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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
This course will cover the decisions of the Supreme Court in the area of race relations, from the 19th-century problem of fugitive slaves to current problems involving school desegregation, affirmative action and private acts of race discrimination. Class will focus not only on court cases but also on the broader constitutional and philosophical implications.
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3.00 Credits
The United States emerged from World War II in a new peacetime role as a superpower. We had to discover for ourselves how to combine diplomacy and military power in a manner consistent with our democratic principles. While the policy choices were stark in the days of the Cold War, they have become more complex in recent years. Presented by a career diplomat who headed U.S. overseas missions in four countries, the course emphasizes case studies and the practical problems that have confronted U.S. leaders from the end of World War II to the present. The issues treated will illustrate the height of tensions in the Cold War, the emergence of detente and deterrence, and the challenges of the global agenda after the end of the Cold War. The course aims to help the student understand current foreign policy issues, which will be discussed briefly in class. A research paper (10 pages), a midterm exam, and a final exam are required.
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3.00 Credits
Americans have always debated Supreme Court opinions on specific constitutional questions involving the powers of government and the rights of individuals and minorities. The leading objective of this course is to acquaint students with the basic issues of constitutional interpretation and to show how they influence questions involving constitutional rights and powers and the scope of judicial review.
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3.00 Credits
The U.S. Constitution has remained essentially intact since 1787, yet contemporary political institutions and practices would hardly be recognizable to a citizen of the 19th century. Thus, the history of our political institutions is one of change and reform, as well as stability and persistence. This course will focus on the development of the U.S. political system from the late 18th to the early 20th century. Of particular interest will be the evolution of the legislative, executive, and electoral institutions.
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3.00 Credits
Most courses in constitutional law narrate the Supreme Court's evolving positions on constitutional rights and institutions. This course starts not with the Supreme Court but with the Federalist Papers, from which it develops a general theory of the social and economic goals or ends of constitutional government in America. It then uses this theory as a framework for assessing the Supreme Court's position on property rights, race relations, personal privacy, and the place of religion in American life. This exercise can yield results that make for lively class discussion, not only about the Court, but also about the adequacy of the Constitution itself. Grades will be based on a midterm and a final exam, with a paper option in lieu of the final.
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3.00 Credits
This course undertakes a broad examination of black politics in multiracial America. Racial issues have provoked crises in American politics; changes in racial status have prompted American political institutions to operate in distinctive ways. The course examines the interface of black politics with and within the American political system. How successful have blacks been as they attempted to penetrate the electoral system in the post civil rights era. What conflicts and controversies have arisen as African Americans have sought to integrate the American system of power. Now that the laws have been changed to permit limited integration, should African Americans integrate politically, that is should they attempt to 'deracialize' their political appeals and strategy, with an effort to "crossover politically"; are some approaches such as those of President Barack Obama 'not black enough?' What internal political challenges do African Americans face; some such as the increasing importance of class and socioeconomic factors, as well as gender and sexuality may reshape the definition of the black community Finally how stable will the past patterns and political organizations and institutions of African American politics be, as America and American politics becomes increasingly multiracial?
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3.00 Credits
Political parties play many vital roles in American politics. They educate potential voters about political processes, policy issues, and civic duties. They mobilize citizens into political activity and involvement. They provide vital information about public debates. They control the choices--candidates and platforms that voters face at the ballot box. They influence and organize the activities of government officials. Most importantly, by providing a link between government and the governed, they are a central mechanism of representation. These roles - how well they are performed, what bias exists, how they shape outcomes, how they have changed over time - have consequences for the working of the American political system.
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3.00 Credits
Citizenship is a pressing question for nation-states in the era of globalization. Whereas previous research on citizenship focused narrowly on the process of legal status, new studies are illuminating the actual practice of citizenship. As individuals' lives increasingly span national boundaries, states are debating the rights of people who claim to belong in more than one country. What are and what should be the extent of immigrants' economic rights? What about their legal rights, political rights and cultural rights? The European Union and the United States confront similar challenges of integrating immigrants. The immigration debate that peaked in the United States with the end of the national Quota Act in 1965 surged again at the turn of the millennium while the Parliament and the Council of the European Union in 2008 adopted the directive of "Return of Illegal Immigrants", marking a new milestone in Europe's internal immigration debate.
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3.00 Credits
A study of the ethnic and racial formation of American society and cultural pluralism; a review of the theory and history of ethnicity, its policy implications for family, education, economics, religion, government, and international relations; and in-depth study of one ethnic group of choice.
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3.00 Credits
The first half of the course is designed to introduce a variety of theoretical perspectives to the students. We develop a historical overview of popular cultural theory and the several iterations it has taken, to include mass culture theory, Marxism, the Frankfurt Schools, Structuralism, Semiotics, Feminism, and Post-Modernism. During the first section of the course, students will be required to write a paper using one of the theories to analyze a popular culture phenomenon of the instructor's choice. The second half of the semester is devoted to a historical analysis of the social impact and meaning of rock 'n' roll. I begin with a demonstration of African music, using recordings of early chants and celebratory music, and then give the class some example of known slave songs, indicating the presence, as early as 1750, of elements that eventually became R & B, then rock 'n' roll. This course is not recommended for students who have taken SOC 34151, as the content will overlap.
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