Political Science Department

POL 220 - Introduction to Global Politics

This course surveys major topics and theoretical and empirical contributions in comparative politics. It addresses such issues as methodology, modernization and economic development, democracy and authoritarianism, political parties, participation, representation, social movements, accountability, institutions of government, ethnic violence, revolutions, and civil wars.

POL 230 - Introduction to Political Economy

This course offers an introduction to the field of political economy, the study of how political power shapes economic outcomes and how economic power influences politics. Students will learn the key conceptual foundations of political economy as well as read major works in comparative political economy (CPE) and international political economy (IPE). Key topics include how economic interests are organized, how political institutions shape economic outcomes, how states respond to globalization, and how structures of the international system shape economic outcomes for individual states. Throughout, students will grapple with rich empirical work and debate the merits of various approaches to the study of political economy. This is a survey course and accessible to all majors and does not require prior knowledge of economics or politics.

POL 240 - Introduction to International Relations

This course introduces the theoretical study of international relations, with a focus on structures, systems, and strategies. Students will learn to perform basic research and analysis through writing and thinking about events in international relations from different perspectives, including realism, liberalism, and feminism. Readings are drawn from historic and contemporary scholars of international relations, cover a wide variety of issues, and are grouped together in conflicting pairs where possible. Assignments and exams are a mixture of analysis and experiential learning.

POL 260 - Introduction to American Politics and Public Policy

This course provides an introduction to the processes of political decision-making, political institutions, and the formation of public policy in the United States. The course introduces students to the basics of political decision-making by a collective, including how individual actors (voters, politicians, policy makers) reason; how institutions constrain and shape action; and how policies are ultimately designed and implemented. There will be weekly lectures and individual conferences.

POL 280 - Introduction to Political Theory

This course offers an introduction to a Western tradition of political thought by way of major ancient (Plato and Aristotle) and early modern political thinkers (Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau) who are antecedents of contemporary political philosophy and social theory. It engages the latter through the work of Karl Marx, W.E.B. Du Bois, Simone de Beauvoir, and various living scholars, for critical leverage on the tradition

POL 300 - Junior Research Seminar

This course focuses on preparing students for political science research, particularly for thesis. Topics include shaping and framing a research question; constructing a literature review; concept formation and measurement; writing with style, clarity, and grace; and presenting results. All areas of inquiry in political science will be given ample coverage.

POL 311 - Quantitative Methods for Political Science

This course serves as an introduction to quantitative methodology in political science. The course will begin with the logic of social scientific inquiry and the basics of research design, and then introduce students to the quantitative methods that are commonly used by political scientists to investigate important questions about the political world. By the end of the semester, students will have developed a critical understanding of issues related to scientific inquiry, measurement, causal inference, experimental, and observational research. Students will also learn fundamental data analytic techniques and develop the skills to apply these tools using the R computer software.

POL 322 - Social Movements

The goal of the course is to inquire about the causes and consequences of several historical and contemporary social and political movements. Studying social movements in the United States from the '60s to the current Black Lives Matter movement, social movements in communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc and in Syria, and past and current social and political movements throughout Latin America, the course will assess the consequences these movements had in the political lives of the individuals and groups involved, as well as in the societies in which they took place. The course will conclude examining the political causes and consequences that give rise to different social movements across time and space.

POL 324 - Human Rights in Latin America

This course combines normative theory, empirical research, and a historical perspective to critically examine human rights in Latin America. By reviewing civil, political, economic, and sexual rights in Argentina, Peru, Chile, and Mexico, the course seeks to familiarize students with human rights in the region. To accomplish this goal, the course reviews human rights issues that have afflicted (and continue to affect) Latin American countries since the Cuban Revolution (1959). The topics covered in the class include 1) transitions from authoritarianism to democracy, 2) violations of human rights and their effects on the selected countries, 3) the creation, work, and consequences of truth commissions, 4) the use of human rights framings to extend sexual and reproductive rights, and 5) violence and human rights abuses in present-day Mexico, Colombia, and Chile.

