Winter 2009
20430. Military Violence. This course addresses both theoretical and empirical approaches to the issue of military violence, defined as that violence perpetrated by groups organized to withstand retaliatory attack. We will examine the concept of violence and its relationship to social organization, focusing on distinctions between force and power and the way in which this distinction informs (or fails to inform) recent theories of military power and effectiveness. Because violence places special strain on social relationships, we will also investigate, through a series of theoretical and empirical studies, the challenges of organizing military violence at the micro, operational, and institutional levels. J. Obert. Winter. (D)
20601. Political Judgment. The course explores both classic and contemporary thinking about judgment and its relationship to politics, with an eye towards locating strands of continuity in an otherwise disjointed heritage. Though we will by no means attempt an exhaustive history of the idea, the class will try to trace answers to critical questions across thinkers, in part by placing the question of the nature of political judgment in the context of concrete political problems. I. Storey. Winter. (A)
20730. State Preferences and War. This course aims to explore the relationship between assumptions made about state preferences and explanations of war. The focus will be on the deconstruction of the assumptions made by these scholars about state preferences in order to understand how "what states want" relate to the absence or presence of war. Some of the questions that we will try to answer vis-à-vis the relevant literature will be: do all states want the same thing? Can state preference change over time, and if so, why? What do authors mean by concepts such as power, wealth, security, state survival? How useful is it to attribute "rogue" preferences to some states and "benign" ones to others? We will then combine the insights gained to make sense of the state of the present day international politics. B. Kadercan. Winter.(D)
20800/32110. Machiavelli's The Prince and Discourses. (=FNDL 29301) This course is a reading and discussion of The Prince and the Discourses on Livy, supplemented by portions of Livy's History of Rome. Themes include the roles of princes, peoples, and elites; the merits of republics and principalities; the political roles of pagan and Christian religion and morality; war and empire; founding and reform; virtue, corruption, and fortune; the relevance of ancient history to modern experience; reading and writing; and theory and practice. N. Tarcov. Winter. (A)
21120. Great Power Politics. PQ: Basic knowledge of international relations theory and twentieth century world history.This course explores the military, economic, and social sources of great power competition in international politics. We will begin by examining the major theoretical approaches to the study of great power politics, asking questions such as: What do states want? What is the structure of the international system and how does it shape state behavior? What is the relationship between material and ideational factors in determining outcomes in international politics? More specifically, what makes a state a great power? How do great powers interact with each other? Why do great powers often pursue risky and aggressive foreign policies? We will then evaluate these theoretical approaches through an examination of major cases of great power politics in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Historical topics include: the rise of US hegemony in the Western Hemisphere, the Anglo-German naval race, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Contemporary topics include the emergence of new nuclear powers, the United States' war on terror, and the rise of China. The objective of the course is to gain a better appreciation for the complexity of global politics as well as the continuing relevance of great power politics to international affairs. M. Murray. Winter.(D)
22515. The Political Nature of the American Judicial System. This course aims to introduce students to the political nature of the American legal system. In examining foundational parts of the political science literature on courts conceived of as political institutions, we focus on the relationship between the courts and other political institutions. The sorts of questions to be asked include: Are there interests that courts are particularly prone to support? What effect does congressional or executive action have on court decisions? What impact do court decisions have? While the answers are not always clear, our goal is to develop an awareness of and sensitivity to the political nature of the American legal system. G. Rosenberg. Winter. (B)
24500/34500. Arendt's The Human Condition. PQ: By consent only. Enrollment limited to 20. For advanced undergraduates. Undergraduates must have completed their Humanities and Social Sciences sequences, and one more specialized course in a relevant area of political theory or philosophy is strongly recommended. This seminar will be devoted to a close reading of Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition, focusing both on its internal conceptual structure and on its intellectual and political contexts. P. Markell. Winter. (A)
25201/35210. Politics, Evolutionary Psychology, and Social Neuroscience. This course utilizes recent advances in evolutionary psychology and cognitive neuroscience to investigate claims by political theorists (both classical and contemporary) about human nature and political organization. Topics include the inter-relationship between affective and cognitive information processes, the physiology of morality and ideology, the meaning of self-governance, inter-group dynamics, political cognition, and the possibility for making essential claims about human nature, particularly as they relate to political organization. E. Oliver. Winter. (A)
