Mon, Wed 9:00-10:20 am (Aspinwall 302)

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.

Mon, Wed 10:30-11:50 am (Reem-Kayden Center 200)

See description above.

Tue, Thu 4:00-5:20 pm (Olin 202)

This course introduces students to important concepts, themes, and approaches in the comparative study of politics. The course is organized around questions that reflect both interesting phenomena and puzzles that call for some kind of explanation. First, we begin our intellectual journey by exploring the key analytical frameworks in comparative politics that shape political systems and outcomes: interests, identity, and institutions. Then, we examine themes surrounding political regime and processes through the study of politics in selected countries. Topics include democracy, dictatorship, the economic role of the state, political parties and interest groups, as well as the issues of institutional design (parliamentarism vs. presidentialism, proportional vs. majoritarian, federalism and decentralization). By the end of the course, the student will have acquired a broad perspective of the field of Comparative Politics and some basic analytical frameworks to examine a wide range of political phenomena.

Mon, Wed 12:00-1:20 pm (Reem-Kayden Center 101)

From Plato to Nietzsche, great thinkers in the Western tradition have asked about the nature and practice of political action. Thinking about politics is, knowingly or not, conducted against the background of this shared tradition. This is no less true of political thought that aims to break away from “the classics” than of political thought that finds in them a constant resource for both critical and constructive thinking. This course explores fundamental questions of politics through a core body of writings. At its center will be a sustained reading of Plato’s Republic. Thinking with Plato and also with complementary texts from Sophocles, Nietzsche, Thoreau, and Marx, we reflect upon key political concepts such as justice, democracy, and “the individual”. We also explore such enduring questions as the relationship between the state and the individual; the conditions for peaceful political order; and the connection between morality and politics. This course is required for all political studies majors.

Tue, Thu 1:00-2:20 pm (Reem-Kayden Center 102)

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.

Tue, Thu 2:30-3:50 pm (Olin 301)

Today, globalization shapes development, and vice versa. The growing flows of goods, money, information, and people influence the approaches to and strategies of development. This course is designed to provide an overview of the theories and practices of development and globalization. In so doing, this course aims to achieve two goals. First, by reviewing a series of key concepts such as colonialism, Cold War, dependency theory, state-led development, Washington consensus, structural adjustment, and neoliberalism, this course explores ways in which development has been conceptualized, defined, and practiced for over three centuries. Second, this course examines the effects of development and globalization on the Third World. In particular, it focuses on the social dimension: freedom, inequality, exclusion, human rights, and environmental degradation. The course draws on politics, economics, sociology, anthropology, and history to discuss the problems and prospects of international development. By the end of the course, students will have acquired key analytical tools to critically think about the First World's relationships with the Third World.

Mon, Wed 12:00-1:20 pm (Olin 201)

A comprehensive examination 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 U.S.-Latin American relations, emphasizing U.S. military interventions in Latin America, U.S. attempts to establish political and economic hegemony, and U.S. efforts to export democratic government; second, an examination of the principal issues that currently dominate the relations between the U.S. 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.

Wed 4:30-5:50 pm (Olin 201)

Thu 7:00-9:20 pm (Olin 202)

PIE Core Course This course will be an introduction to the history of American foreign policy and to the connections between foreign policy and domestic policy that developed from the founding of America through the Spanish-American War. Students will be introduced to the principal geopolitical, economic and ideological pillars that have shaped American strategic thought. Particular attention will be devoted to how popular religious, cultural and political movements have attempted to influence American foreign policy, including anti-war movements: What, for example, are the similarities between today’s anti-war movements and those that have existed since the country's founding? In the context of the course, students will be asked to read key documents that have defined American foreign policy. In the Spring Semester there will be an opportunity to continue this study in a related course that focuses on the history of American foreign policy from the Spanish-American war to the present.

Mon, Wed 10:30-11:50 am (Preston 128)

This course examines the monumental political, social and economic changes that have swept Russia since 1985. We will ask a number of inter-related questions: Why did Communism collapse? What political, economic, social and historical factors explain the relative difficulties of Russia’s post-Communist transition? Where is Putin’s Russia heading? What role did the United States play in the collapse of Communism and the apparent failure of Russia’s transition? In answering these questions we will examine political, social and economic structures, the mass media, legal systems, and societal attitudes. We explore the transformation of Russia not only through academic books and articles, but also through literature, film, and the speeches and writings of political figures. The course attempts to put the Russian transformation in perspective through a selective examination of changes in neighboring countries, including Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and the Baltic States.

