92226

PS 105  Comparative Politics

Cassandra Sweet

M  W      11:50-1:10 pm

HEG 201

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies  The basic intellectual premise of comparative politics is that we can better understand the politics of any country by privileging its internal norms, processes and institutions a broad cross-national perspective.  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.

Class size: 22

 

92227

PS 109  Political Economy

Sanjib Baruah

M  W      3:10-4:30 pm

ASP 302

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Sociology  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

 

92228

PS 115  Political Theory

Kevin Duong

T  Th    1:30-2:50 pm

OLIN 205

SA D+J

SSCI DIFF

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

 

92229

PS 122  American Politics: Issues and Institutions

Simon Gilhooley

M  W      10:10-11:30 am

OLIN 101

SA

SSCI

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

 

92230

PS 181  American Political Thought

Simon Gilhooley

T  Th    3:10-4:30 pm

OLIN 202

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies  The purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to American Political Thought. Drawing upon material from across the entire span of American history, we shall attempt to develop an understanding of concepts such as democracy, liberty, individuality, and republicanism, and to discuss how understandings of each of them have influenced political and social choices in what is now the United States. Readings will include Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Emma Goldman, among others. Class size: 22

 

92235

PS / GIS 207  Global Citizenship

William Dixon

M  W      10:10-11:30 am

OLIN LC 115

SA D+J

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies (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

 

92233

PS 209  Civic Engagement

Jonathan Becker Erin Cannan

T           4:40-7:00 pm **    Th       4:40-6:00 pm ** See note below description.

Barringer House 104

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies  This course will explore historical, philosophical and practical elements of civic engagement while exploring the    underlying question of what it means to be an engaged citizen in the early XXIst century. It will examine notions of personal responsibility, civic duty, political participation (including voting), and social justice. It will explore modes of community engagement on a number of levels, including governmental (especially local government), not-for- profits, and various forms of associational life. The course will have a local focus, but national and international issues and comparisons will be explored. This is an engaged liberal arts and sciences class, that will require out of class fieldwork and civic engagement projects that will contextualize their in-class study.

*** Tuesdays 4:40-7:00 and some Thursdays 4:40-6:00, during which students will meet political candidates together with students from PS 265: Campaign 2018. In addition, the class will attend some public meetings of local governing bodies and organizations, the times of which will be announced at the beginning of term.  Class size: 22

 

92236

PS 222  Latin America:Politics and Society

Cassandra Sweet

M  W      3:10-4:30 pm

HEG 102

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: 22

 

92238

PS / HR 243  Constitutional Law

Roger Berkowitz Peter Rosenblum

T  Th    1:30-2:50 pm

RKC 103

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Philosophy; Political Studies (HR & PS Core course) This course will provide an introduction to constitutional theory and practice in comparative context.   The first part of the semester looks at the history of the idea of constitutionalism in Ancient Greece, 18th century England,  France, and the United States. The remainder of the semester will be devoted to a critical examination of the contemporary workings of constitutional law, focusing primarily on decisions of the highest courts of United States, India and South Africa relating to critical human rights issues.  The course confronts core questions of the role of a constitution in the state and the particular challenges of a written constitution enforced by courts.  By looking at constitutional enforcement comparatively, the course offers the opportunity to test theoretical assumptions and get beyond the US-centered approach that has dominated constitutional study for a variety of reasons (not least of which, the fact that the US has the longest and best established tradition of constitutional enforcement.) In addition to theoretical and historical readings, the course will include substantial case law readings.  Students will also have the opportunity in their research to explore constitutional systems beyond South Africa, India and the United States. Beyond legal cases, readings include Aristotle, Montesquieu, Bodin, Arendt, and the Federalist Papers. Class size: 40

 

92676

PS 264 U.S. AND THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST

Fred Hof

M  W      10:10–11:30 am

OLIN 107

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies  This course will focus on the relationship of US foreign policy to the Arab states of the modern Middle East: the Arab countries of the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, plus Egypt. The first half of the course will put this relationship in its historical perspective.  We will discuss the status of the Ottoman Empire before, during, and immediately after World War I, the postwar treaties that stripped the Empire of its Arab holdings and established European rule in much of the Arab World through the mandate system, the creation of independent Arab states, the pivotal year 1948, the rise of Arab nationalism (Nasserism and its rivals), the June 1967 war, and the first Gulf War, among other topics.  The second half of the course will focus on the official American relationship with the Arab World from post-World War II until the present day.  Topics to be discussed include: securing petroleum resources; the Cold War; the security of Israel; dealing with political Islam and terrorism; the 2003 Iraq War; and the 2011 Arab Spring and its aftermath.  Class size: 18

 

92231

PS 265  Campaign: 2018

Simon Gilhooley

M  W      1:30-2:50 pm (***Th  4:40 pm – 7:00 pm, see note below)

OLIN 301

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies  This course is on the manner in which modern American political campaigns are conducted. It will seek to integrate actual experience of campaigns within a broad study of scholarly discussions of the nature of democracy and the mechanisms of modern campaigns. Topics to be explored will include the role of campaign finance, the idea of “the permanent campaign,” the invisible primary, the role of media in campaigns, and the potential for activist organization within the modern political system.  Alongside and integrated into the discussions of scholarly materials will be active engagement in the 2018 electoral cycle which will reach its peak in the Fall.

