Schedule of Classes

An introduction to the comparative study of politics, employing a conceptual or thematic approach. Selected countries' political systems will be examined with a focus on major features, including their governmental institutions, political parties, and political culture.

An introduction to the study of international relations concentrating on perspectives and policies of major countries, principal institutions, international law and international organization, and selected topics-for example, arms races and arms control, economic and political integration, disparities of income, problems of food and population, and human rights. Course requirements may include simulation.

Power has been defined as the ability of one individual to get another to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do. But power is more nuanced than this definition: it is multifaceted, relational, dynamic, and manifest in many forms. This course investigates how politicians, advocates, experts, and local organizations harness different forms of power to achieve their goals of policy change and resource allocation. Students explore who wields power and how they utilize it in the context of local policy issues, such as affordable housing, access to healthcare, child poverty and food insecurity. Community engagement and collaborative research on the South Cumberland Plateau inform students’ final projects that analyze power's role in local action (or inaction).

Why punish? How might one justify it? Is punishment, ultimately, good? This course will begin with the thesis that punishment, as a whole, is good: the rehabilitative and restorative traditions, along with relevant readings from thinkers like Kant and Hegel, articulate the moral and social benefits of punishment. A look to more instrumental utilizations of punishment will follow, including utilitarian and deterrent traditions and readings from Bentham and Machiavelli. Finally, critical historical genealogies of punishment in Nietzsche and Foucault will serve as a bridge to the covering violence inherent in mass incarceration and the alternative of prison abolition.

Beginning in the third century B.C.E., China began construction of its Great Wall, an attempt to keep out "barbarian invaders." Since that time, China has had an uneasy relationship with foreign powers. Students analyze early Chinese conceptions of its proper relations with foreign powers, contemporary relations with Japan and the United States, and attempts by foreigners to change Chinese politics, culture, and economy. Readings emphasize Chinese notions of nationhood and the dynamics of globalization.

An applied course in the theoretical literature that underlies understandings of the natural environment, human interaction with the environment, and the rights both of humans and of elements of the natural order. Readings and discussion emphasize the theoretical underpinning of environmental justice, both domestic and international, as well as the intersection of environmental theory with international political economy.

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of the scientific process of social inquiry. Students develop skills enabling them to better digest the social science literature and produce causal theories related to important outcomes, behaviors, or institutions. Additionally, students learn how to assess the validity of social theories by collecting data, testing observable implications and exploring an interesting question about domestic or international political behavior or institutions.

An analysis of the role of gender in American politics, specifically how gender affects the political activities of American residents, political candidates, and elected officeholders. Students evaluate differences in men's and women's political participation, party affiliations, and campaign strategies and styles. They also examine reasons for women's political underrepresentation and implications of gender inequality in political office holding.

The course explores the ideas that influence environmental thought, examines various environmental problems and suggested solutions, and critically evaluates the role that political institutions play in creating and enforcing environmental policy. Specific topics include environmental justice, environmental federalism, environmental health, and regulatory behavior. Not open for credit to students who have completed ENST 334.

This course examines Supreme Court cases related to the First Amendment by situating cases within varying theories of constitutional interpretation, and by assessing the socio-political implications of those decisions. Civil liberties are protections of individual liberties against governmental intrusion and First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, religion, and association are preeminent among these. The course emphasizes, above all, the political role of the judiciary.

This course explores U.S. immigration and immigration policy, with special attention to the period from 1996 to the present. Taking into account the ideological shifts resulting in previous immigration reforms, the course examines causes of migration, current strategies used by the U.S. government to control the flow of immigrants into the United States, the costs and benefits of immigration to the U.S. and sending countries, security concerns, and ethical and human rights implications. The course prepares students to analyze current rhetoric and policy proposals and engage with the question of what immigration reform might look like.

This course will examine, explore, and investigate Black social movements as methods of political activism, resistance, and protest. We will explore the foundations of Black politics and how they have been used as methods of social and political activism. Specifically, we will examine social movements such as the Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, and many others. This course will provide students with the academic and intellectual thought behind various forms of political resistance by examining peaceful protest, civil disobedience, and the intersection of violence. We will also examine internal disagreements and perspectives among scholars regarding effective methods of social and political activism.

This course examines the dynamics of international political and economic relations. Issues of trade, monetary and financial networks, investment, North-South relations, and the international system will be explored. The international context of development will receive particular attention.

This course examines the role of ethnicity in political conflict. Students explore theories and definitions of ethnic and collective identities and consider the role that these identities play in the emergence and resolution of political conflict. Case studies include India, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, South Africa, and the former Yugoslavia. Not open for credit to students who have completed POLS 240 or POLS 340.

The course introduces human rights conditions in today's world. While it covers varying philosophical traditions of human rights, major emphasis is placed on how different actors and institutions are able to influence human rights conditions, both from an international and domestic perspective.

Students learn not only about theories and institutions, but also about how actors behave within them. In the simulation modules, students assume the roles of political participants appropriate to the particular exercise learn to respond pragmatically to changing conditions of political situations. The simulations for a particular module derive from the institutions and events related to American or international politics, and might include the United Nations, U.S. National Security Council, or the U.S. Supreme Court.

This interdisciplinary course approaches the study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, and queer rights from a humanistic social science perspective. Topics include U.S. cultural politics and LGBTQ+ social movements; visual culture, social action, and social change; the politics of queer identity; law and public policy of concern to diverse LGBTQ+ communities; and LGBTQ+ rights from international and global perspectives.

Schedule of Classes

Politics

Psychology