Courses
Course Archive
Winter 2007
Please find below a list of courses offered by the Department during the Winter 2007 quarter.
20401. State and Ethical Responsibility. This course takes a step back from the substantive issues that so far have dominated the issue of ethics in IR to investigate the various criteria by which we understand and judge the ethical obligations of states. While it is undeniable that harms such as human rights violations, gross inequality and economic and political exploitation are ethically wrong, what responsibility do states have for mitigating such harms? How might these responsibilities conflict with those that states have to their own citizens? The course will look at what scholars take to constitute the ethical responsibilities of states and try to understand how they arrived at these notions. The course will examine the historical and philosophical foundations of the state and state sovereignty and investigate how understandings of these concepts are changing in contemporary international affairs. J. Han. Winter. (D)
20611. The Political Economy of Poverty Alleviation. This course surveys the field of political and economic development and its relation with poverty alleviation. It will introduce students to the current debate on theories and recent empirical findings on poverty alleviation and in particular its relation to politics and political regimes. It addresses general issues such as what is development, what is poverty and inequality, and what is (and ought to be) the role of the state in the process of poverty alleviation. 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. Winter. (C)
20703. Communicating the American Public(s). This examines what we know about the character, development, and dynamism of political attitudes of the American public. We will explore relevant theoretical and empirical explanations of what American public opinion is and how political attitudes develop and are communicated and disseminated. In addition, we will investigate what political and cultural processes might shape the way American political attitudes to change over time. D. Woodly. Winter. (B)
20800/32100. Machiavelli’s Prince. (=FNDL 29301) A reading of The Prince supplemented by relevant portions of Machiavelli’s Discourses and Florentine Histories. Themes include princes, peoples, and elites; morality and religion; force and persuasion; war and politics; law and liberty; virtue and fortune; ancient history and modern experience; and theory and practice. N. Tarcov. Winter. (A)
22515. Political Nature of the American Judiciary 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, the seminar will 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 will not always be clear, students should complete the seminar with an awareness of and sensitivity to the political nature of the American legal system. G. Rosenberg. Winter. (B)
22800/52800. Principles and Practice of Roman Republicanism. Enrollment limited to 15. This course is devoted to the history, institutions and ideas of the Roman Republic. Readings include classical accounts of Rome’s development (Polybius and Livy), contemporary analyses of its constitution and social structure (Nicolet, Lintott, and Mitchell), philosophic expressions of the epoch (Cicero), and considerations of their reception in subsequent ages (Millar). Themes to be discussed include: the relationship of rich and poor citizens in a republic; the political accountability of elites; the rule of law; the common good; the necessity/threat of “great men”; and military power. Students are expected to come to the first session having read Book I of Livy’s History of Rome. J. McCormick. Winter. (A)
26100. To Hell with the Enlightenment: The Rise of the Aesthetic State. This course’s aims are twofold: (1) to introduce the student to some of the writings attacking the Enlightenment in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and (2) show how these writings created a concept of political modernism and a theory of the aesthetic state. Among others, we read Schiller, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Croce, Mead, Mussolini, and A. Rosenberg. B. Silberman. Winter. (A)
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. Winter. (C)
27500/37500. Organizational Decision Making. This course is an examination of the process of decision making in modern complex organizations such as universities, schools, hospitals, business firms, and public bureaucracies. The course also considers the impact of information, power, resources, organizational structure, and the environment, as well as alternative models of choice. J. Padgett. Winter. (B)
27815. Politics and Public Policy in China. This course offers a historical and thematic survey to 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)
28615. Politics and Human Nature. Class limited to 15 and 3rd and 4th years only. This course explores commonalities among psychoanalytic theory, Buddhism, and studies of emotions and brain physiology, particularly as they relate to questions of the self and political life. In addition to exploring each of these theories, we investigate particular questions such as the inevitability of conflict, the dynamics of obedience and authority, the emotional power of ideology, and non-Western understandings of human consciousness. E. Oliver. Winter. (A)
