Spring 2011

20515. On Revolution and Resistance: Hannah Arendt and Frantz Fanon. This course seeks to investigate the conception of revolution and resistance through the prism of Frantz Fanon’s and Hannah Arendt’s work, as well as, introduce students to two important thinkers in political theory. To do this, the course is broken into two sections. In the first part of the course, we will consider what Frantz Fanon and Hannah Arendt have to say about the relationship between critical reflection and revolution/resistance. To set the stage for a conversation between Frantz Fanon and Hannah Arendt on this issue, I will assign excerpts from Black Skin, White Masks works that represent Arendt’s conception of thinking. In Black Skin White Masks, Fanon illustrates an epic battle of sorts between himself and the racial epidermal schema, that is, the stories, narratives, and myths about black people that get mapped onto black bodies. Arendt explores thinking as a potential buffer to evil deeds and finds this useful for considering how one might combat oppression and domination through the act of thinking. We will ask of both Arendt and Fanon, what are the benefits and limitation of critical reflection for resistance and revolution? We will also use these works to investigate their preliminary ideas of revolution and resistance. In the second part of the course, we will focus on Arendt’s and Fanon’s accounts of revolution, and interrogate the relationship between revolution and resistance. A few of the questions that will frame our discussion of these text are the following: 1) Where, exactly, do Fanon’s and Arendt’s notions of revolution and resistance converge and diverge? 2) What is the role of violence in revolution on their accounts? 3) Is violence integral to Fanon’s conception of revolution, or is it dispensable? 4) What is the “social question” for Arendt? 5) How might we reckon with her analysis of the ‘social question’ in our attempt to understand revolution and resistance more broadly? A. Lesure. Spring. (A)

20800/32100. Machiavelli’s Prince and Discourses. (= FNDL 29300, SCTH 31710) This course is devoted to reading Machiavelli’s Prince and Discourses on Livy supplemented by selections from Livy's history of Rome. Themes include princes, peoples, and elites; republics and principalities; pagan and Christian religion and morality; war and empire; founding and reform; virtue, corruption, and fortune; ancient history and modern experience; reading and writing; and theory and practice. N. Tarcov. Spring. (A)

20817. Race, Class and Culture in American Politics. Culture is a controversial yet pervading theme in both popular and academic discussions of race and class. In this course we explore the concept of culture from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, with a particular focus on whether and how theories of culture can shed light on understandings of race and class in American politics. From the Moynihan Report and the "culture of poverty" thesis, to notions of an "American political culture," this course examines how the idea of culture has influenced political thought and practice. J. Michener. Spring. (B)

21211. Politics, Economics, and International Conflict in Europe, 1900-1945. What is the relationship between economic policy and foreign policy? How did European governments reconcile their economic interests with strategic considerations in the first half of the twentieth century? To what extent did this create unsustainable contradictions in their economic, social, and foreign policies? Using an interdisciplinary approach that draws primarily on history and political science scholarship, this course explores some of these dynamics. We will particularly focus on economic issues as a possible cause of militarism and conflict. This course analyzes in depth the origins of the two world wars as well as the prospects for peace during this time period. A. Levine-Weinberg. (D)

22200. Introduction to Political Economy of Development. PQ: Advanced standing. This course provides an introduction to the political economy of development. The key question of interest is: Why is life in some countries and regions "better" than in others? We explore different approaches to this question using theories from economics and politics. Along the way, we examine a selection of topics of substantive interest that may include poverty, inequality, corruption, gender and development, health, the rule of law, microcredit, and remittances. A. Simpser. Spring. (C)

22400. Public Opinion. (= LLSO 26802, CRES 22400) What is the relationship between the mass citizenry and government in the U.S.? Does the public meet the conditions for a functioning democratic polity? This course considers the origins of mass opinion about politics and public policy, including the role of core values and beliefs, information, expectations about political actors, the mass media, economic self-interest, and racial attitudes. This course also examines problems of political representation, from the level of political elites communicating with constituents, and from the possibility of aggregate representation. J. Brehm. Spring. (B)

22510. Law and Society. (= LLSO 28100) PQ: PLSC 28800 or equivalent and consent of instructor. This seminar examines some of the myriad relationships between courts, laws, lawyers and the larger society in the U.S. Issues covered include legal consciousness, judicial biases, the role of rights, access to courts, implementation of judicial decisions, legal education and the legal profession. G. Rosenberg. Spring. (B)

