williams college political science course catalog

Should feminist theory embrace objectivity and model itself upon scientific procedures of knowledge production? legislation, balancing human needs and environmental quality has never been harder than it is today. Broad themes will include the city's role as a showcase for neoliberalism, neoconservatism, technocratic centrism, and progressivism; the politics of race, immigration, and belonging; the relation of city, state, and national governments; and the sources of contemporary forms of inequality. We will also discuss changes in religion under the influence of capitalism including romanticism, Pentecostalism, moralistic therapeutic Deism, and the 'God gap' between largely theist Africa, South and West Asia, and the Americas on the one hand and largely atheist Europe and East Asia on the other. The course extends over one semester and the winter study period. promises to give countries a platform for prosperity, equity, and political stability, it often produces poor economic performance, poor populations, weak authoritarian states, and widespread conflict. This tutorial will first examine the nature of their relationship to both Realist and Wilsonian perspectives on American foreign relations. Students will leave this course with a deeper understanding of contemporary urban problems, a knowledge of the political structures within which those problems are embedded, and a better sense of the challenges and opportunities leaders face in contemporary urban America. Finally, we will also examine how Chomsky's views, largely considered to be radical for much of his life, have become far more mainstream over time. The course delves into theories on political parties, ethnic politics, electoral institutions, civil-military relations, political violence, state-building, inter-state conflict, and civil wars to understand the variation in regime type in the region. Throughout the semester we interrogate four themes central to migration politics: rights, representation, access, and agency. countries' territorial waters, jurisdiction over ships, and so forth. [more], Identities have been either the stakes, or the guise taken by other kinds of conflicts, in Bosnia, Israel-Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa for centuries. But what role can the welfare state play in the twenty-first century? How are international organizations and domestic governments regulating this level of unprecedented global mobility in destination countries as well as countries of origin? Any diagnosis of contemporary maladies is premised on a vision of what a healthy functioning republic looks like. How effective are strategies like cross-domain deterrence? [more], We all want to be free--at least most of us say we do. Complicating things further, the nature of democratic competition is such that those vying for power have incentive to portray the opposition's leadership as dangerous. Some defenders argue that the media is a convenient scapegoat for problems that are endemic to human societies, while others claim that it actually facilitates political action aimed at addressing long-ignored injustices. Looking at but also beyond his political solidarity with the emancipatory movements of the 1960s, we will then consider how Marcuse's work can be placed in conversation with more recent critical theory, including ideas emerging from the Occupy Wall Street movement and feminist approaches to aesthetics and psychoanalytic theory. Readings: black politics in the latter's liberal, libertarian, and conservative forms. Then we will look at some important factors which shape how followers approach would-be leaders: inequality and economic precarity; identity and group consciousness; notions of membership, community, and hierarchy; and declining local institutions. Most readings will focus on contemporary political debates about the accumulation, concentration, and redistribution of wealth. Women and Girls in (Inter)National Politics. [more], South Asia is home to around 2 billion people (over 24% of the world), making it the most populous and densely populated region in the world. Riven by polarized partisanship and gridlock, the most powerful assembly in the world seemed incapable of representing citizens and addressing problems. The tutorial will address the evolution of Palestinian nationalism historically and thematically, employing both primary and secondary sources. We study techniques to politically use media as well as research techniques to uncover political practices and relations. In the last two decades, trials expanded dramatically in number, scope, and philosophy. In this tutorial, we will explore the concept of dangerous leadership in American history, from inside as well as outside of government. The readings include Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Karl Polanyi, Barrington Moore, Robert Putnam, Michel Foucault, and Edward Said. about how history is portrayed in high school textbooks, national identity is hotly debated and politically mobilized all across the region. The course covers the creation of the states of modern South Asia, partition and independence, democratization, electoral politics and political parties, economic and social development, ethnic identity and conflict, and the contemporary regional challenges of democratic backsliding and climate change. Here, we will discuss the role of religion in American political culture, the relation of religion to the state, the relevance of religious interests and their political mobilization, religious minorities in the United States, and many other aspects of religion in the US society. has been defined, who has defined it, what factions and classes have controlled its organizations, and the reasons why it has failed to achieve its goals. How do religion and politics interact? Amidst bourgeoning national