GOVT102F Politics: Fundamental Concepts (FYS)

This First Year Seminar introduces students to the concepts that remain central to political life: capitalism, class, race, gender, state, citizenship, power, civil society, democracy, anarchy, populism, and fascism, to name a few.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT108F It's (Not) a Laughing Matter: Humor as Resistance and a Force for Social Change

Using a global perspective, this course will focus on developing critical thinking and writing skills as well as developing intellectual empathy. The students will learn to define issues within a broad cultural context and gain experience in evaluating and interpreting content in a variety of mediums. Students will interact with their classmates and actively participate in classroom activities to improve their ability to work in groups, think outside of the box, improve their writing, and develop their oral presentation skills.



The subject matter crosses disciplinary boundaries, linking the neuroscience of laughter with social science analyses about the power of humor. Students will be able to explain how humor can be a crucial tool to cope with painful and even repressive circumstances. They also will investigate how comedians and political activists use humor and other art forms to push for political and social change.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT116F Good Books on Bad Wars (FYS)

This course explores war through some of the best books of theory, fiction, and nonfiction. The purpose of war is to achieve a policy that leads to a better peace after the war's end than the peace that existed before the war began. But the nature of war is to serve itself if policy does not guide and constrain war. This course begins with discussion of the best foundational works of theory to build an understanding of the epistemology of war. The students will subsequently read, analyze, and discuss some of the best works of nonfiction and fiction on bad wars when judged by quality of strategy, magnitude of losses, or duration of fighting. The book subjects range from the American Civil War to the post-9/11 wars. The readings and seminar discussions vary from the reasons why the wars began to the conduct and outcomes of the wars. This course lies at the intersection of international relations, history, and conflict studies. It will increase the students' understanding of how policy, strategy, and war interact. A central aim of this seminar is to improve critical thinking and writing.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ALLB
Identical With: CSPL116F
Prereq: None

GOVT151 American Government and Politics

This course introduces the "building blocks" of American politics and government at the national level. It has four main parts: (1) foundations of our governmental system, (2) political institutions and the way they generate policy, (3) politics at the level of the individual citizen and the mechanisms that link the masses to elites, and (4) how all the factors come together in the making of public policy. We will scrutinize insider accounts of politics, scholarly work on governmental processes, and popular debates on issues and institutions. In addition, we will discuss why Americans are often so unhappy with their politics and politicians and the challenges faced by elected officials attempting to meet a wide scope of public demands. This course is designed specifically for first-year students.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT151F American Government and Politics (FYS)

An introduction to American national institutions and the policy process, the focus of this course is on the institutions and actors who make, interpret, and enforce our laws: Congress, the presidency, the courts, and the bureaucracy. The course will critically assess the perennial conflict over executive, legislative, and judicial power and the implications of the rise of the administrative state for a democratic order. This course is designed specifically for first-year students.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT155 International Relations

Why do states go to war with each other? How do we solve global problems? How do we govern the global economy? To equip students to answer these questions, this course introduces students to an analytical framework emphasizing the role of political interests, strategic interactions, and international institutions. Students will use this framework to understand current events and to critically analyze theories and concepts that have been used to explain world politics. Students will also consider critical perspectives on international relations, such as the role of colonialism in shaping the global order.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT155F International Politics (FYS)

This introduction to international politics applies various theories of state behavior to selected historical cases. Topics include the balance of power, change in international systems, the causes of war and peace, and the role of international law, institutions, and morality in the relations among nations.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT155Z International Relations

This course represents an introduction to the central concepts, theories, and empirical findings in the study of international politics. The principal actors, structures, and processes of international relations will be analyzed in a theoretical and historical context. Major topics include nationalism and the national interest, power, diplomacy, game theory and bargaining, the causes of foreign policy, nuclear weapons and international security, imperialism, underdevelopment, international organizations, international resource management, the environment, and transnational actors.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT157 Democracy and Dictatorship: Politics in the Contemporary World

In this introduction to politics in industrialized capitalist, state socialist, and developing countries, we explore the meaning of central concepts such as democracy and socialism, the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of political institutions (e.g., presidentialism vs. parliamentarianism in liberal democratic countries), the causes and consequences of shifts between types of political systems (e.g., transitions from authoritarian rule), and the relations among social, economic, and political changes (e.g., among social justice, economic growth, and political democracy in developing countries).
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT157F Democracy and Dictatorship: Politics in the Contemporary World (FYS)

In this introduction to politics in industrialized capitalist, state socialist, and developing countries, we explore the meaning of central concepts such as democracy and socialism, the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of political institutions (e.g., presidentialism vs. parliamentarianism in liberal democratic countries), the causes and consequences of shifts between types of political systems (e.g., transitions from authoritarian rule), and the relations among social, economic, and political changes (e.g., among social justice, economic growth, and political democracy in developing countries).
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT157Z Democracy and Dictatorship: Politics in the Contemporary World

In this introduction to politics in industrialized capitalist, state socialist, and developing countries, we explore the meaning of central concepts such as democracy and socialism, the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of political institutions (e.g., presidentialism versus parliamentarianism in liberal democratic countries), the causes and consequences of shifts between types of political systems (e.g., transitions from authoritarian rule), and the relations among social, economic, and political changes (e.g., among social justice, economic growth, and political democracy in developing countries). Online course. Special schedule: Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., with additional asynchronous class time for prerecorded lectures.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT158 Writing the World

How do U.S. newspapers and magazines frame world politics? How adequate is their coverage of ongoing crises and breaking stories around the world? The course will involve reading some classic texts of political journalism and some political novels (such as Orwell's HOMAGE TO CATALONIA and Vargas Llosa's THE FEAST OF THE GOAT). We will also read current articles on contemporary politics from a variety of sources. Students will be assigned to write alternative sources, both reporting and opinion, on current events of their choice. The topics covered will include military conflicts, elections and political crises, and economic stories. We will of course assess the impact of the Web (e.g., blogs, YouTube) on news coverage.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT159 The Moral Basis of Politics

An introduction to upper-level courses in political theory, this course offers an introductory survey of political theory from ancient Athens to 20th-century North America, Asia, and Europe. We will read, discuss, and write about works authored by a number of seminal political thinkers. In doing so, we will encounter and evaluate diverse answers to some of the central questions in the analysis of politics: What is politics and where does it take place? What does it mean to exercise political rule? What is justice? How are political societies legitimately founded? What is the place of revolution in politics? What is power and how does it operate in political life? How is democracy intertwined with struggles against social oppression?
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT159F Moral Basis of Politics (FYS)

An introduction to upper-level courses in political theory, this course offers an introductory survey of political theory from ancient Athens to 20th-century North America, Asia, and Europe. We will read, discuss, and write about works authored by a number of seminal political thinkers. In doing so, we will encounter and evaluate diverse answers to some of the central questions in the analysis of politics: What is politics and where does it take place? What does it mean to exercise political rule? What is justice? How are political societies legitimately founded? What is the place of revolution in politics? What is power and how does it operate in political life? How is democracy intertwined with struggles against social oppression?
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT201 Applied Data Analysis

In this project-based course, you will have the opportunity to answer questions that you feel passionately about through independent research based on existing data. You will develop skills in generating testable hypotheses, conducting a literature review, preparing data for analysis, conducting descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, and presenting research findings. The course offers one-on-one support, ample opportunities to work with other students, and training in the skills required to complete a project of your own design. These skills will prepare you to work in many different research labs across the University that collect empirical data. It is also an opportunity to fulfill an important requirement in several different majors.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: NSM-QAC, SBS-QAC
Identical With: QAC201, PSYC280, NS&B280
Prereq: None

GOVT201Z Applied Data Analysis

In this project-based course, you will have the opportunity to answer questions that you feel passionately about through independent research based on existing data. You will develop skills in generating testable hypotheses, conducting a literature review, preparing data for analysis, conducting descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, and presenting research findings. The course offers one-on-one support, ample opportunities to work with other students, and training in the skills required to complete a project of your own design. These skills will prepare you to work in many different research labs across the University that collect empirical data. It is also an opportunity to fulfill an important requirement in several different majors.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: NSM-QAC, SBS-QAC
Identical With: QAC201Z, NS&B280Z, PSYC280Z
Prereq: None

GOVT203 American Constitutional Law

This course examines the historical development and constitutional principles of American government including inquiries into federalism, national and state powers, separation of powers, checks and balances, and due process. The primary focus will be on case law of the Supreme Court from the Marshall Court to the present.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT205 Judicial Process and Politics

How do courts in the United States work? What is the function of law and courts in both the American political system and the daily lives of people with legal problems? Are courts, which are governed by different processes and rules, producing varied outcomes? These questions will drive our examination of legal systems in America, which will include both federal and state systems. We will consider the factors that influence the decisions of judges--including law, politics, and ideology. We will also interrogate the scope of judicial power. In this class, students will develop a deeper knowledge of law and legal systems in the United States, engage with concepts relevant to the study of judicial politics, and develop independent research ideas relevant to this field.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT206 Public Policy

"Public policy" describes the patterns of actions employed by the government to achieve a variety of social goals. Some of these actions may be of great consequence (e.g., incarcerating prisoners, providing income maintenance to the poor, preventing deaths from pollution or workplace hazards). This course provides a survey of several key public policies in the United States. It will begin with an exploration of the policy-making process, policy design, and policy evaluation. The remainder of the course will be devoted to the examination of several key public policy areas including criminal justice, education, social welfare, economic management, health care, and environmental protection regulation. By integrating theoretical debates and the historical evolution of core public policies, the course aims to develop analytical skills as well as an appreciation for the technical and political complexities of policy-making.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: ENVS206
Prereq: None

GOVT209 Experiments in Public Life: Introduction to Effective Local Political Action

This course serves as an introduction to local political engagement. With a focus on the City of Middletown as a key case study, students will learn how they can "think global, act local" on political issues that they care about. The course will begin by studying theories about how political power is organized and exercised, and we will learn how well these theories explain how policy is made and implemented in local communities. We will study how local government works and how non-governmental actors, such as grassroots organizations and the business community, are involved in making change. Members of this class will not just study politics, we will do it. We will participate in city meetings, meet with local officials and advocates, and learn how regular citizens--even university students--can become effective political actors in their own communities. By the end of the semester, all students will be able to come up with a plan for how they can work at the local level to make positive change related to a political issue that they care about.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-CSPL
Identical With: CSPL209
Prereq: None

GOVT210 Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Law, Courts, and Policymaking in the US

In this course we will explore some of the most salient policy questions in contemporary American politics through a lens that puts law and courts at the center of inquiry. Among the topics we will cover are the place of judiciary in American democracy, hate speech and the First Amendment, criminal justice, immigration, surveillance, and privacy. In exploring these various topics, we will see how law is socially constructed by a myriad political, economic, and cultural forces, and how social phenomena are legally constructed as courts deliberate and decide on particular cases.



