11510

PS 104 International Relations

Michelle Murray

M . W . .

3:10 pm -4:30 pm

RKC 103

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights This course provides an introduction to competing theories about the structure, functioning and transformative potential of the international system. Part 1 deals with the traditional problem of international life, maintaining order among relatively equal states in a condition of anarchy. Part 2 calls the assumption of anarchy into question by looking at hierarchical power relationships in a variety of issue areas. Part 3 addresses contemporary challenges to the state’s authority and the problems of governing in an increasingly global community. Throughout the course an effort will be made to illustrate the relevance of theoretical disagreements for the real world. Students will be evaluated on their understanding of the assumptions and logics of competing theories as well as their ability to apply those theories to historical and contemporary global problems. Class size: 22

11506

PS 105 Comparative Politics

Ken Haig

M . W . .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

HEG 204

SSCI

(PS core course) Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies The basic intellectual premise of comparative politics is that we can better understand the politics of any country by placing it within a broader, global context. 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

11502

PS 109 Political Economy

Sanjib Baruah

. T . Th .

10:10am - 11:30am

ASP 302

SSCI

PS core course) Cross-listed: Global & Int’l 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: 22

11512

PS 122 American Politics: Issues and Institutions

David O'Connell

. T . Th .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

OLIN 202

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies, Social Policy 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

11504

PS / PHIL 167 Foundations of the Law

Roger Berkowitz

M . W . .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

ASP 302

HUM

Cross-listed: Human Rights , Philosophy 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

11513

PS 226 Religion in American Politics

David O'Connell

. T . Th .

3:10 pm -4:30 pm

OLINLC 208

SSCI

Cross-listed: American Studies, Religion, Social Policy This class will provide an overview of the role of religion in American politics. Units will cover important Constitutional questions, the activities of major religious interest groups (i.e. the Christian Right), the impact of religion on political behavior, the place of religious values in democratic discussion, and the influence religion has had on various public policies, including education, public prayer, and medical politics. Class size: 22

11511

PS 231 Humanitarian Military Intervention

Michelle Murray

M . W . .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

OLINLC 210

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights (core course) When should states use military force to alleviate human suffering?  Does the need to intervene to stop human rights violations outweigh the right of states to maintain control over territory? The international states system is built upon the principles of sovereignty and nonintervention. Yet over the past two decades human rights have emerged as an increasingly accepted justification legitimizing the use of force.  This apparent tension between the respect for state sovereignty and the inevitable violations that result from the use of military force for humanitarian purposes is at the center of the debate over human rights in the field of international relations. This course explores the dilemmas and controversies surrounding the use of force for humanitarian purposes. The first part examines the major ethical, political and strategic arguments for and against humanitarian military intervention. The second part focuses on specific instances where states undertook, or failed to undertake, a humanitarian military intervention (for example, Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Sudan, Libya and Syria, among others). Through an examination of particular case studies, we will better understand why the international community has such an inconsistent record of stopping humanitarian crises and what the limitations and possibilities of human rights are in international politics. Class size: 20

11503

PS 233 International Politics of South Asia

Sanjib Baruah

. T . Th .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

RKC 101

SSCI

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, Global & Int’l Studies There has been significant international interest in South Asia in recent years largely due to the threat of terrorism and nuclearization, and perhaps the emergence of India as the leading outsourcing destination for western companies. Of course, there are many other reasons to be interested in this region of 1.4 billion people. South Asia consists of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The region has twenty one percent of the world’s population. We will begin by trying to understand South Asia historically, focusing on the British colonial period. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of “British India.”   A number of the other countries were protectorates and buffer states in the “frontier system” of the British Empire.  After the historical overview, we will move on to topics such as the Kashmir conflict, the war in Afghanistan, India-Pakistan Relations and the regional nuclear arms race, the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation [SAARC], the politics of outsourcing, India-China relations and the border dispute, and the United States and South Asia.   Students will be expected to keep up with current developments and relevant policy debates by reading South Asian and US newspapers on-line. Class size: 22

11888

PS 239 The United Nations and Model U.N.