24311. Humanitarian Intervention. This seminar introduces students to the theoretical frameworks, empirical cases, and cutting-edge debates in the field of humanitarian intervention--the international use of military force to stop mass violations of human rights. The seminar is structured in two parts. First, we will examine the evolution of humanitarian intervention in its philosophical, historical, and political contexts. Second, we will focus on the legitimacy and effectiveness of humanitarian intervention by exploring several cases, including Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, and Darfur. In doing so, we will address key questions such as: Under what conditions is humanitarian intervention justified and necessary? How has its international legitimacy changed over time? What explains the achievements and limitations of humanitarian intervention in the post-Cold War period? DW Kim. Spring. (D)

24500/34500. Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition. (= FNDL 22212) PQ: This is a limited-enrollment, by-consent seminar, open to advanced undergraduates and, if space allows, to a small number of graduate students. This seminar will be devoted to a reading of Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition (1958), one of the most influential works of political theory written in the twentieth century. Through careful study of the meaning and function of Arendt’s often-puzzling distinctions among “public,” “private” and “social” and among “labor,” “work,” and “action,” we’ll try to understand her account of the significance and prospects of human activity, including especially political activity, in modernity. Topics of special concern may include: the relation between philosophy and politics; Arendt's relationship to Marx and to the Marxist critique of capitalism; the meanings of work and leisure in the twentieth century and beyond; the nature and basis of political power and freedom; the relations between art and politics; the significance of city life for politics; and many others. While The Human Condition will be at the center of the course, the book will be supplemented and framed by other material, including essays on related subjects by Arendt; excerpts from some of the other thinkers with whom Arendt was in conversation; and material by later writers that will help us situate Arendt in the larger contexts of twentieth-century intellectual life, and which will also give us different angles on some of the key issues in Arendt’s book. P. Markell. Spring. (A)

25610. Authority, Obligation, and Dissent. PQ: Completion of Social Science core. What is the basis of political authority? What, if anything, makes it legitimate? Under what conditions are we obliged to follow the laws and orders of government authorities? Under what conditions can we legitimately disobey such laws or orders, or even engage in violent rebellion? How have some of the most influential political thinkers answered such questions historically and which of their theories are most helpful for illuminating these issues for us today? Readings include classic writings by Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Burke, Paine, Kant, Thoreau, Gandhi, Fanon, and Martin Luther King, Jr. S. Muthu. Spring. (A)

26201. New Media and Politics. (= CRES 26201, AFAM 26201) Throughout history “new media,” for better or worse, have on occasion transformed politics. The use of radio to share Roosevelt’s fireside chats and of television to broadcast the Civil Rights Movement are recognized as landmark moments when “new media,” intersecting with political life, changed the course of political engagement. Today’s “new media” (the Internet, digital media production, and computer games) may also radically change how we think about and engage in politics. This course will explore the historical and potential impact of new media on politics. C. Cohen. Spring. (B)

26412/36412. The Politics of Human Rights. This seminar introduces students to the theoretical frameworks, empirical cases, policy instruments, and debates in the field of human rights. The seminar is structured in three parts. First, we will examine the evolution of human rights in its philosophical, historical, and political contexts. Second, we will examine various mechanisms and actors for the promotion and protection of human rights at the global, regional, and national levels. In particular, we will focus on the United Nations and regional human rights regimes and the power and pathology of international human rights nongovernmental organizations. Third, we will examine various forms of transitional justice, such as international criminal tribunals, universal jurisdiction, and truth commissions. In addressing these and other issues, we will explore several country cases around the globe, including Argentina, Chad, China, Israel, the former Yugoslavia, South Africa, and the United States. DW Kim. Spring. (D)

26901/36901. Cultural and Political Foundations of European Unity. (= HIST 23411) “Europe” is a word of many and ambiguous meanings, depending on how we look at it from either a geographical, political or cultural perspective. The fact that a large part of that continent coalesced after the end of the Cold War into a political union of 27 countries, commonly referred to as “Enlarged Europe,” makes it necessary to overcome previous political divisions (East-West) and to embrace this continent as a whole, both in space (including the Balkans and Russia) and in time (going as far as the Congress of Vienna). With this goal in mind, we will explore the issue “what is Europe and what does it mean to be European?” We will review successive plans of European unification, as well as prominent individuals and groups who played a part in their development. The possibility of a European unification was first envisioned as a dream of Enlightenment philosophers, then an alliance of monarchs in the post-Napoleonic era and a century later as a project of “United States of Europe” within the League of Nations. It succumbed to the wave of nationalisms that led to World War II, only to be revived through the German-French reconciliation and the foundation of European communities. Through this course, students will familiarize themselves with concepts and an interdisciplinary approach that will provide a better understanding of the cultural and political foundations of contemporary Europe. S. Ghervas. Spring. (D)

