Fall 2013

semester status
Active

The Fundamentals of Comparative Politics Economy National Economies In A Global Era:

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
201A
CCN
72187
Times
Th10a-12p
Location
706 Barrows
Course Description

PS 201A – Fall 2011 Time: Thursday 10-12 AM

Professor: John Zysman Place: 706 Barrows

Office: 2234 Piedmont Avenue MC 2322 CC#: 72187

Phone: (510) 642-0474

Email: zysman@berkeley.edu

 

This course develops the fundamentals of comparative political economy and considers the character of basic debates in the field. As such it explores the interplay of governments, politics, and markets. How does politics shape economic trajectories; how do market developments shape politics? We are interested in how countries vary in their response to economic challenges and the politics of their choices.

The course has three objectives.

o One objective is to consider the several frameworks and analytic tools that underpin comparative political economy. These several analytic paradigms highlight, and obscure, different issues. The question is not how to choose among these lines of analysis, but how to use them properly.

o The second objective is to consider how to apply these tools to contemporary issues from inequality and labor markets through finance and national growth strategies. The several frameworks suggest different lines of argument and different types of evidence.

o The third objective is to understand how to translate the broad debates and the analysis of particular contemporary issues into researchable problems with testable propositions.

Politics and Policy-making in Developing Countries

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
210
CCN
73074
Times
Th 9a-12p
Location
355 GSPP
Course Description

This graduate seminar provides an introduction to the relationship between politics and policy-making in developing countries. Using India as a guide, we will examine the political institutions underlying the policy process and the role played by groups with diverse policy interests. In doing so, we will evaluate the characteristics of political competition and the dynamics of political participation in highly dynamic contexts. The course will begin with a consideration of the major institutional and non-institutional factors shaping policy-making, such as the nature of formal electoral institutions and social cleavages. With this foundation in domestic political economy, we will spend the second half of the course exploring a set of major policy issues facing developing countries today, including economic development, poverty, health, and the environment. Throughout the course we will place India in the context of other developing countries, so as to evaluate the ways in which differing institutional and interest-based constraints may lead to divergent policy choices at both domestic and international levels.

 

This course is cross listed with Public Policy 290.17 ccn# 77415

 

Quantitative Analysis in Political Research

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Units
4
Number
231A
CCN
73059
Course Description

This is a rst course on statistical inference and modeling for use in social science research. It
covers probability and the theory of statistical inference, justi cations for and problems with common
statistical procedures, and how to apply procedures to empirical social science data to draw conclusions
relevant to positive social theory. We will pay particular attention to the motivation for statistical
inference and modeling from the standpoint of social science. Lectures and reading will primarily
cover theory and simple examples. Problem sets will cover both simple theoretical extensions and
applications of tools we develop to real data.
Required Skills. Students should have completed PS230 or its equivalent with a B or better.
Students should have a working knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, and elementary calculus. The
course is suitable for students with a large range of prior exposure to statistics and mathematics.
Students with Ph.D.-level training in mathematical statistics from a statistics department will not
nd that it pushes their capabilities; students with less background than this should nd at least
some challenges, conceptual or technical. All students capable of gaining admission to a Berkeley
Ph.D. program can fully succeed in this class regardless of prior technical preparation other than the
required skills listed above.

Comtemporary French Politics: The Republican Model in Transition

Semester
Fall 2013
Units
4
Number
147F
CCN
71784
Course Description

French political life has long gravitated around a " Republican model" marked by an unmediated relationship between the citizen and the state, socialization into French values through secular public education, a special vocation for France on the international stage, and an activist state.   Recent developments have called the Republican model into question.   This course will examine the transformation of France's Republican model-its origins, operations, and responses to contemporary challenges.

 

Subfiled: Comparitive Politics

Dissertation Writing Workshop

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
290
CCN
72210
Times
W 2-6p
Location
291 Barrows
Course Description

Dissertation Research Workship for students in all empirical subfields.   Students working on all phases of their dissertations, from prospectus to post field work writing and post-research article preparation, are welcome.

Admission is by permission.   Interested students must contact Professor Collier, provide a statement of their research project, and indicate the stage of research and committee chair, if already determined.

 

 

 

Courts and the State

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Units
4
Number
250
CCN
72206
Course Description

The course is a political science graduate seminar that will focus on courts' relationship to other political institutions, particularly but not exclusively in the American separation of powers context, with and emphasis on readings from institutionalist (both historical and rational choice) perspecitves .

The Statistics of Causal Inference in the Social Science

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Units
4
Number
C236A
CCN
72198
Course Description

Approaches to causal inference using the potential outcomes framework. Covers observational studies with and without ignorable treatment assignment, randomized experiments with and without noncompliance, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, sensitivity analysis and randomization inference. Applications are drawn from a variety of fields including political science economics, sociology, public health and medicine.

Requirements

This course is cross-listed with Statistics  C 239A

Formal Models of Political Science

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Units
4
Number
232B
CCN
72194
Course Description

In weakly institutionalized environments like the international system or countries where the rule of law is weak political actors – be they opposing factions or states – can use force or the threat of it to further their interests. Recent years have seen an explosion of work in political science on the causes of war and still more recently on civil war and the politics of weakly institutionalized environments in both economics and political science. This course begins with a survey of the formal work in political science on the causes and conduct of war and then branches out to include selected topics in the political economy of wealy instituitionalized environments. PS232B is a sequel to PS232A. Students are expected to have some background in game theory (e.g., PS232A or Econ201).

Graduate Seminar in International Security

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Units
4
Number
224A
CCN
72193
Course Description

The goal of this course is to introduce advanced political science graduate students to current debates in the filed of international security and to prepare theses students for conduction dissertation research in their own areas of interest within this field.  This course is designed for advanced political science graduate students preparing to commence their dissertation research.  Its orientation is theoretical rather than empirical and it is both reading and research. 

Selected Topics in International Relations:Civil Conflict and International Intervention

Level
Semester
Fall 2013
Instructor(s)
Units
4
Number
223
CCN
72192
Times
Tu 2-4p
Location
706 Barrows
Course Description

Politically-motivated violence is frequently committed in the form of civil conflict, and, even so, it often occurs with the involvement of international actors.   This course explores two main sets of questions: when, why, and how are terrorist campaigns and civil wars fought? And, when, why, and how do international actors intervene to end them?   This course draws on different theoretical and empirical approaches to answer these questions.   It is designed to help political science graduate students: (1) understand the causes, strategies, and consequences of civil conflict and international intervention, (2) broaden their theoretical framework in international relations generally, (3) engage with the existing work in the field and begin original research on civil conflict and international intervention.   The research projects should serve as the basis for dissertation prospectuses, dissertation chapters, or publishable articles.