DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Theory and application of linear regression and extensions such as limited dependent variables. Consequences of violating the assumptions underlying the classical linear regression model. Prerequisites: Knowledge of introductory econometrics.

This course is about linear models, the major workhorses of statistics for description and prediction - and the most common quantitative methods in political science. We will use a linear models framework to discuss significance tests, graphical displays, tests of assumptions, interpretation of coefficients and interactions, and questions of causal inference. We will also work through statistical computing skills such that students can use all of the above in their own work.

This course provides a broad overview of the literature on American political institutions, introduces some of the major theoretical perspectives and controversies, and encourages a wide-ranging familiarity with the substance of American politics. Although not all subjects are covered nor is the entirety of any topic covered, my hope is that each student will gain a better understanding of the field and some of the newest directions of research on institutions.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1) Critically evaluate the arguments and evidence in articles and books.
2) Write analytic papers.
3) Understand the range of substantive and methodological approaches to studying American Politics.

This seminar builds upon micro foundations of individual public opinion to consider collective or aggregate opinion: the nature and origins of collective policy preferences; leadership or manipulation of opinion through the media; and the influence or noninfluence of public opinion on policy making.  The focus is on the United States, but research papers concerning any country or locality are welcome.

This class addresses fundamental questions of International Security. What are the causes of war? What are possible paths to peace? How do state, sub-state and non-state-actors use violence or the threat of it? How has U.S. Grand Strategy evolved over the past century? What are momentarily the most pressing national security challenges? What tools exists to counter these challenges? This course will meet weekly as a seminar, with discussions initiated by students. Before each class, two short (500 word) student-authored discussion papers will be circulated in addition to a longer (1000 word) book review. All discussion papers and book reviews are not to be descriptions of the readings. Instead they are to raise questions and criticisms and draw connections and comparisons with readings in other weeks. The authors will circulate their papers at least 24h before the class starts and present the papers at the beginning of the class. In addition to the discussion papers and book reviews, each student will write a “foreign affairs-style” paper (max. 10pp) to be submitted on Dean’s Day. The paper should address a question of current security concern. It should be theoretically interesting but also written in a way that is appealing to an informed mass audience. Students are highly encouraged to submit their papers to Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy or an equivalent journal for publication. Evaluations of student performance in the seminar will depend on evaluations of the book reviews, discussion papers, general participation in class discussion, as well as on the “foreign-affairs” papers. Discussion papers and oral participation will count for 40%, book reviews for 20% and final papers for 40% of the final grade.

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Examines political explanations for the divergence in economic performance among developing countries. Topics include the developmental state, collective action, property rights, and democracy.

This graduate seminar explores key factors that shape the development trajectory of nations, drawing on work from political science, economics, and sociology. We will examine various aspects of development, with a particular focus on economic growth. A primary area of inquiry is how political institutions influence development outcomes. Topics covered include the relationship between democracy and development, the role of the state, consequences of natural resources and corruption, and the impact of foreign aid. Throughout the course, there is also a focus on methodological debates concerning the pros and cons of quantitative vs. qualitative analysis, macro vs. micro-level data, and observational vs. experimental research.

This  course  surveys  the  major  topics  in  comparative  politics  and  is  intended  for  Ph.D. students.  Its purpose is to introduce the main theoretical and conceptual building blocks of the sub-­‐ field.   We   will   focus   on   the   intellectual   evolution   of   the   field,   the   dominant   debates   and controversies,  and  the  variety  of  approaches  to  research  within  comparative  politics.  The  course develops  a  shared  language  and  set  of  references  that  will  prove  useful  to  you  throughout  your professional  career.  It proceeds thematically.    Each week we discuss a  subset  of  the  pertinent scholarly   literature,   usually   focusing   on   a   major   theme   or   theoretical   controversy.  Key methodological  issues  in  the  study  of  comparative  politics  are  addressed  in  context  of  these substantive and theoretical works, as well as in the written assignments for the class.

The course is meant as a kind of “boot camp” for graduate students in the comparative politics field. The main objective is to ensure your basic literacy in the field by introducing key questions and exposing you to classic readings. The proseminar II is a partner to Proseminar I which presents classic great books; this course will focus on contemporary works and controversies in the field.

Inevitably, there is an enormous amount of material that should be on the list but is not, simply for lack of time. In order to complete your education as a comparativist, you will need to take additional courses in the field, master the comparative politics general examination reading list, read the recent journal literature, and learn about the latest research in the field by attending presentations in the department and at conferences. There are many topic areas that I have omitted from this syllabus due to lack of time, but that you will engage with in other ways in your  studies and research.

This seminar is an experiment in studying the intersections of religion, race, and global politics. We discuss how particular understandings of ‘religion’ and ‘race’ have informed contemporary scholarship and also shaped national and international legal and governmental practice. These questions are examined in contexts ranging from anti-superstition laws in Haiti, to religious aspects of the colonial encounter in the Dutch East Indies, to the celebration of “moderate” religion at the US State Department, to the politics of secularism, magic and spirituality in India and China, and beyond. Cross-cutting themes include religion and the rise of the nation-state; the politics of religious establishment and religious freedom; the role of race in the formation of the disciplines of religious studies and international relations; the formation of modern vocabularies of religious and racial exclusion; the role of race and secularism in American history at home and abroad, and the international politics of religion and race in colonial and postcolonial contexts. Readings are comprised of books and articles, including new and not yet published work, which draw on international politics, religion, political theory, law, anthropology and history.

