Courses
Course Archive
Courses Spring 2006
Please find below a list of courses offered by the department during the Spring 2006 quarter.
20315. Japanese Foreign Policy. This course is designed to provide a survey of Japanese foreign policy from the imperial period to the present. We will begin with a review of major theoretical approaches to foreign policy (such as realism, liberalism, constructivism, bureaucracy model, and so on), each of which explains some aspects of state's behaviors. Then, we will examine features of Japanese foreign policy within a historical context and analyze them from a range of theoretical perspectives. Finally we will examine Japan's relations with its important neighbors (such as the U.S., China, two Koreas, Russia, and ASEAN) within a post-Cold War context. B. Kim. Spring 6.
20500. Introduction to American Government. This course provides an introduction to American national politics. The course topics include an introduction to America's constitutional foundations; elements of mass public politics (public opinion and participation); the role of intermediary organizations (interest groups, media, parties); and the function of institutions (Congress, Presidency, Courts). In addition to mastering a basic set of facts about American government, students will learn theories addressing big questions in American politics, and will explore critical assessments of the evidence brought to bear on these questions. Students will be expected to take part in extensive verbal and written discussion of the various topics. M. Harris-Lacewell. Spring.
22615. The Political Thought of Tacitus. (=FNDL 23401) Enrollment limited to 15. An exploration of the political thought of Tacitus through a reading of his Agricola, germania, Dialogue on Oratory, and excerpts from the Annals and the History. N. Tarcov. Spring. (A)
23310/33100. Gender and Development. (=GNDR 23501) This course analyzes issues of gender and development studies. Questions include: How does the gender division of labor between unpaid household labor and paid employment intersect with government policies and actions of international organizations in less developed countries? What is the gendered construction of piece work in the home, and of factory work in export processing zones? What are the attitudes of governments in less developed countries and in developed countries toward sex work, sex tourism, and sex trafficking? How do structural adjustment programs condition the lives of women and relations between men and women? I. Young. Spring. (A)
25300/36300. 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. Specific 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. Spring. (B)
25600. Hurricane Katrina and American Politics. Hurricane Katrina was not only one of the worse modern disasters in the U.S., but particularly its aftermath provided a lens in many of the fault lines within American society and politics. This course will use the disaster as a lens with which to analyze a wide range of topics in the study of American politics. Topics to be examined in this course using the disaster as a focal point include: the divides in American public opinion; the role of the media in politics; the responses of local, state and federal institutions; the role of political leadership; and, the strength and weakness of civil society in the U.S. M. Dawson, M. Harris-Lacewell. Spring.
25720/35720. The Long 18th Century II. PQ: At least four quarters of political or social theory or philosophy (including core sequences). This course will examine political, legal, and economic thought in Western Europe and North America from the mid-18th century through the French Revolution. It will focus on the Scottish Enlightenment, the American Revolution and founding, and the French Revolution, with particular attention given to Hume, Smith, and the Federalist Papers. Students may take this course or its winter-quarter predecessor without taking the other, but there will be considerable gains from taking them in sequence. J. Levy. Spring. (A)
26000. Race and Politics. Fundamentally, this course is meant to explore how race, both historically and currently, influences politics in the United States. For example, is there something unique about the politics of African Americans? Does the idea and lived experience of whiteness shape one's political behavior? Throughout the quarter, students interrogate the way scholars, primarily in the field of American politics, have ignored, conceptualized, measured, modeled, and sometimes fully engaged the concept of race. We examine the multiple manifestations of race in the political domain, both as it functions alone and as it intersects with other identities such as gender, class, and sexuality. C. Cohen. Spring.
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, which will provide students with a broad historical overview of market formation and state-building in Europe and will cover the legacies of the Ottoman empire, European colonialism, and the Mandate period in the Middle East. The course then explores 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. Spring. (C)
26500/36510. State, Society, and Democratization in Southeast Asia. This course provides a broad overview of the evolution of Southeast Asia's highly diverse political systems, with a focus on historical factors that have helped shape prospects for democratic transition in recent years. The first segment sketches how the region as a whole was influenced by global processes of colonization, state formation, the rise of nationalism, Cold War rivalry, and the intensification of capitalist modes of production and exchange. After making a brief foray into democratization theory, we consider the value of competing theoretical approaches in apprehending the collapse of authoritarianism in two specific cases (Indonesia and the Philippines), as well as the long-term survival of authoritarianism in two others (Burma and Malaysia). D. Slater. Spring. (C)
28900/39900. Strategy. This course is about 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. Spring. (D)
29200. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties. (=LLSO 24000) PQ: PLSC 28800/LLSO23900 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. Spring.
