Undergraduate

This course explores the varieties of political experience and ideas in the ancient Greek world,
focusing on the Classical era. We’ll consider different regime types (kingship, tyranny,
democracy, oligarchy), places (Athens, Sparta, Crete, Syracuse, and beyond Hellas, Persia,
Carthage, and Egypt), political forms (city-state, nation, alliance, empire), institutions (assembly,
council, courts, offices) and persons (political leader or “demagogue,” citizen, woman, foreign
resident, slave). The readings are broadly chronological and include a wide variety of sources:
epic and elegiac poetry, tragic and comic drama, history, inscriptions, speeches, pamphlets, and
philosophy. Throughout, we’ll keep an eye on the similarities and differences between ancient
Greek and modern political ideas and practices, particularly as they relate to three key themes:
political agency, democracy, and justice.

This course was originally listed as PS116 for Spring 2022. As of 10/22/21, PS116W will be used.

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.

Please note the description is from Spring 2014

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

Political theory is about ideas, including freedom, equality, and justice.  Political ideas matter because we act on them; they inform our institutions of governance.  They matter too because we debate our future using them; they tell us what is to be done.  By the end of this course, you should have a better grasp of the ideas that inspired the world in which we live and the ideas that might direct our future. To be effective, political theories have to contain ideas that support one another in wider webs.  Ideologies are examples of webs of political ideas, containing ideas about what the world is like, why it is as it is, and what it might become.  After a brief examination of the nature of political theory and ideology, we will study the main ideologies found in contemporary political debate: liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism, feminism and environmentalism.

This course will introduce students to some key concepts used in contemporary comparative political analysis. It will do so through an examination of the reasons for why some modern nation states provide better living conditions for their citizens. Are these differences due to factors such as political institutions, legislative arrangements, parties and party systems, or social forces such as culture and ethnicity? Class lectures will focus on developing an understanding of how political scientists use these terms and whether they provide adequate explanations for why states vary so substantially in their performance. There will be two lectures per week and one required discussion section.

This description is from Fall 2012.

This course will introduce students to some key concepts used in contemporary comparative political analysis. It will do so through an examination of the reasons for why some modern nation states provide better living conditions for their citizens. Are these differences due to factors such as political institutions, legislative arrangements, parties and party systems, or social forces such as culture and ethnicity? Class lectures will focus on developing an understanding of how political scientists use these terms and whether they provide adequate explanations for why states vary so substantially in their performance. There will be two lectures per week and one required discussion section.

This description is from Fall 2012.

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

Why are human rights not part of debates about domestic public policy and legal reform in the United States? The United States played a leading role in the creation of the post-World War II international human rights regime and has often championed human rights as a foreign policy goals. Yet human rights have been marginal to debates about social and economic equality at home. We will examine the history of human rights in the United States since the New Deal, asking how and why the New Deal’s embrace of human rights was supplanted by a narrower focus only on constitutional and civil rights. We will also examine the consequences of this narrower framework, as well as why human rights may now be coming home. 

The Junior Seminars are intense writing seminars which focus on the research area of the faculty member teaching the course. 

Junior seminars fulfill upper division requirements for the major.

Subfield:   American Politics

In many ways, American government is failing the American people. We spend the most on healthcare than any country in the world, but do not have the health outcomes to show for it. We incarcerate more people per capita than any other nation. Despite the clear dangers of climate change, government is not moving fast enough to decarbonize the economy. Returns from economic growth continue to accrue to those at the top of the wealth and income distribution.

This course critically examines the role of American government in perpetuating and addressing social and economic challenges. The first half of the course introduces a policy-focused approach to the study of American politics. This will include sessions covering how American political institutions affect our ability to enact and implement effective public policies, how interest groups gain and wield influence over public policy, why government bureaucracies so often fail to provide effective regulations and services, along with other topics. The second half of the course applies this the theoretical perspective to the study of four critically important policy areas: healthcare, climate change, housing, and criminal justice. We will develop a baseline understanding of the role government plays in these areas and explore the politics underpinning government decisions. Finally, we will explore pathways for policy reform, and discuss the political challenges that make reform difficult.  

A central focus of the course will be to develop students’ ability to both comprehend and produce social science research. Readings will draw mostly from leading political science journals and showcase a range of research methods. In addition to engaging with the conceptual material in these articles, we will spend time discussing and critiquing authors’ research designs. The goal is to prepare students to write a research proposal that they could then implement for their senior theses.

Instructor: Sam Trachtman

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.

Class will meet in Andersen Auditorium (Haas) for the remainder of the semester.