What functions does leadership fill, and what challenges do leaders face, in modern democratic states? The course neither requires nor teaches any computer science skills. [more], This course provides an overview of the international relations of the Middle East, with a special focus on the period from the late nineteenth century to the present. With that as background, students will choose an aspect or aspects of these conflicts as a subject for their individual research. incarceration, and failing public services-social problems borne primarily by people of color. How can this be? We will consider some of the complicated legacies of change. How (if at all) should we reconcile contemporary morality with historical context in assessing the leaders from our past? Neo-liberalism: What Is It and Why Does It Matter? Or should feminists reject objectivity as a myth told by the powerful about their own knowledge-claims and develop an alternative approach to knowledge? Our focus, then, is nothing less than the story of America -- as told by those who lived it. Class will be driven primarily by discussion, typically introduced by a brief lecture. Courses - Political Economy Program Social unrest over the definition of American morality and over who counts as an American. In this course, we look at this debate, examining what black thinkers in particular have said about whether racial equity can be achieved in a liberal democracy founded on racial domination and why they come to the conclusions they do. Indeed, a central concern of the founders was that democracy would invite demagogues who would bring the nation to ruin. 2) How do we identify democratic breakdown? Topics may include neoliberalism and democracy; sovereignty and biopower; pluralism, individuality, and justice; technology and the specter of ecological catastrophe; the problem of evil in politics; white supremacy; and contemporary struggles over gender and sexuality. How do visions of politics without humans and humans without politics impact our thinking about longstanding questions of freedom, power, and right? In addition to their distinguished careers in government, both men have published well regarded and popular scholarship on various aspects of American foreign policy, international relations, and nuclear weapons. The course first briefly reviews Venezuelan post-Independence history, with an emphasis on the post-1958 democratic settlement. Second, through a series of regular exercises and assignments, it seeks to stimulate critical thinking about fundamental questions of research design (crafting a question, performing a literature review, selecting appropriate methodological tools, evaluating data sources) and hone an array of practical skills--whether interpretive, historical, or quantitative--involved in political science research. Our goal is to obtain an enhanced understanding and appreciation of the salience of religion in public life. [more], What is politics? Theorists studied include: Frank Wilderson; Angela Davis; Derrick Bell; Cheryl Harris. Readings and discussions provide a view on the past and ongoing use of media in the shaping of popular knowledge, collective actions, and public policies. Does economic development lead to the spread of democracy? life -- define the American political tradition and consume the American political imagination. But, coastal and ocean-based climate-induced impacts such as sea level rise, ocean warming and acidification pose extraordinary challenges to our coastal communities, and are not borne equally by all communities. and moderate reform are struggling to build sufficient popular support for their programs. . If it is not itself a form of property, how can we explain the use of the human body to acquire possessions, create wealth, and mediate the exchange of other kinds of property? We will consider military affairs, economics, and diplomacy, but the class is mostly concerned with ideas. [more], Home to over half of the world's population and to more than twenty of the world's largest cities, Asia has gained global prominence in recent years; the twenty-first century in fact has widely been deemed the 'Asian Century'. There is a similar dismal irony to the American Revolution, as captured by the title of Frederick Douglass' famous 1852 speech, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" What does it mean today to be progressive? The goal is to develop a rich understanding of the foundations of public opinion and political behavior. How have leaders from James Madison to George W. Bush thought about U.S. vulnerabilities, resources, and goals, and how have those ideas influenced foreign policy decisions? Jews had to decide where to pin their hopes. How significant of a threat are concerns like nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and nuclear accidents? Economically, the course will look at the institutional configuration of neo-liberalism, changes in economies, growing inequality, the financial crises, and prevalence of debt. This course is an investigation into contemporary right-wing populism in Europe and North America in its social, economic, and political context. All students read common secondary materials and engage in research design workshops; each will write (and rewrite) an independent research paper grounded in primary sources. Students will develop a conceptual toolkit to study the politics of capitalism