Democracy in the United States is looking a bit rickety. Decades of progress in voting rights are countered by recent efforts to weaken the connection between popular opinion and representational outcomes. This course will address redistricting, the process of redrawing legislative and congressional lines, which every state will do in 2021. Redistricting can remedy a distorted Census count - or make its effects tenfold worse. We will address how lines can be drawn to enhance fairness and the representation of diverse communities. As case studies we may redistrict Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated how life can be disrupted but also how the consequences are suffered disproportionately by those already disadvantaged by prejudice and unequal opportunity. The world's biggest problems are looking for new organizational and operational models that combine the advantages of business, government, and NGOs and can deliver effective responses to formidable issues across global society. This course looks beyond entrepreneurship in profit motivated industries such as technology and financial services to the more complicated challenge of achieving social and policy objectives through entrepreneurial action.

This course engages theoretical and empirical work about interest groups and social movements in U.S. politics and policy-making. We examine theories of interest group and social movement formation, maintenance, and decline; how interest groups and social movements try to (& do) influence politics and public policy; interactions between interest groups and the three branches of the federal government; lobbying, elections, and campaign finance; and the effectiveness of interest groups and movements as agents of democratic representation, particularly for marginalized groups such as women, people of colour, low-income people, and LGBTQ people.

Founded and built by immigrants, the US has a complicated relationship with newcomers. How have politics shaped US immigration policy and the policymaking process? Do members of Congress follow their constituents' preferences? How are immigration messages used by campaigns; with what effects? Why do changing demographics affect immigration policy views? Do immigrants integrate or conform to nativist fears? In thinking about immigrants, why do most Americans think about Latino immigrants and how does this affect US Latinos? We will tackle these and other questions by examining published research and applying it to recent campaigns and debates.

From the US-backed dictatorships of the Cold War, to contemporary examples of state violence, many Latin Americans have experienced grave human rights violations. At the same time however, activists in the region have propelled significant international human rights advances. Examining concepts and cases from the anthropology of human rights, this course explores questions of rights as they affect Indigenous peoples, women, gay and lesbian populations, migrants, the urban poor, and children. By analyzing these cases, we will gain a deeper understanding of the opportunities and risks facing the future of human rights in the Latin America.

This seminar examines the evolution of American diplomacy and military policy in the Middle East from the late Cold War through the "Unipolar movement" and 9/11 to the very recent past. Given the militarization of American policy, it pays particular attention to the use of force. It asks why military force has become the defining instrument of US foreign policy in this region, seeks to evaluate the efficacy of America's military interventions, and to identify the sources of American conduct. Prior coursework in international relations and Middle Eastern history is beneficial but there are no prerequisites.

Why is Iran so often in the headlines? Why is what happens in Iran matters so much to the rest of the world? In this course, we try to find some answers to questions about Iranian politics, culture, recent history and society. The class covers Iran's long twentieth century, from the rise of the constitutional revolution to the Islamic revolution of 1979 and its aftermath.

This course draws on rich historical literature, theoretical perspectives, and empirical analysis to overview key themes in the study of the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa. Students will gain an understanding of how core political and economic institutions developed throughout the modern Middle East, and to what end. The course will explore a variety of explanations for institutional durability and change in the region, including the roles of religion, culture, oil rentierism, and colonialism. Finally, the course will provide insight into cutting-edge methodological approaches to the study of the Middle East.

This course will introduce students to major topics in political theory, such as the nature of justice, the relationship between individual liberty and the state, the boundaries of the political community, democracy and representation, and the ethics of resistance and revolution. The course will explore these issues through immersive historical simulations. Students will first learn about major ideas and debates in political thought and then apply what they have learned by playing the roles of important actors during pivotal events in history, such as wars, revolutions, and struggles for power and liberation.

Why do some countries fight wars while others are peaceful? Are nuclear weapons a source of stability or instability? What explains the current trade war with China? This course will provide a theoretical framework to help students better answer these questions, as well as other questions central to the study of international conflict and cooperation. Broad topics will include the causes of war and peace, the sources of transnational terrorism, the logic behind modern-day trade wars, the politics of international monetary policy, the systemic challenges to combating global warming, and the promise and peril of foreign aid.

