This course examines the politics and policy of the criminal justice system, with a focus on the United States. Course goals include understanding the origins and purposes of criminal justice, the system's current implementation, the role of mass incarceration and punitiveness, the role of federalism, and the process and debate around criminal justice reform.
This course examines the processes, causes, and consequences of interstate war and internationalized intrastate conflicts—from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. It identifies the key variables, causal paths, and conditions under which conflicts begin, intensify, and terminate. The study is organized and conducted at various levels of analysis, ranging from individual and domestic to interstate and global. The course also considers how theoretical explanations and empirical findings can inform the selection of foreign policy instruments to resolve contemporary armed international conflicts.
An examination of changes in national security policies in the post-World-War-II period. The course will focus on containment, mutual defense in Europe and Asia, deterrence, arms control and force reduction, detente and U.S. Chinese relations.
Students are introduced to foundational theories of public policy, gaining valuable insight into "who gets what, when, and how" in the political process. Through a series of case studies in environmental, social welfare, criminal justice, and health policy, students are asked to apply and critically evaluate policy problems and solutions, given existing public policy theories.
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.
This course analyzes the emergence of China's environmental crisis and its national and global implications. Students explore the historical development of China's current environmental crisis, with special focus on institutions, laws, and regulations that have contributed to environmental degradation during the post-1949 era. The course addresses the efforts, and limited ability, of civil society and China's state to rein in pollution and remediate environmental damage, as well as China's engagement with global environmental norms and policymaking.
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.
A comparison of the politics of sub-Saharan Africa. An exploration of state-society relationships in independent Africa and the challenges of warlord politics to the African state system.
This course examines 1) some of the major social and political ideologies of the 20th century (such as liberalism, socialism, nationalism, feminism, environmentalism); 2) theories of social and political movements in modern societies and market democracies; and 3) concrete examples of such social and political movements in the contemporary world.
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.
The sources, subjects, and major principles of international law. The function of law in the international community.
This course is a comprehensive and intensive study of voting. We will trace the historical path to suffrage, consider current laws and policies that restrict voting, and engage the debate on vote security versus voter suppression. We will examine studies on electoral psychology, considering being a voter as an identity. We will study research on how individuals make voting decisions as well as trends in overall voter turnout, which varies with both individual and institutional factors. We will evaluate alternative methods of voting, such as ranked choice voting. And, of course, we will consider the “so what” question: does voting matter for democracy?
This course analyzes the global AIDS pandemic, questioning how power inequalities, resource allocations, and representation affect vulnerability to HIV infection and responses to the disease. The course explores how AIDS shapes local governance structures, political development, global norms, and global institutions. It questions how global institutions and national governance use human rights norms, economic calculations, and security interests to frame and develop HIB/AIDS policies. Particular attention is paid to the intersection of disease and political marginalization. The course also explores the roles -- in applying mobilization strategies and influencing AIDS identities -- of activists, scientists, and nongovernmental organizations.
A cross-cultural examination of the social, economic, and political factors that predict gender-based violence, and the response of women's rights activists and organizations to the issue. Topics of inquiry include customary, formal, and international legal frameworks, intimate partner and family violence, sexual assault, traditional harmful practices such as child marriage, and gender-based violence during conflict and in post-conflict environments.
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.
Psychology
An introduction to empirical psychology, organized topically. Key areas, approaches, and theories in psychology are illustrated. Depending on their interests, instructors choose several topics such as the psychology of sex and gender, conformity and obedience, and aggression and violence. Weekly laboratory sessions focus on the process of scientific inquiry, giving students experience with a variety of research approaches and methodological issues. Not open for credit to students who have received credit for Psyc 101 or for a 100-level psychology course taken at another university.
An introduction to empirical psychology, organized topically. Key areas, approaches, and theories in psychology are illustrated. Depending on their interests, instructors choose several topics such as the psychology of sex and gender, conformity and obedience, and aggression and violence. Weekly laboratory sessions focus on the process of scientific inquiry, giving students experience with a variety of research approaches and methodological issues. Not open for credit to students who have received credit for Psyc 101 or for a 100-level psychology course taken at another university.