POLITICAL STUDIES
CRN | 10135 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 104 | ||
Title | International Relations | ||
Professor | Sanjib Baruah | ||
Schedule | Wed Fri 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 205 |
CRN | 10387 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 182 | ||
Title | Contested Ideals in American Political Thought | ||
Professor | Joseph Luders | ||
Schedule | Tu Th 11:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 101 |
Related interest: MES, AADS
Liberty, democracy, equality. These fundamental values have been invoked, disputed, and transformed from the colonial period to the present. The contestation over the meaning of these values is not simply of historical interest. The cultural vocabulary of the past defines and shapes the current political controversies and it is only by understanding the historical development of American political thought that we can begin to comprehend the origins and dynamics of current political debates. The course examines the construction of American
political ideals and how they have been changed and broadened in particular by those who have been excluded from full citizenship rights. Racial and gender exclusions will be addressed by examining explicit critiques and demands for inclusion as well as by critically surveying the canonical texts in American political thought. The course concludes with an analysis of the contours of contemporary political discourse as
manifested in debates over selected political issues. Course readings include selections from John Winthrop, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, John Dewey, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Frances Willard, Emma Goldman, Betty Friedan, Phyllis Schlafly, W.E.B. Du
Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Cornel West, and others.
CRN | 10319 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 214 | ||
Title | United States - Latin American Relations | ||
Professor | Omar Encarnacion | ||
Schedule | Mon Wed 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm OLIN 205 |
A comprehensive overview of the relationships between the United States and the nations of Latin America, how this process was affected by historical and ideological events, and what possibilities exist for its future. The course is divided into three sections: first, historical overview of the events that shaped US-Latin American relations, emphasizing US military interventions in Latin America, US attempts to establish political and economic hegemony, and US efforts to export democratic government; second, an examination of the principal issues that currently dominate the relations between the US and its southern neighbors: economic integration, trade, drugs, and immigration; third, a close look at the relationships between the United States and three countries of special interest to it and its domestic politics: Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Open to all students.
CRN | 10347 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 216 | ||
Title | Individual, Society, and Politics in Latin America | ||
Professor | Omar Encarnacion | ||
Schedule | Mon Wed 11:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 205 |
This course examines contemporary political life in Latin America. Special attention is given to the manner in which individuals affect political and social change in Latin America. More specifically the seminar examines what social conditions propel individuals to become political actors in Latin America, what strategies they employ to advance their agenda, and how they impact the political arena. Two innovations distinguish this seminar. First, the materials to be examined are quite eclectic and include film, political biographies, memoirs, and contemporary media such as the Internet. The second and most important one is that lectures, presentations, and discussions will be held predominantly in Spanish, allowing students the opportunity to use the Spanish language in a setting other than literature courses. Therefore, proficiency in Spanish is a requirement for admission into the seminar. Knowledge of Latin America is also desired.
CRN | 10137 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 251 | ||
Title | Globalization and Citizenship | ||
Professor | David Kettler | ||
Schedule |
Mon 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 204
Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 205 |
The course examines a major tension in contemporary political life, and specifically a major problem of democracy. While democratic political participation largely adheres to citizenship in nation states, key political issues are increasingly defined and political decisions made in transnational settings, often overriding or controlling the decisions of democratic governments. The wide range of problems affected and the role of non-governmental actors distinguish the effects of globalization from the usual scope of international relations studies. In any case, the course will concentrate on new experiments in civic action across state boundaries, notably participation in human rights organizations, non-governmental environmental action projects, and attempts to add a popular civic component to the global economic order (including problems of transnational unionization). We will look first at citizenship, drawing mainly on U. S. historical experience; second, we will review some prominent political features of globalization; and third, we will study experiences and proposals for citizenship beyond national frontiers.
