Fall 2018

The creation, maintenance, transformation and decay of international arrangements designed to manage or regulate interstate activities relating to trade, money, resources use, technology, and physical environment.

Please note that the description is from Fall 2012

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

Course Description is TBA

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.

Most Americans take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But the history of suffrage in the U.S. reveals the deeply contested nature of the vote in the United States over the last two centuries. Efforts to enlarge the American polity and include previously excluded groups have been countered by doubts about democracy, resistance to suffrage expansion and adoption of measures hindering access to the ballot. This course will consider both the history, the politics and the legal doctrines defining the right to vote in America. 

Subfield:   American Politics

This course examines the interplay among domestic politics, international relations and international law in the creation, diffusion and enforcement of human rights norms. It considers the theories, principles and concepts related to human rights and their role in global politics and international law, the role of national and international institutions and actors in the current international human rights regime, recent developments in human rights law and their impact on the relations among states.  We will also discuss current debates about how to enforce human rights norms, including whether military intervention is justified.

Subfield:  International Relations

The methods used to manage the power of the bureaucracy in the American political system. An introduction to theories of organizational behavior. The effects of administration structure upon the creation and distribution of public benefits.

Subfield:   American Politics

Please note that this description is from Fall 2013.

Instructor: TBA

This one-unit course will feature a guest speaker each week discussing an issue currently in the news. The class is open to all students, and there are no prerequisites. The class is offered Pass/Not Pass, based on a final examination. May be repeated for credit.

This course does not count as an upper division Political Science requirement.

This course will focus on the transformative process through which the nations of contemporary Southeast Asia have confronted political crises and instability and the various levels of success with which they have attempted to implement comprehensive programs of reform.  This course will analyze several different areas of political activity, such as:  state-led initiatives (political economy) regarding development and resource distribution; citizen and opposition movements both within and outside formal state institutions which seek to influence, alter, or overturn state action and policy; institution-building and the cultivation of social capital; and regional and transnational flows of capital and labor which act in alliance with or in opposition to national economic institutions.  Specific topics will include a comparative analysis of state policy; the relationship between illicit economies (such as narcotics) and ethnic insurgency; the nascent political voice of religion and ethnicity as nationalist or opposition ideologies; the expansion and influence of local NGOs (legal aid, human rights, women’s rights, etc.); political violence and alternative paths to the expression of discontent; and corruption.  After a general overview of Southeast Asia as a regional political theater, we will turn our attention to a series of in-depth case studies.  

Please note that this course description is from Spring 2015

A weekly seminar on approaches to the history of political thought.  Theoretical topics, typically including the nature of meaning and textuality, validity and interpretation, and historical explanation.