A study and critique of the philosophical foundations of modern democratic liberalism based on a close reading and analysis of texts by theorists such as Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Mill, Marx and Rawls.

An introduction to theories of social justice and examination of their implications in areas of contemporary social and political controversy. The first half of the course introduces the problem of social justice and examines two classic positions, as articulated by John Locke (name associated with liberalism, property, and capitalism) and Karl Marx (name associated with the critique of capitalism). The second half of the course focuses on contemporary theories of justice. We will read authors such as John Rawls and Robert Nozick, and examine controversies over poverty, gender, racial injustice, equal opportunity, and environmental justice.

An inquiry into the value of liberty and of particular civil rights and liberties. The course considers competing theoretical justifications for rights and liberties generally, as well as particular problems concerning freedom of speech and the press, religion, sexuality, abortion, and discrimination. Supreme Court opinions regarding the constitutionality of legislation in each of these areas will be discussed and criticized.

This course surveys the history of American political thought, with an emphasis on both recurring themes, such as liberal individualism and religiosity, and resurgent conflicts such as over the scope of government power and the meaning of political equality. Topics include the Puritan heritage, the Constitutional founding, the Hamiltonian, Jeffersonian, Jacksonian, and Whig visions, the slavery conflict, Populism, Progressivism, feminism, New Deal/Great Society liberalism, the Civil Rights, Black Power, and student revolts of the 1960s, and the conservative ascendency of the 1980s.

This course provides a realistic introduction to how public policy is made in the United States. It examines how people and political institutions come together to create and implement public policy. The course combines cutting edge social science with cases, simulations, and role playing exercises to provide students with concrete skills and practical tools for actual policy making.

Examines the scholarly and political career of Woodrow Wilson - Class of 1879, professor and president of Princeton University, and president of the United States. Wilson is the only president to have a Ph.D. in political science, and we will read prominent examples of his scholarly work, as well as studying his speeches and actions as a political candidate and as president, with a view to understanding his enduring impact as a progressive leader. Topics will include Wilson's racial views, which have caused the University to remove his name from the School and the residential College once named for him.

Why has the U.S. witnessed the rapid rise in mass incarceration? What roles have politicians, judges, prosecutors, and voters played in the astonishing growth in the incarceration rate over the past 40 years? What explains the racial disparities that exist in prosecutions and sentence length? This course will examine these and other questions related to crime and punishment by introducing students to historical and current debates surrounding the politics of criminal justice, criminal law, and state punishment. The course will emphasize cutting-edge research on crime and punishment in the social sciences, particularly political science.

Police are perhaps the most visible face of American government and the decisions they make have life and death consequences. This course explores major questions in the study of the politics of policing, including how controversial police tactics such as stop-and-frisk are deployed, how rules and procedures affect the nature and volume of police-civilian interactions, how police militarization affects perceptions of law enforcement and crime, and the relationship between race and police behavior.

This course examines various political controversies that surround the role of race and ethnicity in American society. These controversies and issues affect public opinion, political institutions, political behavior, and salient public policy debates. Thus this course will assess and evaluate the role of race in each of these domains while also examining historical antecedents. The first half of the course will focus on historical antecedents such as the civil rights movement and the Black Power movement. The second half of the course will focus on the nature of contemporary racial attitudes, in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.

Would universal health insurance improve the health of the poor? Do patterns of arrests in US cities show evidence of racial profiling? What accounts for who votes and their choice of candidates? This course will teach students how to address these and other social science questions by analyzing quantitative data. The course introduces basic principles of statistical inference and programming skills for data analysis. The goal is to provide students with the foundation necessary to analyze data in their own research and to become critical consumers of statistical claims made in the news media, in policy reports, and in academic research.

In a world awash in data, how can we identify signals amid the noise? This course focuses on developing an intuition for statistics and applying it through data analysis, regression models and a final project. We will wrestle with what makes a good research question, play with data to see how statistical methods can help us make sense of real world concerns, and work at communicating quantitative findings clearly to broad audiences. Particular attention will be paid to applying these techniques in Junior Papers and Senior Theses. Coursework involves using the R statistical platform.

