Course |
PS 104 International Relations |
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Professor |
Jonathan Cristol |
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CRN |
17517 |
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Schedule |
Mon Wed 3:00
- 4:20 pm HEG 201 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science
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Cross-listed:
Global & Int’l Studies, Human
Rights
This course will focus on the major theories and
concepts in international relations. We will start the semester looking
at the major schools of international relations theory: realism, liberalism,
and constructivism. What are the implications of these theories for foreign
policy decision making (and for the future of the world!)? The course
will also look at international organizations, including the UN and WTO, and
how foreign policy is carried out. We will end the semester by looking at some
of the “hot” issues in the world today including: terrorism, preventive war,
the rise of China, and the spread of democracy. The goal of the class is to see
how (or if) theories of international relations can explain how organizations
function and how foreign policy is made and to see what answers theory can
provide for how to deal with the problems of a “post 9/11 world.” Authors to be
read include: Thucydides, Morgenthau, Russett, Huntington, and Mearsheimer,
among many others.On-line registration
Course |
PS 130 Introduction to Chinese Politics |
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Professor |
Nara Dillon |
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CRN |
17051 |
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Schedule |
Wed Fr 10:30 - 11:50 am OLIN 202 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science / Rethinking Difference
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Cross-listed: Asian Studies, Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights
This course offers a broad introduction to the
politics of contemporary China and Taiwan.
After providing some background on the Imperial and Republican periods
and the development of the Communist Revolution, we focus on some of the major
political events on both sides of the Taiwan straits, such as the Great Leap
Forward, the Cultural Revolution, market reforms, political liberalization and
democratization, and the Tiananmen Uprising.
Then we proceed to a more thematic discussion of popular participation
and elite control in contemporary politics, examining the role of women,
national minorities, entrepreneurs, intellectuals and others. In the last section of the course we will
turn to comparative issues, including economic development, human rights, and
the potential for democracy. On-line registration
Course |
PS / LAIS 217 Populism and Popular Culture in Latin America |
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Professor |
Pierre Ostiguy |
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CRN |
17231 |
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Schedule |
Wed Fr 3:00 -4:20 pm OLIN 203 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science / Rethinking Difference
|
Cross-listed: LAIS
Representing the poor majorities of the population,
and socially incorporating them, have been a tumultuous and salient issue in 20th
century Latin American politics, from the Mexican revolution, to Peronism in
Argentina, to Hugo Chavez and the “Bolivarian revolution” in Venezuela
today. In Latin American, the notion of
the pueblo, or “the people” as a collective, has played a central role
in politics. But the “leader” also plays a key role in this emergence of “the
people.” We will discuss the theoretical foundations, representational claims,
and concrete appeal of populism. We will look at the role of populism in the
creation of popular identities and at the relation between populism and
“popular claims”. We will analyze the problematic relation between populism and
liberalism, as well as that of both with democracy --or the Arule
by the people.@ Populism as Aredemptive
politics@ is often at odds with
the Arule
of law,@ while Athe
people@ can also certainly mean quite
different things. In the third part of the seminar, we will look at empirical
cases of Latin American populism, examining classic populism in the 1930s-1950s
and various ”new” populism from the late 1980s to its current spread this
decade. Finally, we will explore the intriguing relation between populism and
popular culture in Latin America, from Indigenism in Mexico to creolism in
Argentina, back to politicized indigenous identities in the Andes. Issues of
representation of Athe people,@
democracy, popular mobilization, and popular culture are thus key themes of
this seminar on populism in Latin America. Priority for enrollment will be
given to students who have taken PS 153 (or LAIS 203).
Course |
PS 218 Theories of the Self, Gender Politics and Anti-Racism |
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Professor |
Elaine Thomas |
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CRN |
17227 |
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Schedule |
Tu Th 1:00 -2:20 pm OLIN 101 |
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Distribution |
OLD: A |
NEW: Social
Science / Rethinking Difference
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Cross listed: Gender and Sexuality Studies, Human Rights, SRE
This course critically considers different theoretical
perspectives on the “self,” their generalizability to other cultural contexts,
and their relevance in shaping current political theorizing and responses to
issues of gender, sexuality and race.