POL 326 - Capitalism and Its Critics

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POL 331 - Money, Finance, and Empire

The 2008 financial crisis reinvigorated debates about money, finance, and empire. This course places the evolution of finance, the rise of empires, and the power of the dollar in historical perspective.  We will situate ourselves in the field by engaging with theories of money, the anatomy of finance, and the history of financialization. We will investigate the dynamic interaction between imperial power and monetary dominance, and explore how colonial financial arrangements strengthened empires and their currencies, how struggles between major powers shaped international financial arrangements, how such arrangements continue to reinforce hierarchy in the global economy, and how countries of the global South are challenging dollar dominance today. Throughout the course we will connect theories of money and finance to the histories of financialization and empire.

POL 335 - Gender and Politics in the U.S. and Latin America

This course combines feminist theory and empirical research to examine gender and politics in Latin America. The course studies the workings of gender in the region over time. We discuss gender in laws and policies on marriage and divorce, regulations on reproduction and sexuality, child care, and political representation. We study how gender works within formal and informal institutions, the market, and international and domestic conflict to produce economic and status inequality. Finally, we consider the institution of normative heterosexuality and debates over gay marriage and LGBTQ rights. The course focuses on three main topics: (1) violence against women, (2) abortion decriminalization, and (3) political representation

POL 338 - Energy Politics and the Climate Crisis

This course introduces students to the tangled politics of energy systems and the climate crisis. Through the lens of political economy, we will first examine the history and politics of hydrocarbon extraction, trade, governance, and consumption. Key areas of focus will be the industrial revolution, imperial struggles over oil in the Middle East, the formation of OPEC, and global production and trade networks built on massive energy consumption. We will think critically about how energy systems shape and are shaped by power struggles across class, race, and geography. In the second half of the course, we will consider the political pathways to a renewable energy system. Here, we will discuss political activism targeting hydrocarbon extraction, the enduring issue of climate debt, specifically climate reparations demanded by the global South, the effectiveness of market-based climate solutions, and the complexity of a just transition, with a focus on labor and resource politics. 

POL 339 - Democratic Erosion

Readings address the causes, symptoms, and consequences of democratic erosion. Over the course of the semester, students gain theoretical, empirical, and historical context to help them understand our unique political moment.

POL 346 - International Political Economy

This course introduces students to key conceptual and substantive issues in international political economy (IPE). We will first develop a theoretical understanding of IPE by surveying its major approaches and actors. We will critically engage with issues such as imperial trade and monetary relations, postwar currency arrangements, financial and currency crises, the changing landscape of production and trade, and the role of the World Bank, the WTO, and the International Monetary Fund in managing the global economy.  In the final section of the course, we will contemplate the future of the international economic order by interrogating phenomena such as the 2008 financial crisis, global supply chains, corporate power, the rise of China, and the climate crisis.

POL 347 - Politics of International Development

Why are some countries rich and others poor? Scholars have debated this question for decades, offering a plethora of answers, ranging from international trade agreements to domestic political arrangements. We will begin with the thorny question of what is meant by "development."  We will evaluate theories of development and reflect on how development has been done in the global South over the past decades, and how emerging trends in the global economy challenge existing development paradigms. Throughout the course, we will examine the validity of global versus domestic explanations, and consider the roles of international institutions, global finance, trade networks, foreign governments, and domestic actors in fostering or hindering development. 

POL 350 - Networks and Social Structure

See SOC 380 for description.

POL 351 - Interdisciplinary Approaches to Social Science

See ICPS 301  for description.

POL 352 - Special Topics in International Comparative Policy Studies

See ICPS 302  for description.