This is a writing-intensive course. Students will try their hand at public writing, working on op-eds, book reviews, and blog posts. They will read and edit each other's work.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT214 Media and Politics

Mass media play a crucial role in American politics, as citizens do not get most of their information about the workings of government from direct experience but rather from mediated stories. This course examines the evolving relationship between political elites, mass media, and the American public.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT215 Congressional Policy Making

This course is an introduction to the politics of congressional policy making and how the way we elect our members of Congress affects the way they perform in Congress. We will focus our attention on changes in the legislative process over the past several decades and how these changes have influenced the relations between members and their constituents, between the two parties, between the House and Senate, and between Congress and the president.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT217 The American Presidency

This course surveys the institutional and political development of the Presidency of the United States. We examine the constitutional framework establishing the executive branch, including the unique manner of presidential election, and analyze the politics of presidential leadership. Topics to be discussed include the presidential nominating and election process, the use and growth of presidential power, the rise of the presidential branch, and the relationship of presidents to other political elites and the party system.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT220 US Political Economy: State, Markets, and the Dynamics of Change

The past century has witnessed dramatic changes in the US political economy. Many of these changes stemmed from the policies and institutions introduced during the New Deal, which created a foundation for a period of great prosperity in the immediate postwar period--a quarter century of steady growth, low inflation and unemployment, and declining inequality. Yet, by the mid-1970s, the nation was mired in stagflation and subsequent decades brought a significant departure from the earlier policy mix. The US entered a period of stagnant wages, growing inequality, and heightened vulnerability to a host of risks, all of which contributed to the severity of the financial crisis of 2007-08, the Great Recession, and the slow recovery thereafter. In this course, we will explore the critical role of policy and institutions in shaping economic performance, the factors that contributed to their erosion, and the factors that shape and limit the options available to contemporary policymakers.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT221 Environmental Policy

Arguably, environmental protection is the most complex and fascinating regulatory policy area. This course explores U.S. environmental regulation. We will examine the key features of policy and administration in each major area of environmental policy. Moreover, we will place regulation in a larger context and examine the factors that shape the environmental decisions of various economic actors. Although the course focuses primarily on domestic policy, at various points in the course we will draw both on comparative examples and the challenges associated with coordinating national policies and practices on an international level.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: ENVS221
Prereq: None

GOVT222 Averting Catastrophe: Public Policy and Risk Management

COVID-19 revealed the weaknesses of the federal government's capacity to manage the risk of pandemics and the tragic ramifications. The U.S. faces several significant risks that, if poorly managed, could have significant implications for the economy, the environment, and public health. This course focuses on the government's role as risk manager. We will explore how public policies can be used to manage risk, mitigate the extent of damages to the environment, the economy, and public health, and avert catastrophic outcomes. After examining the concept of risk, decision-making under conditions of uncertainty, and competing policy instruments, we will turn to a number of case studies, including offshore oil spills, nuclear accidents, financial crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change. In each case, we will seek to better understand the factors that shaped performance and consider the implications for strengthening the government's role as risk manager.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: ENVS243
Prereq: None

GOVT232 Campaigns and Elections

This course introduces students to the style and structure of American campaigns and how they have changed over time. We also consider academic theories and controversies surrounding campaign "effects" and whether or not parties, media, campaigns, and elections function as they are supposed to according to democratic theory. Students will read, discuss, and debate classic and new scholarship in the field of political and electoral behavior. Students will also conduct research into different electoral contests in the United States at either the federal or state level.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT238 American Political Parties

This course explores the origins, purposes, roles, and consequences of political parties in the American political system. After a brief consideration of the broader theories behind political party systems, we will turn our focus to the party system in the United States. V. O. Key (1964) presented a tripartite definition of political parties that we will use to structure our exploration of parties for the rest of the course: party as organization, party in government, and party in the electorate. In these sections, we will address political party polarization, party identification, parties' fundraising, and many other related topics. From this rich examination of political parties in the U.S. context, we will discuss why parties exist and enable democracy, but also discuss their potential flaws and failures.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT239 Racial and Ethnic Politics

This course will provide historical context on the development of race and racial attitudes, and demonstrate the crucial role that they play in contemporary politics with a particular focus on immigration, criminal justice, welfare, and housing policy. The assigned readings will examine how the mere presence of underrepresented racial groups in the United States has shaped policies in these arenas, and the way these policies have, in turn, shaped the material circumstances and the burgeoning identities of these groups. The course will also uncover the complex relationship between race, political participation, and public opinion.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT250 Civil Rights and Liberties

This course introduces students to the development of civil liberties and civil rights law in the United States. We will focus primarily on the decisions of the Supreme Court that concern the First Amendment (including religious freedom, freedom of speech and expression, and freedom of the press), privacy and personal liberty, equal protection, voting, and representation. In this course, students will learn about the evolution of major legal doctrines governing civil liberties and civil rights. Students will also develop an understanding of the process of Supreme Court decision-making.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT253 The American National Security State

In this course we will focus on the rise of the national security apparatus in the U.S. through the second half of the 20th century. This topic deals with political issues that are often characterized as "intermestic" because they occur at the point of intersection between domestic and international politics. Accordingly, we will examine the ways in which external forces influence internal state-building. We will also consider the choices and implications of policies designed to provide for what President Roosevelt famously called "freedom from fear."
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT261 Politics of Inequality

This course focuses on inequality along various identity-based dimensions in American politics. Students will leave with a deep understanding of when inequality is a normative concern, and how politics has created and has the power to alleviate inequality along class, racial, and gender divides. Specifically, the course will focus broadly on the level of inequality in these three areas, and the degree to which this has changed over time. We will explore both the political and social phenomena that have driven this inequality, and the ways they intersect and exacerbate the impact for those who share multiple stigmatized identities. Finally, students will, in their final papers, explore potential political policies that can help to reduce or even eliminate inequality.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT270 Comparative Politics of the Middle East

This course provides an overview of the political landscape of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa, focusing on domestic social and political issues. Exploring both the region as a whole and particular case studies, the course examines what accounts for the democratic deficit in the region, how we can understand the Arab Spring, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT271 Political Economy of Developing Countries

This course explores the political economy of development, with a special focus on poverty reduction. We discuss the meaning of development, compare Latin American to East Asian development strategies (focusing on Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan), examine poverty-reduction initiatives in individual countries (including Bangladesh, Chile, and Tanzania), and evaluate approaches to famine prevention and relief. Throughout the course, we pay close attention to the role of procedural democracy, gender relations, market forces, and public action in promoting or inhibiting development.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: LAST271, CEAS271
Prereq: None

GOVT273 Environmental Politics in East Asia

This is an upper-division course on the environmental politics of East Asia. It will focus on the major environmental issues of our time (pollution, conservation, energy, waste, environmental justice, etc.), and how East Asian countries are coping with them from both policy and politics perspectives. It will cover both transnational and international efforts, as well as national and local initiatives. The course will require that students "do" environmental politics as well as study environmental politics through a civic engagement component.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: CEAS273, ENVS273
Prereq: None

GOVT274 Russian Politics

The course begins with a brief review of the dynamics of the Soviet system and the reasons for its collapse in 1991. The traumatic transition of the 1990s raised profound questions about what conditions are necessary for the evolution of effective political and economic institutions. The chaos of the Yeltsin years was followed by a return to authoritarian rule under President Putin, although the long-run stability of the Putin system is also open to question. Students will study the political dynamics of modern-day Russia, Putin's regime and the opposition to the regime, as well as the logic of the events that led to Putin's full-scale aggression against Ukraine. Topics include political institutions, social movements, economic reforms, and foreign policy strategies.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: REES280
Prereq: None

GOVT275 Political Resistance to Dictatorships

The series of seminars is focused on different strategies of non-violent resistance against authoritarian regimes. We'll explore various aspects of building an efficient resistance movement--from fundraising to electoral strategies, from online communication to polling--based on best practices from countries all around the world. Pro-democracy activism and the fight against dictatorship is never an easy game to play; still, a lot can be derived from the existing experience to make it more efficient. But even if the resistance movement is successful, it doesn't guarantee a perfect democratic transition: resentment and disappointment often start to prevail in the society very soon. In workshops and role-playing games students will be encouraged to put together feasible transition plans for different countries.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT277 Islamic Movements and Parties

This course examines the diversity of movements and political parties that take Islam as a reference point, and situates these discussions within broader debates around religion and politics. Through a variety of cases spanning from the Middle East and North Africa to Southeast Asia, we will explore the rise and evolution of different types of Islamic movements, and discuss different modes of mobilization, organization and interaction with the state and with other social and political actors. We will examine why some groups form political parties, and how they navigate the tensions between the needs of the party and the mission of the movement. We will consider how Islamic parties impact local and national politics, and in turn how they respond to shifting political terrains and challenges from within. The course will conclude with a reflection on "post-Islamism" and Western attitudes towards Islamic movements.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT278 Nationalism

Nationalism is the desire of an ethnic group, a nation, to have a state of its own. Nationalism emerged as a powerful organizing principle for states and social movements in the 19th century and was integral to the wars and revolutions of the 20th century. This course examines rival theories about the character of nationalism and tries to explain its staying power as a political principle into the 21st century. It looks at the role of nationalism in countries such as the U.S., France, India, China, and Japan, and nationalist conflicts in Northern Ireland, Quebec, Yugoslavia, the former U.S.S.R., and Rwanda. The course is reading- and writing-intensive.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT278Z Nationalism

Nationalism is a political movement advocating self-rule for a community that sees itself as having a common identity and shared historical fate. To different degrees, ethnicity, language, religion, and culture have been used to demarcate the nation's boundaries. There are some 6,000 nations in the world but only 200 states, so competition for self-rule can be fierce. This course introduces the main theorists of nationalism as a response to the rise of capitalism, and explores its complex relationship with liberalism, socialism, and democracy. Why does nationalism persist--even as capitalist globalization makes national economies more open and porous? We explore both state-level nationalism, which ranges from war and genocide to protectionist trade policy, and everyday or "banal" nationalism, which expresses itself through food, music, and sport.



