Courses
Courses for 2011-2012
The University uses a five-digit course numbering system. Courses whose first digit is less than “3” are considered College-level courses. Those courses whose first digit is “3” or higher are considered graduate-level. In general, College courses whose first digit is “1” are considered to be introductory or meeting first-year general education requirements.
Boldface letters in parentheses refer to the course distribution areas. (A) Theory; (B) American Politics; (C) Comparative Politics; (D) International Relations; (E) Methodology.
To find the Time Schedule for courses currently being taught, please follow the link on the menu.
Please note: Courses and descriptions subject to change.
Spring 2012
20212/30212. Urban Cultures, Local Politics and Globalisation-An International Perspective. (=SOCI 20212/30212) At the centres of global markets, cities across the world experience economic competition pressures along with the retreat of states to corporate capital and the homogenization of local cultures. While rapid urbanization can enhance social fragmentation and exclusion, the contemporary changes also offer local opportunities for entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and bottom-up politics. Cities are not only economic agglomerations, products and creative milieus, but also public spaces where diverse groups meet. Culture can belong to everybody and serves the community by fostering collective belonging, education, communication, and civic advancement. States and policy-makers have long used cultural policies for nation-building, institutional stability and power representation. More recently, local governments and marketing experts have discovered urban culture to promote the market location as well as social cohesion and political support. But urban symbols can also serve alternative power claims and expressions of discontent. These various functions of urban culture do not easily combine in cohesive development strategies, often causing interest conflicts and public contestation. We will discuss how various conceptions of power and culture result in different definitions of and questions about cities, and how these scholarly traditions might also be grounded in varying empirical realities in different urban context. The course will comprise four thematic blocks: (1) Public space: community & diversity; (2) Globalization: the decline of public space; (3) The cultural economy: gentrification, creative class, city marketing; (4) Bringing publics back in: states, government, citizens, institutions. The course will be taught by a mix of instructional methods, including introductory lectures, readings of some of the most seminal texts, students' own research and class room presentations of case studies from Chicago, the US, Europe and other international cities. M. DeFrantz. (C)
20312. The Politics of Mass Incarceration in the U.S. Since the 1960s, the United States prison population has quintupled; a staggering 1-in-100 adults are now behind bars. It has been suggested that "the reality of crime as the target of our criminal justice system [...] is not a simple objective threat to which the system reacts: it is a reality that takes shape as it is filtered through a series of human decisions running the full gamut of the criminal justice system." In this course we'll focus on those human decisions—starting with the birth of the modern penitentiary at the turn of the 19th century, this seminar will explore the political decisions (and non-decisions) that facilitated the creation of mass incarceration in the U.S. C. Berk. (B)
20412. After Evil. This course will analyze understandings of justice in “post-conflict” societies. We will critically examine the theoretical literature on “transitional justice” to investigate how, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, scholars and citizens alike have relegated evil to the past, permanently deferred justice to the future, andframed the present as a time between wrong and right. The class will investigate the political effects—on nationalism, sovereignty, and citizenship—of the dominant, post-Cold War discourse of human rights through a variety of cases, including post-war America, Germany, South Africa, Yugoslavia, and Lebanon. The course will be structured by a detailed reading of Robert Meister’s recent work, After Evil: A Politics of Human Rights (2010). A series of secondary readings drawn from disciplines such as political theory, history, philosophy, jurisprudence, and theology will augment the exposition of the core text. This course aims to enable students to think critically about the uniquely post-Cold War temporality of evil and justice, when evil’s end, far from precipitating justice, postpones it indefinitely. R. Goel, M. Whyte. (A)
20812. Violence and the Politics of Black Women in the United States. From slavery to hip-hop, violence has stayed at the center of the lives of black women within the United States, both in their everyday experience, as well as in discussions about black women in the public sphere. This class will illustrate black women's unique relationship with violence in this country, a relationship, that has, in fact, informed and motivated black women's resistance struggles since slavery. This course is interested in the ways in which experiences of and discussions around violence have shaped the politics of black women in the United States. While physical violence will be at the core of the discussions, we will also interrogate the extent to which other forms of harm, be they emotional or structural, should be considered violent aspects of black women's lives. The first five weeks of the class will provide a historical overview of black women's experiences with violence from slavery through the black power movement. We will explore the ways in which this violence radicalized black women during these periods and informed much of their political mobilization. The last five weeks will interrogate black women's contemporary experiences with violence. We will examine the way in which discussions and experiences of physical, sexual and domestic assault have changed, and how they have stayed the same over time. As a class we will debate whether or not these experiences of violence have informed contemporary black women's political organizing. We will spend our last two weeks discussing how violence should be considered. Should we only concern ourselves with measurable, discrete physical harm? Or should we take into consideration broader arguments about structural, emotional and psychic violence as well? A. Moffett-Bateau. (B)
