Undergraduate

This course explores central themes and ideas in the history of African American political thought: slavery and freedom, solidarity and sovereignty, exclusion and citizenship, domination and democracy, inequality and equality, rights and respect. Readings will be drawn, primarily, from canonical authors, including, among others: Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delany, Harriet Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Marcus Garvey, and Martin Luther King, Jr. This is an introductory course, which emphasizes both thematic and historical approaches to the study of political theory.This course explores central themes and ideas in the history of African American political thought: slavery and freedom, solidarity and sovereignty, exclusion and citizenship, domination and democracy, inequality and equality, rights and respect. Readings will be drawn, primarily, from canonical authors, including, among others: Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delany, Harriet Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Marcus Garvey, and Martin Luther King, Jr. This is an introductory course, which emphasizes both thematic and historical approaches to the study of political theory.

Note: Course previously offered as 116, Spring 2020.

An inside look at how political campaigns operate from the people who run them. Class material will be directed toward students who are interested in direct involvement in campaign politics or who are looking for a greater understanding of the political process. Students will be required to develop a complete written campaign strategy document in order to fulfill class requirements. Students will be expected to follow political and campaign news through the news media and be prepared to discuss those developments in class. Serious lectures, discussion and classroom exercises on campaign strategy and message development and delivery, with a special focus the role of political media. This section will focus predominantly on campaign advertising, news media coverage, the emerging role of the Internet, and other means by which candidates communicate their message to the voters.

Subfield: American Politics

Please note that the description is from Fall 2013.

Analysis of principal institutions, function, and problems of the Presidency and the federal executive branch. Special attention will be given to topics of presidential leadership, staffing, executive-legislative relations, and policy formation. Comparative reference to executive processes in other political systems.

Please note that the description is from Fall 2012.

Subfield: American Politics

International relations, including everything from trade to terrorism, fundamentally shape our world. In this course, students will develop analytical tools to identify puzzles and theorize about answers on crucial issues of international relations. Students will also gain skills and experience to empirically explore these questions, including through critical engagement with different types of academic articles, the examination of quantitative evidence, the exploration of cases, and policy analysis of evolving situations. This course assumes no background of international relations and serves as a prerequisite for several upper-level classes on international relations.

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 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 provides an overview of some of the methods employed in political science research. Its purpose is to familiarize you with the scientific study of politics, and to teach you how to pose and answer empirical research questions using appropriate evidence and arguments. Along the way we will learn about how to formulate and evaluate theories, how to design research to discover whether a particular theory holds up empirically, and some basic research strategies. By the end of the course you should have the tools to critically evaluate the kinds of social science arguments found in everyday life. The lectures for this course are pre-recorded and accessible through the course website. We recommend viewing each week’s lectures some time before you attend the weekly section.  

Women make up around 49.5% of the global population, yet they are strikingly underrepresented when it comes to political office. Looking at the global average, women only hold 24% of seats at the parliamentary level. The percent of women in office varies drastically between countries. For example, quota-based countries like Rwanda have 60% women in parliament, whereas countries with unique electoral systems like Lebanon only have 4.7%. This course looks to explain this variation, and further understand the consequences of it. We will focus on questions such as: How do electoral systems affect women’s access to elected office?  What, if any, are the negative effects of imposing gender quotas? If elected, do women promote greater substantive representation? We will look into the potential for gender-based discrimination among socialized gender roles, voters, political parties, campaign policies, and the media. Please be advised that this is not a course on feminist theory, but rather an investigation of the barriers to women’s representation and political participation.

Instructor: Melanie Phillips

This course explores international and sub-national conflict and security issues from the perspective of political psychology.  The first part of the course introduces several frameworks from psychology that can be applied to the study of conflict and security.  The second part of the course uses these frameworks to explore both historical and contemporary topic.

Note: The course ID will be updated later this semester with a specific suffix.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with a better understanding of how political parties operate within the American political system, with a particular eye to ongoing contemporary problems of polarization between the major parties. In the first unit, we will examine the dynamic of partisan conflict throughout the history of the United States, the functions served by these parties for both citizens and elites, and why the American system favors a two-party dynamic. In Unit 2, we will then consider a variety of perspectives on the widening ideological, emotional, and demographic divides between Democrats and Republicans, both in terms of what explains this polarization, and what consequences for democratic governance we can expect it to have in the present and future. Students will attend lectures and discussion sections, read a variety of both academic and journalistic texts, take two exams, and complete a written project drawing from one of several offered argumentative or research assignments. Students will also be expected to keep up with both current events and ongoing conversations in political media.

Instructor: Sean Freeder