|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Course Criteria
Add courses to your favorites to save, share, and find your best transfer school.
-
3.00 Credits
Nationalism, Republicanism & Cosmopolitanism Do we have obligations to our co-nationals that we do not owe to others? Might our loyalties or obligations to our fellow citizens be based on a commitment to shared political principles and common public life rather than national identity? Do we have basic duties that are owed equally to human beings everywhere, regardless of national or political affiliation? Do our commitments to co-nationals or compatriots conflict with those duties we might owe to others, and if so, to what extent? Is cosmopolitanism based on rationality and patriotism based on passion? This course will explore these questions from the perspectives of nationalism, republicanism and cosmopolitanism. We will consider historical works from Herder, Rousseau, Kant, Fichte, Mill, Mazzini and Renan; and more contemporary contributions from Berlin, Miller, Canovan, MacIntyre, Viroli, Sandel, Pettit, Habermas, Nussbaum, Appiah, and Pogge, among others.
-
3.00 Credits
This course is intended to provide students with a detailed understanding of politics in the American states. The topics covered are divided into four broad sections. The first explores the role of the states in America's federal system of government. Attention is given to the basic features of intergovernmental relations as well as the historic evolution of American federalism. The second part of the course focuses on state-level political institutions. The organization and processes associated with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches are discussed in depth. The third part examines state elections, political parties, and interest groups. Finally, the fourth section looks closely at various policy areas. Budgeting, welfare, education, gay marriage, and environmental policy are each considered.
-
3.00 Credits
The course considers the development and current practices of the mass media in the United States in terms of the expectations of democratic government.
-
3.00 Credits
Much (most?) of politics is about combining individual preferences or actions into collective choices. We will make use of two theoretical approaches. Our primary approach will be social choice theory, which studies how we aggregate what individuals want into what the collective "wants." The second approach, game theory, covers how we aggregate what individuals want into what the group gets, given that social, economic, and political outcomes usually depend on the interaction of individual choices. The aggregation of preferences or choices is usually governed by some set of institutional rules, formal or informal. Our main themes include the rationality of individual and group preferences, the underpinnings and implications of using majority rule, tradeoffs between aggregation methods, the fairness of group choice, the effects of institutional constraints on choice (e.g., agenda control), and the implications for democratic choice. Most of the course material is highly abstract, but these abstract issues turn up in many real-world problems, from bargaining between the branches of government to campus elections to judicial decisions on multi-member courts to the allocation of relief funds among victims of natural disasters to the scoring of Olympic events. The collective choice problem is one faced by society as a whole and by the smallest group alike.
-
3.00 Credits
Historical and contemporary roles of various racial and ethnic groups; initiation, demands, leadership and organizational styles, orientation, benefits, and impact on the structures and outputs of governance in the United States.
-
3.00 Credits
This course focuses on the political incorporation of Latinos into the American polity. Among the topics to be discussed are patterns of historical exclusion, the impact of the Voting Rights Act, organizational and electoral behavior, and the effects of immigration on the Latino national political agenda.
-
3.00 Credits
In what sense was the New Deal/Fair Deal era led by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman a 'watershed' and a 'defining time'? What policy choices were made, and which were not? What has been their enduring impact? Probing these issues at the crossroads of political science and history, the class aims both to explore key themes in American politics and to examine how approaches scholars use in each of the major subfields of political science-Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory, and American Politics-can clarify important historical subjects.
-
3.00 Credits
Examines the constitutional right of freedom of speech and press in the United States. Examines, in depth, various areas of law, including extremist or seditious speech, obscenity, libel, fighting words, the public forum doctrine, and public access to the mass media. Follows the law school course model, with readings focused on actual judicial decisions.
-
3.00 Credits
Elections and public opinion; history of U.S. electoral politics; the problem of voter participation; partisanship and voting; accounting for voting decisions; explaining and forecasting election outcomes; elections and divided government; money and elections; electoral politics and representative democracy.
-
3.00 Credits
Prerequisites: POLS W1201 or the equivalent, or instructor's permission. Inquiry into the dynamics, organization, and policy-making processes of the American Congress. Particular emphasis on the relationship of legislators to constituents, lobbyists, bureaucrats, the president, and with one another.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Privacy Statement
|
Terms of Use
|
Institutional Membership Information
|
About AcademyOne
Copyright 2006 - 2025 AcademyOne, Inc.
|
|
|