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By the Numbers
American Politics
Comparative Politics
International Relations
Political Theory
Research and Methods
Dissertation Seminars
Field Surveys
Related Courses



Where available, syllabi may be accessed by clicking on the NUMBER of the course. If the course number is not linked, please contact the instructor directly for a copy of the syllabus or check for the syllabus on Courseworks.

By the Numbers

The Department of Political Science offers courses in the fields of American Politics, Comparative Politics, Political Theory, and International Relations. We also offer courses in Methodology.

  • "X"-denominated courses (ie: G6601x) are courses being offered in the fall semester. "Y"-denominated courses (ie: G6403y) are courses being offered in the spring semester.
  • Undergraduate courses in Political Science are numbered 3999 and below. These courses are not open to graduate students.
  • Undergraduate seminars: You may not pre-register for these courses. You may enroll in them only with permission of the instructor on the first day of class. Please see here for detailed seminar registration guidelines.
    • all sections of 3911 and 3912 are seminars in Political Theory
    • all sections of 3921 and 3922 are seminars in American Politics
    • all sections of 3951 and 3952 are seminars in Comparative Politics
    • all sections of 3961 and 3962 are seminars in International Relations
  • Graduate courses in Political Science are numbered 4000 and above. However, 4000-level courses are mixed-level lectures, open to both undergraduates and graduate students.
  • Except where indicated graduate courses are numbered as follows:
    • x2xx courses are in the subfield of American Politics
    • x4xx courses are in the subfield of Comparative Politics
    • x6xx courses are in the subfield of Political Theory
    • x8xx courses are in the subfield of International Relations
    • Methodology courses do not follow this numbering system.
  • With one or two exceptions, courses at the 6000-level are graduate "field surveys." These courses are intended for PhD students in Political Science. Other students should obtain the permission of the instructor before registering
  • 8000- and 9000-level courses are graduate colloquia and seminars; enrollment in these courses requires instructor permission.
  • If the course number begins with "8" (eg: 84145Y) rather than with a letter (eg: V1601, C3930, W4210, G4415, U8715, L9823, etc.), the course is cross-listed in another department. The second number will indicate the course level. Thus 84145Y is a 4000-level course cross-listed in the Philosophy Department, not a graduate colloquium (8000-level).
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American Politics

Robert Erikson, Field Coordinator


 

W1201X

Introduction to American Government and Politics
Instructor: Phillips, Justin
Day(s): MW
Time: 110p-225p

Lecture and discussion. Dynamics of political institutions and processes, chiefly of the national government. Emphasis on the actual exercise of political power by interest groups, elites, political parties, and public opinion. Discussion Section Required.


W1201Y

Introduction to American Government and Politics
Instructor: Russell, Judith
Day(s): MW
Time: 910a-1025a

Lecture and discussion. Dynamics of political institutions and processes, chiefly of the national government. Emphasis on the actual exercise of political power by interest groups, elites, political parties, and public opinion. Discussion Section Required.


W3202Y

Labor in American Politics
Instructor: Warren, Dorian
Day(s): MW
Time: 910a-1025a

This course examines the role and impact of organized labor in American politics. It will explore the history and development of the American labor movement; its significance as a central political actor in major social policy debates of the 20th century; as a mobilizing force in elections; its complex and often uneasy relationship with other political actors including business, urban political machines, and the civil rights movement; and contemporary dilemmas facing labor in a period of union decline and resurgence.


W3208Y

State Politics
Instructor: Phillips, Justin
Day(s): TR
Time: 110p-225p

This course is intended to provide students with a detailed understanding of politics in the American states. The topics covered are divided into four broad sections. The first explores the role of the states in America's federal system of government. Attention is given to the basic features of intergovernmental relations as well as the historic evolution of American federalism. The second part of the course focuses on state-level political institutions. The organization and processes associated with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches are discussed in depth. The third part examines state elections, political parties, and interest groups. Finally, the fourth section looks closely at various policy areas. Budgeting, welfare, education, gay marriage, and environmental policy are each considered.


W3210Y

Judicial Politics
Instructor: Lax, Jeffrey
Day(s): TR
Time: 1035a-1150a

Judicial Politics is the study of law and courts as political institutions and judges as political actors. Primary topics will include judicial behavior and decision-making, the internal politics of the Supreme Court, politics within the judicial hierarchy, politics between the judiciary and other branches, and the impact of courts.


W3220X

Logic of Collective Choice
Instructor: Lax, Jeffrey
Day(s): TR
Time: 110p-225p

Judicial Politics is the study of law and courts as political institutions and judges as political actors. Primary topics will include judicial behavior and decision-making, the internal politics of the Supreme Court, politics within the judicial hierarchy, politics between the judiciary and other branches, and the impact of courts.


W3245X

Race and Ethnicity in American Politics
Instructor: Smith, Raymond
Day(s): TR
Time: 240p-355p

Historical and contemporary roles of various racial and ethnic groups; initiation, demands, leadership and organizational styles, orientation, benefits, and impact on the structures and outputs of governance in the United States. Major Cultures Requirement: African Civilization List C. Major Cultures Requirement: Latin American Civilization List C.


W3260Y

Latino Political Experience
Instructor: Vargas-Ramos, Carlos
Day(s): MW
Time: 540p-655p

Focuses on political incorporation of Latinos in the American polity. Topics include patterns of historical exclusion; the impact of the Voting Rights Act; organizational and electoral behavior; and the effects of immigration on the Latino national political agenda.


W3280X

20th Century American Politics
Instructor: Katznelson, Ira
Day(s): MW
Time: 240p-355p


W3285X

Freedom of Speech and Press
Instructor: Bollinger, Lee C.
Day(s): MW
Time: 410p-525p

Examines the constitutional right of freedom of speech and press in the United States. Examines, in depth, various areas of law, including extremist or seditious speech, obscenity, libel, fighting words, the public forum doctrine, and public access to the mass media. Follows the law school course model, with readings focused on actual judicial decisions.


V3313X

American Urban Politics
Instructor: Russell, Judith
Day(s): MW
Time: 910a-1025a

Patterns of government and politics in America's large cities and suburbs. Urban socioeconomic environment, influence of party leaders, local officials, social and economic notables, racial, ethnic, and other interest groups, the press, the general public, and the federal and state governments; impact of urban government on ghetto and other problems.


W3921X sec 001

American Politics Seminar: Political Psychology
Instructor: Knight, Kathleen
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. The seminar is designed to examine some major psychological concept useful in politics. These include: rationality & emotion, socialization, ideology, persuasion, tolerance, authoritarianism, racism and terrorism.


W3921X sec 002

American Politics Seminar: Bill of Rights
Instructor: Zebrowski, Martha
Day(s): T
Time: 610p-800p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. This seminar is an investigation of the nature and importance of the federal Bill of Rights in the American federal and state constitutional systems. Common readings, class discussions, and student seminar papers consider the social, political, and legal significance of the Bill of Rights in historical and contemporary American discourse and analysis, along with constitutional case law regarding specific rights. The first part of the course is devoted to a discussion of common, required readings that consider the Bill of Rights in historical and contemporary perspective. The second part of the course is devoted to students' presentations, in class, of their own research on individual topics relating to particular rights grounded in the American federal and state bills of rights.


W3921X sec 003

American Politics Seminar: Issues that Divide America
Instructor: Gertzog, Irwin
Day(s): T
Time: 1100p-1250p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Seminar focuses on four political issues so contentious that they have produced enduring cultural, soio-economic, and political divisions throughout the United States. The four issues are slavery and efforts to end it; the use of alchoholic beverages and the struggle to curtail it; abortion and attempts to prohibit it; and lesbian and gay rights and the battle to impede them.