POL 358 - International Security in a Changing World

This course provides an introduction to international security, the study of how states and non-state actors employ the threat and use of force to achieve their political and economic objectives. In this course, we examine questions such as: What are the origins of conflict? What strategies do actors in the international system use to employ force, and how have they changed in the nuclear age? What are the current problems facing decision makers today? The course begins with an overview of theories of the causes of war. It continues by examining the effects on strategies and conflict of recent technological revolutions. We conclude with the major contemporary threats to national and international security.

POL 359 - Weapons, Technology, and War

This course examines the historical evolution of the conduct of war from a theoretical and normative perspective. What elements of war have changed over time, and what core precepts remain the same? To what degree have advances in technology altered the conduct and outcomes of war? Why have some weapons been deemed cruel and inhumane at times and merciful at others? We will explore the interrelationships among military technology, society, politics, and war, asking how different forces have shaped warfare, focusing on how and why different weapons have been used (or prohibited) over time.

POL 361 - The Science and Politics of Climate Change

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POL 362 - State and Local Politics

Understanding state and local politics in this course involves an inquiry proceeding in three general stages. First, the course engages in a broad survey of the varied institutional arrangements that serve to administer subnational governments in the United States. Second, the course examines the varied political environments in which state governments operate, including an examination of state-level political culture and opinion. Finally, the course will use institutional arrangements and political environments to investigate variation in policy choices at the state and local level-particularly environmental policy.

POL 368 - Environmental Politics and Policy

The purpose of this course is to meld the science of environmental problems with the policy and politics surrounding them. Over the semester, we will cover the sources of environmental problems, the foundations of environmental policy, how environmental policy changes over time, the role of science and uncertainty, environmental policy in practice, and alternative routes towards addressing these issues. Throughout, we will focus on the conflicts that arise between the science of these problems, how they are perceived by the public and elites, and the role institutions play in addressing them.

POL 369 - Public Policy

This course teaches the extant and emerging theories of the policy process and their application to both emerging and chronic problems. The study of public policy is sorted into several distinct but non-mutually exclusive theories which can be used to explain processes by which governments aggregate preferences, coordinate relevant interests, and make decisions. Each week, the course will examine the foundational texts of a policy theory, relevant extensions, and applications to current issues facing national and subnational decision makers. The course is mainly U.S. focused, but the covered theories are applied in a comparative context in countries around the world. Students should have a working knowledge of American policy-making institutions before taking this course. The course assesses policy theory through literature that leverages empiricism.

POL 371 - Identity Politics

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POL 377 - Elections: American Style

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POL 378 - Mass Incarceration in the United States

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POL 380 - Earth, Nature, World

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POL 381 - Science, Politics, Authority

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POL 382 - Body Politics

This course examines the politics of embodiment in relation to gender, race, class, sexuality, and ability. We consider how bodies are marked as deviant, abnormal, and/or pathological, and explore where processes of sexed, raced, gendered, and able-bodied normalization intersect and diverge. We engage conceptual and normative debates about controversial bodily practices (autonomy and alienation in prostitution and pornography; biocapital in surrogacy and organ donation; the self and genetic ancestry testing; the ethics of hunger striking and the weaponization of the body) from a range of perspectives: liberal humanist, radical and Marxist feminist, phenomenological and performative, intersectional and new materialist. Topics range from the marriage contract, domestic labor, and reproductive justice to turn-of-the-century sexology and the modern freak show, the science of homosexuality, the pleasures of trans and queer embodiment, and the biopolitics of AIDS.

POL 383 - Who Counts? Enumeration, Representation, Democracy

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POL 390 - The Human Condition

This course undertakes a systematic study of Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition (1958), both in its own terms and as a portal into the history of the modern West. We will examine the book's architecture, along with its conceptual apparatus: earth and world alienation; the vita activa and vita contemplativa; the conditions of natality, mortality, and plurality; the activities of labor, work, and action; the realms of public, private, and the social. We will explore the contexts Arendt invokes-including the ancient world and early modern science-as well as those she doesn't. That is, we will read in light of Arendt's own experience: as a German emigre in Cold War America, writing in the shadow of the Nazi death camps and the atom bomb; witnessing the expansion of the welfare state, the acceleration of automation, and the launch of Sputnik. Finally, we will locate the work intertextually, critically assessing Arendt's readings of Marx, Heidegger, and others.