self-consciousness throughout the continent, despite the liberatory promises of the Enlightenment, Jews remained a vulnerable, segregated, and stigmatized minority population. How do visions of politics without humans and humans without politics impact our thinking about longstanding questions of freedom, power, and right? The first part focuses on different theoretical approaches to making sense of the relation between religion, politics, and society, discussing especially the concept of the 'secular' in Western thought and decolonial critique thereof. The structure of the course combines political science concepts and historical case studies, with the goal of generating in-depth classroom debates over key conceptual, historical, and policy questions. [more], This seminar examines the historical and contemporary impact of the Black Panther Party--and key allies such as Angela Davis--on political theory. Third, how did the Cold War in Europe lead to events in other areas of the world, such as Cuba and Vietnam? We will also explore the controversies and criticisms of his work from both the right and the left because of his political stance on issues ranging from the Arab-Israeli conflict to humanitarian intervention to free speech. What, if any, is the relationship between economic development and the organization of power (regime type)? Senior Seminar: The Liberal Project in International Relations. Exploration of these and other questions will lead us to examine topics such as presidential selection, the bases of presidential power, character and leadership, congressional-executive interactions, social movement and interest group relations, and media interactions. [more], This course examines the most important political and diplomatic divide in the Western Hemisphere. Does this mean that we have descended to barbarism? [more], This course will examine the role of psychology in politics. Course readings focus on Locke, Hegel, Marx, and critical perspectives from feminist theory, critical theory, and critical legal studies (Cheryl Harris, Alexander Kluge, Oskar Negt, Carole Pateman, Rosalind Petchesky, and Dorothy Roberts, among others). How does all of that media consumption influence the American political system? Readings draw on philosophy, history, sociology, and international relations, but as a political science class we emphasize politics. Optimists counter that, even if individuals are often ignorant and/or confused about politics, in the aggregate, the public sends a coherent signal to public officials, who usually carry out the public's general wishes. Do certain kinds of processes yield better policies than others? This research seminar will engage the origins of the conflicts and the role of identities in them, the role of disputes about sovereign power in creating and intensifying them, the strategies for reconciling them that are adopted domestically and internationally, the deals that have been struck or have not been struck to bring peace in these societies, and the outcomes of the various efforts in their contemporary politics. Ideological polarization that regularly brings the government to a standstill and periodically threatens financial ruin. Broad themes will include the city's role as a showcase for neoliberalism, neoconservatism, technocratic centrism, and progressivism; the politics of race, immigration, and belonging; the relation of city, state, and national governments; and the sources of contemporary forms of inequality. Are the politics of the presidency different in foreign and domestic policy? The course then will turn to Israeli settlement policies on the West Bank, the controversies surrounding the Oslo Agreement, and the contemporary situations in the West Bank and Gaza. What sparks political violence and how can countries emerge from conflict? What kinds of alternatives to objectivity exist, and should they, too, count as "science"? [more], We live in a society that takes liberalism and capitalism for granted, as the norm that naturally centers collective life. What produces political change? Is there is a trade-off between democratic accountability and effective governance? We will explore what the empirical literature on race in political science says about this debate and others. And we will search her works and our world for embers of hope that even seemingly inexorable political tragedies may yet be interrupted by assertions of freedom in political action. The tutorial is open to all students. Thirty years later the future looks seriously derailed. The course investigates family models in historical and comparative context; the family and the welfare state; the economics of sex, gender, marriage, and class inequality; the dramatic value and behavioral changes of Gen Z around sex, cohabitation, and parenthood; and state policies to encourage partnership/marriage and childbearing in both left-wing (Scandinavia) and right-wing (Central Europe) variants. [more], Nearly every country in the world seeks to drive economic growth by promoting digital technologies. Toward that end, we begin by considering competing explanations of political violence (ethnicity, democratization, natural-resource endowments, and predatory elites). What anti-democratic means? In substantive terms, the class covers the rise of the Zionist movement; the effects of the First World War on the Middle East; the international politics of the Arab-Israeli conflict; the geopolitics of the area's energy resources; the Cold War in the Middle East; the causes and consequences of the Iranian Revolution; the rise of Islamist movements; the Arab Spring; terrorism; the specter of nuclear proliferation in the area; the Syrian conflict; and the role of the United States in the Middle East. Critics contend that humanitarianism produces harm, provides structural incentives for people to do more or less than they need to, and