We start off with relatively familiar cases from the developed world--the US, Brexit, Northern Ireland, and Quebec, and the classic cases of France and Germany. We then look at decolonization in Africa and the genesis of genocide in Rwanda. The socialist world is represented by the multiethnic federations of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. We then look at nationalism in Japan and China, followed by the Arab world. Finally, we look at the role of the internet in the propagation of nationalism. Students will be expected to read all four assigned books before the start of the class, and will have to write a three- to four-page response paper on one of the books.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT279 State and Society

Every aspect of our lives is shaped by the state. What exactly is it, the modern state? How has it come to be? From where does it derive its legitimacy? How has its involvement in social and economic life evolved over time, and varied cross-nationally? In what ways is American statecraft is considered "exceptional"? In this class we will seek answers to these questions, and on the way, we will learn about welfare states, penal states, racial states, straight states, submerged states, authoritarian states, strong and weak states.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT279Z State and Society

Every aspect of our lives is shaped by the state. What exactly is the modern state? How has it come to be? From where does it derive its legitimacy? How has its involvement in social and economic life evolved over time and varied cross-nationally? In what ways is American statecraft is considered "exceptional"? In this class we will seek answers to these questions, and on the way we will learn about welfare states, penal states, racial states, straight states, submerged states, authoritarian states, and strong and weak states. SPECIAL SCHEDULE: Class dates: January 12-14, 16-18, 20-21. Class times: 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. ONLINE COURSE. Please note: Students should expect some readings and assignments to be due during winter break, prior to the beginning of Winter Session class meetings.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT281 Democracy and Social Movements in East Asia

Despite East Asia's reputation for acquiescent populations and weak civil society, the region has been replete with social movements. This course assesses the state of civil society in East Asia by surveying contemporary social movements in the region. We will examine the rise of civil society and its role in political and social changes in both authoritarian and democratic societies in East Asia.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-CEAS
Identical With: CEAS205
Prereq: None

GOVT282 Activism in Exile

This course examines how social movements and political opposition groups adapt and adjust their activism when they are in exile. Through a variety of cases spanning from the Middle East to South Africa, we will explore what shapes diasporic activism and why some movements are more resilient than others. We will situate these discussions within broader debates around social movements and migration. After we consider what exile is, how different migration regimes emerge, and how conditions in the host states may vary, we will look at both cases of violent and nonviolent mobilization in order to understand what shapes diasporic activism. The course concludes with a reflection on what happens after exile, when movements and leaders return to their home country.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT283 Human Rights: Contemporary Challenges

This course will examine various pressing challenges to human rights in the US and around the world, based around a series of talks by visitors who are practitioners in the field. Topics covered range from refugees and war crimes to housing and educational access.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ALLB
Identical With: CSPL323
Prereq: None

GOVT284 Comparative Politics of Western Europe

The leading nations of Western Europe--Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy--have developed vibrant economies and stable democracies that differ in important ways from those of the U.S. and from each other. This course explores the ability of European economies to withstand pressures of globalization and the capacity of European democracies to integrate political newcomers such as women and immigrants. We address questions such as, Does New Labour provide a model for parties of the Left across the West, or is its success predicated on the foundations laid by Thatcherism? With the limited ability of the French people to influence politics, should we still consider that country a democracy? Has Germany definitively overcome its Nazi past, or does the strength of German democracy rely on a strong Germany economy? How can we make sense of the Italian "second republic"?
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: RL&L284
Prereq: None

GOVT285 Losers of World War II

This course explores the experiences of Germany and Japan in the postwar era. These countries faced the dual challenge of making political transitions to democratic government and recovering from the economic ruin of World War II. Japan and Germany both were occupied and rebuilt by the United States, and both were blamed for the devastation of the war. How did Japan and Germany respond to being cast as worldwide villains? How strong were the democracies that developed? This course explores these questions by comparing the culture, history, and institutions of these two countries.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: CEAS280, GRST267
Prereq: None

GOVT286 Ukraine at War

This course will survey Ukraine's contentious history with its Russian neighbors and then track the origins and course of the current war. Each week we will have one meeting devoted to discussion of assigned readings and one meeting led by a Ukrainian lecturer speaking on Zoom. Topics to be covered include history and politics but also economics, social impacts, the plight of refugees, and cultural life.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: None
Identical With: REES286, CSPL286
Prereq: None

GOVT295 Korean Politics Through Film

This course explores the contemporary politics of Korea. Through course readings, films, and documentaries, we will examine how the tumultuous history of modern Korea has contributed to present political conditions in South and North Korea. Topics covered include Japanese colonialism, the Korean War, modernization, dictatorships, democratization, globalization, and inter-Korean relations.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-CEAS
Identical With: CEAS206
Prereq: None

GOVT296 Japanese Politics

This introductory course in Japanese politics begins with an overview of the Japanese political system: its historical origins, institutional structures, and main actors. The course then moves on to explore specific policy areas such as industrial and financial policy, labor and social policy, and foreign policy. The course culminates in student research projects presented in an academic conference format of themed panels.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: CEAS296
Prereq: None

GOVT297 Chinese Politics

This introductory course in Chinese politics begins with an overview of the Chinese political system: its historical origins, institutional structures, and main actors. The course then moves on to explore specific policy areas such as industrial and financial policy, labor and social policy, and foreign policy. The course culminates in student research projects presented in an academic conference format of themed panels.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: CEAS297
Prereq: None

GOVT298 Terrorism and Film

This course provides an overview of the major concerns and debates in the study of terrorism and political violence, and it uses the prism of cinema to further grapple with the complexity of political violence. We will explore the root causes of violence and the varied reasons why individuals and organizations turn to violent tactics. We will also discuss what policies are most effective and desirable, problematizing our understanding of security, and examining the implications of counterterrorism for civil liberties, human rights, and international law. The films assigned contextualize the theoretical issues and address the question of political violence from alternative perspectives: those of the perpetrators of violence, victims, soldiers, government officials, and police officers. In this immersive winter session, students are expected to watch the films outside of class, between the morning and the afternoon class session. Through the readings, films, discussions and assignments, the goal of the course is to help you understand the major controversies and debates surrounding terrorism, to equip you with the tools to critically engage with the media, academic and policy discourses on political violence, and to enhance your speaking, writing and analytical skills.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT298Z Terrorism and Film

This course provides an overview of major concerns and debates in the study of terrorism and political violence, and it uses the prism of cinema to further grapple with the complexity of political violence. We will explore the root causes of violence and the varied reasons why individuals and organizations turn to violent tactics. We will also discuss what policies are most effective and desirable, problematizing our understanding of security and examining the implications of counterterrorism for civil liberties, human rights, and international law. The films assigned contextualize the theoretical issues and address the question of political violence from alternative perspectives: those of the perpetrators of violence, victims, soldiers, government officials, and police officers. In this immersive winter session, students are expected to watch the films outside of class, between the morning and the afternoon class session. Through the readings, films, discussions, and assignments, the goal of the course is to help you understand the major controversies and debates surrounding terrorism; to equip you with the tools to critically engage with the media, academic, and policy discourses on political violence; and to enhance your speaking, writing, and analytical skills.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT302 Latin American Politics

This course explores democracy, development, and revolution in Latin America, with special attention to Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Questions to be addressed include: why has Argentina lurched periodically from free-wheeling democracy to murderous military rule? Why is authoritarianism usually less harsh, but democracy often more shallow, in Brazil than in Argentina? How democratic are Latin America's contemporary democracies? What accounts for the success or failure of attempted social revolutions in Latin America? Why did postrevolutionary Cuba wind up with a more centrally planned economy and a more authoritarian political system than postrevolutionary Nicaragua? How much progress has each of these countries made toward creating a more affluent, educated, healthy, and equitable society?
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: LAST302
Prereq: None

GOVT303 War and Society

While most societies condemn physical violence between individuals, they condone and encourage collectively organized violence in the form of warfare. War is obscene, yet all modern societies have engaged in warfare. This course will examine war as a social, political, and historical phenomenon. We will look at the way in which wars have led to the consolidation of political power and the acceleration of social change, as well as the relationship between military service and the concept of citizenship. The course also examines the crucial role played by technology in the interaction between war and society. Films and novels will be examined to test to what extent these literary works accurately reflect, or obscure, the political, social, and technological logic driving the evolution of war. Our examples will include warfare in premodern society, the gunpowder revolution in early modern Europe and Japan, the American Civil War, colonial wars, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT305 Challenges to Democracy in East Asia

This upper-level seminar course examines the contemporary challenges to democracy in East Asia. The main questions we will address through the course readings and class discussions are: Is there a crisis of East Asian democracy? What are the challenges to democracy in East Asia? Are these challenges unique to East Asian democracies?
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-CEAS
Identical With: CEAS325
Prereq: None

GOVT307 Identity & Politics of South Asia: India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan

