Undergraduate

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

Why are some post-communist countries more politically and economically successful than others? What underlies the many conflicts in this region? What can
happen in the future, and what can we learn from the East European experience? This course is designed to help you answer these and similar questions. Topics include state-socialism and its collapse, the emergence of ethnic politics, the transitions to democracy and market economics, entry into NATO and the European Union, the migrant crisis, democratic backsliding, and the role of Russia.

For more than sixty years, the European Union has represented the world’s most advanced experiment in governance beyond the nation-state. More recently, however, this experiment has become mired in financial turbulence and growing social protest, and for the first time faces the withdrawal of a member. This course takes a broad view of the promise as well as the challenges of European integration. It looks at the EU’s institutional components, the events leading to the single currency in the 1990s, enlargement eastward into the post-socialist world, and the major crises that have been challenging Europe since 2008: the financial crisis, the rise of populism, and Brexit. These topics allow us to assess Europe’s ability to craft adequate responses to the challenges posed by economic transformation, terrorism, multiculturalism, and worldwide financial interdependence, and to come to a better understanding of the EU’s current and future role on the world stage.

Instructor: Matthew Stenberg

This is a specialized course devoted to contemporary politics, economic development, and social issues in Russia. Students will learn about Russia’s political and economic history, social development, and current challenges. Russia’s relations with the other post-Soviet states are also studied in detail.  The course is an in-depth overview of the geopolitical, cultural, and other factors that shape Russia’s behavior on the international arena, with an emphasis on Russia’s ideology, institutions, and leadership. The course provides knowledge on Russia’s influence and conflicts in such regions as the Caucasus, Central Asia, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and especially North America (with a strong focus on U.S.-Russia relations). In addition to political and social issues, the course analyzes energy geopolitics, climate change, cyber-security, and other urgent aspects that involve Russia.

Students who took PS 129B or 141A "Russian Politics" with Professor Fish cannot take this course due to the substantial similarity in course content. 

Instructor: Dr. Ekaterina "Kate" Svyatets (Svyatets@yahoo.com)

Subfield: Comparative Politics

This class seeks to guide students in researching, organizing, writing, reviewing and rewriting an original research paper of publishable quality and length (approximately 25 pages long).  Students will be encouraged to individually explore any issue relating to religion and conflict, broadly defined.  They will also be expected to closely follow strict guidelines in terms of structure and formatting.

The secondary goal of this class is to discuss the relationship between religion and conflict.  Lectures dedicated to the craft of research and writing will be interspersed with lectures about theoretical and empirical issues relating to religion and conflict worldwide.  We will discuss theories in the social sciences, from psychology and sociology to anthropology and political science, that explore the intersection of religion and domestic or international conflict.  We will examine explanations for fundamentalism and extremism;  the role of religion in driving global, international and ethnic conflict;  religion and martyrdom; religion in the military; the relationship between religion and science; the Just War tradition; and the contribution of religion to conflict resolution. 

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

This course examines the interplay among domestic politics, international relations and international law in the creation, diffusion and enforcement of human rights norms. It considers the theories, principles and concepts related to human rights and their role in global politics and international law, the role of national and international institutions and actors in the current international human rights regime, recent developments in human rights law and their impact on the relations among states.  We will also discuss current debates about how to enforce human rights norms, including whether military intervention is justified.

Subfield:  International Relations

Most Americans take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But the history of suffrage in the U.S. reveals the deeply contested nature of the vote in the United States over the last two centuries. Efforts to enlarge the American polity and include previously excluded groups have been countered by doubts about democracy, resistance to suffrage expansion and adoption of measures hindering access to the ballot. This course will consider both the history, the politics and the legal doctrines defining the right to vote in America. 

Subfield:   American Politics

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.