28201/38201. African American and Jewish Political Thought. (= CRES 28201, AFAM 28202, JWSC 26500) A comparative exploration of African American and Jewish political thought with reference to the themes of authority, prophecy, membership, solidarity, liberalism, the politics of diaspora, and the politics of identity. Attention both to canonical texts and contemporary debates. J. Cooper, R. Gooding-Williams. Spring. (A)

28500. Zionism and Palestine. PQ: Enrollment will be limited and by consent of instructor. This course has three broad aims, the first of which is to explore the various strands of early Zionist thinking in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th century. The second aim is to analyze how the European Zionists who came to Palestine created the Jewish state in the first half of the 20th century. The third aim is to examine some key developments in Israel’s history since it gained its independence in 1948. While the main focus will be on Zionism and the state of Israel, considerable attention will be paid to the plight of the Palestinians and the development of Palestinian nationalism over the past century. J. Mearsheimer. Spring. (D )

30700. Introduction to Linear Models. This course will provide an introduction to the linear model, the dominant form of statistical inference in the social sciences. The goals of the course are to teach students the statistical methods needed to pursue independent large-n research projects and to develop the skills necessary to pursue further methods training in the social sciences. Part I of the course reviews the simple linear model (as seen in Stat 220 or its equivalent) with attention to the theory of statistical inference and the derivation of estimators. Basic calculus and linear algebra will be introduced. Part II extends the linear model to the multivariate case. Emphasis will be placed on model selection and specification. Part III examines the consequences of data that is "poorly behaved" and how to cope with the problem. Part IV introduces special topics like systems of simultaneous equations, logit and probit models, time-series methods, etc. The breadth of coverage depends on time. Relatively little prior knowledge of math or statistics is expected, but students are expected to work hard to develop the tools introduced in class. J. Brehm. Spring. (E)

32300. The Biological Origins of Political Cognition. This course utilizes recent advances in evolutionary psychology and cognitive neuroscience to investigate the biological bases of political attitudes and behaviors. Topics include the inter-relationship between the influence of affect on political reasoning, the physiology of morality, the evolution of ethnocentrism and norms of distributive justice, and, more generally, about the possibility for making essential claims about human nature, particularly as they relate to politics. E. Oliver. Spring. (B)

33500.  Managing Moral Diversity.  (= MAPS 43500) The question of how moral difference should be understood, challenged, culturally elaborated, or politically accommodated has become ever more complex in contemporary liberal thought. It has triggered profound transformations in the way liberal political philosophers present and defend their work, from John Rawls's development of a distinctly "political" liberalism to Will Kymlicka's defense of group rights and a "differentiated" citizenship. What are the sources of our moral disagreement, and what makes those disagreements tractable or intractable, valid or invalid, worthy or unworthy of being tolerated and protected? What political changes should we seek, to accommodate moral difference in the way it should be accommodated? This seminar brings two literatures into dialogue that have had only glancing engagement to date: the normative architecture of Rawls's Political Liberalism and the cultural/institutional elaborations in Kymlicka, Chandran Kukathas, Bhikhu Parekh, Brian Barry, Martha Nussbaum, Stephen Macedo, and Amy Gutmann. C. Cyrenne. Spring. 

