Fall 2015

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This course focuses on emerging issues in the field of Chinese politics, and (mostly) younger authors who have published books (and articles) since 2005. The early weeks emphasize the Chinese state and state-society relations at a high level of abstraction; later weeks turn toward state-society relations nearer the grassroots. Topics covered include: regime change, state capacity, bureaucratic politics, village elections, social capital, private entrepreneurs, banking, local cadres, adaptive governance, policy implementation, protest, rights consciousness, cross-national comparison and recent experimental research on authoritarian responsiveness.  For political science graduate students preparing for the East Asian politics exam, this syllabi should be read in conjunction with the 2006 Political Science 244c syllabus available at my website.

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Approaches to causal inference using the potential outcomes framework. Covers observational studies with and without ignorable treatment assignment, randomized experiments with and without noncompliance, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, sensitivity analysis and randomization inference. Applications are drawn from a variety of fields including political science economics, sociology, public health and medicine.

Overview of methods of political research.   Theories, concepts, variables, hypotheses.   Research design, quantitative and qualitative methodology.   Basic data collection techniques.   Approaches to date analysis.   Provides and overview of different statistical techniques, but does not teach statistics.

Political Science Graduate Students only.     Others by permission of instructor.

Please note that this description is from Fall 2013.

This is a rst course on statistical inference and modeling for use in social science research. It
covers probability and the theory of statistical inference, justications for and problems with common
statistical procedures, and how to apply procedures to empirical social science data to draw conclusions
relevant to positive social theory. We will pay particular attention to the motivation for statistical
inference and modeling from the standpoint of social science. Lectures and reading will primarily
cover theory and simple examples. Problem sets will cover both simple theoretical extensions and
applications of tools we develop to real data.

Required Skills. Students should have completed PS230 or its equivalent with a B or better.
Students should have a working knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, and elementary calculus. The
course is suitable for students with a large range of prior exposure to statistics and mathematics.
Students with Ph.D.-level training in mathematical statistics from a statistics department will not
nd that it pushes their capabilities; students with less background than this should nd at least
some challenges, conceptual or technical. All students capable of gaining admission to a Berkeley
Ph.D. program can fully succeed in this class regardless of prior technical preparation other than the
required skills listed above.

Please note that description is from Fall 2014

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In this iteration of the course in Renaissance and Early Modern Political Thought, we will focus on a close reading of The Elements of Law (1640) by Thomas Hobbes.  This work has a similar range to that of Hobbes's 1651 Leviathan, though with much less attention to theological and ecclesiastical matters.  The earlier weeks of the course will be devoted to a consideration of background materials that are also of intrinsic interest, including Jean Bodin's Six Books of the Republic.

Course Description:
This course is designed as a workshop for the presentation and discussion of work-in-progress in moral, political, and legal theory. The central aim of the course is to provide an opportunity for students to engage directly with philosophers, political theorists, and legal scholars working on normative questions. Another aim is to create a space that brings together people from different disciplines who have strong normative interests or who speak to issues philosophers and theorists should know something about.  Toward this goal, we will devote a few sessions to featuring the work of economists, historians, psychologists, sociologists, and other social scientists.  

The format of the course will be as follows. For the first two hours of the course, a student will lead off with a 15-minute comment on the presenter’s paper and the presenter will have 5-10 minutes to respond before we open up the discussion to the entire assembled group.  The first two hours will be open to non-enrolled students and faculty who wish to participate in the workshop discussion. At the end of the two hours, those who are not enrolled will leave, and for the third hour of the course, the guest presenter will continue the discussion with students enrolled in the course.  Enrolled students must serve as a discussant for at least one presenter’s work-in-progress and write several short response papers and a final paper of 15-20 pages. 

The course is room-shared with the Law School and the Philosophy Department.  This  course will follow the Law academic calendar.  The first class meeting is August 28 and the the final class meeting is December 4.

(Link to Law School Calendar:  https://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/courses/academic_calendars.php)

Schedule

 8/28       Intro meeting 

9/4         Robert Cooter, UC Berkeley Law 

9/11       Melvin Rogers, UCLA Political Science

9/18       Edward Miguel, UC Berkeley Economics 

9/25       Alison McQueen, Stanford Political Science

10/2        Derrick Darby, University of Michigan Philosophy

10/9        Jacob Levy, McGill Political Science

10/16      Seana Shiffrin, UCLA Law and Philosophy

10/23      Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago Law & Philosophy

10/30      Jiwei Ci, University of Hong Kong Philosophy

11/6        Ori Aronson, Bar-Ilan University Law & Berkeley Visiting Professor

11/13      Avani Sood, UC Berkeley Law

11/20      Amy Allen, Penn State Philosophy

12/2        Final meeting (N.B. This is a Wednesday. For enrolled students only.)