25300. American Political Parties. This course introduces the nature and function of American political parties. We concentrate on two main themes. First, we explore the origins of the American party system. Topics include the origin of America's ambivalence toward political parties, the emergence of parties in the United States, and the institutional foundations of America's two-party system. Second, we investigate the role that political parties play as intermediary institutions between the public and their elected officials. Our studies focus on the role of political parties in the organization of elections and the government. More advanced topics include political realignments, divided government, and the decline of parties hypothesis. J. Grynaviski. Winter. (B)
25800. Losers. This is a course that reads and analyzes some of the texts of 19th and 20th century writers who wrote on social, political, and economic problems and were important in their own time and who have had significant influence on their successors but are not included in the canon. Some of the writers we examine are: DeMaistre, LaSalle, Frederick Douglass, Sidgewick, Spencer, William James, Sorel, and Hannah Arendt. B. Silberman. Winter. (A)
26300/39300. Comparative Politics of the Middle East and North Africa. This course examines major theoretical concerns in comparative politics using cases from the Middle East. It investigates the relationships between political and economic change in the processes of state-building, economic development, and national integration. The course begins by comparing the experience of early and late developing countries to provide students with a broad historical overview of market formation and state-building in Europe and to cover the legacies of the Ottoman empire, European colonialism, and the Mandate period in the Middle East. We then explore topics such as the failure of constitutional regimes and the role of the military, class formation and inequality, the conflict between Pan-Arabism and state-centered nationalisms, the role of political parties, revolutionary and Islamicist movements, labor migration and remittances, and political and economic liberalization in the 1990s. L. Wedeen. Winter. (C)
27000. Philosophy, Race, and Racism. (=CRPC 27000, LLSO 27701) An intensive examination of some selected philosophical and social theoretical treatments of race and racism. Topics include the history of European racial thinking in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the nature and moral significance of racism, social constructionist theories of race (with some attention to related accounts of the social construction of gender), and the bearing of those theories on our understanding of black, Latino, and other racial identities. Readings include classic writings by W.E.B. Du Bois, as well as more recent work by Linda Alcoff, Anthony Appiah, Jorge Garcia, Jorge J.E., Gracia, Sally Haslanger, Tommie Shelby, and Paul Taylor. R. Gooding-Williams. Winter. (A)
27015/37015. Colonialism, Democracy, and Conflict.Enrollment by consent only. This course looks at the impact of the colonial experience on post-independence levels of democracy and conflict, both directly and through the long term colonial era legacies on other factors such as economic growth, or ethnic imbalances in the economy, administration, and military. The course covers a wide range of disciplinary approaches, from history and sociology, to anthropology and economics. The common methodological theme is understanding how we might measure the impact of the past, and the benefits and limits of various quantitative approaches to doing so. S. Wilkinson. Winter. (C)
27715/37715. Rousseau. Open to advanced undergraduates by consent only. This seminar is a reading of selected theoretical and literary texts by Rousseau. Our discussions center primarily on questions of individualism, self-esteem, and autobiography, and their implications for democratic theory. J. Cooper. Winter. (A)
27815. Politics and Public Policy in China. This course offers a historical and thematic survey of Chinese politics in the twentieth century. Particular attention is given to the formation of the party-state, the imposition of central planning, the Great Leap forward, the Cultural Revolution, reform and liberalization, and China's role in the world in the post-Cold War era. The discussion is framed in terms that allow comparison with other countries. D. Yang. Winter. (C)
28400/49500. American Grand Strategy. This course examines the evolution of American grand strategy since 1900, when the United States first emerged on the world stage as a great power. The focus is on assessing how its leaders have thought over time about which areas of the world are worth fighting and dying for, when it is necessary to fight in those strategically important areas, and what kinds of military forces are needed for deterrence and war-fighting in those regions. J. Mearsheimer. Winter. (D)
34700. Political Economy of China. This course offers a set of tools for analyzing Chinese economic development and reforms. Our focus will be on how economic and political institutions have changed and how those changes affect the behavior of citizens, consumers, and businesses. We seek to understand the patterns of institutional transformation by examining legacies of the past, political and economic campaigns, leadership transitions, as well as China's integration with the world economy. Topics covered include reforms in industrial governance, financial supervision, market regulation, and state-business relations; variations across regions and industrial sectors; the integration of Hong Kong into China; Taiwan and China; and China's international trade strategy. All major topics are examined with a view to their international implications. D. Yang. Winter. (C)