20912. Politics of International Development. This is a seminar course that surveys the field of international development with special emphasis on the political development and democratization of developing countries. The purpose is to introduce the student to the current debate on theories and recent empirical findings on poverty alleviation, human rights, and political participation, and in particular its relation to national governments politics and international/foreign organizations. It addresses general issues such as what is international development, what is political development and democratization, what is poverty and inequality, and what is (and ought to be) the role of the state and international/foreign organizations in the process of poverty alleviation, political development, and democratization. It also deals with more specific questions such as the relation between different political regimes and their impact on poverty alleviation and development, and the effect that institutions, geography, colonial legacy, globalization and international aid have on political and economic development. Empirical evidence is drawn from recent experiences in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. C. Ponce de Leon. (C)
21902/31902. Multi-level Governance: Politics Beyond the State? Multi-level governance describes a tendency in contemporary statehood toward increasingly complex institutional processes associated with the emergence of new actors and political spaces that compete with or complement states. Initially developed to define the hybrid statehood of the European Union, it has since been applied to a broad range of phenomena associated with territorial reorganization within and between states, mainly in Europe but increasingly also in other parts of the world (e.g. international organisations, state-decentralization, cross-border cooperation, regions, cities, neighborhood movements, national autonomy movements, European political parties, transnational lobbies, anti-globalization or anti-EU protests etc.). Situated at the cross-roads of conventional disciplinary thinking, the debate bridges functionalism and collective action, international relations and comparative politics, as well as different – sub- and transnational- empirical phenomena. Despite the theoretical deficiencies associated with this traveling across contexts, the term addresses some relevant phenomena of contemporary politics that challenge us to think beyond either nation and state or market dominated globalization. The complex institutional processes of state-transformation pose normative, conceptual, and empirical questions about power and legitimacy, the potential for collective action and territorial statehood in a diverse contemporary world. The course takes up this debate by inquiring into European politics from a comparative perspective with the US, equipping the students with a grounded knowledge of the debates, arguments, and conceptual tools relevant to make sense of politics in the contemporary world. Based on the first part introducing the relevant concepts and theoretical debates of new institutionalism, European politics, and multi-level governance, the course then comprises three thematic parts. The second part is dedicated to the historical emergence of European nation-states and discusses the concept of territorial statehood in its changing historical context as well as the contemporary challenges associated broadly with globalization. The third part goes on to examine alternative territorial actors and institutions challenging the compact constitution of nation-states and contributing to the emergence of supra-, sub-, and transnational spaces of politics. The last part then addresses the European Union as a process of multi-level governance and embeds it in an international perspective. M. DeFrantz. (C)
22112/32112. Political Theory After Catastrophe. How does thinking about politics change when people are confronted not by the ordinary challenges of governance but by extraordinary disasters, either natural or man-made? This course considers how some exemplary thinkers and actors have tried to make sense of politics in such circumstances, beginning with the intellectual aftershocks from the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which disrupted developing Enlightenment narratives of progress and providence. We will read the conversation among Voltaire, Rousseau, and Kant about what this catastrophe could tell us about the meaning of human life and action. Subsequent units consider man-made catastrophes and ask how this complicates the Enlightenment framework of theodicy and reconciliation. How can and should the revelation of the extreme possibilities of human action – actions like enslavement and genocide – affect thinking about politics? In seeking answers to this question, we will consider work about the colonization of the Americas, the American Civil War, the Holocaust, and Hurricane Katrina by Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Theodor Adorno, John Rawls, Hannah Arendt, Terrence Malick, and others. B. McKean. (A)
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. (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)
23010. Liberalism and Empire. The mutual constitution of liberal political thought and modern European empires has been the subject a vibrant new body of work in both political theory and the history of political thought over the past two decades. The evolution of liberal thought coincided and intersected with the rise of European empires, and those empires have been shaped by liberal preoccupations, including ideas of tutelage in self-government, exporting the rule of law, and the normativity of European modernity. Some of the questions this course will address include: how was liberalism, an apparently universalistic and egalitarian theory, used to legitimate conquest and imperial domination? Is liberalism inherently imperialist? Are certain liberal ideas and doctrines (progress, development, liberty) particularly compatible with empire? What does, or what might, a critique of liberal imperialism look like? Readings will include historical works by authors such as Mill, Tocqueville, and Hobson, as well as contemporary works of political theory and the history of political thought (by authors such as James Tully, Michael Ignatieff, David Kennedy, and Uday Mehta). J. Pitts. (A)