An introduction to the use of formal game-theoretic models in the study of politics. Applications include: voting, bargaining, lobbying, legislative institutions, and strategic information transmission. Familiarity with mathematical reasoning is helpful.

This course will focus on the state's role in promoting economic growth and distribution in the developing world. The core organizing question for the course is: why have some regions of the developing world been more successful at industrialization and/or poverty alleviation than other regions. The students will learn about the patterns of development in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with special attention to such countries as China, India, South Korea, Nigeria and Brazil. General challenges that face all developing countries - globalization, establishing democracy and ethnic fragmentation - will also be analyzed.

This course provides an overview of China's political system. We will begin with a brief historical overview of China's political development from 1949 to the present. The remainder of the course will examine the key challenges facing the current generation of CCP leadership, focusing on prospects for democratization and political reform. Among other topics, we will examine: factionalism and political purges; corruption; avenues for political participation; village elections; public opinion; protest movements and dissidents; co-optation of the business class; and media and internet control.

This course offers students an overview of modern Middle Eastern politics. The course will first provide a historical analysis outlining the conditions that shape the formation and consolidation of authoritarian rule in modern Middle Eastern states. We will examine the political economy of the region, Islamic politics, state-society relations, wars, and other topics as probable explanatory variables to authoritarian persistence. Through case studies, the course will also focus on the impact of authoritarian rule on the political economy, civil societies, and opposition movements in the region.

A study of the politics and history of human rights. What are human rights? How can dictatorships be resisted from the inside and the outside? Can we prevent genocide? Is it morally acceptable and politically wise to launch humanitarian military interventions to prevent the slaughter of foreign civilians? What are the laws of war, and how can we punish the war criminals who violate them? Cases include the Ottoman Empire, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, China, Bosnia, Rwanda, and North Korea.

This course examines the interactions between international politics and international economics, as well as between domestic political systems and the global economy. Topics include the World Trade Organization, regional trade cooperation (such as the European Union), multinational corporations and global supply chains, exchange rates, financial crises, the International Monetary Fund and the contemporary anti-globalization backlash. Students will develop a familiarity with social scientific research methods, including how scholars develop and evaluate causal claims. Previous coursework in international economics is not necessary.

This course explores scientific thinking about identity, behavior, and human difference in the U.S. We will examine theories of biopolitics, policy debates over identity and difference since the nineteenth century, and scientific studies on race, gender, sexual, and class categories. The point of the seminar is to discuss not only the ethics of this research but also to comprehend the causes and consequences of bringing science to bear so heavily on conflicts over political power and rights.

How do campaign finance, lobbying, and other forms of money in politics influence democratic representation and policymaking in the U.S.? A large gap exists in this regard between public perceptions and what research has (or has not) been able to show. The two main objectives of this course are to 1) introduce students to contemporary research on the role of money in U.S. politics; and 2) provide students with theoretical as well as empirical tools to critically examine claims and arguments made about money in U.S. politics in public discourse.

How and why have individuals' sex, race, literacy, age, citizenship status, property holding, and criminal records been used to define their electoral rights? Looking to both history and contemporary debates, this course examines the strategies of groups seeking new voting rights, the interests that have sought to curtail voting rights, and the responses of the political system, including political parties, elected politicians, and appointed government officials. It attends to the role of federalism and the reservation of significant power to the states to define voting rights, which can provide both impediment to and opportunity for change.

This seminar will focus on the theory, law and politics of freedom of speech within the context of the American constitutional system. The course will draw primarily on court cases relating to the developing constitutional law surrounding the First Amendment. Judicial opinions will be supplemented with some broader theoretical and empirical works. Particular problems to be addressed will include dangerous speech, false speech, racist speech, censorship and secrecy, privacy, and protests.

This course covers major recent developments in political economy of development with special focus on political institutions and governance. The course will be structured in three parts. The first part will cover broad macro political economy issues (e.g. institutions and institutional change). The second part will focus on micro issues (e.g. property rights, clientelism, state capture and decentralization). The final part will draw mostly from the experimental literature and discuss institutional reforms that aim at improving democratic governance.