W3921X sec 004

American Politics Seminar: Policymaking
Instructor: Russell, Judith
Day(s): M
Time: 1100a-1250p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. This seminar directs readings and research on public policymaking in the American federal government. It is designed to help students think analytically about the ways in which the structures, processes and actors at the heart of public policymaking interact. It examines how political institutions--the executive and legislative branches--are organized and motivated to produce policy, the politics of government organization, bureaucratic operation and survival, how the budget process drives policymaking processes, policy structures and relationships that have emerged out of custom and practice, theories and models of decision-making, concepts of rationality and choice, agenda-setting, political innovation, interest groups' role in policy formation as well as that of the judiciary. Specific policy areas we will engage as case studies are: economic and employment policy, energy and environmental policy, and policy responses to terrorism and disaster. Some policy investigations we will engage are evolving as we study them during the semester.


W3921X sec 005

American Politics Seminar: First Amendment
Instructor: Amdur, Robert
Day(s): R
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission.


W3921X sec 006

American Politics Seminar: Bureaucratic Politics
Instructor: Ting, Michael
Day(s): W
Time: 410p-600p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. This course is a comprehensive, high-level introduction to American bureaucracies and their study. It is appropriate for any student with an interest in American political institutions and a background in political science or economics. Topics include the working environment of bureaucrats, the external institutional environment, and the roles played by various agencies in the American political system.


W3922Y sec 001

American Politics Seminar: Executive Leadership in the US: Public, Private, Non-profit
Instructor: Zebrowski, Martha
Day(s): T
Time: 610p-800p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Interested students should e-mail the instructor at [email protected] to be added to the waiting list. This seminar is an examination of the nature and practice of executive leadership in public, private (i.e., for profit, business), and non-profit institutions in the United States. The course does not begin with a theory of executive leadership. Rather, the goal of the course is to develop such a theory, a theory that takes into account the similarities and differences among the very different institutional sectors in American life, and a theory that distinguishes authentic leadership from three related matters, the effective exercise of power, effective management, and celebrity. The first half of the term is devoted to a discussion of common, required readings that consider the nature and practice of executive leadership in public, private, and non-profit institutions, and to a discussion of problems associated with research and with organizing and analyzing data on leadership. During the first half of the term, each student prepares a research prospectus (approximately 12 pages) for a major research paper (approximately 35 pages) on a particular public, private, or non-profit executive leader or problem in executive leadership. The second half of the term is devoted to students’ oral presentations, in class, of their own research and to class discussions of their research (each presentation approximately 50 minutes). The seminar research paper is due at the beginning of exam week; there is also a final quiz during exam week.


W3922Y sec 002

American Politics Seminar: Terrorism and Counterterrorism
Instructor: Nacos, Brigitte
Day(s): T
Time: 1100a-1250p

Prerequisite W1201 or equivalent; W3335, W4220 or equivalent; instructor’s permission. The seminar is designed to illuminate students’ understanding of the most important aspects of domestic and international terrorism with an emphasis on the United States as target of and responder to this sort of political violence.


W3922Y sec 003

American Politics Seminar: Equality and the Law
Instructor: Amdur, Robert
Day(s): R
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission.


W3922Y sec 004

American Politics Seminar: Issues that Divide America
Instructor: Gertzog, Irwin
Day(s): T
Time: 1100p-1250p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Seminar focuses on four political issues so contentious that they have produced enduring cultural, soio-economic, and political divisions throughout the United States. The four issues are slavery and efforts to end it; the use of alchoholic beverages and the struggle to curtail it; abortion and attempts to prohibit it; and lesbian and gay rights and the battle to impede them.


W3922Y sec 005

American Politics Seminar: Majority Rule and Minority Rights in American Democracy
Instructor: Smith, Raymond
Day(s): R
Time: 610p-800p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. This course will examine one of the central challenges to both the theory and the practice of democracy: the reconciliation of majority rule with minority rights in a way that neither sacrifices popular sovereignty nor oppresses small or disfavored groups. This course will draw upon both “classics” of political science regarding the role of minority groups in American politics as well as upon contemporary scholarship focused largely on ethnoracial and other minority groups.


W3922Y sec 006

American Politics Seminar: Mass Media Influences on Politics
Instructor: Knight, Kathleen
Day(s):
Time:

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Both conventional wisdom and scholarly research about the role of the mass media in American politics have changed rapidly in a very short period of time. This course explores the influence of the mass media on politics with attention to changes in the institutional relationship between the media and government, and in the mass media, itself. We will start with consideration of the historical role of the mass media and how it has changed. Then we will focus on the important question of how much real influence the media have, and how it is exercised. This will be followed by consideration of the question of media bias. This will be reinforced by examination of particular propaganda techniques and how they are applied in contemporary cases.


W3922Y sec 007

American Politics Seminar: African American Politics
Instructor: Harris, Fredrick
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. The course considers the struggle of African Americans for inclusion in the American political system. Primary topics will include the historical development of black activism, the role of black leadership, the transformation from protest to mainstream politics since the civil rights movement, and the consequences of blacks' incorporation into the channels of mainstream political institutions.


W3922Y sec 008

American Politics Seminar: Electoral Politics in the US and Japan
Instructor: Hirano, Shigeo
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Although the United States and Japan are both democracies, democracy operates in very ways in the two countries. This course explores some of the commonalities and differences in the two countries' electoral processes. We explore how the electoral institutions shape the behavior of voters and politicians in both countries. We will also examine how the electoral process in the two countries developed over time. By comparing across the two systems and over time, we will gain not only greater insight into each country but also into how elections operate more generally.

Note: This course may be offered in fulfillment of either the American Politics or Comparative Politics seminar requirement.


C3930X

Constitutional Law Workshop
Instructor: Topkis, Jay
Day(s): R
Time: 410p-600p

Cannot be used to replace a 3pt. lecture course towards POLS major. Preference given to seniors. Juniors will be permitted to register after the first class session if space permits. Using supreme court cases, this workshop studies the development of several areas of constitutional law, how our judicial system works, and how judges and lawyers think, argue and write. Trip to Washington for a day of Supreme Court oral argument.


W4220X

Mass Media and American Politics
Instructor: Nacos, Brigitte
Day(s): TR
Time: 610p-725p

Not open to students who have taken BC3335. The most important aspects of the mass media's roles in the American political process. The focus is on the press itself (its workings, biases, effects, etc.) and on the relationships between the media and the institutions and actors in politics and government.


W4226X

American Politics and Social Welfare Policy
Instructor: Lieberman, Robert
Day(s): MW
Time: 910a-1025a

The politics and development of the American welfare state. Study and analysis of the origins and growth of domestic social programs that provide income support (welfare and Social Security), employment opportunities, health care, and protection against poverty.


W4311X

Parties and Elections
Instructor: Fuchs, Ester
Day(s): TBA
Time: TBA


W4316X

American Presidency
Instructor: Pious, Richard
Day(s): MW
Time: 240p-355p

Prerequisite: instructor’s permission. The growth of presidential power, the creation and use of the institutionalized presidency, presidential-congressional and presidential-bureaucratic relationships, and the presidency and the national security apparatus.


G6210X

Theories & Debates in American Politics (Field Survey)
Instructor: Erikson, Robert & Lax, Jeffrey
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p

A survey of a broad range of important contemporary debates in the field of American politics.