23412. The Political Economy of the Global Financial Crisis. The United States and most of the developed world are experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. While focusing on creating an interdisciplinary dialogue, the course examines the origins of the crisis and attempts to find some underlying causes. They could exist at multiple levels of analysis—from the unprecedented role of technology in generating market innovations to the (de)-regulation of the international financial system. These causes may be the result of the structural features of contemporary capitalism, the consequence of one individual's folly, or even chance. We also address different aspects of the crisis, including how this one is related to past crises, the constellation of policies and politics that may have unleashed it, and the differential impact it has had so far within and across countries. S. Siegel. (D)
23415/32815. Emergence of Capitalism in Early Modern Europe. (=HIST 23300/33300) This course investigates the emergence of capitalism in Europe and the world as a whole between the early sixteenth and the late eighteenth centuries. We discuss the political and cultural as well as the economic, sources of capitalism, and explore Marxist, neoclassical, and cultural approaches. W. Sewell. (C)
25700. African Politics. This course provides an overview of African political history from colonial times to the present, as well as a survey of the most pressing and most researched issues in contemporary African affairs. Among issues that we will consider is the nature and impact of colonial rule in Africa, colonial legacies at independence and beyond, and the type of politics that emerged after independence, with widespread one party rule and military coups. We will study the wave of democratization that swept the continent in the 1990s, with its varied trajectories and outcomes. We will discuss some of the most salient problems in contemporary Africa including economic crisis, clientelism, ethnic politics and civil wars. D. Koter. (C)
26913.The Politics of Immigration: Race, Rights, and Activism. (=CRES 26913) This reading intensive course is designed to provide students with a critical introduction to the "Politics of Immigration." The class will begin with a review of some of the mainstream and alternative explanations experts have proposed as being some of the "root-causes" of and initiating forces behind international migration (from colonization to neoliberal economic restructuring). We will subsequently turn our attention to the dynamics of immigration policymaking and examine how race, gender, sexuality, and class both impact and are impacted by immigration laws. The course will then shift focus and take a closer look at some of the most contentious topics related to the issue of immigration, such as: its effects on the American economy and workers, cultural assimilation, undocumented immigration, border militarization, and racialized nativism. The class concludes by examining the various forms of political participation (from voting patterns to activism) that immigrants themselves have traditionally and currently engage in. C. Zepeda-Millán. (B)
28700/38700. Jewish Political Thought. This course is an introductory survey of Jewish political thought from the Bible to the present day. Jews have had a unique political history: for the majority of Jewish history, Jews have not been a sovereign nation. As a result of this history of statelessness, Jewish thinkers have approached political questions in ways that differ from the mainstream of Western political theory. In this course, we will survey the different genres in which Jewish thinkers have addressed political questions, and we will explore what these thinkers have to say about power, authority, law, obligation, community, and national sovereignty. Readings will include selections from the Bible; Midrash; Halachah; medieval and modern philosophy (Maimonides, Spinoza); arguments for and against Zionism; and Israeli constitutional law. J. Cooper. (A)
28900/39900. Strategy. This course covers American national security policy in the post-cold war world, especially the principal issues of military strategy that are likely to face the United States in the next decade. The course is structured in five parts: (1) examining the key changes in strategic environment since 1990, (2) looking at the effects of multipolarity on American grand strategy and basic national goals, (3) focusing on nuclear strategy, (4) examining conventional strategy, and (5) discussing the future of war and peace in the Pacific Rim. R. Pape. (D)
29200. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties. (=LLSO 24000) PQ: PLSC 28800 or equivalent and consent of instructor. This course examines selected civil rights and civil liberties decisions of U.S. courts with particular emphasis on the broader political context. Areas covered include speech, race, and gender. G. Rosenberg. (B)
29301/39301. Arendt and Heidegger. This aim of this course is to understand the relationship between Hannah Arendt's political thought and Martin Heidegger's philosophy through careful readings of Being and Time, The Human Condition, and several related essays by each author on such themes as freedom, truth, and the work of art. R. Gooding-Williams, P. Markell. (A)
30700. Introduction to Linear Models. An introduction to the general linear regression model, the most widely used inferential tool in quantitative social science. The course first considers the model and its statistical properties. It then considers generalizations of the model that deal with problems caused by violations of its assumptions. Topics include the general linear model, hypothesis testing, nonlinearities in variables, interactions, diagnostics, heteroscedastic residuals, autocorrelated residuals, lagged variables, qualitative dependent variables, measurement error, interdependent sets of equations and graphic display of data and regression models. J. Brehm. (E)
33200. History of International Thought. J. Pitts. (A)
33300. Interpretive Methods in the Social Sciences. This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to interpretive methods in the social sciences. Students will learn to "read" texts and images while also becoming familiar with contemporary thinking about interpretation, narrative, ethnography, and social construction. Among the methods we shall explore are: semiotics, hermeneutics, ordinary language theory, and discourse analysis. L. Wedeen. (E)
