Courses

Courses

Spring 2008 Courses

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150. Introduction to American Government
Michael Franz T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25
Provides a comprehensive overview of the American political process. Specifically, traces the foundations of American government (the Constitution, federalism, civil rights, and civil liberties), its political institutions (Congress, Presidency, courts, and bureaucracy), and its electoral processes (elections, voting, and political parties). Also examines other influences, such as public opinion and the mass media, which fall outside the traditional institutional boundaries, but have an increasingly large effect on political outcomes.

160. Introduction to International Relations
Shelley Deane M 8:00 - 9:25, W 8:00 - 9:25
Provides a broad introduction to the study of international relations. Designed to strike a balance between empirical and historical knowledge on the one hand, and theoretical understanding on the other. Designed as an introductory course to familiarize students with no prior background in the subject, and recommended for first- and second-year students intending to take upper-level international relations courses.

201. Law and Society
Richard Morgan T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
An examination of the American criminal justice system. Although primary focus is on the constitutional requirements bearing on criminal justice, attention is paid to conflicting strategies on crime control, to police and prison reform, and to the philosophical underpinnings of the criminal law.

202. The American Presidency
Janet Martin M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55
An examination of the presidency in the American political system, including the “road to the White House” (party nomination process and role of the electoral college), advisory systems, the institutional presidency, relations with Congress and the courts, and decision-making in the White House. Drawing upon the instructor’s own research and a growing body of literature in this area, the role of women as advisors within the White House and Executive branch, and influence of outside groups on the White House’s consideration of “women’s issues,” especially since 1960, are also topics of discussion.

204. Congress and the Policy Process
Jeffrey Selinger T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
An examination of the United States Congress, with a focus on members, leaders, constituent relations, the congressional role in the policy-making process, congressional procedures and their impact on policy outcomes, and executive-congressional relations.

211. Constitutional Law II: Civil Rights and Liberties
Richard Morgan T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
Examines questions arising under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

223. The Political Economy of Welfare States in Western Europe
Nicholas Toloudis M 10:30 - 11:25, W 10:30 - 11:25, F 10:30 - 11:25
Examines the “golden age” of postwar European capitalism, with a particular focus on the foundations and development of the Keynesian welfare state. Includes analyses of Keynesian economic theory, health care and employment policy, the interaction between welfare states and party systems, and the social and financial crises of welfare states over the past few decades. Also looks in some detail at the welfare states of particular European countries, including Britain, France, and Italy.

228. Chinese Foreign Policy
Lance Guo T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25
An analytic survey of the historical evolution of China’s foreign relations since 1949. Emphasis is on China’s evolving strategic thinking in the context of its rapid economic ascendance and increasing global influence. Topics include cultural and historical factors shaping Chinese foreign policy and strategic thinking; the actors, institutions, and processes of foreign policy making; national interests and the internationalization of China; Sino-U.S. relations; the resurgent nationalism; China’s role in the Asia-Pacific regionalism; the key security and foreign policy issues such as Taiwan and North Korea, etc.

233. Advanced Comparative Politics: Government, War, and Society
Christian Potholm M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25
An examination of the forces and processes by which governments and societies approach and wage or avoid wars. The theories and practices of warfare of various political systems will be analyzed and particular attention will be paid to the interface where politics, society, and the military come together under governmental auspices in various comparative contexts. Specific examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America are examined.

241. Modern Political Philosophy
Thomas Schneider M 9:30 - 10:25, W 9:30 - 10:25, F 9:30 - 10:25
A survey of modern political philosophy from Machiavelli to Hegel. Examines the overthrow of the classical horizon, the movement of human will and freedom to the center of political thought, the idea of the social contract, the origin and meaning of rights, the relationship between freedom and equality, the role of democracy, and the replacement of nature by history as the source of human meaning. Authors include Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, and Hegel.

248. Statesmanship, Ancient and Modern
Thomas Schneider M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
Statesmanship, or the absence of it, is an essential feature of political life. But what qualities distinguish a statesman—politikos, one skilled in politics—from a “leader of the people” (demagogos) on one hand, and an arbitrary ruler (tyrannos) on the other? As politics, demagoguery, and tyranny are Greek terms, the course begins with a consideration of political life in classical Greece, before going on to consider examples of statesmanship from American history. Examines the careers of actual statesmen (Pericles, Washington, Lincoln) and writings by authors who have given special attention to what statesmen do (Thucydides, Xenophon, and recent authors).