based in the economic history of the rich democracies (Europe, United States) in the twentieth century. As Louis Menand argues, "almost everything in the popular understanding of Orwell is a distortion of what he really thought and the kind of writer he was." Does economic development drive political change, or the other way around? In this research seminar we revisit the debate on the relationship between mineral wealth and development, focusing on the factors and conditions that lead some resource rich countries to fail and others to succeed. [more], Before the 1990s, the world saw only occasional, discrete war crimes trials after major-power cataclysms. The course will focus on these questions using an interdisciplinary perspective that leverages political science concepts, historical case studies, and contemporary policy debates to generate core insights. Beginning with the evolution of the field, this course will equip students with the methodological tools to critically navigate their own specific regional, inter-regional, or interdisciplinary tracks in the Asian Studies concentration. examine the various explanations that scholars have offered for why the conflict has persisted for so long, how it has evolved over time, the role that outside powers have played in shaping it, and how its perpetuation (or settlement) is likely to impact Middle East politics in the future. Thirty years later the future looks seriously derailed. Attention will focus largely on the modern, twentieth and twenty-first century, presidency, though older historical examples will also be used to help us gain perspective on these problems. Students will develop a conceptual toolkit to study the politics of capitalism based in the economic history of the rich democracies (Europe, United States) in the twentieth century. [more], This introductory seminar investigates the relationship between three major schools of thought in contemporary Africana social and political philosophy: the African, Afro-North American, and Afro-Caribbean intellectual traditions. The implications of Garvey's conflict with W. E. B. illegal migrants, refugees) have differential access to rights, services, and representation depending on how they are classified where they live (and where they are from). Marcuse famously supported the aims of student activism, feminism, black liberation movements and Third World anti-colonialism during that period, publicly affirming their efforts to integrate ethical idealism with concrete concerns for the economic wellbeing and political freedom of oppressed groups. Should the world try to regulate the use of these technologies and, if so, how exactly? Wars and assassinations. Many who today are recognized as great leaders were, in their historical moment, branded dangerous. of 2008-10. What is the relationship between constitutional and political change? Through the lens of coastal and ocean governance and policy-making, we critically examine conflict of use issues relative to climate change, climate justice, coastal zone management, fisheries, ocean and coastal pollution and marine biodiversity. This class investigates one of the most polarizing and relevant issues of our time: the politics of migration. How does partisanship become tribalism or hyper-partisanship, and can this be prevented? Throughout the semester, our goal will be less to remember elaborate doctrinal rules and multi-part constitutional "tests" than to understand the changing nature of, and changing relationship between, constitutional rights and constitutional meaning in American history. In the last two decades, trials expanded dramatically in number, scope, and philosophy. Does freedom make us happy? What does that portend, if anything, for other democracies, or for the general principle of popular sovereignty--the idea that the people govern themselves? and home to over 1 billion people, sub-Saharan Africa is remarkable in its diversity, particularly in regards to a number of outcomes central to the study of political science: how do institutions of the past shape current dynamics of political competition and economic growth? Four class debates will focus general concepts on a specific topic: the global implications of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Exploration of these and other questions will lead us to examine topics such as presidential selection, the bases of presidential power, character and leadership, congressional-executive interactions, social movement and interest group relations, and media interactions. *Please note the atypical class hours, Wed 4:45-8:30 pm* [more], The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution begins: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." We consider why and how the spread of capitalism led to the birth of democracy in some countries, but dictatorships in others? [more], The comparative study of politics looks mainly at what goes on inside countries, the domestic dynamics of power, institutions, and identities. This tutorial will first examine the nature of their relationship to both Realist and Wilsonian perspectives on American foreign relations. [more], This tutorial provides an introduction to comparative political economy by focusing on an enduring puzzle: the spread of capitalism led to both transitions to democracy and dictatorship/authoritarianism. The institution of slavery is a particularly egregious