CRN | 10393 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 272 | ||
Title | Topics in Public Policy | ||
Professor | Oren Levin-Waldman | ||
Schedule | Tu Th 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 303 |
CRN | 10139 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 295 | ||
Title | Dreams of Perfectabilty II: The Quest for Hegemony from FDR to Clinton | ||
Professor | James Chace | ||
Schedule | Mon Tu 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 205 |
Immediately after the Second World War, a clash of ideologies developed into a Cold War between the two victors, the United States and Soviet Russia. To what extent was this a moral struggle and to what degree, a classic conflict of great powers? This course will analyze the direction of American foreign policy during an era that has been characterized as a pax americana. It will also make use of new material dealing with the Soviet approach to the postwar world by studying excerpts from recently released Soviet archives. The second half of the twentieth century also traces a trajectory from American predominance to American decline, and then, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, to American hegemony. The end of the Cold War marked the end of the bipolar world and the emergence of the United States as megapower. The question now is, will the twenty-first century be the American Century?
CRN | 10141 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 333 Upper College Seminar | ||
Title | Nations, States and Nationalism | ||
Professor | Sanjib Baruah | ||
Schedule | Th 10:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 308 |
CRN | 10388 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 340 Upper College Seminar | ||
Title | Equality in American Political Development | ||
Professor | Joseph Luders | ||
Schedule | Th 1:30 pm - 3:50 pm OLIN 304 |
At the close of the twentieth century, America's commitment to equality appears to be under attack. From assaults upon welfare and affirmative action to the abandonment of racial integration in the public schools, governmental actions to promote equality are in retreat. Using an historical perspective, this course explores the current deterioration of egalitarian policies. This analysis begins with a question: Under what circumstances does the American government act to reduce class, gender, and racial inequalities? We approach this question in two ways. First, we investigate the factors that have prompted the government to promote equality. Close attention will be paid to the effects of social movements, economic crises, and war mobilization. Second, we consider the obstacles that have hindered or blocked efforts to expand equality including cultural values, racial and ethnic cleavages within the working class, business intransigence, and repression. Looking at the political dynamics that have contributed to the expansion and contraction of egalitarian initiatives in the past, the course concludes with an analysis of contemporary politics and an
attempt at forecasting the direction of equality politics in the future.
CRN | 10142 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 415 Upper College Seminar | ||
Title | Faustian Bargains and the Creation of the American World | ||
Professor | James Chace | ||
Schedule | Wed 10:30 am - 12:50 pm ASP 302 |
The creation of the American world in which we now live largely came about because of the structures that the architects of American foreign policy designed in the decade following World War II. These institutions were expected to bind Western Europe and the United States into a political, economic, and military system that would contain the Soviet Union and ensure American predominance. The economics of John Maynard Keynes, the strategies of General George Marshall and Secretary of State Dean Acheson provided the essential foundation that led to American hegemony at the end of the 20th century. This seminar will analyze the crises that produced the Cold War, the perceptions of the men and women who shaped the response to those crises, their Faustian bargains, and the consequences for the United States, for its allies and adversaries, and for the nonaligned nations of the developing world. Students will be expected to write research papers using primary sources, often of a biographical nature, on subjects ranging from the origins of the Cold War to the American involvement in Vietnam.
Prerequisite: Courses in 20th century American history and/or American foreign policy or 20th century European history.
CRN | 10143 |
Distribution |
C |
Course No. | PS 423 Upper College Seminar | ||
Title | Comparative Politics | ||
Professor | Omar Encarnacion | ||
Schedule | Tu 10:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 304 |
The course introduces basic issues and concepts in the study of comparative politics, a subfield of political science most centrally concerned with the study of non-U.S. politics, but one that also seeks to understand political phenomena from around the world - democratization, revolution, the formation of the nation state, the making and permutation of political culture, to name a few - with the use of common theoretical frameworks, approaches, and tools. Critical readings of classic texts in comparative politics will provide the foundation for class lectures and discussions. An eclectic approach is taken to the empirical cases studies, combining materials from developed and developing societies as well as democratic and non-democratic political regimes. Open to students with a background in political science.