250. American Political Thought
Jean Yarbrough T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
Examines the political thought of American statesmen and writers from the founding to the twentieth century, with special emphasis on three pivotal moments: the Founding, the Crisis of the House Divided, and the growth of the modern welfare state. Readings include the Federalist Papers, the Anti-federalists, Jefferson and Hamilton, Calhoun, Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, William Graham Sumner, the Progressives, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and contemporary thinkers on both the right and the left.

264. Energy, Climate, and Air Quality
DeWitt John M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25
Examines how the federal government in the United States, as well as states, communities, businesses, and nonprofits, can address climate change and energy issues. Compares American policies and politics with efforts in other countries and examines the links between American policies and efforts in other nations.

270. United States Foreign Policy
Allen Springer T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
Examines the development and conduct of United States foreign policy. Analyzes the impact of intragovernmental rivalries, the media, public opinion, and interest groups on the policy-making process, and provides case studies of contemporary foreign policy issues.

308. Money and Politics
Michael Franz T 6:30 - 9:25
Considers the historical and contemporary relationship between money and government. In what ways have moneyed interests always had distinctive influences on American politics? Does this threaten the vibrancy of our representative democracy? Are recent controversies over campaign finance reform and lobbying reform signs that American government is in trouble? Reading-, writing-, and discussion-intensive, considers the large academic literature on this subject, as well as the reflections of journalists and political practitioners, with the overall goal of understanding the money/politics relationship in ways that facilitate the evaluation of American democracy.

309. Public Policy and American Political Development
Jeffrey Selinger M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25
How is public policy in the United States shaped by the political process? How does public policy and state-building define the contours of American politics? Examines the qualitative differences between redistributive, regulatory, and “patronage” policy, and evaluates the impact of public policy on American political development. Readings trace the history of policy-making in the United States with a special focus on the development of the welfare state, changing patterns of governmental regulation, and the emergence of a “modern” bureaucratic establishment. Readings also raise questions about how these and other developments have shaped America’s liberal democratic values and transformed its political institutions.

322. Contentious Politics
Nicholas Toloudis M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25
Examines theories and cases of contentious politics, those forms of collective action in which actors make claims bearing on someone else’s interests, leading to coordinated action on the part of those interests. Includes theoretical analysis of social movements, “subaltern” movements, collective violence, and explanatory techniques for analyzing all of the above. Case studies include twentieth-century American civil rights activists, nineteenth-century British and German textile workers, and eighteenth-century French pornographers.

330. Ending Civil Wars
Shelley Deane M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55
Considers the means and mechanisms adopted to end civil wars. Examines the nature of negotiated settlements. As wars end, peace settlements are varied and complex, often negotiated and agreed, sometimes imposed. Considers associated issues of insecurity, the nature of the settlement reached, the problems of implementation, and third party intervention, along with the dilemmas associated with peacekeeping and enforcement. The transition from war to settlement implementation is considered theoretically and empirically. Historical and contemporary civil wars selected from every continent illuminate the theoretical imperatives associated with implementing peace agreements.

333. Advanced Seminar in Chinese Politics
Lance Guo T 6:30 - 9:25
Seeks to understand political change caused by China’s rapid economic ascendance and growing global influence by exploring the various underlying driving forces—marketization, globalization, etc., and how these are reshaping the socioeconomic foundation of the party-state, forcing changes in the governance structure and the ways power is contested and redistributed. The main theme varies each year to reflect important recent developments, e.g., elite politics, the transformation of the communist party, role of the military, political economy of development, the re-emerging class structure, etc.

341. Advanced Seminar in Political Theory: Tocqueville
Jean Yarbrough T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
More than 150 years after its publication, Democracy in America remains the most powerful sympathetic critique of modern liberal democracy ever written. Careful reading of the text and selected secondary sources leads to examination of Tocqueville’s analysis of the defects to which the democratic passion for equality gives rise and consideration of possible solutions that, in contrast to the Marxist and Nietzschean critiques, aim at preserving the liberal democratic way of life.

361. Advanced Seminar in International Relations: Conflict Simulation and Conflict Resolution
Christian Potholm M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
An upper-level interdisciplinary seminar on the nature of both international and national conflict. A variety of contexts and influence vectors are examined and students are encouraged to look at the ways conflicts can be solved short of actual warfare, as well as by it.

363. Advanced Seminar in International Relations: Law, Politics, and the Search for Justice
Allen Springer T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
Examines the complex relationship between law and policy in international relations by focusing on two important and rapidly developing areas of international concern: environmental protection and humanitarian rights. Fulfills the ES senior seminar requirement.