example. It concludes with a discussion of the prospects of right-populist politics in the United States. [more], Recent years have seen a resurgence of the political left in Latin America. We will examine when and how individuals and leadership have mattered vis--vis broader historical and contextual factors, including economic developments, demographic change, war, and constitutional and institutional parameters. We will go on to discuss the U.S. support for Islamist political parties during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and the consequent rise of the Taliban, and the role of Afghanistan in the September 11th attacks and the "War on Terror" that followed. speculative accounts in the Western tradition draw boundaries between past and present, as well as between self and other. Why do we find the visible presence of certain kinds of things or persons to be unbearably noxious? How is the domination or conquest of nature connected with domination and conquest within human societies? Why does Congress not act, especially when the U.S. confronts so many pressing problems, and how do legislators justify inaction? Why do we end up with some policies but not others? The course begins with several sessions that provide a technical overview of key information security concepts and an examination of some prominent hacks. Students will leave this course with a deeper understanding of contemporary urban problems, a knowledge of the political structures within which those problems are embedded, and a better sense of the challenges and opportunities leaders face in contemporary urban America. We end by asking: Do anti-democratic means have to be employed to fully realize democracy? Is it because they have an exceptional leader? Second, was one side primarily responsible for the length and intensity of the Cold War in Europe? In addition, we will examine the long-standing arguments among both historians and political scientists over how to explain and interpret the longest and most controversial war in American history. learn about the region's geopolitical significance from both an historical and political science perspective. The third part focuses on religion in the USA. that used to be the prerogative of human actors. Cases include piracy, claims in the South China Sea, bonded labor, refugee quarantine, Arctic transit, and ocean pollution. We examine both traditional and revisionist explanations of the Cold War, as well as the new findings that have emerged from the partial opening of Soviet and Eastern European archives. Readings will be drawn from such authors as Adorno, Allen, Arendt, Berlant, Brown, Butler, Connolly, Dean, Foucault, Galli, Honig, Latour, Moten, Rancire, Rawls, Sen, and Sexton. Finally, could the Cold War have been ended long before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989? Authors we will engage include Coates, bell hooks, Charles Mills, Melvin Rogers, Chris Lebron, Lawrie Balfour, and Danielle Allen. It spells out who can be a sovereign state and how to become one, what states can do, what they cannot do, and who can punish transgressions. Not even the Civil War could resolve this issue, as demonstrated by the failure of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow. Yet, law is still where we look for justice and, perhaps, for power to be tamed by the pressure to be legitimate. She wrote luminously about the darkness that comes when terror extinguishes politics and the shining, almost miraculous events of freedom through which politics is sometimes renewed. [more], The United States attacked and defeated the Afghan Taliban regime over in the course of a few short weeks in 2001. When and why do states choose to use military force? But what do we mean when we claim to want freedom? At the end we briefly reconsider current U.S. policies in historical perspective. To address these questions, we will study portrayals of some of the most famous leaders in American history--including Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Our sources will include political speeches, literature, film, and journalism as well as monuments and museum exhibits; though our examples will be drawn mostly from the United States, our conceptual framework will be transnational. In the United States, basic stability and democratic expansion have been accompanied by increasing citizen distrust of institutions, growing social divisions, contestation over basic citizenship rights, and political violence. [more], This course explores the life, work, political thought, and activism associated with the Jamaican Pan-Africanist Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the transnational movement--Garveyism--that Garvey ushered into the modern world. U.S. Public Opinion and Mass Political Behavior. What are the necessary conditions for peace and stability? The Impact of Black Panther Party Intellectuals on Political Theory. At the core of feminism lies the critique of inequitable power relations. Throughout the semester we interrogate three themes central to migration politics (and political science): rights, access, and agency. We focus on the ways in which the Silicon Valley model can threaten social welfare through economic inequality and precarious employment, and engage a variety of perspectives, including workplace ethnography, to examine these threats, as well as potential regulatory responses. The course goes back