Session D

This class is an introduction to the American political system. The course is designed to make you think about the logic of our government's institutions, and the consequences - both intended and unintended - of these institutions for the political behavior of citizens, legislators, and other political leaders and activists. Topics to be covered include the Constitution, American political culture, civil rights, the presidency, Congress, Supreme Court, political parties, elections, public opinion, and interest groups.

This course offers intensive comparative study of the wave of democratization that has swept much of Latin America, Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union during the past two decades. The course will analyze the theoretical literatures on regime change and compare the experiences of countries emerging from bureaucratic authoritarianism, military rule, and socialism. How do political culture, social structure and socio-economic development, constitutional systems, and international pressures affect attempts to build democratic institutions in polities recently emerging from authoritarian rule? We will investigate, among other topics: the meaning of democracy- the factors that facilitate or impede democratic transition- the roles and strategies of mass movements and elites in the process of democratization- problems of nationalism and ethnic conflict in transitions- the relationship between democratization and economic systems- and the possible limits of democratization and risks of authoritarian reversion.

What is the nature of ethnicity? How is ethnicity politicized into nationalism? What is the nature of nationalism? How does nationalism often lead to political violence? What are the dynamics of political violence? Finally, what strategies can the central state use to deal with violent ethnonationalist movements? This course seeks to answer these types of questions both conceptually and within a comparative framework. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding and critically assessing competing descriptive and explanatory theories for these phenomena. In addition, we will analyze the comparative origins, dynamics, and trajectories of several ethnonationalist movements within the context of the thematic readings. The primary goal of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of the complex phenomena of ethnicity, nationalism and political violence, and to spark their intellectual curiosity into areas for future explanatory research.

This class, which focuses mostly on the ‘domestic’ politics of India, has multiple aims. In addition to providing an overview of political developments in India since independence, the seminar assesses the nature of democratic participation and representation in contemporary India – the world’s largest democracy. While the assigned readings for this course have India as their sole focus class participants are encouraged to think comparatively not only across the cases discussed in class but also look at other nations so that we can better understand representation in political life in India.

This course is an introduction to the methods employed in empirical political science research. We will cover basic topics in research design, statistics, and formal modeling, considering many examples along the way. The two primary goals of the course are: (1) to provide students with analytic tools that will help them to understand how political scientists do empirical research, and (2) to improve students' ability to pose and answer research questions on their own. There are no prerequisites.

This course offers intensive comparative study of the wave of democratization that has swept much of Latin America, Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union during the past two decades. The course will analyze the theoretical literatures on regime change and compare the experiences of countries emerging from bureaucratic authoritarianism, military rule, and socialism. How do political culture, social structure and socio-economic development, constitutional systems, and international pressures affect attempts to build democratic institutions in polities recently emerging from authoritarian rule? We will investigate, among other topics: the meaning of democracy- the factors that facilitate or impede democratic transition- the roles and strategies of mass movements and elites in the process of democratization- problems of nationalism and ethnic conflict in transitions- the relationship between democratization and economic systems- and the possible limits of democratization and risks of authoritarian reversion.

What is the nature of ethnicity? How is ethnicity politicized into nationalism? What is the nature of nationalism? How does nationalism often lead to political violence? What are the dynamics of political violence? Finally, what strategies can the central state use to deal with violent ethnonationalist movements? This course seeks to answer these types of questions both conceptually and within a comparative framework. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding and critically assessing competing descriptive and explanatory theories for these phenomena. In addition, we will analyze the comparative origins, dynamics, and trajectories of several ethnonationalist movements within the context of the thematic readings. The primary goal of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of the complex phenomena of ethnicity, nationalism and political violence, and to spark their intellectual curiosity into areas for future explanatory research.

This class is an introduction to American government. We will explore the development and operation of the major institutional components of the American political system, including the Constitution, presidency, Congress, bureaucracy, courts, parties, and interest groups.