35720. Political Party Systems. D. Koter.
40304. Law, State, Space. Do the politics of states and societies occur in space or through it? Do the geographies of power - in colonisation, in state formation, in globalisation, in virtual spaces - matter? How does law conceive of, divide, and give meaning to the spaces in which it functions? How do politics and law travel? This graduate seminar will begin with recent political science scholarship that explores the spatial components of politics and the political dimensions of space, survey a range of approaches to the study of law, state and space, and end with discussion of independent research projects. I. Hussin. (C)
41000. 17th Century Political Theory. J. Cooper. (A)
41201. Militaries in Politics. PQ: Enrollment is limited; consent of instructor. This seminar studies how militaries shape political life. Though often ignored in favor of political parties, economic inequality and class coalitions, and legislatures, militaries are pivotal political actors in much of the world. Their ability to engage in large-scale organized violence makes them powerful allies and dangerous foes for civilian elites and mass publics. This course studies the internal and external politics of militaries. We will examine a variety of topics, including coups and withdrawals, counterinsurgency and countersubversion, foreign policy, organizational politics and socialization, military rule, the coercive politics of state formation, and the remarkable variety of civil-military relationships (from collusion to conflict). The focus will be on the developing world but we will also cover classic cases of military politics in Europe and the United States. We will also compare militaries to other forms of armed organization, particularly police, militias, paramilitaries, mercenaries, and insurgents. This course draws on numerous disciplines, sub-fields, and methods, and requires a major research paper. P. Staniland. (D)
42301. Seminar: Adorno's Aesthetic Theory. What, if anything, is the political significance of art—of an individual work, or of the very idea, whatever that may mean—in advanced capitalist societies? What modes of engagement, philosophical or otherwise, with aesthetic experience are adequate to art’s social place and powers? What is the relation of art to truth? The aim of this seminar is to understand Theodor Adorno’s treatment of these and related questions in his late work, Aesthetic Theory. The first three weeks of the seminar will be preparatory, and will consider Adorno’s early reception of Kantian and post-Kantian philosophical aesthetics; his participation in and reaction to Marxist controversies over the relation of art to revolution and emancipation; and his development of a distinctive critique of culture under capitalism. Against this background, we shall then read Aesthetic Theory itself over four weeks. The seminar concludes with two weeks’ exploration—necessarily very selective—of subsequent critiques, defenses, and appropriations of Adorno’s thought. P. Markell. (A)
42512. Postcolonial Intersections: The Middle East and South Asia. (=ENGL 66720, SALC 49500) From its inception, postcolonial theory has generally been construed as a polemic between West/non-west and colonizer/colonized—unmindful of important variations on both sides of these binaries (e.g.,historical and geographical varieties of colonialism; diverse types of anticolonialism; experiences of and reflections about postcolonial political, economic, social, and intimate life.) Also occluded are the complex conversations (some of them quite antagonistic) across colonized locations. This seminar pays attention to forgotten geo- historical and epistemological/affective circuits of postcolonial theory, with particular attention to the exchanges between South Asia and the Middle East. L. Wedeen, L. Gandhi. (C)
44902. Undemocratic Elections. Limited enrollment; interested students please email instructor at asimpser@uchicago.edu. Certainly many and perhaps most elections, both historically and today, fall short of democratic standards. Much scholarship on elections has focused on the advanced industrial democracies. In this course we will study elections that, by comparison, are quite "imperfect." What are the different ways in which elections are undermined as instruments of accountability? What are the causes of election fraud and manipulation? What are the broader socio-economic consequences of a corrupt electoral system? How do electoral systems characterized by corrupt elections eventually come to hold free and fair elections? Under what conditions are domestic and international pressures to hold free and fair elections effective? We will bring to bear theoretical work, historical case studies and statistical analyses for a range of countries and time periods, from Roman times to the United States in the 19thcentury to current elections in developing countries. A. Simpser. (C)
45113. Pragmaticism, Action and Criticism. G. Herrigel. (C)
46900. International Investment Arbitration. (=LAWS 96403) This seminar will cover the law and policy of international investment arbitration, a regime of growing importance. It will cover major doctrinal issues as well as social science readings on the origins and consequences of the arbitration regime for development, international relations, and law. T. Ginsburg.
