Courses

Courses

Spring 2009

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023. Imperialism and Colonialism: Power, Influence, and Inequality in World Politics
Ericka Albaugh T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
Especially since 9/11, America has been criticized for its global dominance and accused of harboring imperial ambitions. Examines a long history of conquest and control by strong countries over weak, focusing on the expansion of European influence over much of the globe, which involved both direct settlement and indirect control. Assesses the motivations for this expansion and the economic, social, and political consequences it had within Europe and in the peripheral areas of conquest. Considers whether the United States, as the current world hegemon and compared to historical world powers, is abusing its power or making the world a more peaceful place.

120. Introduction to Comparative Government
Laura Henry M 11:30 - 12:25, W 11:30 - 12:25, F 11:30 - 12:25
Provides a broad introduction to key concepts in comparative politics. Most generally, asks why states are governed differently, both historically and in contemporary politics. Begins by examining foundational texts, including works by Marx, Smith, and Weber. Surveys subfields within comparative politics (the state, regime types, nations and nationalism, party systems, development, and civil society) to familiarize students with major debates and questions.

150. Introduction to American Government
Richard Skinner M 10:30 - 11:25, W 10:30 - 11:25, F 10:30 - 11:25
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.

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.

203. American Political Parties
Jeffrey Selinger M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25
Throughout American political history, parties have been among the most adept institutions at organizing political conflict and, more generally, American political life. In this vein, the role of political parties in the evolution of American politics is discussed. Special attention is given to the present political context, which many characterize as an era of ideologically polarized parties. Explores and challenges this conventional wisdom.

206. Public Policy in the United States
Jeffrey Selinger T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 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 explore in some detail a number of key policy areas including healthcare, immigration reform, and homeland security.

208. Mass Media and American Politics
Richard Skinner M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
Examines the role of the media as the “fourth branch” of government. Focuses first on the history of the media throughout American political development, and then examines the role of the media in contemporary politics. Is the media biased? How? What are the effects of media coverage on citizens? What is the interplay of politicians, citizens, and journalists? Spends considerable time on the place of new media outlets such as blogs.

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.

229. Politics and Societies in Southeast Asia
Lance Guo T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
A survey of the political landscape and trends of change in tropical Southeast Asia and an investigation of the fundamental driving forces of changes in this region of rich diversity in culture, religion, ethnicity, mystic beliefs, and political traditions. Topics include nation building and the role of colonial history in it; regime legitimacy; political protests (often spearheaded by college students); armed insurgence and nationalism; the different responses to modernization; the causes and consequences of rapid economic growth; the clash between human rights, democracy, and indigenous traditions

230. Post-Communist Russian Politics and Society
Laura Henry M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
Explores the most dramatic political event of the twentieth century: the collapse of Soviet communism and its political aftermath. Begins by examining the Soviet system and the political and social upheaval of the late Soviet period. Proceeds to investigate the challenges of contemporary Russian politics, including ambivalence about political and economic liberalization, the demographic crisis, efforts to regain superpower status, and the changing nature of executive power. Comparisons are made with other countries in the post-Communist region.

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.

237. The Politics of Ethnicity: Construction and Mobilization of Ethnic Identity Claims
Ericka Albaugh T 8:30 - 9:55, TH 8:30 - 9:55
Ethnicity is a crucial dividing line in most societies. Attempts to understand what ethnicity is, when it is mobilized peacefully and when it ignites violence, and what political tools exist to moderate these conflicts. Explores first the various definitions of ethnicity and theories of ethnic identity formation; then studies the different explanations for why ethnic divisions inspire conflict within societies and evaluates possible means of mitigating violence. Draws on case studies from around the world, particularly those in Africa and Asia.

239. Comparative Constitutional Law
George Isaacson T 8:30 - 9:55, TH 8:30 - 9:55
A comparative examination of constitutional principles and constitutional processes in democratic and non-democratic countries. Explores the roles that constitutions play in shaping civil society and defining the relationship between governments and the people they govern. Compares American constitutional law with that of other nations to scrutinize alternative models of governance, and to gain new perspectives regarding the legal foundations for the protection of individual rights. Special attention given to the constitutions of Canada, India, Germany, South Africa, Israel, and the People’s Republic of China, along with that of the United States. Structural issues include consideration of executive-legislative separation of powers, constitutional courts, federalism, and church-state relations. Discusses arguments in favor of and against a written Bill of Rights, as well as such specific issues as political dissent, hate speech, religious belief, reproductive choice, racial and gender discrimination, public welfare, privacy, and police investigative powers.