International order encompasses the governing arrangements that organize relations among states, including the fundamental rules, principles, and institutions of the international system. This course draws on a wide range of readings in International Relations theory as well as diplomatic and global history to consider plausible accounts of the emergence, development, and decline of international orders across human history. The course will review prominent theories of international order, explore crucial junctures of order formation and decline, and consider the sociology and causal mechanics of pivotal institutions of international order.

In our increasingly globalized world, who are the winners, losers, and rule-setters? As commerce becomes more global, will there be a regulatory race to the bottom? Will factory jobs increasingly move to countries like China, with the lowest labor costs and fewest worker protections? What will drive the location decisions of multinational firms? This seminar tackles these questions. Focusing on three key dimensions of globalization: trade, regulation, and foreign direct investment, this course sheds light on the complex political dynamics of our global economy.

Analyzing LGBTQ politics and public policy in the US and globally. Assessing the impact of the descriptive representation of LGBTQ+ people on public policy, legislation, legal reform and social change. Comparing domestic issues with LGBTQ politics around the world: in the global north and south. Understanding the role that elected officials, activists and voters can have in driving change, affecting their colleagues, constituents and neighbors. Considering internal tensions and conflicts within the LGBTQ family, as well as coalitions and allied movements. Students will focus on a community which resonates with them personally.

We protect expressive liberty in the US even when it takes the form of racist hate speech, pornography, and (much) lying: Should we follow other countries and permit more restrictions on harmful speech? Or will that undermine truth-seeking and other values? Can we rely on the restraining effect of social norms? Should universities restrict more campus speech? And what should we - as political communities and universities - honor and memorialize? How should we balance the recognition of heritage and the inclusion of people from diverse cultures? Seminars will often include debates. Active weekly participation required of all.

This course consists of weekly presentations of research by enrolled students. Students are expected to provide feedback to each week 's presenter. The grade is based on a mid-semester draft, a final paper, and the quality of comments made through the semester. The course is well-suited for graduate students in any year, and undergraduates working on a thesis. Permission from the instructor required for enrollment.

This seminar provides a broad introduction to qualitative research design and analysis techniques. Topics include case selection, variants of process tracing, small-n comparative case design, comparative-historical analysis, the design and implementation of field research, in-depth interviewing, and archival research. The emphasis is on application of these skills to students' own work, as well as engaging critically with qualitative work across the subfields.

This seminar explores the moral and political significance of risk across several domains. We begin with a broad theoretical focus, looking at the role of risk in shaping theories of distributive justice, normative ethics, questions of aggregation, and theories of rights. We then turn to a variety of social and legal areas of application, including responsibility for foreseen or created risks, negligence, medical trials, statistical evidence in criminal law, risks in just war, precautionary principles, and how existential threats should affect our present policy priorities.

John Stuart Mill is arguably the most important figure in modern political philosophy. The archetypal liberal, most famous utilitarian, most influential apologist for free speech, architect of feminism, defender of empire, innovative economist: these are just some of his claims to fame. This course provides a detailed introduction to Mill's political thought and places his ideas within several of the contexts most salient to their development. We consider major works as well as lesser-known texts. In addition, this seminar highlights aspects of his career as a journalist, bureaucrat, and politician.

This course offers a general introduction to the field of comparative politics at the Ph.D. level with an emphasis on principal theoretical approaches to the study of political institutions. Topics include powers of executives and legislatures, origins and behavior of parties and party systems, political participation (voting, collective action, social movements), public goods provision, the welfare state, prosperity, federalism & decentralization, and state capacity.

Clientelism has evolved from the analysis of archaic and mostly agrarian political structures to a more general study of opportunistic electoral strategies. It has also become a central debate in comparative politics, on how to turn democratic reforms into better governance and effective development policies. The goal of this course is to document and analyze clientelism and discuss conditions under which it can be replaced with or evolve in programmatic, universalistic and more efficient electoral and policy-making practices.

