Fall 2017

semester status
Active

SELECTED TOPICS IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS: Democracies and Dictatorships in the World and in the Middle-East

Semester
Fall 2017
Units
4
Number
140Z
CCN
46500
Times
M 2-5
Location
126 BARROWS
Course Description

This course will provide the students with the knowledge about basic concepts in political science - politics, government, state - emphasizing the fundamental division between liberal democracy, illiberal democracy and dictatorship regimes (fascist, theocratic, communist). The course is set on theoretical comparative approach that does not intend to discuss each country individually, but to analyze and interpret the similarities and differences between the political systems in order to better understand the political processes taking place actually, beyond what is stated formally and legally in their constitution. The course deals with the central institutions in any political system: the legislature, executive, judiciary, elections, political parties, interest groups, and examines key concepts such as political culture, political communication, political participation, religion-state relations, relations between the army and the country, to understand the internal dynamics of political systems and research data. The course gives a special attention to the regime in Middle-Eastern countries.

Instructor: Dr. Rami Zeedan , PhD

Dr. Rami Zeedan is an interdisciplinary researcher in political science and history. His recent research ranges between urban affairs/local governments in cities, ethnic politics, public opinion, and Israeli studies. Since 2014, Dr. Zeedan has held a two-year fellowship for outstanding post-doctoral research from the Council for Higher Education in Israel, during which he was a Taub-Schusterman Fellow with New York University (NY, USA) in 2014-2015, and a Fritz Thyssen postdoctoral research fellow with the Zentrum Moderner Orient (Berlin, Germany) in 2015-2016. This paper is the outcome of research that he conducted during his stays at both institutions.

INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Semester
Fall 2017
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
5
CCN
18471
Times
TuTh 9:30-11:00
Location
VSLB 2050
Course Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the major theoretical approaches to international politics, to explore important historical and contemporary questions and debates in international affairs, and to teach students to think critically about international relations.

Political Science 5 is a prerequisite for Political Science 124A "War!" and most upper-division Political Science courses within the international relations subfield.

 

Please note that this course description is from Fall 2013.

JUNIOR SEMINAR: STATEBUILDING

Semester
Fall 2017
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Section
3
Number
191
CCN
18519
Times
Tu 4-6
Location
202 Barrows
Course Description

Fragile and failed states are among the most pressing challenges of the contemporary world. Yet how to establish, or reestablish, these states is among the most perplexing puzzles facing policymakers. We will briefly survey the literature on the origins of the modern state, and we will examine why certain states are fragile or failed. We will also discuss security concerns that emerge from failed and failing states, including smuggling, drug trafficking, and terrorism. We will then devote the majority of the class to considering efforts to consciously build states—especially by international actors. We will examine whether these efforts succeed and on what dimensions. In exploring these topics, you will gain familiarity with a range of academic and policy debates on state failure, international security, and statebuilding. By helping you identify and grapple with some of the dilemmas associated with building and rebuilding states, you will also learn to critically evaluate existing theories and evidence. Finally, you will have the opportunity to formulate your own theories and compile your own evidence on these topics through course assignments and class discussions.

 

 

 

Requirements

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.

This junior seminar falls within the "International Relations" subfield, and can fulfill an upper-division requirement for the major.

 

Prerequisites

Political Science Majors of Junior and Senior status (must be 3rd or 4th year students with at least 60 units completed) with a minimum overall UC GPA of 3.25Students must place themselves on the waitlist through CalCentral in Phase II. A statement of interest is no longer required for this seminar and students who meet the criteria will be moved in on a rolling basis. 

 

URBAN AND SUB-NATIONAL POLITICS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Semester
Fall 2017
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
C139
CCN
45212
Times
TuTh 3:30-5
Location
50 Birge
Course Description

Over half of the world’s population is now urban.   As urban populations swell, metropolitan areas in both the developed and the developing world struggle to provide basic services and address the negative externalities associated with rapid growth.   Sanitation, transportation, pollution, energy services, and public safety typically fall to sub-national governments.   Yet local sub-national institutions face difficulties as they tackle these challenges because development tends to spill over political boundaries and resources are limited.   Such difficulties are particularly acute in the developing world due to tighter resource constraints, weak institutions, and the comparative severity of the underlying problems.   Moreover, democratization and decentralization suggest that urban governance and service delivery may have become more democratic, but present challenges with respect to priority setting, coordination, and corruption.

This course will consider the political and institutional environment in which efforts to address metropolitan problems are developed, the financial and institutional vehicles used to provide services of different types, and the role of political parties and other forms of political organization in the development and allocation of services. Topics will include urban and sub-national institutions and political regime types, decentralization and multi-level governance, the rule of law and urban violence, civil society and popular mobilization, political party organization and mobilization strategies, public policy formulation, urban bureaucracies, corruption, the politics of urbanization, and the metropolitan political economy. Readings will be drawn primarily from Political Science, Sociology, Geography, and Economics.