241. Modern Political Philosophy
Paul Franco M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55
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.

249. Eros and Politics
Jean Yarbrough T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
What and whom do we love? Do we seek “another self” or someone to complement our natures? Is there something other than human beings that we love? The Good, God, or some other principle? How do the answers to these questions affect our views of politics and justice? Readings include Plato’s Symposium; The Bible; Shakespeare; Rousseau’s Emile; Mary Wollstonecraft; Tocqueville; and contemporary thinkers.

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.

261. International Security
Olya Gayazova T 8:30 - 9:55, TH 8:30 - 9:55
What is “Security”? How do we define it? Who defines it? Who, or what, constitutes a threat? Why are “they” threatening? Where do threats begin? Where do they end? Who, or what, is being “secured”? How far can we go in order to “secure” ourselves? Explores these and related questions from within a variety of theoretical approaches to International Security, grouped loosely into “traditional” National Security and “alternative” Critical Security approaches, the latter representing a peculiar mix of (Neo-Marxist) Frankfurt School, French Deconstructivism, and Copenhagen (De)Securitization Theory. Students will learn to identify the premises that underpin landmark scholarship in the field of International Security and also use the theoretical debates to frame personal arguments concerning global security agenda.

263. International Environmental Policy
Allen Springer T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
Examines the political, legal, and institutional dimension of international efforts to protect the environment. Problems discussed include transboundary and marine pollution, maintaining biodiversity, and global climate change.

264. Energy, Climate, and Air Quality
DeWitt John M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
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.

265. International Political Economy
Henry Laurence M 10:30 - 11:25, W 10:30 - 11:25, F 10:30 - 11:25
Examines the politics underlying international economic relationships. Asks why and how it is that countries are sometimes able and sometimes unable to realize the benefits of trade. Looks at the political consequences of international trade and global finance at both the national and international level. Examines conflicts and cooperation in international economic relations and the effects of globalization on social structures, on inequality, and on national sovereignty. No previous experience in economics needed.

274. Arctic Politics
Olya Gayazova T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25
The twenty-first century may well be the “Age of the Arctic,” but what exactly do we mean when we say that? Are we talking about an Arctic linked by international and transnational cooperation, or about an Arctic locked into nuclear star wars? Students will contemplate various answers to this question by analyzing concrete instances of cooperation and conflict in the Arctic since the end of the Cold War. Begins with a brief historical account of Arctic spaces and formal laws and informal understandings by which these spaces have been regulated since the sixteenth century. Aware of the realities that comprise the Arctic past, students explore the present, in particular a set of case studies in contemporary Arctic politics related to ecological, economic, and military dimensions.

303. The Law and Politics of Freedom of Speech
Richard Morgan T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
While focusing primarily on American material, students have the option of choosing speech controversies in other polities as the subject of their seminar papers.

304. Advanced Seminar in American Politics: Presidential-Congressional Relations
Janet Martin T 1:00 - 3:55
Examines presidential-congressional relations through a number of perspectives, including use of historical, quantitative, and institutional analyses. Readings consider the relationship between the executive branch and Congress in both the domestic arena (including regulatory and budgetary policy) and in the area of foreign and defense policy.

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.

337. Advanced Seminar in Democracy and Development in Asia
Henry Laurence T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
Examines development from a variety of political, economic, moral, and cultural perspectives. Is democracy a luxury that poor countries cannot afford? Are authoritarian governments better at promoting economic growth than democracies? Does prosperity lead to democratization? Are democratic values and human rights universal, or culturally specific? Emphasis on Japan, China, India, and the Koreas.

346. Nietzsche
Paul Franco M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
An examination of the broad range of Nietzsche’s thought with a special view to its moral and political implications. Readings include Nietzsche’s major works, including Thus Spoke Zarathustra. May also consider various twentieth-century interpretations and appropriations of Nietzsche’s philosophy.

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 environmental studies senior seminar requirement.

395. Advanced Seminar in Environmental Policy and Politics
DeWitt John M 10:00 - 11:25, W 10:00 - 11:25
Examines a complex current environmental issue in depth. Explores the underlying social, economic, scientific, and cultural dimensions of the issue; reviews how this and related issues have been addressed so far by state and local governments as well as by the federal government; analyzes current policy-making efforts; and suggests lessons from this policy area about the capacity of public institutions to deal effectively with complex issues. Equal attention given to the substance of public policy, the political process, and implementation of past and proposed policies. Focuses primarily on the United States but will consider experiences in other nations as points of comparison and also any relevant international dimensions of the issue.