Fall 2016

This is a graduate seminar designed to give Ph.D. students the opportunity to become familiar with the subfield of international cooperation and to plan their own research projects on a related topic. We begin by reviewing the positions of central IR paradigms on the possibility of international cooperation and the role of international institutions. We will talk about why states want to cooperate, which obstacles need to be overcome, and how international institutions can facilitate interstate cooperation. We examine questions concerning the design of international institutions, the extent of compliance they evoke, and their effect in various areas of international cooperation.

This seminar explores theoretical accounts of the relationship of democracy to neoliberalism.Neither term will be treated as fixed or stable in meaning; however the former will be understood as comprising popular sovereignty and the latter as involving both an ensemble of state policies and a governing order of reason.  Our guiding questions:  Does neoliberal rationality inadvertently or directly subvert democratic presumptions or aspirations?  Why and how?  Through what kinds of norms, principles or programs?  How does neoliberalism differ from the problem of technological rationality identified by Weber and Marcuse prior to neoliberal or financialized orders?  Is the problem of neoliberalism distinct from or related to financialization and the question of how democracy can survive domination by financial markets?  What, if any, are the prospects for recovering democratic political control of contemporary economic concentrations of power?     

In pondering these questions and others, we will be reading original neoliberal thinkers, especially where their thought addresses democracy, as well as contemporary critical theorists.  Our readings will be focused on the Euro-Atlantic world; however, students are welcome to bring concerns from other quarters of the world to the seminar table.   The syllabus will include work by Lippmann, Friedman, Hayek, Weber, Marcuse, Ropke, Eucken, Becker, Posner, Streeck, Offe, Habermas, Varoufakis, Biebricher, Kuhner and Krippner.

Admission is by permission of instructor and limited to 15.  Five of these seats are reserved for Critical Theory students. You may indicate interest in the course by placing yourself on the waitlist.

A workshop for presenting and discussing work in progress in moral, political, and legal theory.  The central aim is to provide an opportunity for students to engage with philosophers, political theorists, and legal scholars working on normative questions.  Another aim is to bring together people from different disciplines who have strong normative interests or who speak to issues of potential interest to philosophers and political theorists.  To this end, we will devote a few sessions to the work of economists, historians, psychologists, sociologists, or other social scientists.  

TBA

TBA

This course is a graduate seminar in comparative politics. It aims to provide students with the conceptual, theoretical, and analytical tools necessary for comparative research. The course is divided into five parts. The first explores some of the central ideas and philosophies that animate comparative politics. The second introduces the field and explores some basic methodological problems. The third investigates core topics and theoretical approaches; the fourth centers on political regimes; and the fifth focuses on interest representation and state-society relations. This is a reading and discussion seminar. Our class sessions will focus on discussions of course readings. Students are required to do all of the readings for the week in advance of class meetings and to participate actively in class discussions.

Please note that the description is from Fall 2013.

This course introduces students to the major texts and topics of early modern political thought from about 1500 to 1800, spanning the periods known as the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment. Readings will include works by thinkers such as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. 

Instructor: Nathan Pippenger

Ideas about the prerequisites, processes and indicia of economic development have undergone radical change since the end of World War II.

Peace brought an enormous and unfounded optimism: not only was political and economic development desirable and possible, the two were thought to be mutually re-enforcing. The theory and practice of "development" has changed radically since then. Indeed, scholars no longer agree (or perhaps even lack an interest in defining) what "development" is, who it is for and whether it is desirable. Today, instead of "development" we have "emerging markets"-a catch phrase that embodies a deep transformation of the state, the economy and the relationship between human beings and market forces. Instead of genuine participation we live in an era where "democracy" has become an empty slogan that disempowers people from affecting real decisions that shape their daily live. Why did this happen? What does it mean? How did we get to where we are today?

This lecture course exposes students to some of the main debates in the field of economic and political development and underdevelopment. The intellectual history of "development" as a field is explored through the origins and transformation of three key institutional fields: the state, the national market, and the international economy. Going through a series of system-transforming events—the rise of the Asian NICs; the Debt Crises of the 1980s; the Financial Crises of the 1990s--we will conclude by considering the ways in which the international economy itself has changed over time and try to understand the social, psychological and political consequences of contemporary forms of post-fordist production.

Subfield: Comparative Politics

This course explores the long and complicated relationship between U.S. foreign policy and developments in East Asia. Since WWII, the U.S. has maintained a strong military and economic presence throughout the Asia-Pacific as part of its Cold War strategy of ‘containment of communism.’ We will touch on a number of topics, including the Korean War, the Vietnam War, China-Taiwan relations and current tensions in the South China Sea. Assessment is based on each student’s intellectual engagement with the course content and ability to analyze, critique, and reflect upon the material both orally and in written form. This is a reading and writing intensive course. There are no prerequisites for the course and prior knowledge of Asia is not required.

Whereas in the U.S. Occupy Wall Street mobilized primarily tent activists and met with  a mixed public reception, earlier the same year protests of “indignant” youth in Southern Europe and Israel spurred mega-demonstrations and won broad public support. What explains the appearance of rare “encompassing” protests, and why did they occur in some countries and not others during the 2011 protest wave?  Did participants in Europe and Israel cross class, cultural and political boundaries more than the Americans who supported and participated in Occupy? What political mechanisms and protest practices facilitate diversity of participation in mega-protests? We will draw on the literature on social movements and contentious politics, and will look closely at diverse national cases.

Each student will write 1 short paper and 1 long research paper, as well as actively participating in classes and posting comments and questions on upcoming readings every second week.

Instructor: Michael Shalev

Subfield: Comparative Politics

The Junior Seminars are intense writing seminars which focus on the research area of the faculty member teaching the course. The seminars provide an opportunity for students to have direct intellectual interactions with faculty members while also giving the students an understanding for faculty research. Junior seminars fulfill upper division requirements for the major.