G8219Y

Elections
Instructor: Erikson, Robert
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p


G8223X

Legislative Behavior and Institutionalism
Instructor: O'Halloran, Sharyn
Day(s): W
Time: 410p-600p

Instructor permission required. Examination of the interactions between individual incentives and political institutions in shaping policy. The course presents an approach to the study of politics that emphasizes individual incentives in an electoral system, examines how reelection-minded legislators organize to solve collective dilemmas, and focuses on the effects of these political institutions on policy choice.


G8230Y

Judicial Institutions
Instructor: Lax, Jeffrey
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p

Instructor permission required. The focus is on the study of law and courts as political institutions and judges as political actors. Primary topics will include judicial behavior and decision-making, the internal politics of the Supreme Court, Politics within the judicial hierarchy, politics between the judiciary and other branches, and the impact of courts.


G8234Y Urban Politics

Instructor: Justin Phillips
Day(s): R
Time: 210p-400p


Click G8236X-G8237Y to view syllabus.

Themes in American Political Development
Instructor: Katznelson, Ira
Day(s): R
Time: 410p-600p

Instructor permission required. The colloquium audits work achieved under the rubric of 'American Political Development' and looks ahead to possibilities for future research. APD's concepts, premises, substantive themes, and silences will be considered, including the subfield's engagement with history and temporality, its attempts to place the United States in comparative and international perspective, and its approaches to ideas, institutions, regimes, interests, and preferences.


Click G8247Y to view syllabus.

Mass Mediated American and Global Politics
Instructor: Nacos, Brigitte
Day(s): R
Time: 1100a-1250p

Instructor permission required. Readings and class discussions explore the domestic and global news media at the beginning of the 21st century as they relate to and impact on mass-mediated domestic and international politics. The focus is on post-World War II and post-9/11 conditions and changes in terms of ownership, audience, technology, organizational and individual values and imperatives, and, especially, on the media's role during conflicts--in particular the ongoing "war on terrorism."


G8902X-8902Y

Political Analysis
Instructor: Erikson, Robert
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

Insructor permission required.


G92**Y

Qualitative & Interpretive Methods in Political Science
Instructor: Warren, Dorian
Day(s): M
Time: 410p-600p

This graduate-level seminar offers a broad introduction to what have been called "qualitative" and "interpretive" approaches to studying politics and conducting political science research: ethnography and participant-observation; case studies; field research, interviewing and archival work; historical institutionalism and comparative historical analysis; and interpretive modes of analysis.


G9208X

Legislatures in Historical and Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Wawro, Gregory
Day(s): W
Time: 1100a-1250p


G9620X

Political Economy Seminar
Instructor: Epstein, David
Day(s): M
Time: 410p-600p

Instructor permission required.


 

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Comparative Politics

Andrew Nathan, Field Coordinator


 

V1501X

Introduction to Comparative Politics
Instructor: Oldenburg, Philip
Day(s): MW
Time: 1035a-1150a

Lecture and discussion. Introduction to some of the major topics and concepts in the contemporary study of politics within countries,including the state, democratic and authoritarian regimes, and various issues concerning citizenship – e.g., representation,nationalism, and civil society.


V1501Y

Introduction to Comparative Politics
Instructor: El-Ghobashy, Mona
Day(s): TR
Time: 1035a-1150a

Lecture and discussion. Introduction to some of the major approaches and issues in the contemporary study of politics within nations, including the causes of revolution, the roots of democracy, and the nature of nationalism, through systematic study of politics in selected countries.


W3422Y

Globalization and State-Led Economies in East Asia
Instructor: Jung, Joo-Youn
Day(s): TR
Time: 410p-525p

The main theme of this course is the state. It analyzes how the roles of the state in three state-led economies in East Asia (Japan, South Korea and China) have evolved and transformed in the era of economic globalization. First, the course compares the essential roles of central states (especially economic bureaucracies) in economic development in the three economies and analyzes the potential problems of their developmental models. The course then illuminates how globalization brought challenges to the three economies and how interventionist states in have strived to overcome these challenges in different ways.


W3514X

The European Union: Politics and Institutions
Instructor: Goodhart, Lucy
Day(s): MW
Time: 910a-1025a

Answers questions posed by the existence and development of the European Union. What kind of polity is emerging at the European level? How are we to explain the path of European integration? Is European integration the beginning of the end of the nation state, or is integration the result of national interests and negotiations? What role will member states, EU institutions, NGO's, interest groups and citizens play in the future development of the EU?


W3522Y

Lifecycle of Communist Regimes
Instructor: Bernstein, Thomas
Day(s): TR
Time: 240p-355p

The twentieth century was shaped to a significant degree by the fact that large portions of the globe were ruled by Communist parties. Most of them collapsed in the years l989-91, but the legacies still make themselves felt, just as, on the international level, the Cold War continues to leave legacies. At the same time, four countries continue to be ruled by Communist parties, raising the question of why these regimes didn’t also collapse.

Communist regimes went through roughly similar stages, beginning with revolutions or takeovers and the consolidation of power; a stage of fundamental, often traumatic social and economic transformation at the behest of the Communist rulers; a stage of adaptation and reform; and a stage of crisis in which their very survival was in doubt and most indeed perished. This course examines each of these stages, drawing mainly on the Soviet, Chinese, and Eastern European cases.


W3951X sec 001

Seminar in Comparative Politics: Latin American Political Economy
Instructor: Murillo, Victoria
Day(s): M
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS V1501 or the equivalent, and instructors permission. This class focuses on the transformation of Latin American Political Economy since the 1980s as a result of the processes of democratization and economic liberalization. The class reviews the debates on the relationship between both processes, focusing on the impact of political dynamics on economic policymaking in the first part of the course and on the political consequences of these economic reforms in the second part of the course. The seminar assumes a basic background on Latin American politics and history. Class discussion will combine theoretical concepts and their application to Latin American politics since the 1980s. Additionally, the seminar provides a forum to develop your writing skills in presenting cogent arguments within the framework of social science.


W3951X sec 002

Seminar in Comparative Politics: Rule of Law and Corruption
Instructor: Frye, Timothy
Day(s): W
Time: 410p-600p

Prerequisites: POLS V1501 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Over the past 15 years scholars, policymakers, and academics have devoted increasing attention to the rule of law and corruption as obstacles to economic development. This body of research has raised many interesting questions. What do we mean by "corruption" and the "rule of law" How can we study "illegal" activity? Why do people obey the law? Can anything be done about it? These questions will be at the center of our attention. We will examine debates about the sources and consequences of corruption and the rule of law. We will also explore theories of corruption and legal development rooted in culture, institutions, economic endowments, and social structures. One goal is to assess different theories of the rule and law and corruption. Another goal is to design policies based on these arguments.


W3952Y sec 001

Seminar in Comparative Politics: Comparative Democratization
Instructor: Kasara, Kimuli
Day(s): R
Time: 410p-600p

Prerequisites: POLS V1501 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Why some countries have democratic political systems and others do not has been a central question in political science. This course introduces students to the literature on democracies, non-democracies and transitions from one regime type to the other. We examine a selection of questions: 1) What is democracy and why should we care about it? 2) Are there economic, cultural, or social prerequisites for stable democratic regimes? 3) How are non-democratic regimes organized and legitimized? 4) How do violence and the design of constitutions affect the prospects for democratic regimes? and 5) Are attempts by western countries to promote democracy in other parts of the world likely to be effective?