to the founding moments of an imagined white-Christian Europe and how the racialization of Muslim bodies was central to this project and how anti-Muslim racism continues to be relevant in our world today. Course readings touch briefly on social contract theories (Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant) before turning to the core material for our exploration: alternative accounts of the origins of the state based on ancient Greek and Roman mythology and the ethnological writings of nineteenth-century socialists (Marx, Engels, Bebel, and others). This class investigates one of the most polarizing and relevant issues of our time: the politics of migration. [more], The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea gathered into one place what most countries considered in 1982 to be scattered ancient laws about piracy, transit through other countries' territorial waters, jurisdiction over ships, and so forth. [more], This course is an introduction to the contemporary politics of Africa, with the aim of sparking a life-long interest in the affairs of the region. We will examine factors that shape election outcomes such as the state of the economy, issues, partisanship, ideology, social identities with a special focus on race, interest groups, media, and the candidates themselves. fact has widely been deemed the 'Asian Century'. In the latter half of the course, students will have the opportunity to design, conduct, and present their own final research projects. Politics is most fundamentally about forging and maintaining community, about how we manage to craft a common destiny guided by shared values. What is at stake, and what do different groups believe to be at stake? This research seminar investigates organized international, multilateral attempts to mold a delinquent country's domestic politics by enforcing extranational standards. Near the end of the semester, students will receive feedback on their complete draft from their advisor and two additional faculty readers selected by the workshop leader; following revisions, the final work--a roughly 35 page piece of original scholarship--will be submitted to and evaluated by a committee of faculty chosen by the department for the awarding of honors as well as presented publicly to the departmental community at an end-of-year collective symposium. The structure of the course combines political science concepts and historical case studies, with the goal of generating in-depth classroom debates over key conceptual, historical, and policy questions. At the core of feminism lies the critique of inequitable power relations. We will examine leadership to better understand American democracy--and vice versa. bad? We will take notice of the erasure of waste in traditional political theory and work together to fill these gaps. By the completion of the semester, students will understand both the successes and failures of modern environmental law and how these laws are being reinvented, through innovations like pollution credit trading and "green product" certification, to confront globalization, climate change and other emerging threats. elites, that the democratic component consists of elections that amount to choosing between rival slates of elites, and that agreements among elites set the boundaries for permissible democratic decision making. The final module introduces students to theory and methods for analyzing media relations (how a given media connects particular groups in particular ways). The seminar is open to all students; however, priority is given to seniors majoring in American Studies. We will discuss theories of right-wing populism's appeal from both Left and Right perspectives. Any diagnosis of contemporary maladies is premised on a vision of what a healthy functioning republic looks like. Do science and technology serve to transform or reinforce power imbalances based on gender, race, and sexuality? Specifically, the seminar will address the election of Donald Trump as president, the furor around Brexit in the United Kingdom and the authority of the European Union in Europe, and challenges to the hegemony of global finance and controversies around immigration in both the United States and Europe. retreat!) Approaching the firm as both arena and actor in a number of capitalist democracies, we will compare the politics of business across different sectors, but will focus especially on tech and finance. The title is inspired by C.L.R. Does this mean that we have descended to barbarism? Attention will focus largely on the modern, twentieth and twenty-first century, presidency, though older historical examples will also be used to help us gain perspective on these problems. Admission to Tulsa Community College does not guarantee admission to the Physical Therapist Assistant Program. Theorists studied include: Frank Wilderson; Angela Davis; Derrick Bell; Cheryl Harris. We will evaluate the role of race as it relates to public opinion, political behavior, campaigns, political institutions, and public policy debates, with special attention devoted to the nature of racial attitudes. This class will consider these questions through readings, films and artifacts that bring political theory into conversation with science fiction, popular literature on the so-called "singularity" (the merger of humans with computers), science and technology studies, evolutionary anthropology, "new