In this course, we will cover the politics of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. We will consider identity issues going back to the Partition of India to present-day religious and sectarian tensions. Other themes include caste and indigenous politics, gender identity, authoritarianism and corruption, Hindutva and Islamist Terror, diaspora politics, state-level security dimensions, and how countries in the region balance their relations with China and India. Lectures along with Bollywood and regional film screenings will be complemented with discussions with South Asia experts via Zoom.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: GSAS306
Prereq: None

GOVT308 Comparative Urban Policy

Cities are home to more than half of the world's population, generate more than 80% of world GDP, and are responsible for 75% of global CO2 emissions. Once viewed as minor political players with parochial concerns, they are now--individually and collectively--major players on the global stage. This course will examine how cities are coping with the major policy issues governing our lives--from waste management and public safety to energy and housing policy. We will be examining how policies differ between big cities and small cities, what cities in the global north are learning from the cities in the global south, and how cities are bypassing toxic partisan politics in their nations' capitals to form global networks promoting positive change. The class will involve local field trips and participant observation to see how some of these urban issues are playing out in the city of Middletown.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: CEAS308, ENVS308, IDEA308
Prereq: None

GOVT309 Contemporary Challenges in Latin American Politics

Latin America's contemporary challenges include corruption, crime, economic woes, social policy shortcomings, populism, declining political trust, the erosion of fragile democracies, and the political underrepresentation of women and minority groups. This course examines the historical legacies, international influences, and social-structural factors that shape and constrain how Latin American citizens and governments are responding to these challenges. Weekly readings and discussions, along with a succession of analytic exercises, will prepare students to write a research paper on a Latin American politics topic of their choice.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: LAST307
Prereq: None

GOVT310 South Asia's "Non-Nuclear Five": Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka

In this course, we shall focus on the politics of the five "non-nuclear" countries of South Asia--Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. After learning about topics such as the Buddhist saffronization of Sri Lanka and the Rohingya refugee crisis, we will analyze common themes related to these five countries such as the geopolitics of climate change and how these countries balance their relations between China and India. Lectures along with Bollywood and regional film screenings will be complemented by discussions with South Asia experts via Zoom.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT311 United States Foreign Policy

This course provides a survey of the content and formulation of American foreign policy with an emphasis on the period after World War II. It evaluates the sources of American foreign policy including the international system, societal factors, government processes, and individual decision makers. The course begins with a consideration of major trends in U.S. foreign policy after World War II. With a historical base established, the focus turns to the major institutions and actors in American foreign policy. The course concludes with an examination of the challenges and opportunities that face current U.S. decision makers. A significant component of the course is the intensive discussion of specific foreign policy decisions.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT311Z United States Foreign Policy

This course provides a survey of the content and formulation of American foreign policy, with an emphasis on the period after World War II. It evaluates the sources of American foreign policy, including the international system, societal factors, government processes, and individual decision-makers. The course begins with a consideration of major trends in U.S. foreign policy after World War II. With a historical base established, the focus turns to the major institutions and actors in American foreign policy. The course concludes with an examination of the challenges and opportunities that face current U.S. decision-makers. A significant component of the course is the intensive discussion of specific foreign policy decisions.



No prior knowledge of U.S. foreign policy or international politics is assumed other than what might be gathered from keeping up with current events. PLEASE NOTE: Students will be expected to complete the readings before the start of the class on January 7.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT312 Strategic Dilemmas in Politics

Politics is full of strategic interactions: politicians and voters, enemies and allies, office-holders and bureaucrats. But while the details might be different from issue to issue, the challenges are often the same. How can a large group cooperate on a common goal? How can you make a promise or threat credible? How can you learn someone's true intentions? This course uses in-class games and simulations to explore some of the key lessons that game theory can teach us about politics. There will be a bit of introductory game theory, but the focus will be on the intuition, not the method. The goal is to identify and analyze common strategic challenges in politics.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT313 Civil Wars and Armed Groups

Since 1945, five times as many people have died in conflicts within countries (between governments and rebels/militias) than in conflicts between countries. This course digs into the big questions about civil wars: Why do they begin? Who participates? How do they end, and why do some never end? How do combatants treat civilians, and why? Class will be primarily discussion-based, evaluating common answers to these questions, and the evidence behind them, from conflicts all over the world. Along the way, students will design their own research question and a strategy to answer it. The course is especially appropriate for sophomores and juniors who are potentially interested in writing a thesis, but relevant to any student interested in war and peace.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT314 Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

The relationship between leaders and the public remains a core concern of democratic theorists and political observers. This course examines the nature of public views on foreign policy, the ability of the public to formulate reasoned and interconnected perspectives on the issues of the day, and the public's influence on foreign policy decisions with a focus on the U.S. We will consider the role of the media and international events in shaping public perspectives and public attitudes toward important issues such as internationalism and isolationism, the use of force, and economic issues. This course provides an intensive examination of a very specific area of research. As such, strong interest in learning about public opinion and foreign policy is recommended.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT315 Policy and War through Film

This course explores how America's policies and wars interact with culture and identity. It combines films and readings to gain a deeper understanding of film as an artifact of culture, war, and identity. The course begins with a discussion of key foundational works to frame a common understanding about strategy, war, and American strategic culture. It then combines film viewings and critical scholarship to discover how the interpretations of America's wars through film shape American citizens' perceptions of war and their military. The films, readings, and seminar discussions will help students develop a better understanding of the differences between the realities and the perceptions of policy and war. This course lies at the intersection of international relations, history, and conflict studies. Participation in this course will increase the students' understanding of how U.S. policy, war, culture, and identity interact. It will also sharpen critical thinking and writing.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ALLB
Identical With: CSPL315
Prereq: None

GOVT316 Wars of Resistance in Scholarship and Film

This course explores the theory, practice, and interpretation of wars that see ostensibly stronger powers wage wars against relatively weaker resistance movements. It combines scholarly readings and interpretive films to gain a deeper understanding of how and why resistance and insurgency can prevail when confronting adversaries who are numerically superior. Students will analyze the inescapable paradoxes that can make wars of asymmetry difficult for stronger states. The seminar discussions will develop a keener grasp of the logic that permeates wars where the weak resist invasion and occupation. This course intersects international security studies, history, and conflict studies. This course will improve knowledge about asymmetric wars and for critical analysis. Though there are no prerequisites, it is desirable that students have previously taken a course in conflict studies or war.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ALLB
Identical With: CSPL329
Prereq: None

GOVT319 Citizenship and Statelessness in Comparative Perspective

This course will investigate how modern nation-states decide who has the right to citizenship, along with situations where certain groups are denied citizenship of any country. Every country in the post-Westphalian world-system hosts large numbers of minorities and migrants. Thus, it becomes essential for each nation to define its territorial boundaries and who belongs to it. Are citizenship rules determined mainly based on material considerations, such as economic and security issues? Or are such policies based on racial and civilizational notions shaped by encounters with pre-colonial and colonial forces? In this seminar, we will consider these questions about belonging and territorial definitions, which are often politically contested. We will start by paying attention to various theoretical explanations of citizenship, and then look at case studies from non-Western and Western settings. Class discussions will be complemented alongside discussions with experts who will join us in-person on campus or via Zoom.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT320 International Relations of South Asia

Since independence in 1947, the countries of South Asia have seen major wars, a nuclear arms race, dozens of small insurgent movements supported by neighbors, and complicated politics around identity, citizenship, and migration. At the core of these issues are questions about whether and how to transition a multiethnic, multireligious empire into nation states. This course will explore the major questions of war, peace, and politics in modern South Asia. Why did India and Pakistan fight three wars in the first 25 years of independence, but have largely avoided open conflict since? Why have some insurgencies escalated into major conflagrations while others have simmered at low levels for decades? How have religion and language shaped patterns of migration and citizenship, and been shaped by them in return? Along the way, students will design and conduct their own research on key issues in South Asian politics.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: GSAS320
Prereq: None

GOVT321 Topics in International Law

This course is a seminar on international cooperation and international law (IL) for students of international relations. The course's primary goal is to enhance students' understanding of how ILs facilitate or hinder international cooperation. The course has four modules: a) Introduction, b) IR theories on ILs, c) Application (Trade, Climate, Gender, Conflict), d) Future of ILs. The emphasis throughout the course is on the role of politics, understanding why ILs operate as they do, and recent episodes that illustrate the issues. Throughout the course, students will learn to produce concrete policy recommendations drawing from key research in the literature on ILs, practice giving others constructive feedback on peers' policy proposals and revise their own projects, and think critically about theories of international relations.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT322 Global Environmental Politics

This course is an introduction to environmental politics for students of international relations. This course aims to enhance students' understanding of how international politics may affect environmental outcomes. The course has four modules: a) Introduction, b) IR theories and the environment, c) Application to select environmental issues, d) Policy implications. The introductory module presents several concepts that are important to understanding environmental cooperation. The IR theory module introduces canonical IR theoretical frameworks. Primarily, this module investigates how states' power dynamics, international institutions, domestic political systems, and NGO networks may explain the likelihood of international cooperation on environmental issues. The third module applies the theoretical concepts to real-world policy issues such as climate change, water air pollution, and endangered species. The final module focuses on the future of environmental cooperation among states. Assignments include an in-class quiz on key concepts, a role-based negotiation simulation, a podcast episode analyzing an environmental agreement of student choice, and a final exam. By the end of the semester, students think critically about environmental agreements by applying theories to policy examples.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT323 Refugees in World Politics

The primary objective of this course is to provide students with i) an introductory overview of the political, economic, social, and security determinants of refugee flows; and ii) the political and social responses of receiving governments and societies to them. Using both historical and contemporary case studies, this course will highlight security concerns engendered by internal displacement and transnational migration. These include armed conflict, smuggling, trafficking, and terrorism. This course will also highlight the concepts of citizenship in receiving states, and the roles played by the international institutions in influencing state policies towards refugees.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ALLB
Identical With: CSPL263
Prereq: None