W3952Y sec 002

Seminar in Comparative Politics: Political Parties
Instructor: Goodhart, Lucy
Day(s): T
Time: 610p-800p

Prerequisites: POLS V1501 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Political parties are an intrinsic feature of representative democracy, the means by which citizens’ desires and interests are translated into governments and policies. Yet despite their central role in the “engine room” of politics, we understand little about how parties form and how their organization and activities affects democratic outcomes. This course is a partial attempt to redress the intellectual debt. In it, you will engage in debate about the emergence, functioning and consequences of political parties. Using the literature on political parties as a lens into broader questions of comparative politics, you will also encounter discussions on political pluralism, alienation, and democratization.


W3952Y sec 003

Seminar in Comparative Politics: Electoral Politics in the US and Japan
Instructor: Hirano, Shigeo
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Although the United States and Japan are both democracies, democracy operates in very ways in the two countries. This course explores some of the commonalities and differences in the two countries' electoral processes. We explore how the electoral institutions shape the behavior of voters and politicians in both countries. We will also examine how the electoral process in the two countries developed over time. By comparing across the two systems and over time, we will gain not only greater insight into each country but also into how elections operate more generally.

Note: This course may be offered in fulfillment of either the American Politics or the Comparative Politics Seminar requirement.


MDES/POLS W4251X

Introduction to Political Thought in the Modern Middle East
Instructor: Morrison
Day(s): MW
Time: 110p-225p

This graduate/undergraduate course does not presuppose a background in Middle East studies or political
science; it satisfies the Major Cultures Middle East (B list) requirement. This introductory course traces the intellectual history of contemporary Muslim politics, and secular political thinking in the Middle East/North Africa. It begins with Khayr al-Din, the prime minister of the Ottoman imperial regency of Tunis in the middle of the nineteenth century. The course proceeds in chronological order through such themes and epochs as: Islamic modernism, the controversy over the abolition/restoration of an Islamic Caliphate, feminism, Young Ottoman constitutionalism,Turkish and Arab (pan) nationalisms, social justice and the Muslim Brothers in Egypt, Third Worldism, anti-imperialism, Marxism, and revolutionary Shi’ism. The course explores the biographies, and engages with the writings, of Arab, Turkish and Iranian intellectuals likely to include Rifa’at al-Tahtawi, Jamal al-Din ‘al-Afghani’, Muhammad ‘Abduh, Namýk Kemal, Abdullah Cevdet, Qasim
Amin, Rashid Ridda, ‘Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq, Ziya Gökalp, Sayyid Qutb, Frantz Fanon, Constantine Zurayk, Mahdi ‘Amil, and -- in Iran --‘Ali Shariati and ‘Abdolkarim Soroush. The requirements for the course are two exams and a paper. (Graduate students may petition to write a longer paper in lieu of the final.)


W4414Y

Making Democracy Work
Instructor: Berman, Sheri
Day(s): TBA
Time: TBA

Prerequisites: One course in comparative politics. For the past thirty years a democratic revolution has been sweeping the globe. Beginning in the mid-1970s in Southern Europe, it has spread throughout Latin America, parts of East Asia and Africa, and the former Soviet bloc. In all, dozens of new democracies have emerged in the last three decades. This course will examine the problems they face and what, if anything, outsiders can do to help.

The course will begin with the literature on democratic consolidation, giving students an overview of the most important theories about what makes democracies work. We will then explore historical cases of intervention and debates about America’s role in promoting democracy. Finally, we will examine some of the research on democracy promotion, asking what can and should be done in this area in the future.


W4435Y

Political Corruption and Governance
Instructor: Lu, Xiabo
Day(s): MW
Time: 1035a-1150a


W4445X

Politics in the Middle East and North Africa
Instructor: El-Ghobashy, Mona
Day(s): TR
Time: 240p-355p

Why is this region so prone to conflict and violence? Taking a step back from the headlines, this course examines the political economy and history of the Arab states, Israel, Turkey, and Iran. The first third of the course surveys defining historical moments from the 18th century to 1948: the Ottoman Empire, European colonial penetration, the rise of nationalisms, and the formation of the Arab states and Israel. Part II examines the political economy of the region from 1948-1979: the geopolitics of oil, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the Cold War on the structuring of state-society relations. The last third focuses on the rise of citizen demands, exemplified by the Iranian Revolution of 1979. What kinds of citizen actions have been resurfacing in response to incompetent and/or repressive states? Cases include Islamist movements, human rights movements, the peace movement in Israel, the student movement in Iran, and the rise of new media in the Arab world.


W4461Y

Latin American Politics
Instructor: O'Neil, Shannon
Day(s): TR
Time: 540p-655p

Prerequisites: POLS V1501 or 3502 or permission of instructor. Comparative theoretical and empirical analysis of political development and regime change in the region through close study of the interrelated nature of polity, society, and economy in selected cases.


W4471X

Chinese Politics
Instructor: Bernstein, Thomas
Day(s): TR
Time: 240p-355p

Selected aspects of contemporary Chinese politics, including the causes and character of the Chinese revolution, the transformation worked in Chinese society by the revolutionary government, political conflict, and the goals of government policies and the policies of carrying them out. (MC)


G4472X

Japanese Politics
Instructor: Curtis, Gerald
Day(s): R
Time: 210p-400p

Analysis of contemporary Japanese politics and government policymaking. Topics include patterns of political leadership and popular political participation, political party organization and behavior, public policy decision-making processes, and the domestic politics of foreign and defense policies.


W4496X

African Politics
Instructor: Kasara, Kimuli
Day(s): TR
Time: 910a-1035a


G6403Y

Issues in Comparative Politics (Field Survey)
Instructor: Huber, John
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

Instructor permission required. This seminar surveys major questions that motivate contemporary research in comparative politics. The course is specifically designed to introduce PhD students to the modern subfield, and to help prepare them for success on the comparative comprehensive exam. The course should also help students to develop skills that are necessary to become successful teachers and scholars in the comparative subfield.


G6465Y

Political Development in the Third World
Instructor: Oldenburg, Philip
Day(s): M
Time: 900a-1050a

The major issues of political development relevant to both policy and comparative analyses. Topics include ethnic, regional and class stratification, state bureaucracy, patronage, parties and the military, economic development and dependency, and the process of reform, revolution and democratization.


G8416y

Comparative Political Economy of Advanced Industrialized Countries
Instructor: Mares, Isabela
Day(s):
Time:

This seminar provides an introduction to the main theories of comparative political economy.  The survey of these theories is organized as a progression from micro- to macro- level explanations.  We begin by examining the sources of political cleavages over various economic policies and the formation of political coalitions.  Next, we explore a range of theories positing that differences in the organization of interest groups lead to systematic differences in economic outcomes.  In the remaining part of the course, we discuss theories examining the economic and political consequences of differences in partisanship, political institutions, regime types and the level of economic openness.


G8431X

European Political Development
Instructor: Berman, Sheri
Day(s): T
Time: 410p-600p


G8434Y

Latin American Politics in Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Kaufman, Robert
Day(s): F
Time: 1100a-1250pG8444X


G8436X
Comparative Public Policy: Latin America in Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Murillo, Victoria
Day(s): T
Time: 410p-600p


Click G8471Y to view syllabus.

Chinese Politics in Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Bernstein, Thomas & Lu, Xiaobo
Day(s): T
Time: 610p-800p

Instructor permission required. A combined seminar-colloquium. The main theme will be governance and state-society relations in reform China. Half of the semester will be spent discussing assigned readings and the second half will consist of student-initiated sessions on specific issues. Students must have had W4471, Chinese politics, or its equivalent.


Click G8490Y to view syllabus.

States and Nationalism
Instructor: Birnbaum, Pierre
Day(s): R
Time: 900a-1050a

Instructor permission required. In this seminar we will take the state as an explaining variable and study its relation with different notions as nationalism, citizenship, social movements, antisemitism, multiculturalism and so on. Using the traditional opposition between strong and weak state, we will looks at its transformation and outline different processes of differentiation of the State leading to a kind of retreat, for instance, in the actual context of European unification.


