Undergraduate

This writing intensive seminar explores everyday forms of resistance under conditions of extreme oppression—contexts in which fear of persecution drives political and moral agency underground. To examine concealment and deception as modes of resistance, we will draw from various genres, including academic monographs, memoirs, and fiction. To fully understand the idea of resistance, ranging from obscuring one’s preferences to wearing a mask, we will consider what each author believed should be resisted, why it should be resisted, and how they argued it should be resisted. Though important, we will not be studying heroic, openly defiant forms of resistance—such as revolutions, rebellions, and mass protests—but instead ask: How might I resist when the price of defiance is deportation, imprisonment, or even death? Resistance under such extreme conditions, particularly authoritarianism, requires rethinking the relationship between visibility and virtue, conscience and circumstance, defiance and dignity, deception and duty. To glimpse the tragic realism that often follows, we will read works by Herman Melville, Primo Levi, Toni Morrison, Leo Strauss, Nella Larsen, James Scott, Erving Goffman, Albert Hirschman, Timur Kuran, Václav Havel, Czesław Miłosz, and Gloria Anzaldúa, among others.

Junior seminars fulfill upper division requirements for the major.

Subfield:   Political Theory

The goal of this junior seminar is to engage students in consideration of the relationship between politics and economics, with a focus on the global South. We will begin with a historically-rooted evaluation of “development” as a framework for thinking about the role of states in markets and the character of economic performance, alongside the emergence of post-colonial states. A focus of this discussion will be the interaction between actors at the domestic and international levels, and the changing relevance of the global economy for domestic economic outcomes. The final portion of the course will consider more recent research that aims to apply current tools of political economic research to questions about the importance of politics for market function, the relevance of political institutions to policy outcomes, the persistence of inefficient institutions, and the relevance of the international economy for domestic actors.

This course is intended for outstanding students who intend to pursue graduate school in political science or another of the social sciences. The course is designed, and will be conducted, like a graduate seminar. The course aims to provide students with a rigorous introduction to core topics in social theory. The course centers on four major themes: power, equality, freedom, and community. Our class sessions will focus on discussions of course readings. Students are required to do all of the readings for the week in advance of class meetings and to participate actively in discussions. Grades will be determined as follows: one-half for the quality and quantity of contributions to seminar discussions; and one-half for a research paper that will be due at the time of our final class meeting. The paper will take the form of a comparative inquiry into several of the major theorists we are reading in the course. Students will begin developing plans for their research papers early in the course, and will present their work to the seminar at times that we will set aside for discussion of research-in-progress.

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:   Comparative Politics

Many public issues are about the risk of something bad happening—an oil spill, about of extreme heat, or a terrorist attack. When bad things do happen, like a pandemic, a disastrous wildfire or a mid-air airplane collision, they often produce a crisis that grabs headlines and demands urgent attention. This course explores how risk and crisis create a certain style of politics that can galvanize or derail policymaking and influence problem definition and policy design. The course will examine how crisis and risk are used to claim power and authority, but also how power and authority are deployed to limit our ability to respond effectively to risk and crisis. We will also investigate the strategic and institutional issues that arise in preparing for, responding to, and managing crises and risks, exploring topics such as preparedness, precaution, resilience, reliability and robustness. The course will adopt a comparative and multilevel perspective and draw on examples and research from different policy sectors.

Berkeley Connect is a mentoring program, offered through various academic departments, that helps students build intellectual community. Over the course of a semester, enrolled students participate in regular small-group discussions facilitated by a graduate student mentor (following a faculty-directed curriculum), meet with their graduate student mentor for one-on-one academic advising, attend events and/or panel discussions, and go on field trips to campus resources. Students are not required to be declared majors in order to participate. There is no homework associated with Berkeley Connect: no exams, no papers, no quizzes.

 We encourage students in their first year at Berkeley, as freshman or transfers, to participate.

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

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

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 Summer 2014