deepens inequality between actors and targets. Cases include piracy, claims in the South China Sea, bonded labor, refugee quarantine, Arctic transit, and ocean pollution. Possible texts include Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, The Federalist Papers; Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History; George Kennan, American Diplomacy; Richard Immerman, Empire for Liberty; Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy; James McPherson, Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief; and a collection of primary sources. race, class, gender, disability, indigenous, queer, subaltern); and 3) exploring the implications of a more inclusive approach to International Relations, both within the classroom as well as contemporary decolonization movements in the US and around the world. Who gains and loses from the idea that people have human rights? Central to the black radical tradition's architecture are inquiries into the concepts of freedom, race, equality, rights, and humanism; meaning of "radical"; the national-transnational relationship; notions of leadership; status of global capitalism; the nexus of theory and praxis; and revolutionary politics. Third, through ongoing, self-guided reading on students' individual topics as well as feedback from both the seminar leader and other seminar participants on their written work about that topic, it endeavors to guide students to frame a viable and meaningful research project. What kinds of alternatives are considered as solutions to these problems? Who decides? Readings and discussions provide a view on the past and ongoing use of media in the shaping of popular knowledge, collective actions, and public policies. student activism, feminism, black liberation movements and Third World anti-colonialism during that period, publicly affirming their efforts to integrate ethical idealism with concrete concerns for the economic wellbeing and political freedom of oppressed groups. First, through a variety of readings and discussions (including, perhaps, with the assigned scholars themselves), it aims to introduce students to the challenges of original scholarly research and expose them to the range of ways political scientists approach those challenges. Readings will be drawn from such authors as Adorno, Allen, Arendt, Berlant, Brown, Butler, Connolly, Dean, Foucault, Galli, Honig, Latour, Moten, Rancire, Rawls, Sen, and Sexton. dorms be named for John C. Calhoun and Woodrow Wilson? In investigating this theme, our cornerstone will be Max Weber's famous argument from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Every week we explore a different component of South Asian politics. Yet, more than ever before, the means exist in affluent regions of the world to alleviate the worst forms of suffering and enhance the well-being of the poorest people. Williams College Catalog Phone Number 413-597-4286 It then considers how nationalism is manifest in the contemporary politics and foreign relations of China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea and Taiwan. Does it reflect increased inequality in a fast-changing global economy? We will read classic philosophical texts on art and politics by Schiller, Kant, Schopenhauer, Marx, Adorno, and others, and pair them with contextual studies of works of Western classical music from the last two hundred years and popular music of the last hundred years. Struggle on? They contend that it legitimates a view of the status quo, in which such terrible things are bound to happen without real cause. Some appear durable and resilient; they are not simply transient political failures awaiting a breakthrough to democracy. Themes may include power, authority, freedom, justice, equality, democracy, neoliberalism, feminism, and violence, though the emphases will vary from semester to semester. [more], Taught by: Galen E Jackson, James McAllister, This is a course about the Middle East in international politics. And on what grounds can we justify confidence in our provisional answers to such questions? Among the questions that we will address: What is justice? Individual countries have always sought to change others, and following wars, countries have often collectively enforced peace terms. Are there forms of unequal social power which are morally neutral or even good? The combination of the historical focus of the early part of the course with discussion of modern policy issues and debates in the latter part of the course permits you to appreciate the ongoing dialogue between classical and contemporary views of political economy. This course investigates the political theory of Rastafari in order to develop intellectual resources for theorizing the concept of agency in contemporary Africana thought and political theory. How have leaders from James Madison to George W. Bush thought about U.S. vulnerabilities, resources, and goals, and how have those ideas influenced foreign policy decisions? Materials include journalism, official publications, biographies, travel accounts, polemics, policy statements of the US government, and a wide range of academic works. The course is organized with a focus on legal status: which "categories" of people (i.e. [more], This weekly tutorial has alternating primary and secondary writers (5pages/2pages). Does the state and its policies make the nation, as many scholars claim? In this course we will respond to these and related questions through an investigation of "religion" as a concept in political theory. The course covers the creation of the states of modern South Asia, partition and independence, democratization, electoral politics and political parties, economic and social development, ethnic identity and conflict, and the contemporary regional challenges of democratic backsliding and climate change. This course introduces students to the dynamics and tensions that