 

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International Relations

Page Fortna, Field Coordinator


 

V1601X sec 001

Introduction to International Politics
Instructor: Marten, Kimberly
Day(s): MW
Time: 240p-355p

Lecture and discussion. The basic setting and dynamics of global politics, with emphasis on contemporary problems and processes.


V1601X sec 002

Introduction to International Politics
Instructor: Cronin, Bruce
Day(s): TR
Time: 410p-525p

Lecture and discussion. The basic setting and dynamics of global politics, with emphasis on contemporary problems and processes.


V1601Y

Introduction to International Politics
Instructor: Putnam, Tonya
Day(s): MW
Time: 1035a-1150a

Lecture and discussion. The basic setting and dynamics of global politics, with emphasis on contemporary problems and processes.


V3001Y

Introduction to Human Rights
Instructor(s): Tonya Putnam & Jack Snyder
Day(s): TR
Time: 1035a-1150a

Assesses the meaning and impact of human rights in principle and practice by tracing the evolution of its theory and content; the ideology and impact of human rights movements; national and international laws and institutions, with attention to universality and relevance of human rights for U.S. policy.


V3615X

Globalization and International Politics
Instructor: Cooley, Alex
Day(s): MW
Time: 240p-355p


W3619Y

Nationalism & Contemporary World Politics
Instructor: Snyder, Jack
Day(s): MW
Time: 1035a-1150a

Nationalism as a cause of conflict in contemporary world politics. Strategies for mitigating nationalist and ethnic conflict.


W3631Y

American Foreign Policy
Instructor: Joseph Parent
Day(s): TR
Time: 410p-525p


W3961X sec 001

International Politics Seminar: Contemporary Issues in International Security
Instructor: Snyder, Jack
Day(s): M
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. This course examines central issues in contemporary international security policy (American hegemony, multilateralism, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, civil war, genocide, ethnic conflict, the promotion of democratization and human rights, the problem of Iraq, etc.) and key concepts in the academic study of international relations (e.g., realist and liberal approaches; deterrence theory).


W3961X sec 002

International Politics Seminar: Globalization
Instructors: Erik Gartzke & Pablo Pinto
Day(s): M
Time: 900a-1050p

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. Globalization involves the increasing integration of economic, social and political processes across international borders. Workers in Bangalore man telephones in the middle of the night to provide technical support to customers in the US and Europe. Farmers in Chiapas and college students in Nice demonstrate against the World Bank. Multinational corporations and backyard businesses clamor for greater access to markets. Governments in Asia find that they are beholden to panic by investors a world away.

To some degree, these processes (or ones like them) have always been with us. However, international politics, which has traditionally been organized around the physical control of geography by sovereign governments, increasingly poses tensions or contradictions as the scope of the world that defies boundaries increases. While globalization means many things to many different people, this course will begin to map some of the most obvious examples where sovereignty and the global society collide. Globalization defies easy definition in part because these processes are dynamic and ongoing. We will explore the economics, politics, and conflict processes associated with a globalizing world.


W3961X sec 003

International Politics Seminar: Comparative Foreign Policy
Instructor: Legvold, Robert
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. This course is an exploration of foreign policy as both a crucial element of international politics and a crucial product of domestic politics. Above all, it is an attempt to understand the nature and sources of contrasts in foreign policy. Comparison will serve as our primary tool: Comparison of foreign policy from different historical eras, in different international settings, and by states with different political systems and at different stages of political and economic development.


W3961X sec 004

International Politics Seminar: Foreign Policy and Decision-Making
Instructor: Farnham, Barbara
Day(s): R
Time: 410p-600p

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. How can we account for the foreign policies of states in the international system? Why do they behave the way they do? This seminar focuses on a critical examination of the major explanations for foreign policy outcomes. Our main emphasis is on decision-making. However, we will begin with explanations operating at other levels of analysis, such as the international system and domestic politics. We then explore decision-making explanations, including those derived from cognitive and social psychology, theories of motivation and personality, the impact of the political context, and the role of group dynamics. Throughout, we will be looking at these different approaches in the light of actual episodes taken largely, but not exclusively, from American foreign policy.


W3961X sec 005

International Politics Seminar: Uniting States in International Perspective
Instructor: Parent, Joseph
Day(s): R
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. This class analyzes what brings states together and draws them apart. Cases of integration and disintegration studied will include: The United States, Europe, Africa, and former Soviet states.


W3962Y sec 001

International Politics Seminar: Human Rights in World Politics
Instructor: Cronin, Bruce
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p

Interested students should e-mail the instructor at [email protected] to be added to the waiting list. 

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission.   This seminar examines the development and implementation of human rights norms in the international system. It explores the debates surrounding the concept of human rights in world politics and investigates legal, political and military efforts to implement these at the national, regional and international levels. Throughout the course we consider the tension between international human rights and the principle of state sovereignty and whether there is a right and/or obligation for states and international institutions to intervene when human rights are violated. Finally, we examine the degree to which human rights concerns are incorporated into foreign policies and in particular how they fit within traditional conceptions of “national interest.” In this context, we discuss the question of human rights in the current “war on terrorism.”


W3962Y sec 002

International Politics Seminar: Foreign Policy and Decision Making
Instructor: Farnham, Barbara
Day(s): R
Time: 410p-600p

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. How can we account for the foreign policies of states in the international system? Why do they behave the way they do? This seminar focuses on a critical examination of the major explanations for foreign policy outcomes. Our main emphasis is on decision-making. However, we will begin with explanations operating at other levels of analysis, such as the international system and domestic politics. We then explore decision-making explanations, including those derived from cognitive and social psychology, theories of motivation and personality, the impact of the political context, and the role of group dynamics. Throughout, we will be looking at these different approaches in the light of actual episodes taken largely, but not exclusively, from American foreign policy.


W3962Y sec 003

International Politics Seminar: Peace Research
Instructor: Gartzke, Erik
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. The course examines theories and evidence involving the causes of peace. Peace has of course been a putative goal of scholars, statesmen, and ordinary people since the dawn of civilization. Unfortunately, there has been far more speculation and disappointment than discernible achievement in the area of peace research. We will review theories of peace and try to identify strategies that are more likely to have some beneficial effect.


W3962Y sec 004

International Politics Seminar: Political Economy of Trade and Investment
Instructor: Pinto, Pablo
Day(s): T
Time: 900a-1050a

Prerequisites: POLS V1601 or the equivalent, and instructor’s permission. This seminar examines the politics of several major issues in international trade and direct investment. It analyzes the distributional impact of globalization, and explores why and how governments regulate the flow of goods and capital across national borders. The course is divided into four blocs that look at the patterns and distributive consequences of trade, the political economy of trade politics, the political economy of trade reform, and the political economy of investment, respectively. Students are required to actively participate in weekly discussions, to write two review papers during the course of the semester, and submit a final research paper on one of the topics of the seminar.


W4808Y

Weapons, Strategy & War
Instructor: Schilling, Warner
Day(s): MW
Time: 410p-525p

An examination of how the interrelationships among military technology, strategy, foreign policy, and the cultural ethos have shaped warfare from the introduction of gunpowder to the present; special attention to selected cases from World Wars I and II and the development of U.S. strategy for nuclear weapons.