29600. Black Political Thought. This course is an 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 W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Ida B. Wells Barnett, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and bell hooks. During the second part of the course we will consider selected examples of applications of black political thought to contemporary debates. M. Dawson. Winter. (A)
34300. African American Politics. This course is primarily about African-American politics although “black” politics in Europe, especially the UK will also be considered. A central theme of the course is how the intersection of structures of gender, class, and race, have influenced patterns of African-American politics. Another central theme of the course is the concept of “agency.” Given the structures of race, gender, and class, how have African Americans organized and acted not only to gain access to the American political economy, but also have attempted to influence how Americans view politics, the American state, citizenship and the like? Another consistent theme of the course is that it is necessary to understand the internal dynamics of the black community if one is to understand how African Americans participate/not participate in American society. Finally, how can our view of the American state be improved by analyzing African American politics? A variety of approaches including historical, quantitative, and post-structuralist will be considered. This course is a research oriented course that will consider several specific topics. One topic to be considered will be how to model African Americans’ political decision making calculus. The modeling of “identity” will be expanded to include modeling the effects of changes in the American political economy in structuring both the individual behavior and the racial group politics of African Americans. Other topics will include how American political institutions structure black politics. A secondary topic is how both western political thought and the tradition of black political thought shape not only ideological debate within the black community, but black politics as well. M. Dawson. Winter. (B)
35200. Political Theory and Social Neuroscience. This course utilizes recent advances in 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, the meaning of self-governance, and the possibility for making essential claims about human nature, particularly as they relate to processes of political organization. Readings will draw from both the political science cannon as well as recent journals and books in neuroscience. E. Oliver. Winter. (A)
40600. Seminar on IR Theory. The end of the Cold War ushered in a new set of debates about how to study international politics. This course is an introduction to some of those important theoretical approaches and is organized around debate among realism, liberalism, and constructivism and their variants. Seminar discussion will identify and criticize the central arguments advanced by different scholars in order to assess the relative merits of different theoretical perspectives. R. Pape. Winter. (D)
42000. Augustine’s City of God. (=RETH 52000) PQ: A previous course with the instructor. J. Elshtain. Winter. (A)
42400. Politics, Art, and Aesthetics. Enrollment limited and by consent of the instructor only. What is the meaning of art for politics? What is the political significance of the differentiation of an “aesthetic” domain of activity and experience in Euro-American modernity? Can aesthetic judgment serve as a model for political judgment? What can the study of art and aesthetics teach us about how and when people experience events, objects, or spaces as (politically) meaningful or engaging? This seminar approaches such questions both historically and thematically, through the close reading and discussion of important works in the philosophy of art and aesthetics, political theory, and art history and criticism. Readings vary. P. Markell. Winter. (A)
42900. Critical Race Theory. An examination of post-segregation, normative theories of black politics. Readings from the writings of Joy James, Adolph Reed, Paul Gilroy, Tommie Shelby and others. R. Gooding-Williams. Winter. (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. Winter. (E)
44700. Research Approaches in Comparative Politics. This course has two goals: (1) To expose graduate students involved in empirical research to a variety of methodological approaches used in contemporary social-science scholarship, with the goal of improving the quality of their inferences; and (2) To provide a forum for students to improve ongoing research projects. In the class component, we will review different empirical methods and related research papers, including experimental and quasi-experimental approaches among others. In addition to the class component, the course is designed as a workshop for student research in progress. Every student will present her/his own research project and will provide feedback to others on the basis of the knowledge developed in class. Projects at all stages of development are welcome, subject to instructor approval. The course seeks to develop understanding of the possibilities and limitations of different methods, but it will not provide rigorous mathematical foundations. Familiarity with the basics of statistical inference and regression analysis will be very useful. A. Simpser. Winter. (C)
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)
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. Winter. (C)
50201. Religion and the Political Order I: Augustine to Calvin. (=RETH 50201) J. Elshtain. Winter. (A)