In the first part of the course, we will consider competing ways of
understanding the self, from Freud’s classic and still controversial
“psycho-analytic” approach to the more socially oriented perspectives of Erving
Goffman, Michel Foucault and Louis Althusser.
We will then turn to contemporary issues of gender, sexuality and race,
with critical attention to how current thinking and practices of contestation
in this area continue to be informed—for better or worse--by the major
approaches to theorizing the self we have examined. Taking the recently very politicized issue of women and veiling
as a focal point, we will also investigate the extent to which those
understandings of the self can be legitimately extended to women and men in
other social and cultural contexts, and with what implications.
On-line
registration
Course |
PS 239B United Nations and Model UN |
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Professor |
Jonathan Becker |
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CRN |
17560 |
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|
Schedule |
Wed 4:30 – 5:50 pm Olin 201 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
|
Related interest:
GISP, Human Rights
1 credit* The
course will be 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: this year Bard represented Azerbaijan and Moldova). 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 participate should e-mail [email protected] with 1-2 paragraphs
indicating why they would like to participate.
*One credit per semester, two-credit course.
Students must take both halves to obtain credit.
Course |
PS 240 US / East Asian Relations |
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Professor |
Nara Dillon |
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CRN |
17053 |
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Schedule |
Tu Th 10:30 - 11:50 am OLIN 308 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science / Rethinking Difference
|
Cross-listed: American Studies, Asian Studies, Global & Int’l Studies
This course provides an overview of foreign
relations between the United States and the nations of East Asia, starting with
their historical evolution and ending with a wide-ranging look at the region in
the current post-Cold War era. We will begin our historical survey with the
imperialism of the 19th and 20th centuries, turn to the
origins and revolutionary consequences of WWII, and then trace the contours of
the Cold War in the region. The Korean War, Vietnam War, and normalization of
relations between the U.S. and China will be highlighted. In the last section
of the course, we will turn to contemporary issues and problems in East
Asian-U.S. relations, such as trade, the globalization of popular culture, the
status of Tibet, and the current crisis in North Korea. On-line registration
Course |
PS 245 Public Opinion, Political Participation, and Democracy in America |
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Professor |
Mark Lindeman |
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CRN |
17054 |
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Schedule |
Tu Th 10:30 - 11:50 am OLIN 307 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science
|
Cross-listed: American Studies
Many political observers and players make sweeping
claims about what Americans want, how they think, and to what extent they live
up to ideals of citizenship. This
course looks closely at what we know about the American people’s political and
social beliefs and their political participation in all its various forms. We give particular attention to public
opinion polls (how and how well they work, who pays for them and why), people’s
voting decisions (both whether to vote and whom to vote for), the scope of
citizen political activism, and fundamental attitudes toward government – and
what they mean for the future of democracy in America. On-line registration
Course |
PS 266 Holy War and Sacred Peace: Religious Conflict in the 21st Century |
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Professor |
Walter Mead |
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CRN |
17228 |
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Schedule |
Th 7:00 – 9:20 pm OLIN 202 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science
|
Cross-listed: Human Rights
After a century in which religion was widely
believed to be fading from international politics, the twenty-first century
opens with religion playing an increasingly prominent role in world affairs.
The “secularization paradigm” that as
countries became more economically advanced they would become more secular and
rational in their politics no longer seems solid. The course will look at the
rise of new religious and quasi-religious movements in the world today: the
rise of Islam and political Islam, the explosive growth in Christianity in the
United States and the developing world; new forms of radical Hindu politics,
and the return of religion to the formerly communist world. The course will
examine the rise of apocalyptic thinking in the new religious communities as
well as the rise of “fundamentalism” (and the differences between
fundamentalisms) and place the new forms of religious mobilization in the
context of broader forces of economic and social change in the contemporary world.
Readings will include contemporary studies of religious change like those of
Phillip Jenkins (Christianity) and Olivier Roy (Islam) as well as studies of
the rising evangelical and fundamentalist forces in the United States and their
effect of the American foreign policy debate.
On-line
registration (Contact
Jonathan Becker with questions.)