International order encompasses the governing arrangements that organize relations among states, including the fundamental principles and institutions of the international system. This course draws on a wide range of readings in International Relations theory as well as diplomatic and global history to consider accounts of the emergence, development, and decline of international orders across history. The course reviews theories of international order, explores crucial junctures of order formation and decline, and considers the sociology and causal mechanics of pivotal institutions of international order.

How can liberal democracies fairly include older and newer forms of diversity and difference: religious diversity, ethnic and racial diversity, including that spurred by migration, divisions fostered by political polarization and a fragmented and degraded media environment, and diverging economic destinies? The course examines these issues through several lenses, including: liberal public reason and religious accommodations; nationalism and multiculturalism; racial identity and integration; meritocracy and inequality; the possibilities of ethnography for democratic understanding.

This class is an entry-level graduate study of US political institutions. As such, the seminar provides an overview of the field and, perhaps more importantly, a foundation upon which students can begin to teach themselves additional works in this literature. In addition, through brief assignments and class presentations, we build students' ability to conduct scholarly research, evaluate others' scholarship, and serve as discussants and reviewers.

Is human psychology 'groupish'? How do government institutions like schools, police and elections influence the salience of various ethnic and religious boundaries? This course investigates the relationship between identity, groups and politics in the U.S. and in comparative contexts. We consider general theories of group identity development; assess empirical approaches to the study of racial and ethnic groups in politics; intersections of salient identities; and how politically relevant aspects of identity can be measured and manipulated for conducting original research.

This course examines psychological perspectives on politics. Themes include human limitation vs. human capacity, how institutions shape or interact with individual opinion and behavior, discussion and deliberation, and the role of groups. We will also discuss methodological issues.

Central topics in security studies, including some combination of the causes and nature of interstate war, various forms of intrastate conflict, deterrence, alliance formation, military doctrine, civil-military relations, arms control, and elite foreign policy decision making.

This course covers recent scholarship on the political economy of development. Why are some countries rich and others poor? It focuses on how political processes affect economic performance from both a macro and micro perspective, including such factors as: institutions, historical legacies, political regimes, sources of poor governance and conflict, and the role of international economics and politics. The topics covered scratch the surface on the political economy of development. Thus the primary aim of this is to help advance your research and methodological skills to help you generate and develop your own research ideas.

This seminar is a comprehensive introduction to research on the U.S. Congress. The course covers classic texts and debates in the field, but the goal is to bring students up to date on the major lines of contemporary inquiry in the discipline. Each seminar meeting focuses on a broad topic (e.g. representation, policymaking, the role of congressional leaders, political ideology) and we ask the "big questions" and assess how well scholars have answered them so far. Students develop their own assessment of American legislative studies and are prepared to teach courses and undertake research in the field.

A systematic study of the salient features of legal systems, standards of legal reasoning, and the relation between law and morals.

A close study of two of the leading figures of nineteenth century German political theory, G.W.F. Hegel and Karl Marx. Themes to be discussed in connection with these thinkers include: history, freedom, recognition, property, civil society, modern state, alienation, political economy, exploitation, capitalism, and communism.

This course covers formal theoretical models relevant to the study of political economy, especially in non-democratic or weakly institutionalized countries. Topics include: dynamic voting, with applications to enfranchisement and power-sharing; optimal taxation and repression by an autocrat; economic distortions under democracy and oligarchy; elite capture in democracies and persistence of de facto power; labor coercion; ethnic conflict; protests and democratization; vote buying, clientelism, and corruption; and persistence of beliefs and culture. Readings combine textbooks and research literature. Prerequisite: POL 575.

This course builds upon POL 571 and introduces students to applied regression analysis in cross-section settings. It begins with the basic principles of causal inference, and then covers various statistical techniques including linear regression, instrumental variables, structural equation models, instrumental variables, and structural equation models. The materials are taught at the level of Hansen's Econometrics and Imbens and Rubin's Causal Inference.

This course covers a range of advanced topics in statistical learning that are useful for empirical research in political science. These may include dimension reduction and regularized regression for large datasets; scaling models; models for text, audio, and image data; and spatial statistics among other topics. The course focuses in particular on estimation and inference to enable students to adapt and extend existing approaches.

