia Du Mont

Walter Mead

   W   F   11:50 am –1:10 pm

OLINLC  120

SA

 

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies This 200-level introduction to American foreign policy, open to first year students, offers students a chronological and thematic overview of American foreign policy through the Age of Trump.  The course examines the rise of a distinctive American foreign policy tradition marked by contentious democratic debate and the participation of many different voices and viewpoints in the formation and discussion of American foreign policy. Students will see how foreign policy and domestic politics have been closely linked throughout American history and understand the ideological and interest-based politics that shaped the American foreign policy process over time. In addition to Professor Mead’s Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World, students will study works by realist scholars such as James Chace and George Kennan. Among the questions to be considered: How do ideology and interest interact in the formation of American foreign policy? Do the same forces that drive domestic politics also drive foreign policy? How do identity and socio-economic status help shape the foreign policy debate? Can one speak of “American strategy” and if so, who or what is the strategist? Students will participate in discussions and debates with Russian students who will be reading many of the same texts in a parallel course being taught at the Smolny College/Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at St. Petersburg State University in Russia. Additional video sessions with students in other countries will be scheduled when possible. The course instructors are active practitioners in the field of American foreign policy and will share their real world perspectives and experiences with the students in the class. .Class size: 20

 

92097

PS 252

 What is Democracy?

Kevin Duong

M  W       1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLIN 205

SA

D+J

SSCI

Cross-listed: Human Rights What is democracy? What are its benefits and perils? Who ought to be included in "the people"? These questions have preoccupied political theorists since ancient times. In recent years, they have also taken on urgency as democracy has become conflated with individual liberty and the free market. This class introduces students to the study of democratic theory. We will examine classical accounts of democracy by canonical political theorists. We will also focus on the way American and European radicals-especially socialists, feminists, and black nationalists-redefined its scope, transforming democracy into a fighting creed for greater political inclusion, participatory citizenship, and economic equality. Our goal is understand the rich, conflictual history of the concept, the better to understand what "the rule of the people" ought to mean today. This course is part of the College Seminar on Crises of Democracy; students will be required to attend parts of the Hannah Arendt Center Conference "Crises of Democracy" on Oct. 12-13.  Class size: 22

 

92365

PS 255

 RUSSIAN POLITICS: ORIGINS OF CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA

Artemy Magun

  T   Th   3:10 pm – 4:30 pm

HDR 106

SA

 

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Russian & Eurasian Studies  In the 1980-90s, Soviet and Russian society underwent catastrophic turmoil, simultaneously experiencing a democratic revolution, the dissolution of an empire, and societal collapse. The end of the communist project in Russia did not lead to a standard normalizing “transition” to a liberal democracy, but produced instead a dramatic chain of events. An attempt at neoliberal economic reform coincided with a deep economic crisis, a reclamation of power by former communist officials, and a tendency toward a social anomie. The result, politically, was a gradual construction of an authoritarian regime and the formation of a political culture that is obsessed with a “geo-political” competition with “West” and sharply polarized between the conservative and liberal sensibilities. Why did the Soviet Union collapse? Why did the democratic revolution fail? Why has the most “left-wing” country in the world become one of the most “right-wing” countries in the world? Why have nationalism and imperialism reemerged in a time of globalization? Why does contemporary authoritarianism use elections, courts, and sociological surveys as its indispensable instruments of governance? The course will explore these and other questions in relying on the readings in political science, history, sociology, and cultural studies, as well as film and literary fiction. Class size: 22

 

91849

PS 270

 All Politics is Local

Jonathan Becker

 T           4:40 pm-7:00 pm

OLIN 201

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies  This course focuses  on the study or, and engagement  with, local politics in the United States. Students will participate in a series of seminars, including meetings with local, county and state officials, attend sessions of local government  bodies near Bard, and read primary and secondary sources concerning the issue of local governance. This is an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences course: students  will be required to do out of class fieldwork and a project that will allow them to contextualize their in-class study. Evaluation will be based on written assignments, including a paper, and class participation. Some seminars will be open to the broader community. The course will meet at least once weekly, from 4:40 to 6:00 pm or 4:40 to 7:00 pm; several additional sessions will be added to occur at night to correspond to public meetings  of local governing  bodies. A schedule  will be presented in advance so that students can plan their schedules. Class size: 22

 