Global environmental problems are amongst the most intractable challenges facing our global community. As a subfield that emerged from international relations, scholars of global environmental politics seek to understand and explain the ways in which international politics shape the global environment. This seminar addresses fundamental and emerging questions in Global Environmental Politics, such as: What explains global environmental problems? How do politics influence the global environment? Who are the key actors that shape the global environment and what explains their practices, especially related to global commons and transboundary environmental issues? What are the modes and sites that constitute global environmental governance? Under what conditions does cooperation emerge and with what effect? We will direct particular attention to the intersection of global environmental governance, international politics, and justice in the context of the global commons.

This graduate seminar will be of interest to students in environmental politics, international relations, and political ecology. It is of particular importance for those students wishing to understand the complexities of politics and policies that contribute to the possibilities for just and effective global governance. Course requirements include participation, two short review papers, two presentations, and a final project.

This graduate seminar addresses some fundamental issues related to political theory and social inquiry. In particular, it addresses the political-theoretic dimensions of social inquiry—one might even say “the political philosophy of social science”—in connection with claims that criticism or critique is essential to both political theory and social inquiry.

The seminar will broach these issues and claims by attending to the changing traditions of Marxism, Pragmatism, and Critical Theory (as associated with the Frankfurt School). These traditions have complex and intersecting histories. At different times, they critique and criticize—not to mention challenge, condemn, or complement—one another in a process of mutual transformation. In different ways, they situate “critique” and “criticism” within the defining categories of science, method, and politics. It is the intent of the seminar, then, to investigate these traditions involved in mutual critique and criticism, and to take up their respective and changing understandings of “critique” and “criticism” in matters of political theory and social inquiry, as a contribution to the political philosophy of social science. As a matter or organization and presentation, the readings will unfold more or less historically, from the 1840s down to the present.

Given this broad intent, the seminar involves intellectual history, political theory, and the philosophy of science. It pretends to be no more than an advanced introduction to the issues, figures, and traditions in question. As graduate students in the seminar, you are not expected to have any special preparation, aside from a general interest in the issues at stake and some basic course work in political theory, philosophy, or the social sciences. You are also encouraged to develop paper topics that play to your own particular ongoing research agendas, the better to make the seminar serve your longer-term intellectual growth and academic interests.

Events of the past two decades highlight the roles of state failure, ethnic strife, enterprising commanders, and elements of international politics in civil wars. Are ethnic tensions, great power strategies, religious extremism, colonialism, class warfare, resource competition, ideology or state failure causes of these conflicts or consequences of civil wars?  Why and how do civil wars end?  What is the impact of international efforts to mediate conflicts?  This course will provide students with analytical tools to understand and evaluate different explanations of the causes of civil wars This course will be useful for those who are interested in the politics of ethnic conflict, the relationship between the character of civil wars and changes in the international system, the (potentially diverse) causes of civil wars, civil wars and state-building, and the causes for variations in the organization and behavior of armed groups.

This course examines the role of immigration in American politics with a focus on influential theories and evidence of the relationship between race and immigration, historically and present-day.

This course introduces students to philosophical debates over the nature of the race concept, race relations and racial justice in contemporary political theory. The course will explore the following core questions: How have contemporary political theorists conceptualized the race concept and racial difference? How do contemporary political theorists see the relationship between democracy and racial inequality? What theories of racial justice have emerged in contemporary political theory? The course will examine the works of theorists ranging from the late nineteenth century to the rise of the critical race theory movement in the late twentieth century.

What, if anything, is distinctive about politics across the countries of the region we call Southeast Asia?  Are the similarities between different national experiences necessarily greater than the differences?  While these are to some extent open questions, what is clear is that the general perspectives arising from analyses of Southeast Asian politics have extended their influence across large parts of comparative politics and beyond.  In this class, we’ll focus on reading a mix of classic and recent contributions (with some tilt toward the latter) to a variety of literatures that spring from deep engagement and careful field research across a range of Southeast Asian contexts.

This seminar offers a broad and advanced introduction to the field of comparative methodology. The emphasis is on what are conventionally regarded in political science as “qualitative” methods for the analysis of a relatively small number of cases. In sociology, this field is generally known as comparative-historical methodology. The course focuses on recent methodological writings, though a few classical pieces are also included. The readings are not specific to any substantive subfield in political science or sociology. The course assumes no prior background in qualitative methodology, but the material is advanced.

This course will explore how political thought from outside the Western canon should be studied, and how to think normatively about polities outside the industrialized West. It involves an overview of the growing field of Comparative Political Theory, as well as related discussions in the disciplines of comparative literature, philosophy, history, and anthropology. The first half of the course will focus on methodological debates, while the second will turn to applied work in CPT on the topics of democracy, liberalism, self-determination, and multiculturalism.