Subfield:   Comparative Politics

This course is cross listed with City Planning C 139 

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD ASIA

Semester
Fall 2017
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
144
CCN
22032
Times
TuTh 8:00-9:30
Location
Hearst Field Annex A1
Course Description

 This course is designed primarily for students interested in exploring in depth the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and developments in East Asia. Although geographically quite distant from the Asian mainland, the United States has been deeply involved militarily, diplomatically and economically with that region since the 19th Century. Since the defeat of Japan in the Pacific component of World War II, the United States has maintained a strong military presence throughout the Asia-Pacific and has fought costly wars in Korea and Viet-Nam, all as integral components of the Cold War. More recently, the rise of China; the cross-Straits problem surrounding Taiwan; the economic torpor of Japan; the continued division of the Korean peninsula and the nuclear program of North Korea; along with the potential for Muslim terrorism in Southeast Asia are but a few of the problems that animate the foreign policy interactions between East Asia and the United States. This course will explore the historical and contemporary foreign policies of the United States toward Asia with an eye toward analyzing the ways in which Asia has been shaped by American, and in turn American policies have been shaped by events in Asia.

 

Students who took PS 191 "Junior Seminar: American Foreign Policy in East Asia" with Professor Pempel cannot take this course due to the substantial similarity in course content.

 

Note: The description is from Spring 2014

Political Psychology and Involvement

Semester
Fall 2017
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
164A
CCN
18466
Times
TuTh 1230−2P
Location
Hearst Field Annex A1
Course Description

Why do people engage in suicide terrorism, and how do we discourage it? What makes people discriminate against minority groups, and how do we prevent it? Why are voting rates so low, and how can we improve them? In this course, we explore the psychological foundations of successful public policy-making. We begin by considering different analytic frameworks for understanding human nature, examining the contributions of economics, political science, and psychology to explanations of social and political behavior. We then apply these theories and concepts to investigating a range of important political and public policy issues, including: how people develop their political attitudes; how mass media and campaigns shape public opinion; the root causes of racism and prejudice; why people vote, volunteer and engage in protest; and the psychological underpinnings of political extremism and genocide. In each case, our focus is on the ways that knowledge about human cognition can help policymakers craft public policies that reach their intended goals.

Subfield:   American Politics

Professor Lerman's 164A "Political Psychology and Involvement" is the same as her Public Policy 190 "Special Topics in Public Policy". This is the exact same course listed under Political Science. 

IMPORTANT! Please note you will NOT be able to take Political Science 164A with Professor Lerman, if you have already completed (or plan to take) Public Policy 190 with her.

GAME THEORY IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Semester
Fall 2017
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
C135
CCN
18364
Times
TuTh 9:30-11:00
Location
Haas F295
Course Description

A situation involves strategic interaction if the best course of action of one agent depends on what others are going to do and vice-versa. These situations include, for example, the competition among firms in an oligopolistic market, the struggle between candidates in an election campaign, the wage bargaining between a worker and an employer, and the rivalry between states locked in an arms race. Although originally developed and applied in economics, game theory is now commonly used in political science and is beginning to be applied more widely throughout the social sciences to model strategic interaction. This course offers a non-technical introduction to game theory with a special emphasis on examples and applications drawn from economics, political science, and the other social sciences.

Note: Political Science c135 is cross-listed with Economics c110.

While there are no formal prerequisites for this course, some prior coursework in economics   (e.g., Econ 1) is highly recommended. Class requirements include a midterm, final, and problem sets.

 

Subfield: Empirical Theory and Quantitative Methods

Please note that this course is NOT a substitute for PS3.

Please note that this course description is from Fall 2013

AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM

Semester
Fall 2017
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
150
CCN
18358
Times
TuTh 2-330
Location
50 Birge
Course Description

The class exposes students to the multiple forms of lawmaking in the American legal system, ranging from the elaboration of common law and constitutional rules by judges, to the fashioning of statutes by members of Congress, to the dissemination of regulations by executive agencies, to the use ballot initiatives to put legal rules up for direct vote by the people themselves. Together these forms of law constitute the American legal system. The course explores how each of these distinct forms law differs with respect to such criteria as democratic accountability and legitimacy, efficiency, stability, and their capacity to incorporate policy expertise. A primary lens through which the course approaches law is by reading and discussing court opinions."   

Professor Farhang's 150 "American Legal System" is the same as his Public Policy 190 "Special Topics in Public Policy" and Legal Studies 138. This is the exact same course listed under Political Science. 

IMPORTANT! Please note you will NOT be able to take Political Science 150 with Professor Farhang, if you have already completed (or plan to take) Political Science 150 with either Kagan or Farhang, or Public Policy 190 with Farhang or Legal Studies 138.

Note: This description is from Fall 2015

 

 

JUNIOR SEMINAR:CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY

Semester
Fall 2017
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Section
5
Number
191
CCN
18520
Times
W 12-2
Location
791 Barrows
Course Description
China's foreign policy has changed dramatically at regular intervals, but in recent years, with China's rise, it has become more ambitious and controversial.  This course will examine the evolution of Chinese foreign policy since Liberation in 1949 but focus on Asia policy in the period since the introduction of reform and opening in 1978.
 

Students who took PS 128, "Chinese Foreign Policy" with Professor Hong Yung Lee cannot take this course due to the substantial similarity in course content.

Subfield:  International Relations

 

Requirements

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.

This junior seminar falls within the "International Relations" subfield, and can fulfill an upper-division requirement for the major.

Prerequisites

Political Science Majors of Junior and Senior status (must be 3rd or 4th year students with at least 60 units completed). Priority may be given to students who have not yet taken a junior seminar.