34900. American Political Behavior. B. Sinclair. Winter. (B)
35400. Politics of International Trade. This class explores the politics of international trade from a political economy perspective. The main themes of this course include determinants of trade preferences, distributional effects of international trade, institutional explanations of trade policies, and the effects of international economic institutions on domestic trade politics. J. Park. Winter. (D)
37000. U.S. Courts as Political Institutions. (=LAWS 51300) PQ: A mandatory pre-meeting is scheduled for Monday November 10at 12:15 in the Law School in Seminar Room D. Enrollment in the seminar is strictly limited and any student who wishes to be considered for admission to the seminar must attend the meeting. An examination of the ways in which United States courts interact with the broader political system. Questions include: How do the procedures, structures, and organization of the courts affect judicial outcomes? Are there interests that courts are particularly prone to support? What effect does congressional or executive impact, including judicial selection, have on court decisions? What are the difficulties with implementation of judicial decisions? G. Rosenberg. Winter. (B)
41500. Seminar on Nationalism in the Age of Globalization. Nationalism has been the most powerful political ideology in the world for the past two centuries. This course examines its future in the age of globalization, focusing in particular on the widespread belief that it is an outmoded ideology. Specific topics covered in the course include: the causes of nationalism, its effects on international stability, nationalism and empires, globalization and the future of the state, globalization and national identities, the clash of civilizations, American nationalism, and the clash between Zionism and Palestinian nationalism. J. Mearsheimer. Winter. (D)
41700. Social Movements. Scheduled for Tuesdays, 1:30-4:20. This course is an introduction to theoretical and empirical research on social movements. In this course we will take social movements to mean national-level collective mobilizations organized for political change. During the quarter we will examine and debate what a range of scholars across disciplines have written about some of the fundamental questions regarding the emergence, evolution and political impact of social movements. For example, what types of collective action qualify as social movements? What factors lead to or shape the development of social movements? What role do social movements play in the working of American democracy? Finally, why have political scientists largely ignored social movements as a topic for extensive and careful study? C. Cohen. Winter. (B)
41800. Causal Inference.B. Sinclair. Winter. (E)
42420. Approaches to the History of Political Thought. J. Pitts. Winter. (E)
42800. Inclusion and Exclusion: Conquest, Slavery, and Empire. Many modern European political thinkers sought to shape and were deeply influenced by political controversies over Europe's relations with the rest of the world. What understandings of freedom, accounts of human nature, and theories of human diversity were more likely to generate support for-or attacks upon-slavery, conquest, trading companies, and empire? What were the range of theoretical arguments about universal morality; the meaning, worth, and location of "civilization"; and the value of cultural diversity that were elaborated by thinkers who sought to emancipate and defend-or to enslave and subject-those who were deemed foreign? We will also examine the legacies of such writings for contemporary thinking about universal moral and political principles, cultural pluralism, and international justice. S. Muthu. Winter. (A)
44902. Undemocratic Elections. A. Simpser. Winter. (E)
45010. Social Theory and the Economy. This course surveys social theoretic writing on the boundaries and character of economic process. Topics include theories of reflexivity and agency, recombinant organizational forms, and alternative forms of governance G. Herrigel. Winter. (C)
45210. Politics and Identity. What is identity politics, and what metaphysical, ethical and, indeed, political problems does it pose? More concretely, what sort of political and/or legal demands can we validly make as members of a collective identity group? To what extent, finally, can liberalism in particular accommodate identity politics or, alternatively, provide a philosophical framework for its defense? To explore these and other related questions we will concentrate on three recent contributions to the debates about identity and politics: Kwame Anthony Appiah's Ethics and Identity, Linda Martìn Alcoff's Visible Identities, and Georgia Warnke's After Identity. In examining each of these works, we will carefully consider how its author's reliance on particular philosophical resources--e.g., John Stuart Mill's notion of individuality, Charles Taylor's theory of the self, Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body-shapes her or his larger argument about the politics of identity. R. Gooding-Williams. Winter. (A)
45301. Advanced Criminal Law: Criminal Law and the Regulation of Vice. B. Harcourt. Winter. (A)
50000. Dissertation Proposal Seminar. P. Markell. Winter.