GOVT325 Solving the World's Problems: Decision Making and Diplomacy

This course represents a hands-on approach to decision making and diplomacy. It is designed to allow students to take part in diplomatic and decision-making exercises in the context of international political issues and problems. Important historical decisions will be evaluated and reenacted. In addition, more current international problems that face nations today will be analyzed and decisions will be made on prospective solutions. Finally, various modern-day diplomatic initiatives will be scrutinized and renegotiated.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT326 Political Consulting for International Business

This course is an applied course in political consulting skills for international business. It is designed for students who are directed toward a career in international business. Entry to the course requires a strong track record in prior involvement and or interest in international business. Emphasis will be placed on developing the most important political skills related to working in an international corporation. Learning will take place by applying what has been learned in real-life international business scenarios. The learning goals of this class are based on developing professional skill sets: problem solving abilities, consulting, team work, oral presentations, preparing functional memos, and working in professional environments. The course asks the class to function as a working committee of top executives trying to confront important international business challenges.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT327 Experiments in International Development

Do policies designed to promote development around the world actually work? Do they sometimes produce effects we didn't expect? This seminar teaches the experimental method of social science research and applies it to these questions. Students will read examples of how social scientists have used experiments to study international development--broadly defined--including foreign aid, conflict and violence, illicit finance, elections, climate cooperation, trafficking in persons, and migration. Over the course of the seminar, students will design and analyze their own experimental research project and will write either an academic research article or an impact evaluation policy report. The seminar is especially appropriate for any student considering a career in policy or social science.



Throughout this course, students will learn about experimental methods. They will also learn how to form a research question, conceptualize and measure variables, develop testable hypotheses, select an appropriate case/unit of analysis, write a literature review. These skills may be especially helpful for students who pursue an honors thesis or other original research project.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT328 Explanations for The Long Peace Since 1945

This course examines great power relations since 1945 through political, economic, legal, institutional and normative lenses.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT329 International Political Economy

How do domestic and international politics influence the economic relations between states, and vice versa? This course considers the role that governments and institutions play in the movement of goods, wealth, money, and people across borders. Sometimes political actors can intervene to improve the efficiency or equity of international markets, but sometimes self-interest can give rise to worse outcomes. This course explores topics such as globalization, trade, monetary relations, international institutions, debt, foreign direct investment, development, international migration, and the environment. Emphasis will be on understanding current events, including the recent trade war and sanctions.



Throughout this course, students will learn about survey research, statistical analysis, and interviews. They will also learn how to form a research question, conceptualize and measure variables, develop testable hypotheses, and select an appropriate case/unit of analysis. These skills may be especially helpful for students who pursue an honors thesis or other original research project.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT330 Policy and Strategy in War and Peace

This course explores how the relations, relationships, and discourse between senior national civilian and military leaders influence the development and execution of policy and strategy in war and peace. In theory, the purpose of war is to achieve a political end that sees a better peace. In practice, the nature of war is to serve itself if it is not influenced and constrained by continuous discourse and analysis associated with good civil-military relations between senior leaders. This course begins with discussion of the key foundational works to build a common understanding. It then explores how civil-military interaction influenced strategy in war and peace for each decade from the Vietnam War to the present. The readings and seminar discussions also examine how the outcomes of wars influenced civil-military relations and the subsequent peace or wars. This course lies at the intersection of international relations, history, and conflict studies. Students will gain greater understanding of how U.S. policy makers, strategy, and war interact, while honing their critical thinking and writing skills.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-CSPL
Identical With: CSPL330
Prereq: None

GOVT332 Psychology and International Politics

Trust, personality, reputation, honor, emotions. These concepts are at the heart of international decision making. This course will address research in psychology and political science related to these topics that helps us understand how leaders behave toward other nations and why, for instance, they engage in conflict or acquire nuclear weapons.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT333 International Organization

Why do international organizations (IOs) exist? Do they shape outcomes in international politics? Who runs international organizations? This course considers the role that institutions have played in addressing global problems since World War II. Some argue their role is trivial, since there is no international police force that can constrain states' behaviors. Others argue their role is profound, as institutions help states to overcome important barriers to cooperation. And just as in domestic institutions, the rules of IOs represent some interests more than others, creating opportunities for controversy and contestation. We will apply these theories to understand several institutions governing economic stability, environmental sustainability, human rights, security affairs, and global development. At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to explain why these IOs exist, how well they work, and what challenges they face in the future.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT334 International Security in a Changing World

We now face myriad of changing threats that appear to belie easy solutions. This course considers alternative ways to conceive of international security and how differences in these perspectives can affect our response to international threats. The course focuses on the relationship between force and international security; the prospects for peace and conflict in specific regions of the world such as Asia, Latin America, and Africa; and some vexing issues such as terrorism, nuclear proliferation, nationalism and ethnic conflict, economics, environmental issues, and disease.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT335 Political Economy of Foreign Aid

Who gives and gets foreign aid, and does it work? This course will study how international and domestic interests interact and affect the causes and consequences of foreign aid. We will cover scholarship on 1) the motivations behind foreign aid, 2) the evidence on aid effectiveness, 3) how domestic politics in donor governments and recipient governments shape and are shaped by foreign aid, 4) other actors in the aid landscape, such as international and non-governmental organizations, and 5) how aid relates to conflict, democracy, trade, and migration. This is a reading, discussion, and writing-based seminar.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT336 New Topics in International Political Economy

This course helps students understand how states cooperate in three new areas: global health, climate, and identity politics. The course introduces new IPE research on health, climate, and identity, focusing on these issues' relationships with interstate economic interactions. The course has four modules: a) IPE theory review, b) Global health and trade/intellectual property, c) Environmental protection and trade/foreign direct investment, d) Identity politics and globalization. After a brief review of IPE theories in the first module, the course will touch on specific topics of importance. For example, the health unit explores the relationship between intellectual property rights and global health outcomes, how trade policies affect states' responses to health crises, and how the global trade regime (i.e., the WTO) mediates those policy responses. The environment module investigates how economically developed countries use trade agreements to protect the environment and why some companies support climate actions more strongly than others. The identity module examines how gender, race, and ethnicity may shape individual preferences on globalization. In the process, students will apply IPE theories to understand new challenges the world faces. This course is designed for students who are already familiar with core concepts in IPE, including those who have previously taken GOVT 329. However, GOVT 329 is not a prerequisite.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT337 Virtue and Glory: Classical Political Theory

How shall we think about public life, our "life of common involvements"? This course is a survey of premodern political theories, with attention to their major theoretical innovations, historical contexts, and contemporary relevance. Major themes will include the nature of political community and its relation to the cultivation of virtue, the relation of politics to economics, the origin of the ideas of law and justice, and the relation between knowledge and power and between politics and salvation. Readings will include Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, and others.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT338 Global Modern Political Thought

Modern political thought is defined by questions of the consolidation of state power, democratic governance, the rise of capitalism, and the legitimate uses of violence. Yet, these questions are intertwined with questions of colonialism, racism, and inequality. How does capitalism give rise to new ways of life across different times and places? What new forms of subjectivity arise with the consolidation of the nation-state, the emergence of new forms of communication, and the rise of the so-called autonomous individual? What is the relationship between democracy, empire, and colonialism? This course will consider the writings of thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jacques Rousseau, and Karl Marx in dialogue with Franz Fanon, Mao Zedong, B.R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Kwame Nkrumah, Enrique Dussel, and others. This course is required for political theory concentrators in the government major.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT339 Contemporary Political Theory

How shall we get along? This course examines some important 20th and 21st century theories of politics. Major issues include the role of reason and emotion in grounding the basic principles of our political lives, the conceptual foundations of liberal and civic republican democracy, and critiques of liberalism from communitarian, critical theory, and postmodern perspectives. We will explore what political theory can be today. This course, together with GOVT337 and GOVT338, provides a survey of major Western political theories; at least two of these courses are recommended for students concentrating in political theory.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT342 Questioning Authority: On the Politics of the Teacher-Student Relationship

What is the authority of the teacher in an era where the legitimacy of institutions and curriculum are under fire? Can hierarchical relationships between teachers and students be beneficial for learning and for political life? What are alternative conceptions of the teacher-student relationship? This course will explore different models of teaching within the history of political thought and beyond. From Socrates to the present, the context and manner of teaching has been just as important to political theorists as the content itself. The course will consider how questions of power, sexuality, risk, wisdom, and friendship inform different pedagogical styles and their implications for preparing citizens for democratic life. Readings include John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Alexis deTocqueville, John Dewey, Hannah Arendt, Mr. Rogers, Jacques Ranciere, Bernard Stiegler, Laura Kipnis, and others.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: EDST342
Prereq: None

GOVT347 Political Freedom

Is political freedom about doing what you want as long as you don't hurt anyone else? Is it about collectivizing power or actively participating in governance? Is freedom an inherently individual practice or a necessarily collaborative one? A private or public matter? Does it depend upon rights or the transformation of social conditions? Does it emerge from political representation or direct democracy? Is capitalism the scene of human domination, human freedom...or both? Is freedom a concept, a principle, or a practice? What is the relationship of political freedom to power, equality, and community? What is the relationship of social identity to freedom--is it emancipatory or imprisoning? Is freedom something we even desire, or do we experience it as a burden? What happens when Dr. King meets Karl Marx, when John Stuart Mill meets Kate Bornstein, when Cathy Cohen meets Milton Friedman? In this course, we will pursue these kinds of questions through consideration of classics in Western political theory, contemporary writings, and some films. We will neither settle the question of what freedom is nor the question of how to produce it. However, we will deepen our appreciation of its importance and complexity.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT348 Justice and Equality