W4869X

Korean Foreign Relations
Instructor: Kim, Samuel
Day(s): TR
Time: 240p-355p

The changing relations of the two Korean states, with major international actors; analysis of the foreign policies of the two states on issues of war and peace, political economy, human rights, science and technology, international law, international organization, and world order, with an emphasis on recent post Cold War developments. (MC)


W4882X

Foreign Policies of the Post-Soviet States
Instructor: Legvold, Robert
Day(s): T
Time: 410p-600p

Focuses on the emerging foreign policies of Russia, Ukraine, the Central Asian States, and other former Soviet republics. Deals with the sources of these policies, including the impact of the Soviet legacy. Examines the dynamic of relations among these states and with the outside world and weighs their likely impact on an evolving international system.


Click W4895X to see syllabus

War, Peace, & Strategy
Instructor: Betts, Richard
Day(s): MW
Time: 1100a-1215p

Survey of the causes of war and peace, functions of military strategy, interaction of political ends and military means. Emphasis on 20th-century conflicts; nuclear deterrence; economic, technological, and moral aspects of strategy; crisis management; and institutional norms and mechanisms for promoting stability.


Click G6801X to view syllabus.

Theories of International Relations (Field Survey)
Instructor: Jervis, Robert
Day(s): M
Time: 210p-400p

Issues and problems in theory in international politics; systems theories and the current international system; the domestic sources of foreign policy and theories of decision-making; transnational forces, the balance of power, and alliances.


Click G6820X to view syllabus.

Theory of International Political Economy
Instructor: Pinto, Pablo
Day(s): T
Time: 410p-600p

Political aspects of international economic phenomena, including international monetary system, trade and investment, North-South relations, and East-West economic relations.


G8810Y

New Perspectives on the Cold War
Instructor: Legvold, Robert
Day(s): T
Time: 410p-600p

Instructor permission required. Recently released archives and memoirs provide the basis for a reevaluation of the origins, course, and end of the Cold War. Prevailing explanations of Soviet and American foreign policy and international interaction in light of the new materials.


G8815Y

Topics in International Relations Theory
Instructor: Gartzke, Erik
Day(s): T
Time: 410p-600p

Instructor permission required. Review of the current literature on war, peace and institutions with a focus on recent and evolving topics and controversies. Readings center on substantive questions, such as, "Why do states fight?" Emphasis is on debates about the answers to these questions, both as the basis for exploring existing answers and as an opportunity for students to identify their own research agendas.


G8819Y

International Institutions
Instructor: Gartzke, Erik
Day(s): M
Time: 410p-600p


G8826Y

Political Economy of Trade and Investment
Instructor: Pinto, Pablo
Day(s): W
Time: 900a-1050a

Instructor permission required. This course examines the politics of several major issues in international trade and investment. It explores why and how governments regulate the flow of goods and capital across national borders. The course is divided into four blocs that look at the distributive consequences of trade, the political economy of trade politics, the political economy of trade reform, and the political economy of foreign direct investment and multinational corporations, respectively. The course presumes some familiarity with international economics. Economic theory will help us identify the welfare and distributional implications of alternative policies. We will also make extensive use of the insights from the positive political economy tradition to analyze how political actors (voters, interest groups, political parties, and politicians) interact within political institutions to shape policy outcomes. Students are required to actively participate in weekly discussions, write two review papers during the semester, and submit an original research paper on one of the topics of the seminar at the end of the semester.


G8844X

Nationalism
Instructor: Snyder, Jack
Day(s): W
Time: 210-400p

Instructor permission required. Theory and history of nationalism and international conflict. Nationalism as a cause of conflict in contemporary world politics, especially in Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Role of the international community in promoting or containing nationalism.


G8870X

US Relations with East Asia
Instructor: Curtis, Gerald
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p

Instructor permission required. Examination of key developments in East Asian international relations and their implications for United States foreign policy. Students should have knowledge about at least one East Asian country (China, Japan, Korea and the countries in ASEAN). Admission to the course is with the permission of the instructor.


Click G8876Y to view syllabus.

US/Japan Relations - WWII to the Present
Instructor: Packard, George
Day(s): W
Time: 610p-800p

Instructor permission required. This course starts with a broad look at the history of US-Japan relations from the arrival of Commodore Perry in Tokyo Bay 150 years ago, and seeks answers to why the relationship has been marked by conflict and a major war. It then looks at how the relationship evolved as a result of the Pacific War, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan's surrender, the US Occupation and the San Francisco Peace Treaty. What was the legacy of the Occupation? How did the alliance develop between these former rivals? What was the environment of Northeast Asia that drove the alliance? What were the costs and benefits of alliance to each nation? The course then analyzes the trade disputes and economic frictions of the 1970's and 1980's, looks into the rise of revisionism and American fears of Japan as a threat to its security. Finally the course covers events from the 1990's to the present, including the bursting of Japan's "bubble economy," the Clinton, Bush and Koizumi policies, "Japan-passing" in Washington, and the crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Students are encouraged to take and defend controversial views on major events.


G9801X

Seminar in International Politics I
Instructor: Jervis, Robert
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

Instructor permission required. Instruction in the design and execution of individual research projects on international politics. Class discussion on theories of decision making.


G9802Y

Seminar on International Politics II
Instructor: Waltz, Kenneth
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p

Instructor permission required.


 

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Political Theory

David Johnston, Field Coordinator


W1002X

Introduction to Political Thought
Instructor: Colby, Mark
Day(s): MW
Time: 910a-1025a

Note: This course is not open to Columbia College students.


W1002Y

Introduction to Political Thought
Instructor: Colby, Mark
Day(s): TR
Time: 910a-1025a

Note: This course is not open to Columbia College students.


V3027Y

Liberalism, Communitarism, and the Good
Instructor: Friedman, Jeffrey
Day(s): TBA
Time: TBA


W3100x

Justice
Instructor: Johnston, David
Day(s): MW
Time: 1100a-1215p

An inquiry into the nature and implications of justice in areas ranging from criminal justice to distributive justice to the circumstances of war and peace. Drawing on utilitarian and Kantian theories, we will consider issues such as abortion, the criminalization of sexual behavior, the death penalty, surrogate motherhood, global poverty, civil disobedience, and the conflict between Israelis, Palestinians, and Arabs.


W3140X

Animal Rights in Theory and Practice
Instructor: Franklin, Julian
Day(s): TR
Time: 910a-1025a


W3911X sec 001

Seminar in Political Theory: Sovereignty, Law and War
Instructor: Cohen, Jean
Day(s): M
Time: 210p-400p

The discourse of sovereignty emerged in the context of the development of the modern state and the European system of states. But this was also the epoch of colonialism and imperialism. This course will analyze key theories of sovereignty, just war, and law, including those of Vitoria, Grotius, Bodin, Hobbes, Rousseau, Vattel and Kant, among others. We will focus on the relation between the discourse of sovereignty, the structure of international law and empire. In the last segment of the course, we will reconsider this issue by focusing on the peculiar constitutional understanding of sovereignty in the U.S. and of the view of its relation to international law and the international society of states in historical perspective.


W3911X sec 002

Seminar in Political Theory: Liberalism, Religion, and Politics
Instructor: Schwartzman, Micah
Day(s): W
Time: 410-600

Instructor’s permission required. An inquiry into the proper role of religious convictions in liberal democratic politics. This course will examine whether citizens have an obligation to refrain from making political decisions on the basis of their religious beliefs. Readings will focus on political liberalism and its religious critics, with selected topics including civil disobedience, freedom of speech, public education, evolution, abortion, and homosexuality.