have animated the American political order and that have nurtured these conflicting assessments. and exegetical writing about, core texts of ancient Chinese philosophy in English translation. and an unscientific, patriarchal worldview. We will discuss cases of Buddhism, Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam (Sunni and Shi'a), and Judaism. We also attend to the. of politics generally--the state, legitimacy, democracy, authoritarianism, clientelism, nationalism--to comprehend political processes and transformations in various parts of the world. Through these explorations, which will consider a wide variety of visual artifacts and practices (from 17th century paintings to the optical systems of military drones and contemporary forms of surveillance), we will also take up fundamental theoretical questions about the place of the senses in political life. [more], The comparative study of politics looks mainly at what goes on inside countries, the domestic dynamics of power, institutions, and identities. The desire for political freedom is as old as the ancient world and as new as today's movements and liberation struggles. Conflicting groups regularly accuse each other of being 'duped' by 'biased' sources of information on crucial issues like war, elections, sexuality, racism, and history. unprecedented global mobility in both destination countries and countries of origin? When government policy is decided by politics, does that mean the policy is necessarily bad? To create and maintain political order requires devising collective means to pile up, bury, burn, or otherwise dispose of stuff deemed dirty or disorderly: waste management is regime management. the 2016 presidential election. What is the relationship between parties and presidents? What is the significance of death and arbitrary threats to our existence? What are we to make of these different assessments? What kinds of regimes best serve to encourage good leaders and to constrain bad ones? Is it the person or the context? Cuba, US, Africa, and Resistance to Black Enslavement, 1791-1991. country's birth rate is at an all-time low. The course will give a global perspective on Islamophobia and how it is structuring and used by political actors in various territories. In this tutorial, students will examine the origins of the Silicon Valley model and other countries' attempts to emulate it. With equality? The tutorial will address the evolution of Palestinian nationalism historically and thematically, employing both primary and secondary sources. When should we leave important decisions to technocratic experts? We will address basic questions such as 'What is populism?' This course introduces students to the dynamics and tensions that have animated the American political order and that have nurtured these conflicting assessments. Is there a resource curse, or is it possible for mineral rich countries to escape the modern counterparts of Midas? Such cultural works depict futurities and possibilities for Black and Asian diasporas. What is the cause of this loss of faith in the future? We cover the history, structures and functions of international organizations using case studies. The class will begin with background readings, since no prior work in Chinese philosophy or history is assumed. at the dawn of the 21st century. Others, whose ambitions and initiatives arguably undermined progress toward American ideals, were not recognized as dangerous at the time. In this class we explore the dark side of democracy. Beginning from the presumption that change often has proximate as well as latent causes, this tutorial focuses on events as critical junctures in American politics. Hoc Tribunals for crimes in Yugoslavia and those in Rwanda, in Sierra Leone and in Cambodia are giving way to a permanent International Criminal Court, which has begun to hand down indictments and refine its jurisdiction. The Political Science major is structured to allow students either to participate in the established ways of studying politics or to develop their own focus. bad? What functions does leadership fill, and what challenges do leaders face, in modern democratic states? Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, Safiya Bukhari, Erica Garner, Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, Marielle Franco, Winnie Mandela. Protests against cultural insensitivity on campuses. Or a negative one pointing to the power of a corrupt and self-selecting elite? Those who proclaimed "liberty, egality, fraternity" for themselves violently denied them to others. But what do we mean when we claim to want freedom? Skepticism of government has deep roots and strong resonance throughout American political history. Who might change it, and how? Others portray the feminist agenda as one of taking power, or of reconstructing society by exercising a specifically feminist mode of power. In this course we will respond to these and related questions through an investigation of "religion" as a concept in political theory. empowerment, privilege, or oppression? This tutorial will intensively examine Wilson's efforts to recast the nature of the international system, the American rejection of his vision after the First World War, and the reshaping of Wilsonianism after the Second World War. The pandemic, related economic distress, social protests and insurrection have only sharpened the precarious state of U.S. democracy. (As the list suggests, the most common comparisons are with Latin America and Western Europe, but several of our authors look beyond these regions.) Many who today are recognized as great leaders were, in their historical moment, branded dangerous. Yet at the same time, others worry that the U.S. has abandoned the Anglo-Protestant traditions that made it strong and has entered a period of moral decay and decline.

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