91842

PS 289

 International Relations in the  Middle East & North Africa

James Ketterer

M  W       11:50 am-1:10 pm

OLIN 203

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Africana Studies; Global & International Studies; Middle Eastern Studies  The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) continues to be a site of conflict generating media attention and dramatic headlines. Beyond the headlines, however, there are developing trends, emerging actors and competing explanations that are often overlooked.  This course examines the international politics in MENA using the theoretical tools of international relations. Major themes include the nature of the state system in the MENA and its creation; the causes of conflict within the region; the roles played by outside powers; and the causes and effects of transnational forces such as Arab nationalism, Islamic radicalism, criminal networks, media and global economic actors.  The course will also explore the nature of sub-state and sectarian identities and the effects on regional politics (ie, Sunni vs Shi’i Islam, Kurds, Amazigh. These themes are explored in the context of several case studies, including, but not limited to, the Algerian civil war in the 1990s, the wars in Iraq, the revolution in Libya, and the ongoing crisis in Syria. The course will offer students a better understanding of the international politics of the MENA and will help students appreciate the competing pressures on policymakers as the region changes in rapid and complex ways.    The course will also highlight ways in which international relations theory can be applied to real-world situations. Class size: 22

 

92098

PS 314

 Political Economy of Development

Sanjib Baruah

  W         10:10 am-12:30 pm

HEG 200

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Related interest: Sociology The study of economic development of the “Third World” has gone through several intellectual phases. The first generation of scholars viewed the process somewhat optimistically as the global extension of modernity. Neo-Marxist critics tried to locate Third World underdevelopment in the history of colonialism and in the persistence of structures of dependency of Third World countries.   “Post-development” theorists took on the idea of development itself.   Globalization and the emergence of a new international division of labor, has reframed the debates. Developing countries like ArgentinaBrazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa are now members of the G-20 group of countries, which many see as a likely successor to the G8 group of leading industrial economies.  After reading representative authors of competing theoretical traditions, we will move on to concrete cases. This segment will be shaped partly by student interest. The course is meant as an Upper College seminar for students with some prior background in issues of development (through  PS 222: Political Economy, or other courses).  Research papers and class presentations are among the requirements.  Class size: 15

 

92099

PS 352

 Terrorism

Christopher McIntosh

M            1:30 pm-3:50 pm

OLIN 306

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Human Rights The September 2001 terrorist attacks irrevocably changed US politics and foreign policy, giving rise to more than a decade of war, expanded surveillance domestically and abroad, the use of torture and indefinite detention and most recently a targeted killing policy through the use of drone strikes around the globe.  While only recently coming to dominate the US national security agenda, terrorism as a political activity has a long history.  This seminar will provide a theoretical and empirical examination of terrorism as a political phenomenon.  The first part of the course will explore the conceptual and theoretical debates surrounding terrorism.  Topics discussed will include the distinctions between terrorism and other forms of political violence, why individuals and groups resort to terrorism to achieve political goals, the role of religion and ideology in motivating terrorist groups, and the importance of state sponsorship in supporting terrorist activity.  The second part will address the challenges of counterterrorism, including the strengths and weaknesses of counterterrorist tools such as military force, diplomacy, intelligence and law enforcement, the relationship between counterterrorism and democracy, the role of the international community in stopping terrorism.  Throughout the course special effort will be made to situate the US experience with terrorism in a comparative and historical perspective through an examination of prominent case studies drawn from different regions and time periods.   Class size: 15

 

91850

PS 358

 Radical American Democracy

Roger Berkowitz

 T           4:40 pm-7:00 pm

HAC CONFERENCE

MBV

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.   This course is part of the College Seminar on Crises of Democracy; students will be required to attend parts of the Hannah Arendt Center Conference “Crises of Democracy” on Oct. 12-13.  Class size: 14

 

92246

PS 368

 promoting Democracy abroad

Omar Encarnacion

 M                   4:40 pm – 7:00 pm

OLIN 303

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Human Rights  Almost alone among the world’s nations, the United States has made promoting democracy abroad an objective of its foreign policy.  The origins of what has been called “America’s Mission” runs from the very birth of the American Republic, when the founding fathers declared the United States to be “an exemplar state” to guide the political development of other nations, to George W. Bush’s attempt to remake Iraq into “a beacon of democracy in the Middle East.”  This course explores three core questions about America’s attempts to promote democracy abroad.  What explains the genesis and persistence of the centrality of democratic promotion in American foreign policy?  How have American administrations endeavored to construct policies to advance democratic development on a global scale? And why have American attempts to create democracies abroad have so often fallen short of their intended goals?  These questions are examined through a broad review of the debate about the role of democracy and human rights in U.S. foreign policy; what theories of democratization have to say about democratic promotion, and, finally, in-depth analyses of American efforts to promote democracy in Western Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.  Class size: 15

 

 

Cross-listed courses:

 

92236

EUS 228

 environmental politics

Monique Segarra

 T   Th    8:30 am – 9:50 am

HEG 204

SA

D+J

SSCI

DIFF

Cross-listed: Political Studies. Class size: 22

 

91870

HR 125

 Human Rights: What Remains?

Peter Rosenblum

 T  Th     1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLIN 204

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Political Studies Class size: 22

 

92094

SOC 341

 Macro-Historical Sociology

Laura Ford

 T           4:40 pm-7:00 pm

OLIN 309

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Historical Studies; Political Studies Class size: 15