Students will be required to meet on some Thursdays 4:40-7:00, during which students will meet political candidates together with students from PS 209,  Civic Engagement.  The schedule will be announced at the beginning of term. Class size: 22

 

92240

PS 314  Political Economy of Development

Sanjib Baruah

W         10:10-12:30 pm

HEG 300

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & International Studies; Human Rights  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 Argentina, Brazil, 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

 

92232

PS 325  the death of man: 20th Century French Political Thought

Kevin Duong

W        10:10-12:30 pm

HEG 200

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: French Studies; Human Rights At the beginning of the twentieth century, French thinkers believed in “man” as a rational, rights-bearing creature. By the midcentury, that belief was dead. Two world wars, anticolonial resistance, and totalitarianism would shatter their faith in humanity’s capacity for reason, progress, and self-improvement. This course offers students a survey of twentieth century French political thought from the perspective of “the death of man.” We will explore how thinkers, from Catholics and anticolonial nationalists to structuralists and feminists, critiqued the idea of man. We will also study how these thinkers sought to redefine some of the basic concepts of politics—freedom, sovereignty, rights—without the idea of man. Our goal will be to understand the myriad currents of French thought, the better to understand the evolution of European political theory in the twentieth century. Students can also expect to study turning points of French history like the Algerian war, May 1968, and the birth of the Front National.

Class size: 15

 

92294

PS 341  HUMANISM, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

Roger Berkowitz

M           4:40- 7:00 PM

ARENDT CNTR.

MBV

HUM

Cross-listed:  Human Rights, Philosophy  In 1946, just after the defeat of the Nazis, a French schoolteacher Jean Beaufret wrote a letter to the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. Beaufret asked two questions: First, How are we in the wake of the Holocaust to restore a sense to the word “humanism”? And second, How are we to understand the relationship between philosophy and ethics? Heidegger’s response, later published as “The Letter on Humanism,” is one of the great efforts to think through the ethical and philosophical significance of the human being. For Heidegger, if we are to preserve the dignity of the human, we must forgo all ‘isms’ including humanism; we must resist the urge to define a human essence and instead seek the dignity of the human outside of all doctrines and systems. In doing so, Heidegger challenges the foundations of modern humanisms including human rights and liberal social democracy. In this class we will read Heidegger’s ‘Letter on Humanism’ as well as works by Jean Paul Sartre, Hannah Arendt, and Peter Sloterdijk to ask how, if at all, we can assign dignity to humanity in the 21st century.  Class size: 15

 

92333

PS 354  ANGLO-AMERICAN GRAND STRATEGY

Malia Du Mont Walter Mead

Th      1:30- 3:50 pm

RKC 101

SA

SSCI

The American world system that exists today can be seen as version 2.0 of the liberal capitalist world system first built by Great Britain. Both the British and the American builders of these systems developed a distinct style of strategic thought around the needs of a maritime, global and commercial system. This grand strategy involved domestic social organization as well as foreign policy and war. Students will study the grand strategies of these powers from the time of the Spanish Armada through the Cold War and analyze contemporary American policy in the light of the three centuries of Anglophone world power.    Class size: 15

92335

PS 355  The Politics of Desire: From Antigone to #MeToo

Samantha Hill

T          4:40  – 7:00 pm

Hannah Arendt Center

SA

SSCI

From Hegel to Deleuze, many political thinkers have employed the language of desire within the tradition of Western political thought in order to think about questions of political subjectivity. This course will look at how the language of desire is embedded in the theoretical frameworks we use to approach questions of knowledge, power, and pleasure. Beginning with Sophocles’ Antigone, moving through Hegel, Kant, Lacan, and Butler, we will explore how conceptions of desire shape approaches to questions of political recognition. How does the language of desire shape the way we think about forms of political recognition? Is desire productive? How does the act of desire constitute the other? We will read works by Freud, Bataille, Foucault, Brown, Deleuze, Califa, Rubin, Delaney, Bersani, and others to explore the ways we think about liberal subjectivity and the intersections of knowledge and power. Class size: 15

 

92239

PS 362  Times of War: political violence, sovereignty and temporality in international politics

Christopher McIntosh

T           10:10-12:30 pm

OLIN 301

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Human Rights  How is war different from other forms of political violence?  Countless acts of political violence occur at the macro, micro, and structural levels all the time, yet only some get linked together across time and understood as a “war”.  What makes a time of war different from a time of peace? How does temporality operate to allow us to see, for example, the war on terrorism as one continuous war, rather than a series of unrelated operations, battles, and assassinations?   In this course we will explore the conceptions of war and time that animate international politics and inform the practice of international relations.  To begin we will focus on the configurations of power that constitute the state and produce dominant assumptions about international politics.  Next, we will investigate the ways that these practices reproduce the centrality of the state as the dominant actor of international politics and maintain itself as the sole authority invested in deciding when and where there is war and there is peace. The course will conclude by examining contemporary foreign policy issues with the theoretical and conceptual tools we’ve developed so as to better engage some of the deeper structural issues that animate contemporary security practices by the United States as well as other groups.  Throughout, the course readings will challenge received ideas of temporality and time, the state and war that are at the center of international relations scholarship and practice.  Readings will include Balibar, Butler, Campbell, Dudziak, Connolly and Hutchings. Class size: 15