POL 392 - Contemporary Democratic Theory

This course introduces students to debates in contemporary democratic theory. While we will draw on some historical sources, the focus is on current theories and dilemmas of democratic politics. During the first half of the course, we examine a variety of forms and theories of democracy: minimalist and pluralist; deliberative and representative; agonistic and radical. In the second half, we turn to a set of challenges that democratic politics and polities face today. Topics covered include concerns about the competence of the mass public, now amplified by new media like cable TV and digital platforms; the relationship between democracy, capitalism, and inequality in the context of neoliberalism; legacies of colonialism and racial domination in America; the global rise of illiberal democracy and populist movements; and democracy's boundary problems, from the legitimacy of "the People," to immigration and borders. We conclude by considering sources of democratic hope in a time of crisis.

POL 395 - Illuminations: Politics in Dark Times

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POL 396 - Neoliberalism and its Critics

We live in neoliberal times. But what does this mean? We survey scholarly answers and hone our focus on neoliberalism as the social formation and political rationality that shape the world we inhabit. Using the large toolkit of political theory, we investigate the intellectual, economic, ideological, social, and political forces that forge this historical phenomenon. We ask how neoliberalism's dominance has affected our political institutions, values, imagination, and solidarity. What is said in favor of neoliberal values and ways of living together? What, opposed? We examine broad theoretical answers. We also consider concrete issue-areas-climate change, race politics, the care crisis, and higher education-to deepen our understanding of the world we inhabit and to tease out visions of possible futures.

POL 403 - Hegel and Marx

This course examines the principal political writings of Hegel and Marx. Much emphasis will be placed on Hegel's Philosophy of Right and its conceptual and historical foundations. Readings from Marx will include Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Paris Manuscripts, Theses on Feuerbach, German Ideology, Capital, and Critique of the Gotha Program. Contemporary ideas on the question of Hegel and Marx will be traced in various writings, including those of Habermas and Althusser.

POL 405 - Judgment

How are particulars subsumed under, or otherwise connected with, universals? The problem of judgment is treated with respect to a range of related concepts: taste, rhetoric, phronesis, interpretation, common sense, and the like. The initial texts are Kant's Critique of Judgment and Gadamer's Truth and Method. Particular issues emerging from these texts are treated variously in the writings of Arendt on politics, Dworkin and Fish on textual interpretation, Habermas on communication, and Oakeshott on conversation. All of these issues bear on the broad question of rationality, objectivity, and human understanding.

POL 409 - "Being and Time" and Politics

An exploration of the political implications of Heidegger's ontology, understood primarily as a phenomenology of mind. We will begin by considering some of the contexts of Heideggerian thought through an examination of Husserl's Cartesian Meditations, and we will end by tracing certain aspects of its moral and political influence both in the writings of Levinas and Arendt and in the more recent critical literature on the question of Heidegger and National Socialism. Our principal task, however, will be to pursue a close and systematic study of Being and Time, focusing on central elements of its conceptual apparatus, including, for example, notions of entity and world, care and concern, anxiety and resoluteness, temporality and death, history and the state.

POL 444 - Global Catastrophic Risks

This course investigates the politics of global risks-challenges, some created by humans and others by nature-that have the potential to drastically alter human civilization, the planet, or life itself. Such "apocalyptic" risks include extreme climate change, ecological catastrophes, global pandemics, nuclear war, artificial intelligence, and asteroid impacts. The course will analyze these nascent Armageddons using a variety of theoretical perspectives including the precautionary principle, the social construction of risk, normal accidents theory, and concepts of high-reliability operations.

POL 470 - Thesis

POL 481 - Independent Reading

POL 553 - Turning Down the Temperature: Climate Politics in America

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POL 583 - Heidegger and Arendt on Film

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