To what extent and in what ways does justice require that people have (roughly) equal life prospects? That issue has become increasingly urgent as inequality has increased rapidly during the last 40 years or so. Although inequality in the US has grown faster than in most other (already developed) countries, the increase in inequality is widespread. At the same time, at the global level there has been a reduction of inequality as economic growth has delivered hundreds of millions of people from deep poverty. This class will examine the relationship between equality and justice. Our principal concern will be to assess how, in what ways, and among whom justice requires equality, but we will also look at the dynamics of inequality--how inequality has developed historically, the factors explaining the recent surge of inequality within countries while equality of life prospects has lessened globally, how growing inequality may be affecting domestic politics, and the policies that could address the issue of equality.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT350 Law, Justice, and Democracy

In this course, we will explore law from a political-sociological perspective, in relation to the historical, political, and cultural contexts within which it exists. In the first part of the course, we will address the question "what is law?" by exploring a variety of theoretical approaches (Marxian, Weberian, and Durkheimian perspectives, legal formalism, legal realism, and critical legal studies). We will then move on to discussing the relationship between law and justice. In the third part of the course, we will talk about the politics of crime and punishment, exploring a number of key issues, including the birth of modern prison, rising incarceration rates in the U.S., the emergence of drug courts, and the politics of death penalty. In the fourth section, we will discuss the role courts play in constructing political and social reality. What constitutes a religion? What is gender? What is commerce? What is free speech? These questions find myriad answers in different bodies of thought, are understood and acted upon in a variety of ways by different social groups, and gain different levels of political salience in different societies and at different times. As matters concerning the organization of public life, they are also, and inevitably, framed as "legal problems" and make their way to courts. We will examine how courts construct social phenomena through the lens of several historical cases. In the final section of the course, we will discuss law's place in the American system of government by exploring the evolving relationship between courts, the presidency, and Congress.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT350Z Law, Justice, and Democracy

In this course, we will explore law from a political-sociological perspective, in relation to the historical, political, and cultural contexts within which it exists. In the first part of the course, we will address the question "what is law?" by exploring a variety of theoretical approaches (Marxian, Weberian, and Durkheimian perspectives, legal formalism, legal realism, and critical legal studies). We will then move on to discussing the relationship between law and justice. In the third part of the course, we will talk about the politics of crime and punishment, exploring a number of key issues, including the birth of modern prison, rising incarceration rates in the US, the emergence of drug courts, and the politics of death penalty. In the fourth section, we will discuss the role courts play in constructing political and social reality. What constitutes a religion? What is gender? What is commerce? What is free speech? These questions find myriad answers in different bodies of thought, are understood and acted upon in a variety of ways by different social groups, and gain different levels of political salience in different societies and at different times. As matters concerning the organization of public life, they are also, and inevitably, framed as "legal problems" and make their way to courts. We will examine how courts construct social phenomena through the lens of several historical cases. In the final section of the course, we will discuss law's place in the American system of government by exploring the evolving relationship between courts, the presidency, and Congress.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT352 Deception and Democracy

What's the best way to tell if a politician is lying? According to the punchline of this old joke, you should simply determine whether their lips are moving. This course will undertake a more complex and nuanced analysis of political deception and democratic government. Is lying for political gain undemocratic? What ethical duties and obligations befall representatives and citizens within a democracy? Where do we draw the line between persuasion and deception? By examining the philosophical treatment and historical practice of political deception - from Plato's Myth of the Metals to Donald Trump's illusory trade deficit with Canada - we will broaden our understanding of various participatory, deliberative, and epistemic forms of democracy and their procedural and substantive commitments.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT354 Marx and Marxism

What does it mean to "think like a Marxist" or "see the world as a Marxist" might? What are the fundamental concepts, categories, methods, and modes of inquiry we associate with the work of Karl Marx and those who consider themselves "Marxists"? What are the significant political, social, and theoretical problems that motivate scholars, activists, and citizens who participate in this ongoing tradition of thought and practice? This course will provide students with points of entry to make sense of these questions, placing particular emphasis on Marxism as a multifaceted and evolving method that rather than a dogmatic worldview that sets forth a series of rigid truth claims. Together, we will work to decipher some of the key texts produced by Karl Marx and others within the Marxist tradition. This will in turn enable us to parse out a diverse set of theoretical, historical, empirical, and normative questions, which, in addition to those above, include the following: 1. What is capitalism? How did Marx believe it worked, and how do contemporary Marxists believe it works in the present? What, if anything, is wrong with capitalism as a mode of social organization? What are the theoretical tools Marxists use to approach these questions? What are the diagnostic and prescriptive elements of the theory? 2. How do Marxists tend to explain contemporary socio-political pathologies like racialization, class domination, imperialism, fascist resurgence, environmental catastrophe, gender-based domination, or the degradation of democratic politics? What might this method allow us to see that other modes of inquiry cannot? 3. How, if at all, must Marxist styles of inquiry adapt in order to maintain their relevance as analytical tools? How have more contemporary Marxist thinkers expanded, modified, or critiqued the work of Marx in order to maintain the life of the tradition? Which new categories have been integrated into Marxist theorizing in recent decades, and to what effect? 4. What is insufficient with the Marxist method? What inevitably falls outside of its purview? Is this a fatal flaw or a problem to be corrected? Is it appropriate for us to ask that this method allow us to explain everything? 5. What is "Marxism" and how might it differ from the work of Marx himself? How do we link certain seemingly disparate literatures together as a coherent movement? In other words, what makes "Marxism" an "ism"?
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT355 Political Theory and Transitional Justice

Transitional justice refers to the variety of legal, political, and social processes that occur as a society rebuilds after war; it includes war crimes trials, truth commissions, and the creation of memorials. Although the term "transitional justice" is a recent one, the philosophical issues contained within it are at the core of political philosophy. What kind of society is best? What is the relationship between political institutions and human nature? What does justice mean? The purpose of this course is to understand the issues of transitional justice from both practical and philosophical perspectives and will include case studies of World War II, South African apartheid, and the genocide in Rwanda.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT356 Theorizing Subjection Beyond Contract and Consent

What modes of subjection does political life elicit from us, and how do they underpin and challenge our ideas of consent? Can we give genuine consent when we have already been subjected to parental authority? When we have unconscious desires we cannot avow? When we lack meaningful control over the norms that constitute our political, social, psychic lives? This class examines the centrality of the notion of consent to the liberal democratic order, and how it requires a prior mode of subjection that the liberal subject cannot knowingly or willingly consent to. In Unit 1, we read classic formulations of the liberal individual who consents to political rule (Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau). We look for the ways these theorists presuppose and disavow practices of subject formation that are beyond consent--parental authority, the informal authority of mores and norms, deception, precarity, ideology. We then read critiques of the social contract tradition that highlight the constitutive exclusions of liberalism, and ask how consent bears upon subjects that are constituted by the state as included others (Pateman, MacKinnon, West, Mills, Simplican). In Unit 2, we read critiques of the liberal subject that interrogate the possibility of genuine consent, examining issues of false consciousness (Marx, Marcuse), self-opacity and the unconscious (Freud, Benjamin), discursive constitution (Foucault), and performativity (Butler). We use these thinkers to interrogate the distinctions underpinning liberal notions of consent, such as autonomous and heteronomous, authentic and inauthentic, public and private. In Unit 3, we examine how the notion of consent is changing in in our current political moment, in which the liberal democratic state is waning, but the notion of consent persists, such as under neoliberalism (Brown, Feher, Berlant), sexual assault (Kessel, Halley, Murray), and right-wing movements (Grattan, Anker). We close by considering what might be alternatives to and reconfigurations of this model of consent (late Foucault, Maxwell).
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: HA-CHUM
Prereq: None

GOVT357 Saving the Republic: Lessons from Plato for our Time

More than two thousand years ago, Plato addressed the pressing issues of the day: the rise of the oligarchy, dwindling of public deliberation, increasing political factionalism, and erosion of credible information. Some argue that the lessons of his Socratic exchanges, captured in The Republic, are valuable to this day. In this course, students will immerse themselves in 403 B.C.E., a crucial moment in Athenian democracy. Following a close reading of The Republic, the classroom will become the Athenian state. Each member of the class will assume a particular place in Athenian society and in the factions of the day using highly-developed roles from the Reacting to the Past curriculum. As members of the gathered assembly, students will debate divisive issues such as citizenship, elections, re-militarization, and the political process. Then, students will develop, rehearse, and publicly perform a one-act play at the Russell Library in Middletown. The play will be set in ancient Athens and will demonstrate factionalism, information asymmetry, political brokering, and other political issues of that era. Following the performance, the students will engage the audience in a Q&A about the relevance of the play's themes for today. Students will be assessed in five ways: 1. Content quizzes on The Republic, 2. Written preparation for debates/assemblies, 3. Oral presentations in debates/assemblies, 4. Contribution to the class public performance, and 5. A short paper analyzing The Republic's relevance for contemporary United States.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: HA-WRCT
Identical With: WRCT357, CSPL357
Prereq: None

GOVT357Z Saving the Republic: Lessons from Plato for our Time

More than two thousand years ago, Plato addressed the pressing issues of the day: the rise of the oligarchy, dwindling of public deliberation, increasing political factionalism, and erosion of credible information. Some argue that the lessons of his Socratic exchanges, captured in The Republic, are valuable to this day. In this course, students will immerse themselves in 403 B.C.E., a crucial moment in Athenian democracy. Following a close reading of The Republic, the classroom will become the Athenian state. Each member of the class will assume a particular place in Athenian society and in the factions of the day using highly-developed roles from the Reacting to the Past curriculum. As members of the gathered assembly, students will debate divisive issues such as citizenship, elections, re-militarization, and the political process. Then, students will develop, rehearse, and publicly perform a one-act play at the Russell Library in Middletown. The play will be set in ancient Athens and will demonstrate factionalism, information asymmetry, political brokering, and other political issues of that era. Following the performance, the students will engage the audience in a Q&A about the relevance of the play's themes for today. Students will be assessed in five ways: 1. Content quizzes on The Republic, 2. Written preparation for debates/assemblies, 3. Oral presentations in debates/assemblies, 4. Contribution to the class public performance, and 5. A short paper analyzing The Republic's relevance for contemporary United States.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ALLB
Identical With: WRCT357Z, CSPL357Z
Prereq: None

