Undergraduate

This seminar focuses on fragile states, especially post-conflict states, to consider politics in these contexts. We will examine how the design of state security institutions change and can then contribute to peacebuilding in post-conflict environments. Post-conflict orders are especially prone to failure. But we will also think beyond these states that have had civil conflict. Indeed, most civil conflicts recur shortly after they end. There is a special focus on policing in these contexts.

The seminar is especially aimed at both the substantive of this topic, as well as the research process, beginning focused study of specific cases. In this course, taking the comparative perspective seriously, all students will develop case studies on how policing structures and controls change at pivotal moments of conflict termination and then how those changes affect outcomes such as citizen trust and cooperation. Students may also choose to code variables about post-conflict state policing, rebel demobilization, and peacekeeper patrolling if they wish for a mixed-method approach. Significant portions of the class will focus collecting and assembling descriptive evidence in case studies. 

Description: TBA

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.

Junior seminars fulfill upper division requirements for the major.

Subfield:   Political Theory

Description: TBA

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.

Junior seminars fulfill upper division requirements for the major.

Subfield:   Political Theory

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.

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

The United States social fabric is interwoven by more than 60 million Latinos. The term “Latino”, however, is not a monolith. It masks heterogeneous political experiences and views. Latinos have divergent immigration histories and socialization experiences in the US, all of which have differently shaped their political perspectives and engagement patterns. This course examines the past and present of Latino politics in the US. The course reviews the history of conquest, colonization, and immigration that gave rise to the Latino population in the US, the differences and similarities in the contexts of reception of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and Central American, the cultural and institutional determinants of Latino identities, and the historical and institutional contexts shaping the contemporary political attitudes, behaviors, and representation of Latino voters.

The course follows and builds on two textbooks: Latino Politics by Lisa García Bedolla and Christian Hosam, and Latino Politics in America by John García and Gabriel Sanchez. Students will attend lectures, engage in reading-based participation and active learning, take one exam, and complete a final research paper. Students will start developing their research paper early in the course. Discussion sections will be designed to introduce students to the writing of a research paper and quantitative data analysis, and to provide a forum for students to present advances on their papers and to receive feedback from their peers and instructors.

Subfield: American Politics

This course examines public opinion in American Politics and how to measure it. The course considers the nature of public opinion, survey methods, the role of polling in opinion expression, opinion formation, citizen knowledge, the role of media in shaping opinion, the effect of opinion on policy, and political polarization.

Instructor: Stephanie Nail

This four credit course, not offered here before, will focus on constitutional decision-making and judicial structure and practices in the federal and state courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.  The assigned reading will include foundational opinions from the U.S. Supreme Court as well as decisions and issues from its most recent terms, as the Supreme Court’s composition has changed, and the process that has led to that change.  The role of state courts also will be a touchpoint in light of their growing role in addressing issues of individual rights and liberties and election law.  In two words, with respect to both public policy and individual rights, the principal question addressed over the semester is this:    “Who decides?”  Government or the individual, the state system or the federal?  The course anticipates remote appearances from several appellate experts, including journalists and authors writing today who cover the court system.  Successful completion of the course will require a combination of brief papers and at least two examinations, a mid term and final,  with a complementary emphasis on class participation. 

Instructor: Brady Williamson