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
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
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
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 “
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
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