GOVT366 Empirical Methods for Political Science

This course is an introduction to the concepts, tools, and methods used in the study of political phenomena, with an emphasis on both the practical and theoretical concerns involved in scientific research. Designed to get students to think like social scientists, the course covers topics in research design, hypotheses generation, concept/indicator development, data collection, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and interpretation. Students will become better critical consumers of arguments made in mass media, scholarly journals, and political debates. The course is especially appropriate for juniors who are considering writing a thesis in government.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: GOVT151 OR GOVT155 OR GOVT157 OR GOVT159

GOVT368 National Security Law

In this course, students will learn legal concepts that govern law enforcement investigations and criminal prosecutions, and then explore how those concepts apply in the context of national security. The course will examine (1) the history and structure of the U.S. Intelligence Community; (2) differences between investigative tools such as search warrants and wiretaps in traditional and national security cases; (3) the history, role, and future of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; (4) how counterterrorism and counterespionage statutes operate; and (5) how prosecutors use classified information as evidence in public trials. Guest speakers and current events will inform part of the semester.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT369 Political Psychology

This course explores the political psychology of individual judgment and choice. We will examine the role of cognition and emotions, values, predispositions, and social identities on judgment and choice. From this approach, we will address the larger debate regarding the quality of democratic citizenship.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT371 Judicial Decision-Making

This course examines the roles judges play in American politics, with a particular emphasis on judicial decision-making. Topics include, but are not limited to: theories of judicial decision-making, the selection of judges, judicial empathy, and constitutional interpretation. Throughout the course, we will engage in a multidisciplinary discussion about the craft of judging, with a focus on political science theory and empirics.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT372 Political Communication in Polarized Environments

Polarization in American politics heightens the communication challenges for those seeking to persuade, whether they be public officials, scientists, or citizens. This seminar will provide an in depth look at the barriers to persuasive communication and information dissemination in the age of polarization and what (if anything) is effective in cutting through partisan predispositions.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT373 Congressional Reform

The modern Congress is often criticized for being too partisan, inefficient, and beholden to special interests. This seminar will examine the development of the modern Congress by focusing on the history of congressional reform. We will also evaluate proposals for reforming the modern Congress to remedy potential shortcomings in the lawmaking and ethics process.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT374 Seminar in American Political Economy and Public Policy

In 2023, the standoff over the debt ceiling threatened to have catastrophic consequences for the U.S. and the world economy. Why were the politics so complicated? Why were the stakes so high? This seminar explores the long-term fiscal challenges facing the United States grounded in a broader discussion of the postwar political economy. Although the nation exited World War II with a record level of debt, within three decades, the debt-to-GDP ratio had fallen by almost 80 percent. However, significant tax cuts in the 1980s and again in the 2000s, the growth of entitlement spending, and a series of shocks (e.g., two wars, the financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic) brought about a great reversal. Within the next few decades, the national debt is projected to exceed 200 percent of GDP. By that time, interest payments will be the largest component of federal spending. Moreover, absent policy change, the trust funds supporting Social Security and Medicare will become insolvent, placing greater pressure on public finances. This seminar will explore the structure of federal finances, the politics of taxation, the growth of entitlements as a share of federal spending, the ways in which polarization has undermined the budgetary process, and the normative and practical implications of the debt. We will conclude with a discussion of competing reform proposals.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT375 American Political Development

This is a course about the big questions in American politics. What is it all about? What does it mean to be living under a text written more than two centuries ago? Is the very concept of development an oxymoron for constitutional government? This course introduces students to a scholarship and a method of analysis that melds the historical with the institutional, applied to understanding the evolving state/society relationship in American political life. We will examine the ways in which developing state institutions constrain and enable policy makers; the ways in which ideas and policy-relevant expertise have impacted the development of new policies; the ways in which societal interests have been organized and integrated into the policy process; and the forces that have shaped the evolution of institutions and policies over time. This seminar will provide an opportunity to survey the literature drawn from several theoretical perspectives in the field and to consider competing arguments and hypotheses concerning the development of the American state and its changing role in the economy and society.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT376 Political Polarization in America

In the 1950s, political scientists feared that weak parties in the United States threatened democratic accountability. Today, many political scientists argue strong, ideologically extreme parties distort representation. Undoubtedly, things have changed, but why? Several possible culprits exist, including partisan gerrymandering, primary elections, the ideological realignment of the electorate, and changing congressional procedures. We will cover the possible explanations and try to decipher what explanation, or combination of explanations, is most convincing. While we evaluate the arguments for why polarization has increased we will also debate the merits and drawbacks of strong parties at the elite level. Finally, we will examine to what extent polarization among elected officials and activists reflects polarization in the public.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT377 American Political Thought

This course will provide students with a thorough discussion of the main currents of American political thought. We will explore a selection of key texts and speeches that have helped to shape American political culture. Beginning with the Founders and ending with the contemporary era, we will cover moments of critical change between then and now. We focus on the intellectual battles of the past because, apart from being rewarding in themselves, they help us to think critically about contemporary politics. Accordingly, this course will emphasize how ideas give rise to individual identities, how they motivate political actors, and how they explain political outcomes.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT378 Advanced Topics in Media Analysis

Government, corporations, campaigns, nonprofits, other organized interests, and sometimes individuals have a vested interest in knowing and reacting to media messages that affect them. To do so, they need information on what is being said, in what venue, by whom, and with what effect. This seminar will provide hands-on, in-depth experience with academic research involving media, including the type of advertising analysis conducted by the Wesleyan Media Project team. Students will be involved in various aspects of research, including data collection, data coding, literature reviews, data analysis and visualization, and writing/editing.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: GOVT151 OR GOVT155 OR GOVT157

GOVT379 Access to Civil Justice

In this course, students will explore contemporary issues related to the public's ability to access civil legal advice, legal representation, and fair outcomes within our civil justice system. Students will be exposed to scholarship that highlights the difficulties the public faces when they have justice problems, including 1) exclusion from legal processes; 2) lack of resources; 3) lack of awareness of rights; 4) difficulty recognizing the nature of their problem; and 5) lack of confidence in the justice system. The course will culminate with student-designed research projects investigating and proposing solutions to an access to justice question relevant to a collaborating local, state, or national civil justice organization's work.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT380 Public Opinion and Polling Lab

Survey research is a crucially important tool for understanding how everyday people think about any given topic. This is especially important to those studying government in a democracy as public preferences serve as a key guide to legislators and policy makers on how the government should function. However, there are a number of challenges that can make getting an unbiased assessment of the public's true beliefs difficult. This course is meant to serve as a more advanced hands-on seminar that will expose participants to the exciting and messy nature of survey research. More specifically, students will get first-hand experience designing surveys and analyzing the results but will also work through the many challenges in assessing public attitudes, including how to conceptualize and measure opinions and how to sample and weight data appropriately.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 0.50
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT381 DeltaLab: Computational Media Analysis

The content of this course focuses on Wesleyan Media Project media data, including advertising and local television news, and exposes students to a variety of computational ways of making that data more accessible through computational analyses and visualization. Projects are often but not exclusively group-based and draw upon the range of different disciplinary perspectives. Students will engage with the instructors and other lab members once a week for updates on their projects, will attend skill demonstration meetings and smaller group sessions to facilitate lab knowledge transfer, and will engage regularly in hands-on work with the data.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: OPT
Credits: 0.50
Gen Ed Area: SBS-QAC
Identical With: QAC378
Prereq: None

GOVT382 Erosion of Democracy

This seminar will explore the characteristics, causes, and consequences of "democratic backsliding" -- deterioration in the quality of democracy that may or may not lead to democratic breakdown. Topics to be covered include the meaning of democracy, the measurement of democracy, the right to vote, electoral integrity, democracy and the rule of law, democracy and populism, democracy and the Covid-19 pandemic, dimensions and sequences of democratic erosion, the causes of democratic erosion, and resistance to democratic erosion.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: LAST382
Prereq: None

GOVT384 Representation in Congress

This class will examine the nature of congressional representation both from the perspective of how individual members represent their constituents and how effectively Congress as a whole represents the diverse interests of the country. We will pay particular attention to how reelection motivates members of Congress's behavior and how increases in polarization and the centralization of power in the hands of party leaders has affected the nature of congressional representation. In addition, we will focus on the degree to which certain groups are over or underrepresented in Congress and the resultant consequences for policymaking and institutional legitimacy.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT385 Women and Politics

In this course we will study a variety of topics related to the theme of women and politics: women's political participation, the gender gap, women in political parties, female leadership, and women's issues. Because women's political engagement is affected by their position in society and in the economy, we will also study topics such as inequality, power, discrimination, and labor force participation. Although we will consider these issues in the U.S., our approach will be strongly cross-national.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: FGSS386
Prereq: None

GOVT386 The Nuclear Age in World Politics

This course examines the role of nuclear weapons in world politics. Why do states acquire nuclear weapons? What are they good for? Do nuclear weapons make weak states more secure by leveling the playing field, or less secure by making them targets for annihilation? Are nuclear weapons a force for stability or instability? Are missile defenses defensive or offensive? Are these weapons still relevant, or is it time to rethink their usefulness? Topics include rational and extended deterrence, strategic doctrine, nuclear superiority, the stability-instability paradox, nuclear proliferation, rogue states, nuclear terrorism, missile defense, and Cold War crises.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT387 Foreign Policy at the Movies

Recent research on public opinion has suggested that public attitudes about foreign affairs are informed by many non-news sources. This course examines the messages and information provided by movies with significant foreign affairs content. The questions considered are, What are the messages about international politics sent by the movies? Are these messages consistent with the understanding of the events and processes within the political science literature? What are the implications of movies and the information they provide for democratic governance? Students will watch the movies outside of class. Class periods will be devoted equally to discussion of the political science concepts and their portrayal in films.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT388 Democracy and Development in Latin America

This seminar examines democracy, economic development, and social welfare policy in Latin America. The topics to be addressed include regime classification, populism and neo-populism, the recent rise of the left, women in politics, the political economy of economic growth and human development, the export of natural resources, the recent decline of income inequality, the history of social welfare policy in the region, and recent social policy innovations including conditional cash transfer programs.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT389 Globalization in Practice: Activism in the Global Village

Globalization is considered by many to be the most powerful transformative force in the modern world system. Modernization and technology have effectively made the world a smaller place with respect to the interdependence and interpenetration among nations, which are greater today than at any time in history. But while most agree on the transformative power of globalization, many disagree on its nature and its effects on modern society. Liberals hail globalization as the ultimate means to world peace and prosperity. Leftists see it as a means of reinforcing the inequality and unbalanced division of labor created by modern capitalism. Still others, such as mercantilists and nationalists, see it as a source of political instability and cultural conflict. In the final analysis, globalization carries a variety of malign consequences but also produces abundant means for advancing life on our planet. This class will approach globalization through an activist platform. Each student will be an activist and work on solving real world problems that are produced by globalization. But globalization has also generated a great many resources and outcomes that can be used by activists to solve these problems. Students will learn to use these as building blocks for a better world.