34001. Leviathan. A close reading of the entirety of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. J. Cooper. Spring. (A)

35300. African Political Economy. PQ: Comfortability with econometrics. Explosure to basic economics. Some basic knowledge about Africa would be useful. Eighteen African countries gained independence in 1960. Now, 50 years later, what has happened? Overall, African countries have had extremely disappointing experiences in both the economic and political arenas over the past half century. In this course we will look at what has gone wrong (and what has gone right) and why. This course will move at a rapid pace, and will incorporate significant readings and methods from modern political science and economics. The reading load will be significant, with some of the readings quite difficult. The first half of the course will combine an introduction to workhorse economic development models with investigations and applications to the situation in Africa. The second half of the course will examine specific topics in political economy which are particularly important in Africa. D. Berger. Spring

35301. Weak Theory, Bad Data: What Can We Say with Confidence in Political Science? PQ: Department's method sequence through Maximum Likelihood or consent of instructor. Basic econometrics is very good at efficiently estimating parameters of models in the presence of good data. In political science, however, we often face problems of weak theory and incomplete data. What can we say in such cases? How can we use minimal assumptions to test hypotheses? In this course we will examine how standard estimators break down in the face of the failure of assumptions and we will look at what estimators we can use when we don't believe these assumptions. D. Berger. Spring. (E)

35902. Inhumanity and Humanity in Enlightenment Thought. PQ: By consent only. Enlightenment political thought is often characterized as optimistic, as committed to the view that humans can liberate themselves from domination and exploitation by transforming or extirpating oppressive ideologies, practices, and institutions. A number of significant Enlightenment thinkers, however, also consider the possibility that the most disturbing aspects of the human condition are fundamentally rooted in our very humanity, and yet such thinkers retain an aspiration toward a less unjust world. How do such thinkers argue that the capacities that make human beings distinctive, and that are arguably among the sources of human dignity, are at the same time those that generate ‘inhuman’ or ‘dehumanizing’ actions and practices? In light of such arguments, how do such thinkers theorize the possibility of social and political progress? This seminar examines the complex relationship between inhumanity and humanity in one strand of Enlightenment thought, focusing in particular upon Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s early critical works as well as writings by two thinkers who were deeply influenced by these works: Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant. Readings will also include some recent scholarly literature on these thinkers and themes. S. Muthu. Spring. (A)

36601. Political Philosophy and Race. An intensive overview of recent treatments of race, racial oppression, and racial politics by contemporary political philosophers and political theorists. Readings are likely to include the writings of Elizabeth Anderson, Cristina Beltran, David Goldberg, Thomas McCarthy, Ladelle McWhorter, Falguni Sheth, David Scott, Tommie Shelby, and Ronald Sundstrom. R. Gooding-Williams. Spring. (A)

38510. Seminar on Legal Classics (Old and New). (= LAWS 51304) PQ: PLSC 37000/LAWS 51302.This seminar grapples with some of the lasting contributions made by students of law and courts throughout the twentieth century, as well as more recent material destined to become classic. Readings will vary in both subject and methodological approach and may include the work of the Realists, early empirical studies, social movements, new institutionalism, and jurisprudential as well as historical studies. Because the Seminar aims to provide participants with a critical perspective on classic work, both new and old, solid grounding in the literature, as obtained in PLSC37000/LAWS 51302 (Law & Politics: U.S. Courts as Political Institutions), is a prerequisite. G. Rosenberg. Spring. (B)

40501. Economic Development: Strategies and Institutions. This is a graduate-level seminar that explores topics in political economy of development. The readings include a mixture of theoretical work on the importance of institutions and the dynamics of institutional change, as well as empirical research on economic reforms and development in Russia, China, and other developing countries. S. Markus. Spring. (C)

41600. Liberalism and American Foreign Policy. J. Mearsheimer. Spring. (D)

44600. Political Economy of Development. PQ: Consent of instructor required for all students, please email instructor your name, program of study, year and reason for wanting to enroll (1 paragraph); enrollment will be decided after first class meeting. This course is an introduction to recent scholarship on the political economy of development. The course will focus on three questions: What is development? What causes or constrains development? How do we know? The course is structured as follows. In the first part, will review economic theories of development and examine different approaches to the definition of development. In the second part, we will examine different theories about the causes of development, with emphasis on the way in which political and economic processes constrain or reinforce each other. In the third part, we will apply the knowledge from the first two parts to different topics of substantive interest, such as poverty, inequality, the rule of law, corruption, and health, among others. A. Simpser. Spring. (C)

45110. Interdependent Development. This course will survey the impact of global production networks on developing and developed regions. Customer -supplier relations, labor standards, the politics of regional upgrading, the emergence of new forms of multinational enterprise in both developed and developing countries, trade union efforts to cope will all be topics. Various parts of Asia and Eastern Europe will be used as case studies for developing regions. Japan, Western Europe and the US will serve as developed country cases. G. Herrigel. Spring. (C)