Fall 2021

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 provides an overview of California politics, with a focus on contemporary issues and an analysis of who wields power and why. Specifically, the course will focus on : the demographic, social and economic forces that shape the State's politics- the three official branches of state government (executive, legislative and judicial)- the three unofficial branches (the media, lobbyists and interest groups)- campaigns (candidates, initiatives, consultants, pollsters, political parties and money), local government, the state budget and education policies.

Subfield:   American Politics

Please note this description is from Fall 2013

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

Subfield: Comparative Politics

This course presents a broad introduction to contemporary politics and society in Russia. What was the Soviet Union, and why did democracy fail in Russia after the USSR fell apart? What kind of regime has Vladimir Putin constructed, and what are the limits of his power? How did Russia reemerge as a global power and how does it challenge the West and democracy around the world? How may we understand the nature of Russian nationalism and the quest for a secure national identity? How does the Russian economy work? What do we know about public opinion and the lives of ordinary Russians? Does the recent rise in social protest and state repression portend major political change? The course is recommended for juniors and seniors but is open to all students.

Please note, the course's previous ID was POL SCI 129B. POL SCI 141A and POL SCI 129B are the same course.

Remote Discussion sections 102 and 104.

Women make up around 49.5% of the global population, yet they are strikingly underrepresented when it comes to political office. Looking at the global average, women only hold 24% of seats at the parliamentary level. The percent of women in office varies drastically between countries. For example, quota-based countries like Rwanda have 60% women in parliament, whereas countries with unique electoral systems like Lebanon only have 4.7%. This course looks to explain this variation, and further understand the consequences of it. We will focus on questions such as: How do electoral systems affect women’s access to elected office?  What, if any, are the negative effects of imposing gender quotas? If elected, do women promote greater substantive representation? We will look into the potential for gender-based discrimination among socialized gender roles, voters, political parties, campaign policies, and the media. Please be advised that this is not a course on feminist theory, but rather an investigation of the barriers to women’s representation and political participation.

Instructor: Melanie Phillips

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 examines the interaction between politics and markets, both in theory and in practice, linking classic works on political economy (Smith, Marx, List, Polanyi) with current policy debates.  It emphasizes the ways in which markets are embedded in social and political institutions.  We study how markets are structured in a wide range of different national settings, looking at both history and contemporary issues.  We review some of the most influential works from four disciplines: Economics, Sociology, History, and Political Science.

Topics include: 1) The history of industrialization, 2) The varieties of capitalism in contemporary industrialized countries, 3) The emerging economies of Latin America and East Asia, 4) The problems of development, and 5) The transition from communism to a market economy in Eastern Europe and China.  We conclude the course with a review of current issues in the global economy.  

Subfield:   Comparative Politics

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.

Fall 2021 REMOTE Lecture and sections 104, 107 and 112.

Please note that this course description is from Fall 2013

This course will focus on the practical application of research methods for political science. In this course, we will take on two major tasks:

1. How can we implement standard research designs found in political science research? The research aims of scholars are varied, but all research requires a strong research design. This class will examine several topics in research design and causal inference with emphasis on how to implement these techniques in practice.

2. How can we communicate our results so that others can reproduce what we have done? Successful research programs rely on the ability of others to scrutinize claims. This course will cover methods to explain our results to others in a transparent manner and strategies for visualizing research results.

By the end of the course, students will feel comfortable with the foundational tools of causal inference. They will also learn how to code these techniques in their research.

Instructor: Alexander Stephenson