A rigorous introduction to choice theory, social choice theory, and non-cooperative game theory. The course serves as the first formal theory graduate course and draws on mathematics at the level of POL 502.

The purpose of this course is to prepare students to do empirical research in political economy grounded on a theoretical analysis of strategic interactions. The course focuses on the estimation of dynamic and incomplete information games in politics, including models of bargaining, strategic voting, strategic information transmission, political agency, electoral competition, and media.

An introduction to the subfield of international political economy, covering basic topics in the politics of both trade and finance.

During the third semester, each Politics student writes a research paper under the direction of a faculty member.

Explores the study of social movements and mobilized collective action aimed at achieving or preventing social and political change. After examining various theoretical approaches to the field, we investigate a number of issues of abiding concern within the study of contentious politics: repertoires, networks, government responses to protest (repression and concessions), and protest policing. The final portion of the course is devoted to the study of the causes, dynamics, and effects of revolutions.

Enrolled graduate students in residence will attend one of these seminars each year and present their research. First-year students sign up for 593; second-year students for 594; third-year students for 595; fourth-year students for 596; and fifth-years 597. The seminars are offered in four fields: political philosophy, comparative politics, American politics, and international relations.

Enrolled graduate students in residence will attend one of these seminars each year and present their research. First-year students sign up for 593; second-year students for 594; third-year students for 595; fourth-year students for 596; and fifth-years 597. The seminars are offered in four fields: political philosophy, comparative politics, American politics, and international relation

Enrolled graduate students in residence will attend one of these seminars each year and present their research. First-year students sign up for 593; second-year students for 594; third-year students for 595; fourth-year students for 596; and fifth-years 597. The seminars are offered in four fields: political philosophy, comparative politics, American politics, and international relations.

Enrolled graduate students in residence will attend one of these seminars each year and present their research. First-year students sign up for 593; second-year students for 594; third-year students for 595; fourth-year students for 596; and fifth-years 597. The seminars are offered in four fields: political philosophy, comparative politics, American politics, and international relations.

Enrolled graduate students in residence attend one of these seminars each year and present their research. First-year students sign up for 593; second-year students for 594; third-year students for 595; fourth-year students for 596; and fifth-year students for 597. The seminars are offered in four fields: political theory, comparative politics, American politics, and international relations.

Grand strategy is the broad and encompassing policies and undertakings that political leaders pursue- financial, economic, military, diplomatic- to achieve their objectives in peacetime and in war. This course will examine the theory and practice of grand strategy both to illuminate how relations among city-states, empires, kingdoms and nation states have evolved over the centuries and also to identify some common challenges that have confronted all who seek to make and execute grand strategy from Pericles to Barack Obama.

Since the end of World War II the developing world has experienced numerous violent conflicts. These conflicts often pit government and allied forces against those of relatively small armed groups, called "insurgents." This course will explore the roots of insurgency, the organization and tactics of insurgent groups (including the use of terrorism), counterinsurgency campaigns, and efforts at conflict resolution. It will focus on the conditions under which insurgents are most likely to prevail in their fight against better-resourced armed forces.

This course emphasizes the lessons for policy makers from comparative political economy, emphasizing the interaction between political institutions and economic goals, the better to understand the reasons for the differences among countries' levels of economic and political development, and to analyze the factors that foster or hinder effective policy making. The class is compatible with the political economy track in the politics department.

This course examines the dynamics of the Black American political experience in the U.S. The focus will be on Black Americans as actors, creators and initiators in the political process. Beginning with an exploration of the historical antecedents of blackness in America, this course will explore how the Black experience in America has shaped the American political system and how black Americans have come to understand their position within the American Political system. The course is intended to be an introduction to the Black political experience.

Policy preferences, differential rates of political participation, voting behavior, the legislative process, political communication, urban politics and the role of race in American political life are central to the study of inequality in politics. Although the American case features prominently, we approach these issues from a comparative perspective. The course provides introduction to comparative study of welfare states and political economy of advanced industrial countries, including regulation of labor markets and relationship between wage inequality, income distribution and policy preferences for redistribution and social protection.