W3912Y sec 001

Seminar in Political Theory: Problems in Democratic Theory
Instructor: Stilz, Anna
Day(s): W
Time: 410p-600p

Instructor's permission required. In this course, we will attempt to come to terms with what democracy means and why so many in the modern world see it as the only morally legitimate political form. Why democracy rather than monarchy, or aristocracy? We will investigate democracy as a theoretical concept at the heart of a number of contemporary problems, by considering democracy's relation to representation, constitutionalism, voting, deliberation, and questions of national or civic identity.


W3912Y sec 002

Seminar in Political Theory: Ethics, Politics and Human Nature
Instructor: Kowalski, Maria
Day(s): W
Time: 1100a-1250p

Instructor's permission required. To what degree are humans rational? What is human nature and what reason (if any) do we have to be moral? What role do assumptions about human nature play in political theory? What is the relationaship between ethics and politics? This course examines some of the most influential texts in the history of political thought to explore their contribution to a broader conversation about justice, equality, democracy and the proper relationship of the individual to the state. In particular, we will try to understand and explain the contrasting accounts they give of such important concepts as freedom, equality, justice and democracy by examining the underlying assumptions about human agency.


W4133X

Political Thought: Classical and Medieval
Instructor: Schwartzberg, Melissa
Day(s): T
Time: 410-600


W4134Y

Modern Political Thought
Instructor: Urbinati, Nadia
Day(s): MW
Time: 410p-525p

Interpretations of civil society and the foundations of political order according to the two main traditions of political thought--contraction and Aristotelian. Readings include works by Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Montesquieu, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Saint-Simon, Tocqueville, Marx, and Mill.


W4610Y

Recent Continental Political Thought
Instructor: Cohen, Jean
Day(s): R
Time: 210p-400p

This course will compare and contrast the theories of the political, the state, freedom, democracy, sovereignty and law, in the works of the following key 20th and 21st century continental theorists: Arendt, Castoriadis, Foucault,  Habermas, Kelsen, Lefort, Schmitt, and Weber. It will be taught in seminar format.


G6601X

Issues in Political Theory (Field Survey)
Instructor: Cohen, Jean and Urbinati, Nadia
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

A survey of selected issues and debates in political theory. Areas of the field discussed include normative political philosophy, history of political thought, and the design of political and social institutions.


G8601Y

Cosmopolitanism and Transnational Justice
Instructor: Cohen, Jean and Pogge, Thomas
Day)s): T
Time: 210p-400p


G8608X

Sovereignty in Historical and Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Cohen, Jean
Day(s): W
Time: 610p-800p


G8609Y

Constitutionalism & Democracy in the Age of Globalization
Instructor: Cohen, Jean; Arato, Andrew and Rosenfeld, Michel
Day(s): M
Time: 410p-600p

How do globalization and privatization affect the way we think about constitutionalism and democracy? Does the proliferation of supra- and trans-national law shift the referent of both away from the sovereign state? Are we confronting new forms of the juridification and/or privatization of politics? This course will address these issues, in the form of a seminar/lecture series. Among the speakers are J. Alvarez, Choudry, G. de Burca, R. Dehousse, Ruiz-Fabri, S. Marks, A. Sajo, G. Teubner, Troper and J. Weiler. Permission from Prof. Cohen is required for Columbia students.


G8653X
Rawls' Theory of Justice
Instructor: Johnston, David and Pogge, Thomas
Day(s): M
Time: 210p-400p


G8690Y
Resistance, Disobedience and Violence
Instructor: Urbinati, Nadia
Day(s): T
Time: 410p-600p

A survey of selected issues and debates in political theory. Areas of the field discussed include normative political philosophy, history of political thought, and the design of political and social institutions. 


 

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Research and Methods

Gregory Wawro, Methods Committee Chairperson


 

C3998X-C3999Y

Senior Honors Seminar
Instructor: Mares, Isabela
Day(s): M
Time: 410p-600p

Instructor permission required.


W4209Y

Game Theory and Political Theory
Instructor: Epstein, David
Day(s): MW
Time: 1100a-1215p

Application of noncooperative game theory to strategic situations in politics. Solution, asymmetric information, incomplete concepts information, signaling, repeated games, and folk theorems. Models drawn from elections, legislative strategy, interest group politics, regulation, nuclear deterrence, international relations, and tariff policy


G4210X

Research Topics in Game Theory
Instructor: Epstein, David
Day(s): M
Time: 900a-1050a

Advanced topics in game theory will cover the study of repeated games, games of incomplete information and principal-agent models with applications in the fields of voting, bargaining, lobbying and violent conflict. Results from the study of social choice theory, mechanism design and auction theory will also be treated. The course will concentrate on mathematical techniques for constructing and solving games. Students will be required to develop a topic relating political science and game theory and to write a formal research paper. Prerequisite: W4209 or instructor's permission. 


W4291X

Advanced Topics in Quantitative Research
Instructor: Wawro, Gregory
Day(s): TR
Time: 910a-1025a

Instruction in methods for models that have dependent variables that are not continuous, including dichotomous and polychotomous response models, models for censored and truncated data, sample selection models and duration models.


W4292Y

Advanced Topics in Quantitative Research: Models for Panel & Time-Series Cross-Section Data
Instructor: Wawro, Gregory
Day(s): TR
Time: 910a-1025a

This course covers methods for models for repeated observations data. These kind of data present tremendous opportunities as well as formidable challenges for making inferences. The course will mostly focus on how to estimate models for panel and time-series cross-section data. Topics covered include fixed effects, random effects, dynamic panel models, random coefficient models, and models for qualitative dependent variables. The course will discuss the theory behind the methods as well as applications to substantive research questions.


W4360X

Mathematical Methods for Political Science
Instructor: Huber, John
Day(s): MW
Time: 910a-1025a

Provides students of political science with a basic set of tools needed to read, evaluate, and contribute in research areas that increasingly utilize sophisticated mathematical techniques.


W4910X

Principles of Quantitative Political Research
Instructor: Stevens, Matthew
Day(s): TR
Time: 110p-225p

Introduction to the use of quantitative techniques in political science and public policy. Topics include descriptive statistics and principles of statistical inference and probability through analysis of variance and ordinary least-squares regression. Computer applications are emphasized.


W4911Y

Analysis of Political Data
Instructor: Stevens
Day(s): TR
Time: 1035a-1150a

Prerequisite: W4910 or the equivalent. Multivariate and time-series analysis of political data. Topics include time-series regression, structural equation models, factor analysis, and other special topics. Computer applications are emphasized.


W4912Y

Multivariate Political Analysis
Instructor: Hirano, Shigeo
Day(s): MW
Time: 910a-1025a

Prerequisite: basic data analysis through multiple regression (e.g., W4910) and knowledge of basic calculus and matrix algebra (e.g., W4360). More mathematical treatment of topics covered in W4911. Examines problems encountered in multivariate analysis of cross-sectional and time-series data.


88990X-88991Y

Research in Quantitative Political Science (Cross-listed in Statistics Dept.)
Instructor: Gelman, Andrew and Hirano, Shigeo
Day(s): W
Time: 1100a-1250p

Instructor permission required.


89611Y

Quantitative Analysis of Sustainable Development (Cross-listed as SDEV 9611)
Instructor: O'Halloran, Sharyn
Day(s): R
Time: 210p-400p

Instructor permission required.


 

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Dissertation Seminars


 

G9901X-9902Y

Dissertation Seminar
Instructor: Lieberman, Robert
Day(s):M
410p-600p

This seminar is for students in all fields working on any and all topics in political science. Students will have the opportunity to present draft dissertation proposals and draft dissertation chapters. Enrollment is limited to advanced students in the Political Science Ph.D. program except by permission of the instructor.