29700. Independent Study/Reading Course. PQ: Consent of faculty supervisor and program chair. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. This is a general reading and research course for independent study not related to the B.A. paper or B.A. research. Spring.
29900. B.A. Paper. PQ: Required of fourth-year political science majors who write a B.A. paper. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. This is a reading and research course for independent study related to B.A. research and B.A. paper preparation. Spring.
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. Grynaviski. Spring. (E)
32200. Urban Politics/Voting Behavior. This course examines two topics normally not studied in conjunction within American politics: urban politics and voting behavior. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the literatures in these two areas and ultimately to prompt students to develop their own theories of what drives voting choices in local elections. The first half of the course will focus on studies of urban politics, examining topics such as what has driven the development of metropolitan areas, who has power in local affairs, how land, capital, and labor drive political decisions, and the impact of race, ethnicity, and gender in local politics. The second half of the class examines American voting behavior and what factors influence the choices voters make. Topics will include what influences voter turnout and participation, the origins of party identification, and the impact of issues, race and ideology on vote choice. In the final part of the course, students will integrate these two areas of inquiry and think about what drives voting in local elections and what role local elections have in the functioning of democracy within metropolitan areas. E. Oliver. Spring. (B)
33015. Education for Liberty: Locke and Rousseau. (=FNDL 29303) PQ: Consent of instructor. A reading of Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Rousseau's Emile considered in relation to their political thought. Familiarity with the political thought of at least two of the authors is presumed. N. Tarcov. Spring. (A)
33525. Transformative Liberalisms. (=MAPSS 43600) Contemporary liberals have made the problem of toleration central to their arguments. Many, following John Rawls, have sought to distinguish their views from the more transformative liberalisms of the 18th and 19th centuries. This course explores what it means to take liberal theory as a guide to life. We examine what earlier liberals have recommended when it comes to questions of sex, love, death, religion, responsibility, and virtue. Course readings will be drawn from Locke, Kant, Voltaire, Diderot, Franklin, Condorcet, and J.S. Mill. C. Cyrenne. Spring.
34725. Globalization and Nationalism in China. This graduate course considers the dynamics and implications of China's interactions with the international system. How has China's growing participation in the international economy and society affected developments in China? What is the role of nationalism in Chinese politics and foreign policy? What implications does China's rise have for the global system? These are but some of the questions to be considered. D. Yang. Spring. (C)
41200. Terrorism. This course examines the causes, conduct, and consequences of terrorism, with special emphasis on suicide terrorism. The course takes a building-block approach. It begins with competing theories about the causes of terrorism, then examines prominent cases, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al Qaeda, and ends with a series of student research days focusing on important topics, such as those covered in the course as well as on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the IRA, the Assassins, and other cases. R. Pape. Spring. (D)
41500. 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 a 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. Spring. (D)
42300. Democratic Theory. Is democracy best conceived as the constraint of potentially tyrannical power, or as the exercise of popular sovereignty? Is it best imagined as an institutional form, or as an unruly force that necessarily challenges institutional authority? What is the relationship between democracy and economic inequality? Between democracy and constitutional law? In this seminar we shall consider such questions obliquely, by following the development, over more than four decades, of the work of two eminent American scholars, Sheldon Wolin and Robert Dahl. Rough contemporaries, trained and employed in the same field, Wolin and Dahl have nevertheless made little reference to each other's work, and their spheres of influence in contemporary democratic theory do not much overlap. At one level, then, the seminar is meant to stage a much-needed encounter between what might be called radical and mainstream democratic theory; yet it should also help us reflect critically on the adequacy of those labels, and also to understand how the substance of twentieth-century democratic theory has been shaped by arguments about what theory is, about its place in the academic discipline of political science, and about the relationship between democratic politics and the institutionalized expert cultures of political theory and political science. This course is primarily for Ph.D. students in the Department of Political Science, although applications from students in other fields are welcome; enrollment will be limited and instructor consent required. P. Markell. Spring. (A)
43700. Comparative Historical Analysis. This graduate seminar critically considers the theoretical impact and methodological rigor of Comparative Historical Analysis in political science and sociology. Studies in this tradition employ a variety of research methods and address a wide array of political and sociological questions. Yet its practitioners are united by a commitment to offering historically grounded explanations of large-scale and substantively important outcomes. In the first few weeks of the course, we consider how and whether such historically specific arguments advance the quest for broad causal generalization in the social sciences. In the remainder, we read and critically assess major works on contentious politics, the state, political parties, and democratization. Students will be strongly encouraged throughout the quarter to draw lessons for their own dissertation research designs. D. Slater. Spring. (E)
