Session A

The overwhelming majority of governments throughout history have been dictatorial. Even the recent spread of democracy has not extirpated authoritarian rule: as of 2012 roughly one quarter of all countries are considered full-blown autocracies. Whatever the benefits of democracy, it seems dictatorship is here to stay. This course explores the characteristics and dynamics of non-democratic regimes: how and why they come about, what sustains them, why some people resist them and others do not, and how and why they decline and fall. We will explore a variety of examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Using films and novels in addition to political science literature, we will investigate how dictators maintain their power, how ordinary people react to repression, and the links between dictatorship and security and economic development.

Subfield: Comparative Politics

Note: Course description is from Spring 2014

This course presents a broad introduction to contemporary politics and society in Russia. What was Soviet-type socialism and how is its legacy shaping post-Soviet Russia? Where is Russia headed: toward democracy as it is known in the West, a new form of authoritarianism, reversion to the old system, or something else? The political upheaval and social movements that swept Russia and the other Soviet republics during the Gorbachev period will be explored. We will then examine the Yeltsin and Putin periods and current problems of political change. The topics to be investigated include the transformation of political institutions, dilemmas of movement from a command economy to a market economy, struggles among emerging social interests, public opinion, social integration and disintegration, nationalism, and Russia’s place in the world. The course is recommended for juniors and seniors only but is open to all students.

Note: Course description is from Summer 2010

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.

Note: Course description is from Fall 2013

This course looks at political theory as an attempt to answer the question, How should we live together as members of a political community? We will consider this question in light of a key political problem: disagreement among citizens about how our political community should look like. This problem of pluralism will inform our discussions of more particular political questions: What, if anything, is the common good in a pluralistic society? What is the role of law and the Constitution? How can we justify civil disobedience? How can one be a patriot if one’s country follows a course with which one disagrees?

We will begin by considering political theories that deny pluralism and will examine how they understand the common good and justify the obligation to obey the law. These theories will serve us as a comparison to the problems that emerge once we acknowledge the fact of pluralism. Having considered the grounds for pluralism and the fact of reasonable disagreement, we will turn to contemporary political theories that take pluralism for granted but nonetheless search for a shared public ground. These theories will include political liberalism and deliberative democracy. In the last part of the course we will consider theories that deny the existence of a shared political culture and will ask how they define the common good, justify obeying the law, and explain the possibility of patriotism.

This course explores the sources of public opinion and political behavior through the application of psychological theories about personality, learning, cognition, emotion, social influence and group dynamics. The first part of the course focuses directly on psychological theories and concepts, illustrating them with political applications. The second part of the course focuses upon topics traditionally taken up by political scientists, bringing psychological perspectives to bear. There are no prerequisites.

Political Science 142A

This course begins with a brief historical review of the demise of the Ottoman Empire, followed by the British and French mandate over the Middle East region, the anti-colonialist revolt, the emergence of Israel, Arab-Israeli conflicts, the rise of secular nationalism, and the resurgence of Islamism in all its populist, revolutionary, conservative, and revivalist forms. We will then shift our focus to new modes of thinking about the region—grounded in political economy, economic insecurity, youth bulge, and the burgeoning revolts against authoritarianism and the status quo. While examining a myriad of reasons behind social protests and movements in the region, this course will adopt both a case study approach—focusing primarily on Iran, the new Arab revolts since 2011, especially in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, and Syria—and a comparative study of revolts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We also take a thematic approach to the causes of social unrest and identity formation in the region.

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.

_{Theme : Comparative Democracy : A Citizen Perspective}

_{This course would provide an overview of the multiple meanings of democracy across the world, especially from a citizen`s perspective. Drawing largely from the Globalbarometer Surveys, the Course would discuss how the socio-economic context, historical setting and framework of political competition, define and decide citizen perceptions of democracy. The course would also discuss citizen trust in public/political institutions and what explains this perspective. The Globalbarometer survey is a combination of 6 regional barometers which include: a) Latino Barometer, b) Afrobarometer; c) East Asia Barometer; d) South Asia Barometer; e) Arab Barometer; f) Eurasia Barometer. Data from the Eurobarometer will also be integrated in the sessions.}

_{The sessions would involve case studies from different regions.}

This course explores the sources of public opinion and political behavior through the application of psychological theories about personality, learning, cognition, emotion, social influence and group dynamics. The first part of the course focuses directly on psychological theories and concepts, illustrating them with political applications. The second part of the course focuses upon topics traditionally taken up by political scientists, bringing psychological perspectives to bear. There are no prerequisites.

A course about race and gender in American politics from the nineteenth century to the present. The first part is focused on the women’s rights movement from its origins in the anti-slavery movement through passage of the women’s suffrage amendment. The second part of the course will focus on twentieth century women's social and political issues, including the creation of suburbia and the feminine mystique in the 1950's, the Civil Rights Movement, "second wave" feminism, race and gender in the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas controversy, and, if time permits, contemporary electoral politics.