This class is heavily project-based. It applies theories and learning to real life situations. There is also much teamwork involved. The learning goals of this class are based on developing professional skill sets: problem solving abilities, consulting, team work, oral presentations, preparing functional memos, and working in professional activist environments.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT390 Presidential Foreign Policy Decision-Making

In the realm of foreign policy, good choices can avoid or win wars, while poor choices can lead to disaster. Although analysts consistently evaluate the quality of US presidential foreign policy decision-making, the fundamental aspects of good and poor judgment remain controversial. This course starts with a consideration of the effects of both individual character and decision-making processes in determining the quality of foreign policy choices. The majority of the course focuses on these issues through the intensive simulations of foreign policy decision-making, with students taking on the roles of the major players.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT391 Legacies of Authoritarian Politics

This course explores the challenges and legacies faced by new democracies due to their authoritarian pasts. To examine legacies of authoritarian politics, we will first study the key features of authoritarian vs. democratic states. The second part will look at "life after dictatorship" including authoritarian successor parties, political participation, civic engagement, and policing in the post-authoritarian era.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-CEAS
Identical With: CEAS385
Prereq: None

GOVT392 Theorizing the City

Recent years have brought a shift to imagining the city, rather than the nation-state, as the primary allegiance for citizens, with its own unique set of challenges and responsibilities. What are our political and ethical obligations to the strangers we live near? Should cities be governed more democratically? This course will examine topics such as income inequality, environmental justice, immigration, localism vs. cosmopolitanism, and public art.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT393 The Politics of Authenticity

Is there such a thing as an authentic self? If so, can politics help us realize it? Fifty years ago, authenticity was a thriving political ideal, invoked by radical feminists, black liberation movements, gay and lesbian activists, Marxists and conservatives alike. Over the past four decades, however, political appeals to authenticity have come under heavy scrutiny. Some claim that appeals to authenticity inadvertently marginalized individuals who are not "true women," "real blacks," or "actual natives." Others argue that the idea of an authentic culture can be deployed to constrain individual members of cultural minorities. Where does authenticity reside--in gender, sexuality, experience, or culture--and how do we know which one is "real"? Is it worth faulting politicians for hypocrisy if there is no such thing as a "true self"? What becomes of certain emancipatory or justice claims--such as those coming from trans-politics or multiculturalism debates--without a notion of authenticity? In this course, we will discuss what authenticity is or might be, how it has been conceptualized in political theory and contemporary social movements, and why it has become an object of widespread suspicion and continuing appeal.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: FGSS393
Prereq: None

GOVT394 Law, Justice, and Democracy

This advanced research seminar will study law though a political sociological lens. Students will write a major term paper exploring a theoretical or empirical question.



We will ask: What is law? What does it mean to think of law as a social construct? We will explore how these questions have been answered by social theorists like Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Foucault, and by legal scholars writing in the tradition of legal positivism, legal realism, and critical legal studies.



We will talk about the relationship between law and justice. What does it mean for laws to be unjust? What are the normative arguments that have been made about how to respond to unjust laws?



We will discuss how social phenomena get legally constructed. Who is a person? What constitutes speech? What constitutes religion? What is a crime? What is gender? Who is a criminal? These questions find myriad answers in different bodies of thought, are understood and acted upon in a variety of ways by different social groups, and gain different levels of political salience in different societies and at different times. As matters concerning the organization of public life, they are also, and inevitably, framed as "legal problems" and make their way to courts. We will examine how courts construct social phenomena through the lens of several historical cases.



We will spend some time on questions of crime and punishment. We will talk about the history of modern prison, and why the carceral state has expanded in the U.S. We will also talk about death penalty, and how and when the modern state kills.



Finally, we will talk about the place of courts in the American system of government, and policymaking.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT395 Caste, Race, and Democracy

Drawing on the resources of social and intellectual history, political theory, literature, and social science, this seminar will explore the intimacies and differences between two forms of social differentiation: caste in South Asia and race in the United States. We will focus, in particular, on the relationships between caste formation, racial formation, and imperial power; the diagnoses of and forms of democratic resistance to caste and race subjugation that were articulated in the 19th and 20th centuries; and the place of contemporary social science in documenting both the persistence of oppression along caste and racial lines and the success of efforts to combat such oppression.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Identical With: GSAS396
Prereq: None

GOVT396 Human Rights Advocacy: Critical Assessment and Practical Engagement in Global Social Justice

The core animating principles and practices of human rights are under threat. Will the global human rights movement be able to respond effectively? How could or should the movement advance the cause of global social justice most effectively? This seminar seeks to answer these questions by assessing global rights defense and social justice practice and by engaging in structured, self-critical human rights advocacy.



Among the issues considered in this seminar will be the following: What are the origins of the human rights movement? Has the movement been dominated by ideas from the West and elite organizations from the Global North? What does it mean to be a human rights activist? What is the role of documentation, legal advocacy, and social media in human rights advocacy? What are the main challenges and dilemmas facing those engaged in rights promotion and defense?



Students will be required to write several short reflection papers. The final project will be an exercise in developing a human rights advocacy project or supervised engagement in actual human rights advocacy in conjunction with the University Network for Human Rights (humanrightsnetwork.org). This class is limited to students already admitted to the Human Rights Advocacy Minor.
Offering: Crosslisting
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-ALLB
Identical With: CSPL316
Prereq: None

GOVT398 What Is the Good Life?

Work, political participation, friendship, art, and justice: These are the components that political philosophers have long thought to be components of a life well lived. How do these practices shape our identity and relationships with others? How do they contribute to a thriving society? How have theorists changed our understandings of these core concepts over time? What happens when they come into conflict? This course will use these five categories to understand what the "good life" means from ancient, modern, and postmodern perspectives.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT399 Citizens, Judges, Juries: Who Decides in Democracy?

The tensions between rule by the people, rule by elites, and rule of law are at the core of democratic theory. What is the proper balance among the three? Under what circumstances is one group of decision makers better than another? What happens when they come into conflict? This is an upper-level course in political theory designed for students who have taken GOVT159, The Moral Basis of Politics or an equivalent course in philosophy and related disciplines. We will focus on the following topics: the role of voting in liberal democracies, the Athenian jury system, deliberative democracy, referendum and initiatives, civil disobedience, and the role of juries in the U.S. criminal justice system.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: SBS-GOVT
Prereq: None

GOVT401 Individual Tutorial, Undergraduate

Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT402 Individual Tutorial, Undergraduate

Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT407 Senior Tutorial (downgraded thesis)

Downgraded Senior Thesis Tutorial - Project to be arranged in consultation with the tutor. Only enrolled in through the Honors Coordinator.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F

GOVT408 Senior Tutorial (downgraded thesis)

Downgraded Senior Thesis Tutorial - Project to be arranged in consultation with the tutor. Only enrolled in through the Honors Coordinator.
Offering: Host
Grading: A-F

GOVT409 Senior Thesis Tutorial

Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT410 Senior Thesis Tutorial

Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT411 Group Tutorial, Undergraduate

Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT412 Group Tutorial, Undergraduate

Topic to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT419 Student Forum

Student-run group tutorial, sponsored by a faculty member and approved by the chair of a department or program.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U

GOVT420 Student Forum

Student-run group tutorial, sponsored by a faculty member and approved by the chair of a department or program.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U

GOVT465 Education in the Field, Undergraduate

Students must consult with the department and class dean in advance of undertaking education in the field for approval of the nature of the responsibilities and method of evaluation.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT466 Education in the Field, Undergraduate

Students must consult with the department and class dean in advance of undertaking education in the field for approval of the nature of the responsibilities and method of evaluation.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT468 Independent Study, Undergraduate

Credit may be earned for an independent study during a summer or authorized leave of absence provided that (1) plans have been approved in advance, and (2) all specified requirements have been satisfied.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT469 Education in the Field, Undergraduate

Students must consult with the department and class dean in advance of undertaking education in the field for approval of the nature of the responsibilities and method of evaluation.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: None
Prereq: None

GOVT470 Independent Study, Undergraduate

Credit may be earned for an independent study during a summer or authorized leave of absence provided that (1) plans have been approved in advance, and (2) all specified requirements have been satisfied.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT
Credits: 1.00
Gen Ed Area: None
Prereq: None

GOVT491 Teaching Apprentice Tutorial

The teaching apprentice program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to assist in teaching a faculty member's course for academic credit.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT492 Teaching Apprentice Tutorial

The teaching apprentice program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to assist in teaching a faculty member's course for academic credit.
Offering: Host
Grading: OPT

GOVT495 Research Apprentice, Undergraduate

Project to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U

GOVT496 Research Apprentice, Undergraduate

Project to be arranged in consultation with the tutor.
Offering: Host
Grading: Cr/U