In this Colloquium, participants will address some of the most challenging questions of international law and politics by studying the cutting-edge work of the field’s leading scholars. Each class meeting will feature a guest speaker who will present their research; subjects include issues in international trade, human rights, arbitration and litigation, refugees and migration, and international legal theory. Colloquium students will be expected to produce short comments in response to the assigned workshop papers and to actively participate in workshop discussion.

Instructor: Katerina Linos

This course will follow Law's Academic Calendar meeting Fridays January 14th-April 22nd (14 weeks). 

In classical Athens, ordinary citizens ruled over the political elite. That's what demokratia, "rule by the people," meant. How did non-elite Athenians pull that off? In this seminar, we'll explore two fascinating, important and in some respects baffling short texts, both titled "The Constitution of the Athenians," one attributed to Xenophon and the other to a student of Aristotle. We'll also look at some additional brief extracts from Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle. Though the material concerns ancient Greek politics, we'll approach it with all our assumptions and anxieties about modern democracy in mind. How different was ancient Greek democracy from what we call democracy today—and could we manage something more like it here?Requirements: regular attendance, doing the reading, 200-word max online forum response prior to each session, and a willingness to ask questions and float ideas in class.  Anyone interested in ancient or modern democracy and who is excited to try to put together a big picture from fragments is very welcome. 

All readings and discussions will be in English. 

Are you interested in, or even just curious about, earning a PhD in political science or a related
field? Great! Berkeley’s Political Science Department is thrilled to announce a new initiative to
help undergraduate students learn about pursuing a PhD in political science.
This initiative is designed to help students learn about what it means to earn a PhD in political
science and how to prepare for and apply to PhD programs. The goal is to build a community of
undergraduate scholars who will be connected with each other and with faculty and graduate
students at Berkeley. Students will learn about political science research, ways to prepare to be
a competitive PhD applicant, and receive support and advice on the application process.
The program is open to students who are in at least their second year of college studies. The
program is focused on helping students from historically minoritized or underrepresented
groups, including but not limited to, non-cis-gendered individuals, members of the queer
community, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), Latinx, individuals who are
differently abled or who experience disability, first-generation college students, and those from
low-income / low-resource backgrounds.
Students who are selected for the program will participate in a series of workshops throughout
the semester, will be advised on pursuing research opportunities as an undergraduate, and will
have the opportunity to receive mentoring from graduate students and faculty. Students may
earn one credit unit for completing the program.

Please apply here:    https://forms.gle/cWkLZPXAwUuS3H1d7

Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis, but to have the best chance and to be considered for the first wave of admissions please submit the application by Friday, October 8, 2021. Applications will be accepted through the end of Phase 2 on January 9, 2022.

In this Colloquium, participants will address some of the most challenging questions of international law and politics by studying the cutting-edge work of the field’s leading scholars. Each class meeting will feature a guest speaker who will present their research; subjects include issues in international trade, human rights, arbitration and litigation, refugees and migration, and international legal theory. Colloquium students will be expected to produce short comments in response to the assigned workshop papers and to actively participate in workshop discussion.

Instructor: Joshua Cohen and David Grewal

This course will follow Law's Academic Calendar meeting Fridays January 14th-April 22nd (14 weeks).  Please contact psgradadvise@berkeley.edu if interested in this course.

The rise and fall of world communism was one of the great dramas of the 20th century, born in wars (World War I, World II, the Vietnam Wars), offering an alternative conception of modernity to that of the capitalist world, but ultimately succumbing to the pressures of Cold War, capitalist globalization, and popular disaffection. The result was either systemic collapse (the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe) or a fundamental alteration of key economic and foreign-policy features of the communist system (China, Vietnam, Laos). Beyond that, two states remain---North Korea and Cuba---that are very different from each other, but that have in common that they have neither collapsed nor fundamentally altered their systems. We will trace communism’s origins in Marxism and Leninism, its victory in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, its construction of an “anti-imperialist” international sub-system (the “world communist movement”), its spread throughout Europe and Asia (plus Cuba), and its ultimate demise or alteration. What did communist revolutions, states, and non-ruling communist parties have in common, in both their domestic and international orientations? How did they differ from each other? Why did international communism fracture into competing models of domestic and foreign policy? Why did the Soviet Union and, with it, the world communist system ultimately collapse? What should we make of China’s remarkable rise after altering its economic (but not its political) system? And, looking back, how might we assess the communist legacy: achievement or tragedy?

Book will be provided by Instructor.