materialist" philosophy, and feminist theory. In investigating these topics, we explore questions such as these: How is power allocated? Are environmental protections compatible with political freedom? Some defenders argue that the media is a convenient scapegoat for problems that are endemic to human societies, while others claim that it actually facilitates political action aimed at addressing long-ignored injustices. We will then use our investigation of how different authors, and different traditions, understand the nation to help us assess contemporary politics and come to our own conclusions about what animates conflicts. Are there forms of unequal social power which are morally neutral or even good? [more], The rise of gigantic tech firms--Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon--has sparked widespread worries about the role of business power in capitalist democracy. The second half covers the most important current issues in hemispheric relations: the rise of leftist governments in Latin America; the war on drugs; immigration and border security; and competition with China for influence. The course will consider these questions from an interdisciplinary perspective that combines political science concepts with an historical approach to the evidence. Does freedom require leading (or avoiding) a political life? This course is part of a joint program between Williams' Center for Learning in Action and the Berkshire County Jail in Pittsfield, MA. Or is economic crisis the key to understanding the conditions under which dictatorships fall? dorms be named for John C. Calhoun and Woodrow Wilson? What is the fate of democracy in the U.S.? And what are their views on diversity, citizenship, and race, and how do heterodox leftists fit with conservative critiques of managerial liberalism? What, if anything, is the difference between an ecosystem and a political community? an accident, or find yourself plunged somehow into poverty. We will then use our investigation of how different authors, and different traditions, understand the nation to help us assess contemporary politics and come to our own conclusions about what animates conflicts. But what role can the welfare state play in the twenty-first century? This seminar will address these questions with the aim of introducing students to important theoretical topics and key concepts that are relevant to the comparative and critical study of Asia. as it did in the prenuclear era, or has it undergone a "revolution," in the most fundamental sense of the word? Under what circumstances has positive leadership produced beneficial outcomes, and in what circumstances has it produced perverse outcomes? Does income inequality threaten the political equality necessary for a strong democracy? From Tocqueville to Trump: Leadership and the Making of American Democracy. In this tutorial, we will explore the concept of dangerous leadership in American history, from inside as well as outside of government. [more], Scandals. Class will be driven primarily by discussion. With Tocqueville as a guide to thinking about political ethnography, this course investigates four central elements of political life--religion, education, difference, and crime and punishment--that simultaneously pose problems for and represent sites of progress in American democracy. But what do we mean when we claim to want freedom? We will examine the role of social identities, partisan affiliation, concrete interests, values, issues, and ideology in shaping opinion and behavior, as well as the role of external forces such as campaigns, the media, and political elites. Then, we examine what contemporary democratic theorists have had to say about how racial equity might be achieved and how they have sought to advance this goal through their writing. This course examines the historical development of American constitutional law and politics from the Founding to the present. What are the limits on presidential power? We begin with examinations of these central notions and debates, and then move to investigations of the political thought of four key late modern Afro-Caribbean and African-American thinkers within the tradition: Walter Rodney, Sylvia Wynter, Cedric Robinson, and Angela Davis. For more information, contact the Health Sciences office at (918) 595-7002. This seminar examines theory, politics, literature, film, and music produced from and linked to twentieth-century movements against capitalism, racism, colonialism, and imperial wars to think through how Black and Yellow Power have shaped solidarity to challenge white supremacy and racial capitalism. It may be tempting to conclude from these similarities--as some recent commentators have--that we are witnessing the return of "totalitarianism" as Arendt understood it. They see themselves as original, dynamic, serious. The course draws from anthropology, gender studies, history, political science, religious studies, postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, and sociology. [more], We rely on environmental laws to make human communities healthier and protect the natural world, while allowing for sustainable economic growth. We will ask: What explains why some leaders have succeeded where others have failed? Why has the U.S. adopted some approaches to reduce poverty but not others? Will Japan continue to live as a nation with enormous economic power but limited military means?