Undergraduate

This course introduces students to modern African politics, focusing on the region’s political trends and trajectories from the colonial era to the present. We begin by studying the region’s political experiences through the turn of the 21^st century before turning to current dilemmas and questions in African politics. Particular attention is paid to the prospects for and constraints on economic development and democratic consolidation and contemporary challenges, such as the rise of new forms of political participation and political challenges to the state. Reoccurring themes include the interaction of formal and informal institutions in African societies, Africa’s position in the global economy and the nature of the state in Africa, highlighting throughout both what is specific to Africa and its sub-regions and where the continent’s politics find broader comparability with other world regions.

Subfield: Comparative Politics

Instructor: Melanie Phillips

This course exposes students to ways in which power is exercised on ordinary people.  It highlights rather unpleasant aspects of the state and reminds us that politics is often not simply a question of who gets what, but of control and domination.  Ranging throughout the world, we will seek to recapture the human experience of politics, as described by scholars, novelists, and journalists and as seen through the eyes of people who have lived through extreme encounters with authority (e.g. state terror, apartheid, police interrogation, detention, attempted genocide).  Many of the readings were selected to bring the student face-to-face with coercion in a way that middle-class Americans rarely confront.  Some readings discuss altruism and “ways out” for people in difficult circumstances.  Considerable attention will be paid to the complex relationships that link the powerful and powerless and to actions that are both more charged and less abstract than we usually discuss in political science courses.

Since many of the readings are personal, ground-level accounts and many of the authors are skillful writers, I hope students will find the selections interesting and not overly long.  Students will, however, need to devote considerable time each week to reading and make special efforts to draw out analytical themes and generalizations, wherever possible.  With some guidance, students will be expected to react to the readings, to assess the author’s arguments in terms of their own values and knowledge, and to think systematically about the issues raised.  The instructor expects to be regularly surprised (and delighted) by insightful remarks and unique perspectives. 

Many of the course readings are disquieting in any number of ways. Students who enroll in the course should be ready to grapple with challenging and sometimes harrowing topics.

A situation involves strategic interaction if the best course of action of one agent depends on what others are going to do and vice-versa. These situations include, for example, the competition among firms in an oligopolistic market, the struggle between candidates in an election campaign, the wage bargaining between a worker and an employer, and the rivalry between states locked in an arms race. Although originally developed and applied in economics, game theory is now commonly used in political science and is beginning to be applied more widely throughout the social sciences to model strategic interaction. This course offers a non-technical introduction to game theory with a special emphasis on examples and applications drawn from economics, political science, and the other social sciences.

Note: Political Science c135 is cross-listed with Economics c110.

While there are no formal prerequisites for this course, some prior coursework in economics   (e.g., Econ 1) is highly recommended. Class requirements include a midterm, final, and problem sets.

Subfield: Empirical Theory and Quantitative Methods

Please note that this course is NOT a substitute for PS3.

Please note that this course description is from Fall 2013

Instructor: Shachar Kariv

This course will examine the origins and forms of what a legal scholar once called an “odious scourge”: genocide. For years, genocide mainly referred to the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews during World War II. However, since the end of the Cold War events in Eastern Europe, Central Africa, and elsewhere have drawn scholars’ attention to genocide as a political phenomenon that may be studied across regions and time periods. Although ethical and policy concerns will underlie the discussion, as they do whenever genocide is the topic of study, our main objective will be to examine the determinants of genocide and related forms of mass violence.

This course was originally listed as PS124G. This course will be offered within the Comparative Politics subfield.

Should nations intervene in other countries to prevent human rights abuses or famine? On what principles should immigration be based? Should wealthy states aid poorer states, and if so, how much? Is it ever right to go to war? And if so, when, and with what means? We will examine different traditions in moral thought and use these tools to make reasoned judgments about these and similar difficult moral problems such as these in world politics.

This course falls within the International Relations subfield.

Please note the description is from Spring 2013

Discussion sections 101 and 102 will be held via zoom for the Fall 2023 semester.

War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Is this necessarily true? Wars are brutal and horrific events, but are they all necessarily the result of miscalculation, accident or fanaticism? Can war serve a rational purpose? Are wars governed by rules and do states care about these rules? Are some periods in history, particular parts of the world or certain types of states, more war prone than others? What are tribal, ethnic, religious or national groups actually fighting over? Can their conflicts be prevented, moderated or halted? Are democracies more peaceful than dictatorships? Are Protestants more peaceful than Catholics? Are women more peaceful than men? Is terrorism on the rise and why has it developed a unique relationship with religious fundamentalism? Have nuclear weapons changed the face of modern war? How do nuclear weapons work anyway?

This course seeks to answer these and other questions surrounding the phenomenon of war. We begin with a four-week survey of the history of war in the Western Hemisphere to examine the relationship between societies, the manner in which they fought and the weapons they used. We will then seek answers to riddle of war from a variety of disciplines: What can soldiers, philosophers, economists, psychologists and sociologists teach us about war?

The core of the course seeks to introduce students to theories of war from within International Relations theory. We will utilize in-class exercises, movies and discussion sections to get at some of the most challenging questions surrounding war. Finally, we will examine several pressing issues relating to modern warfare: the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, civil wars, genocide, religiously motivated violence, nonviolence, terrorism, and the future of war.

Subfield: International Relations

Please note the description is from Spring 2012

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.

Subfield: Either American Politics or Political Theory

This course will focus on ancient Greek political thought. We will read Sophocles’ Antigone; selections from Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War; Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Gorgias, and selections from Republic; and selections from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Politics. Themes will include political obligation and civil disobedience, the relation between power and justice, and the relevance of ethics to politics. Students will be expected to read thoroughly and participate frequently.

Note: This description is from Fall 2012

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