Course |
PS 267 Foundations of Law |
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Professor |
Roger Berkowitz |
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CRN |
17468 |
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Schedule |
Mon Wed 12:00 -1:20 pm OLIN 205 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science
|
Cross-listed: Human Rights
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 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 selections from Dostoyevsky, Kant, Twain, Melville, Plato, Blackstone,
Holmes, Milton, and others. On-line registration
Course |
PS 329 Popular Protest in the Modern World |
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Professor |
Nara Dillon |
|
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CRN |
17052 |
|
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Schedule |
Th 4:00 -6:20 pm OLIN 107 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science
|
Cross-listed: Human Rights; PIE core course
What moves people to take to the streets to protest
injustice? Why do people risk their
lives for political change? Under what
conditions are these kinds of political actions effective? This research
seminar aims to give students command over the major social science theories
about protest movements, social movements, rebellions, and revolutions. After an overview of the historical
development of this school of social science theory, students will read a range
of the leading theoretical approaches employed by scholars today, including
moral economy, rational choice, popular culture, and social movement theory,
among others. These theoretical
readings will be matched with empirical case studies of protest movements. This semester our case studies will focus
on transnational protest movements such as the anti-Communist movements of
1989, anti-globalization protests, as well as movements for human rights and
the environment. On-line registration
Course |
PS 348 Political Representation and Social Differences |
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Professor |
Pierre Ostiguy |
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CRN |
17058 |
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Schedule |
Mon 7:30 -9:50 pm ASP 302 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science/ Rethinking Difference
|
Cross-listed: Global & Int’l
Studies, Sociology
What are
the main lines of political division in the U.S. and in countries around the
world? How does the divide between
liberals and conservatives relate to questions of class, gender, race and
regions, if at all? Are values independent from social positions? This seminar
crosses borders between political sociology, electoral analysis, identity
formation and what political scientists call “spatial analysis.” We will
examine the conflicts associated with political representation both from the
subjective angle of identities, as they relate to “self” and “experience,” and
from a macro-sociological perspective on society. In other words, we will examine the relation between political
divides, historical social transformations, “values,” and collective
identities. Do party systems mirror social differences or have they become
disconnected from society? How can we tell? What are the electoral strategies
of political parties when they compete for votes, within a “space”? Along the way, we will look at topics in
political sociology such as electoral sociology, social movements, and identity
politics, while from a political theory perspective we will analyze the
relational and discursive mechanisms of identity formation. On-line
registration
Course |
PS 349 Bard-West Point Seminar: The Nature of Power |
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Professor |
Jonathan Cristol
|
|
|
CRN |
17547 |
|
|
Schedule |
Mon 4:30 – 6:50 pm Olin 310 |
|
|
Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science
|
Course |
PS 371 Public Policy Seminar |
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Professor |
Mark Lindeman |
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CRN |
17055 |
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Schedule |
Tu 1:30 -3:50 pm OLIN 308 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science
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Cross-listed: Social Policy
Public policy can be loosely defined as what
governments “do about” various issues: for instance, by making laws and regulations,
and by allocating funds for specific programs. Some public policy analysis
focuses on understanding the policymaking process – how a wide range of actors
and conditions influence the policymaking agenda and policy outcomes. Other
public policy analysis focuses instead on evaluating the effects of public
policy, both intended and unintended, and considering how policy can be
designed to achieve desired outcomes. If public policy matters, then we need to
consider both how it is made and what it does or can do. This seminar begins
with an overview of policymaking in the United States through broad themes such
as policy entrepreneurship, agenda-setting, federalism, and cost-benefit
analysis. It then examines the sources and effects of selected policies, mostly
drawn from social welfare policy, with some attention to education and election
administration. Students will write research papers examining specific issues
in public policy (not necessarily limited to the United States). On-line
registration
Course |
PS 380 Advanced Topics in Political and Legal Thinking |
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Professor |
Roger Berkowitz |
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CRN |
17230 |
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Schedule |
Tu 4:00 -6:20 pm OLIN 304 |
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Distribution |
OLD: C |
NEW: Social
Science
|
Cross-listed: Human Rights
This course will focus on a close reading of one
thinker or book. While the text or texts will vary, our approach will be a
page-by-page reading of important works in the tradition of political and legal
theory. Our effort will be both to understand the selected text as well as to
comprehend its place in the history of political thought. This semester the
topic of the seminar will be selected works by Hannah Arendt. On-line
registration