Wed, Fri 12:00-1:20 pm (Olin 202)

Environmental politics involve many crucial themes in American politics: How does government regulation work and fail to work? How do competing interests and values shape policy outcomes? How do federal, state, and local governments interact? How do policymakers grapple with (or evade) complex technical issues? Why is political powerlessness hazardous to one's health? What role does the United States play in international politics, and why? What do the American people really value, and what do they really understand? How do social movements and activists try to change "the system"? We will consider major issues in American environmental politics, including toxic waste and environmental justice, climate change and energy policy, wilderness conservation, endangered species protection, and others.

Tue, Thu 1:00-2:20 pm (Olin 201)

To speak of revenge in a course on law is to lay bare an open wound at the heart of law. On the one hand, law is built upon the exclusion of vengeance. On the other hand, revenge remains a constant presence in criminal law. In spite of the best efforts of philosophers, moralists, and jurists to banish it, revenge remains an irrepressible social and legal force. This course asks the question: Can revenge be a just motive for criminal punishment? By considering those in the victims’ rights movements who argue for the importance and justice of “legalizing” and thus legitimating revenge, we ask whether justice is actually something other than legalized revenge. To do so, we explore the phenomenon of revenge as it has been practiced, imagined, and conceived throughout history. Through a close reading of texts, films, and works of art, we will ask: why does revenge persist as an ideal of justice despite the best efforts of lawyers to banish it?

Mon, Wed 3:00-4:20 pm (Olin 304)

Advocates of free markets see globalization as a positive force which can generate employment and raise the world’s living standards. Critics see it as an excuse for the exploitation of workers and the expropriation of resources of poor countries, environmental degradation, cultural homogenization and a race to the bottom in living standards. The course will be framed by the question: what is new about globalization and what is not? If globalization is new, what does one make of earlier historical processes that were global in scope, e.g. western colonial expansion, global networks of production and exchange, the settling of entire continents by peoples from another continent, the slave trade, pre-modern empires or attempts to create universal communities of faith? Does globalization describe a distinct and linear process of social change taking place in our time? We will read about globalization – old and new. We will conclude with a discussion exploring the causes and consequences of September 11th and ask: is it possible that we are seeing yet another historical phase of a period of intensive global interaction being checked by countervailing forces generated by the forces of globalization? 

Wed 1:30-3:50 pm (Olin 307)

This course illustrates the application of various research methods to a major theme in American politics: the impact of religious identities, movements, and divides – including the apparent contemporary cleavage between religious and secular Americans. We will consider, for instance, Supreme Court rulings, oral history and other historical accounts, quantitative public opinion analysis, and empirical tests of hypotheses about how divergent religious beliefs play out in public policy debates. Topics include the role of religious beliefs and institutions in major social movements such as the civil rights and anti-abortion movements; and contemporary debates about the proper relationship between “church and state.” Texts will include portions of George Lakoff’s Moral Politics, James Morone’s Hellfire Nation Stephen Carter’s The Culture of Disbelief, Pat Robertson’s The New World Order, Donna Minkowitz’s Ferocious Romance, Bruce Bawer’s Stealing Jesus, Kristin Luker’s Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood, and others. Students will write responses to readings and make oral presentations about topics relevant to the major theme of the course. Students will also write research papers, which (by arrangement with the instructor) may treat any topic in American politics.

Tue 9:30-11:50 am (Olin 307)

PIE Core Course

The American invasion of Iraq and the attempt to implant democracy in the very heart of the Middle East has awakened interest in the politics of democratization. Underlying this interest is a cluster of questions and inquiries such as what makes for a successful transition from dictatorship to democracy? Can democracy be successfully imposed from the outside? What kind of governing institutions (parliamentary versus presidential, for instance) are best suited for a new democracy? Is the stability and longevity of democracy the result of structural factors such as the level of social and economic development, the density of civil society or the talents of politicians? These questions are examined in this seminar through the lenses of the expansive literature on democratization accumulated since the late 1970s. The course is divided into three main sections. The first looks at key concepts in the study of democratization. The second examines theoretical approaches to understanding the sources of democratic stability and performance. The final section examines the politics of democratization in four distinct historical and geographic settings: Spain, Brazil, Russia and Iraq.

Tue 9:30-11:50 am (Hegeman 300)

There has been much interest lately in what appears to be a global shift in economic power towards Asia. The dramatic economic growth of Asian countries -- notably of China and India -- undoubtedly will have consequences for global politics. But it would be misleading to view it entirely through traditional state-centric lenses, for there is a change in the spatial organization of the world economy. After all, manufacturing in Asia is incorporated into the global supply chains of transnational companies, and for many such companies a technology hub in Asia is a link in a global innovation chain. It has also become difficult to draw sharp lines between countries and their neighborhoods. A number of East Asian countries and the overseas Chinese for instance, are a part of the story of China's transformation. The course will look closely at these dimensions of the Asian transformation and ask a few long-term questions: Can this pattern be sustained? What are its consequences for the well being of the people in the region and elsewhere? How would one make sense of this shift in world historical terms?