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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