50900. Comparative Case Study Method. This course will examine the core epistemological and methodological issues surrounding the case study method. R. Pape. (E)
WORKSHOPS
48400. Workshop on International Security Policy. This workshop aims to provide interested members of the Chicago community with an opportunity to meet and discuss a wide range of international security topics. Special emphasis will be placed on looking at important policy issues that lend themselves to social science research. Relevant topics include: 1) NATO expansion, 2) America’s grand strategy after the Cold War, 3) the rise of China, 4) nuclear proliferation, 5) the state of Russia’s military, and 6) stability in the Persian Gulf. Speakers will include policymakers, as well as scholars and graduate students doing policy-relevant research. J. Mearsheimer, R. Pape.
52000. Political Theory Workshop. ( =SCTH 52000) The workshop is a forum for the presentation of new research in all varieties of political theory and political philosophy, including work in the history of political thought; contributions to normative political philosophy; theoretical engagements with problems in contemporary politics and public policy; and theoretical reflection on fundamental political concepts or phenomena. Our weekly seminars include presentations of work in progress by graduate students, as well as University of Chicago faculty, faculty at other Chicago-area institutions, and a small number of invited guests from around the country. Graduate students serve as discussants for all presentations. The Workshop subscribes to no particular methodology or political ideology, and welcomes participants from all departments and disciplines. Staff.
54500. Workshop on American Politics. The workshop is a forum for students and faculty to present and discuss research in all areas of U.S. politics. On a regular basis, the workshop also features speakers from other universities. Through presentations and critical discussion, workshop participants are exposed to emerging work in the field. W. Howell.
54600. Workshop on East Asia. (=ECON 57100) This workshop focuses on current social science research on East Asian societies, including the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Presentations are by university faculty and advanced graduate students who conduct research on these societies, throughout the social science disciplines. Two to three outside speakers are hosted each quarter. D. Yang, D. Zhao.
55300. Workshop on Political Economy. The Workshop in Political Economy is organized around rational choice and game theoretic approaches to the study of politics and economies, broadly construed. Workshop topics include positive analysis of political, economic and social behavior, as well as normative models of public choice, experimental tests and philosophical critiques. We also expect some of the work presented to focus on empirical and policy applications of political economy models. Thus the workshop is inherently interdisciplinary – combining economic methodology with political science questions, and building political considerations into economic analysis. Workshop sessions will apply these combinations to a broad range of social science issues and substantive topics. S. Gailmard, R. Myerson.
55500. Workshop on Comparative Politics. This workshop invites scholars whose work is historical, sociological, anthropological, and political to cultivate a forum that is highly interdisciplinary in nature. We have addressed issues such as state building, democratic theory, economic policy, the welfare state, and cultural cleavages in past years. We invite graduate students with area expertise to raise theoretical issues about their data and interpretations that would be of interest to a wider circle of social scientists. As in the past, there will be no particular geographic or temporal focus in the workshop. D. Slater.
59500. Workshop on International Relations. Part of the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security (PIPES), this is a yearlong workshop for advanced graduate students engaged in their own research projects in international relations. PIPES meetings provide a forum for advanced graduate students, university faculty, and outside guests to present their research. Topics include the full range of international politics and theory, including political economy, security studies, foreign policy, international law and organizations, international environmental issues, critical international relations theory, and a wide variety of regional issues. This work is methodologically diverse, encompassing historical research, mathematical modeling, quantitative studies, and interpretive approaches. C. Lipson.