Jonathan Becker

. . . . F

1:30pm – 2:50 pm

OLIN 107

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies , Human Rights 1 credit* This is a year-long course, 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. 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 enroll should e-mail [email protected] with 1-2 paragraphs indicating why they would like to participate. Class size: 15

11508

PS 243 Public Intellectuals in the Age of the Internet

Walter Mead

. . W . F

11:50 am -1:10 pm

RKC 200

SSCI

In the age of the Internet, public intellectuals and journalists must adapt to shorter news cycles, short attention spans, new economic models and a flood of competing commentary and information. Increasingly for young journalists and emerging public intellectuals, blogging is a “threshold skill” that opens the door to entry level jobs and launches careers. This course will analyze contemporary and historical short form political writing and teach students how to write professional quality blog posts. Class size: 10

11507

PS 249 War, Sovereignty, and the Subject of International Politics

Christopher McIntosh

M . W . .

10:10am - 11:30am

OLIN 204

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights How is war different from other forms of political violence? What does it mean to identify a particular act of violence as a "war" rather than a civil conflict, terrorism, or genocide? In what ways do our conceptions of state sovereignty shape our understanding of the concept of war? In other words, what makes a "war", a "war"? In this course we will explore the conceptions of war that orient international politics and inform the practice of international relations.  Initially we will focus on the configurations of power that animate the state, as well as the underlying ideas that inform international politics and its theory. In the second half of the course, we will examine how these conceptions of war operate in practice by examining contemporary foreign policy issues such as the US war on terror/Al Qaeda, humanitarian interventions, and the US (in)action in Darfur. By the end of the course we will have a deeper appreciation for how theories of international politics—even those considered some of the most abstract—directly relate to and inform the practices and policies of state and nonstate actors.  Class size: 22

11514

PS 263 Democracy and the Rise of Fascism: The “Twenty Years’ Crisis”

Ian Storey

. . W . F

11:50am-1:10 pm

HEG 308

SSCI

Cross-listed: History, Philosophy Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party have highlighted the growing consciousness of a profound systemic crisis in American democracy. This course explores the fissures and buckles in our political system through the lens of a historical moment when modern democracy had its deepest crisis of faith. The interwar years in Europe saw the repeated failure of democratic experiments and the rise of fascism. Democratic and anti-democratic writers argued about democracy with an intensity rarely seen since. By reading exclusively from thinkers writing at the time, the course will provide both a rich sense of the moment and a stark exploration of both pro- and anti-democratic arguments. We will read works by John Maynard Keynes, Max Weber, Vladimir Lenin, and Martin Heidegger, amongst many others. These writers offer a set of tools for thinking about the ways in which democracy is failing now and how it might be salvaged. Class size: 18

11361

PS 283 Environmental Politics in East Asia

Robert Culp / Ken Haig

. T . Th .

10:10am - 11:30am

OLIN 202

SSCI

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, Environmental & Urban Studies, History, Human Rights, Science, Technology & Society This class explores the history and politics of environmental change and efforts to manage it across East Asia. China, Japan, and Korea have all undergone rapid economic development in recent decades, leading to dramatic changes in the livelihoods of their people. But rapid development also had steep environmental costs. This class explores the similarities and differences in the ways that each country has approached the environment, from historical themes in the culture, society, and religion of each place, to more modern domestic and international concerns over pollution, waste, energy and food security, population growth, resource degradation, public health, and social justice. We will explore both how the region's strong states have confronted environmental crises and how social movements have created openings for environmental law and policy along with a more vibrant civil society in all three countries, despite post-World War II histories of an entrenched political class resisting popular opposition. Class size: 30

11788

PS 314 Political Economy of Development

Sanjib Baruah

. . W . .

10:10am - 12:30pm

OLIN 306

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies 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

11509

PS 377 Grand Strategy From Sun Tzu to Clausewitz

Walter Mead

. . . Th .

1:30 pm -3:50 pm

OLIN 307

SSCI/DIFF

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies The question of what war is and how wars can be won has exercised great minds from the dawn of recorded history. In this advanced seminar, students will explore classic texts on conflict from ancient China to modern Europe. The class will examine the nature of conflict, the role of chance in human affairs, the definition of power and the development of strategic thought. Students will be expected to produce a significant research paper. Class size: 15