Student Work | Political Studies

Senior Projects

Here are some of the projects pursued by political studies students in recent years:

"Defining Woman: Identity Border Wars between Lesbian Feminist and Transgender Social Movements"

"For the Whole Community: Revitalizing Environmentalism through Local Activism"

"Formalism and its Critics: Encounters with a Seminal Controversy in American Political Science”

"One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Chinese Media Reform 1980-2005"

"Policing a Small New England Town in a Big City Way: The Dismantling of the Community"

"Uh, Ah, Chávez No Se Va: The Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez, and the Origins of Popular Support in the August 15, 2004 Presidential Recall Referendum in Caracas, Venezuela"

"Understanding the Politics of Punishment: A Foucauldian Reexamination of the Modern Western World"

Student Internships and Study Beyond Campus

Bard political studies students have recently pursued internship and study opportunities such as these:

Asia Society

Beijing Language Institute, Beijing, China

Demos

Doctors Without Borders

Humanity in Action

Human Rights Watch

Open Society Institute

School of Oriental and Asian Studies, London

Qingdao University, Qingdao, China

Witness (human rights advocacy)

For information on current internship and study opportunities, consult the Political Studies bulletin boards on the second floor of Aspinwall. See also the Bard Globalization and International Affairs program.

Political Studies 104: International Relations
Prof. Baruah
Wed, Fri 3:00-4:20
The course introduces basic concepts of International Relations as a field of study. It is organized around the question: how is world order maintained? Projects to create world order are necessarily fraught with tension and conflict. The course will examine the role of military power, alliance systems, international organizations, and international law. The rules and institutions that govern global cooperation in areas such as trade, economic development, environmental policy, human rights or health-care will be among our concerns. Are we seeing the emergence of a new world order? Would it be different from the world order that prevailed during the second half of the 20th century? What are the consequences of civil conflicts, state failure, and international terrorism for world order? What are the implications of the Bush administration's new national security posture of pre-emptive action against hostile states? The goal of the course will be to learn to think theoretically about "current events."