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Field Surveys


G6210X

Theories & Debates in American Politics (Field Survey)
Instructor: Lax, Jeffrey and Erikson, Robert
Day(s): W
Time: 210p-400p

A survey of a broad range of important contemporary debates in the field of American politics.


G6403Y

Issues in Comparative Politics (Field Survey)
Instructor: Huber, John
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

Instructor permission required. This seminar surveys major questions that motivate contemporary research in comparative politics. The course is specifically designed to introduce PhD students to the modern subfield, and to help prepare them for success on the comparative comprehensive exam. The course should also help students to develop skills that are necessary to become successful teachers and scholars in the comparative subfield.


G6601X

Issues in Political Theory (Field Survey)
Instructor: Cohen, Jean and Urbinati, Nadia
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p

A survey of selected issues and debates in political theory. Areas of the field discussed include normative political philosophy, history of political thought, and the design of political and social institutions.


G6801X

Theories of International Relations (Field Survey)
Instructor: Jervis, Robert
Day(s): M
Time: 210p-400p

Issues and problems in theory in international politics; systems theories and the current international system; the domestic sources of foreign policy and theories of decision-making; transnational forces, the balance of power, and alliances.


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Related Courses


C1001Y

Introduction to African-American Studies
Instructor: Marable, Manning
Day(s): TR
Time: 110p-225p


W4921Y

Seminar in Political Economy (Economics Department)
Instructor: Epstein, David
Day(s): W
Time: 4109-600p

Instructor permission required.


W4335X

Sample Surveys (Statistics)
Instructor: Gelman, Andrew
Day(s): WF
Time: 900a-10:30a


Click G4510Y to view syllabus.

Critical Approaches to African American Studies (AFAM)
Instructor: Marable, Manning
Day(s): R
Time: 210p-400p

This colloquium, which is an optional requirement for all Master of Arts students in the African-American Studies graduate program, is designed to introduce some of the key issues, controversies and debates that characterize the field of black studies historically and today. There are two goals of the colloquium: (1) to discuss and analyze issues such as the treatment of women and gender issues in African-American Studies, the impact of the prison industrial complex and mass incarceration of black American life, the role of political and cultural institutions on black society; the function of black intellectuals and leadership, etc.; and (2) to give students the opportunity to engage in detailed, original research into a topic which illuminates an important dimension of what African-American Studies has been, and is becoming. In this process, students may review archival documents, published collections of correspondence, dissertations and masters’ theses and develop a comprehensive bibliography of publications by and about their individual subjects.


ORLF5042X

Urban Politics and Education (Teachers College)
Instructor: Henig, Jeffrey
Day(s): M
Time: 510p-650p

This course considers the factors that constrain and frequently frustrate urban school reform efforts, paying special attention to obstacles that can be traced to competing interests, political ideologies, and the governance structures that may favor some groups over others. Issues covered include: metropolitan fragmentation, sub-urbanization and the exit option, the roots and consequences of federalism, racial and ethnic conflict, patronage politics, downtown business involvement, proposals to abolish or reconstitute school boards, and state takeovers.


U6110X

Politics of Policymaking (International Affairs)
Instructor: Prewitt, Kenneth
Day(s): W
Time: 4:10p-600p


U6540 (International Affairs)

Germany and Poland in European Context
Instructor: Krasnodebski, Zdzislaw
Day(s): W
Time: 900a-1050a


G6----Y

Statistical Graphics (Statistics)
Instructor: Gelman, Andrew
Day(s): TBA
Time: TBA

A seminar course in statistical graphics, covering how to make graphs in R, graphics as tools in scientific inference, statistical and psychological theories of graphics, and statistical communication. Class meetings will include demonstrations, discussions of readings, and lectures. Depending on their individual interests, different students will have to master different in-depth topics. All students will learn to make clear and informative graphs for data exploration, substantive research, and presentation to self and others. Students will work in pairs on final projects. A final project can be a new graphical analysis of a research topic of interest, an innovative graphical presentation of important data or data summaries, an experiment investigating the effectiveness of some graphical method, or a computer program implementing a useful graphical method. Each final project should take the form of a publishable article.


U8008Y

Social Sciences and Public Policy (Public Affairs)
Instructor: Prewitt, Kenneth
Day(s): TBA
Time: TBA

This seminar explores a question famously put by Herbert Simon, “are social problems problems social science can solve?” Starting with the interlinked history of the state, the social sciences, and policy knowledge the course proceeds to debates about the usefulness of social science in policy-making and then turns to specific questions about the organization of a policy-relevant social science. The latter part of the course considers the policy consequences of how the population is counted and classified, which in turn leads to a discussion of performance measures and social indicators. The course concludes with a look at the limits of social knowledge in improving democracy.


U8177Y

Human Rights in Post-Communist Eurasia (International Affairs)
Instructor: Juviler, Peter
Day(s): M
Time: 610p-800p

This course should contribute to the understanding of continuity & change in the region as regards human rights and influences on their fulfillment. Why, for instance, does democracy fade as surveys shift farther east, while authoritarian violations of human rights surge, both in partly free "managed" or "electoral" democracies;" & in outright dictatorships, the most repressive being in Central Asia? This approach involves also a combination of academic & practical focus, & a blending of area studies with the insights of various disciplines.


U8239

American Urban Policy (Public Affairs)
Instructor: Fuchs, Ester
Day(s): MW
Time: 4:10-5:40

Instructor's permission required.


Click U8370Y to view syllabus.

Labor in the Age of Globalization (International Affairs)
Instructor: Murillo, Victoria & Warren, Dorian
Day(s): W
Time: 410p-600p

This course analyzes the challenges for labor facing increasing capital mobility as well as the local challenges of political and economic liberalization. The course analyzes a variety of theories on labor behavior with a special emphasis on labor politics. The theories are applied to understand labor responses to current process of economic liberalization, expansion of the informal sector, changes in the labor supply and transformation of labor regulations in Latin America and other regions of the world. Class discussion will center on the theoretical implications of readings and students should be prepared to use the analytical tools learnt in class for a research paper on labor strategies facing changes in labor market institutions in any chosen country or region.


U8486

Republicanism and Liberalism in the Polish Political Tradition
Instructor: Krasnodebski, Zdzislaw
Day(s): T
Time: 900-1050pm


U8565x

European Security (International Affairs)
Instructor: Cynthia A Roberts
Day(s): T
Time: 1100a-1250p


Click G8580Y to view syllabus.

Black Leadership in American Politics (History)
Instructor: Marable, Manning
Day(s): R
Time: 610p-800p

This graduate colloquium examines primary texts and scholarly secondary literatures reflecting the dynamics of political, cultural and intellectual leadership within black America during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Major topics in the course include: the formation of black oppositional leadership in the Abolitionist movement; their approaches to Reconstruction politics in the South; the emergence of Booker T. Washington and politics of racial accommodation during the Jim Crow era; the ideological development of W.E.B. Du Bois within the framework of the early twentieth century integrationist movement; the intersection between labor radicalism and black nationalism in the post-First World War period; the persistence of Pan-Africanism and internationalism in African-American thought; the success and defeat of the Civil Rights movement and Black Power movement; African-American women leadership and the politics of gender; the electoral dynamics of national and municipal black politics; debates within the African-American community over the issue of gender and sexism; and controversies over the results of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. The course brings together both primary sources (documents written by historical figures themselves) and secondary sources(written by scholars and contemporary commentators) to allow students to fully explore the contours of the black experience and socio-political thought of “race” leaders since the mid-nineteenth century.


U8715X

The Cold War and the Third World (International Affairs)
Instructor: Mamdani, Mahmood
Day(s): T
Time: 210p-400p


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