45110. Issues in Comparative Capitalism. PQ: Completion of PLSC 45010 is encouraged but not required. This course will address key empirical and theoretical controversies involving matters of economic and industrial adjustment in advanced industrial economies. Literature on the multinationals, regions, corporate governance, industrial relations, welfare states, new patterns of administrative governance and democracy will be examined in comparative context. G. Herrigel. Spring. (C)
45500. Black Political Thought. This course is a very intensive introduction to black political thought. The majority of texts considered during the first part of the course will be from key authors such as the Combahee River Collective, W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ida B. Wells. During the second part of the course we will reconsider the status of the black public sphere and its connection to other publics and counterpublics. Themes to be considered this year include: What are the core concepts and constellations of concepts historically found in African-American political thought? To what degree has the construction of gender in the African-American community and the interaction between gender and racial oppression shaped African-American political thought? To what degree do different classes and sectors within classes embrace different aspects of African-American political thought? To what degree does Habermas' concept of the "public sphere" help us understand the development of black political ideologies? Are other more modern understandings of publics, public spheres, and counterpublics useful for understanding African American ideological formation and the impact of African American ideologies on politics within the United States? M. Dawson. Spring. (A)
45800. Politics, Ethics and Terror. (=RETH 45800) An examination of three responses to three responses to 20th century totalitarianism: Arendt, Bonhoeffer and Camus. What ethical wellsprings were drawn upon to confront Nazism and Stalinism? What sorts of arguments about the function of ideology, the loss of limits, the transgression of "orders of being," metaphors of plague or other ravages got deployed and to what ends? What is the connection between explanation, understanding and action in the "dark times" through which our thinkers lived or in which they died? J. Elshtain. Spring. (A)
46410. Co-evolution of States and Markets. This course will focus on the emergence of alternative forms of organization control (e.g., centralized bureaucracy, multiple hierarchies, elite networks, and clientage) in different social structural contexts (e.g., the interaction of kinship, class, nation states, markets and heterodox mobilization). Themes will be illustrated in numerous cross-cultural contexts. J. Padgett. Spring. (B)
46510. Politics of Deviance. This course will explore the explicit and implicit politics involved in the construction of individuals, groups, and populations as deviant. What is the role of the state in such processes? How do concepts such as power, morality and norms function to create and maintain deviants? How does the label/category of deviant impact the distribution of resources, status and political power? We will begin the course by reading the established literature on deviance and then focus our attention on the politics of deviance in the realms of sex and youth culture. C. Cohen. Spring. (B)
46800. Black Religion and Black Politics. Scholars of the African American experience have located the black church as the cultural, social and political womb of the black community. This research tends to think of the church as a structure that brings actors into contact with one another; it has paid less attention to the church as a place that brings actors into contact with ideas. This course will use a variety of classic and contemporary texts about black political thought as an entry into investigating the connections between black religious ideas and political activism. The class links the work on religion to an intensive introduction to black political thought. M. Harris-Lacewell. Spring. (B)
49900. Historiography. (=HIST 69900) The aim of the course is to introduce the major theoretical approaches used by professional historians and locate the unique role of the historical discipline within the social sciences and humanities. Students would be expected to gain a critical understanding of different schools of history (Annales, the new social and cultural histories, etc.), of historic methods and approaches to studying history (oral, economic, ethnographic, etc.), and of theories and theorists relevant to historians. W. Sewell, P. Duara. Spring. (E)
50000. Dissertation Proposal Seminar. G. Herrigel. Spring.
57200. Social Networks. This seminar explores the sociological utility of the network as a unit of analysis. How do the patterns of social ties in which individuals are embedded differentially affect their ability to cope with crises, their decisions to move or change jobs, their eagerness to adopt new attitudes and behaviors? The seminar group will consider (a) how the network differs from other units of analysis, (b) structural properties of networks, consequences of flows (or content) in network ties, and (d) dynamics of those ties. J. Padgett. Spring. (E)
62500. Advanced Seminar on Religion and Public Life. (=RETH 52500) Open to graduate students who have successfully completed at least one previous seminar with Prof. Elshtain and for whom this area of scholarly endeavor is one they intend to pursue. There are a number of areas we will explore through concrete cases, including the matter of how persons with religious convictions engage civic life. What are the "languages" (so to speak) of civic engagement? Is a person or group treating religious conviction functionally, as a means to an end, with politics driving theological claims? Or, by contrast, does the person or group begin with theological commitments and go on to think about possible civic implications of those commitments? And so on. We will organize this seminar in such a way that each student will be required to go through a shared set of materials--yet to be determined--and, in addition, go on to develop an independent project on religious and public life. J. Elshtain. Spring. (A)
