Political Science Department

Courses

POL 220 - Introduction to Comparative Politics

This course surveys major topics and theoretical and empirical contributions in comparative politics. It addresses such issues as methodology, modernization and economic development, democracy and authoritarianism, political parties, participation, representation, social movements, accountability, institutions of government, ethnic violence, revolutions, and civil wars.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Evaluate data and/or sources;
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other;
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 240 - Introduction to International Relations

This course introduces the theoretical study of international relations, with a focus on structures, systems, and strategies. Students will learn to perform basic research and analysis through writing and thinking about events in international relations from different perspectives, including realism, liberalism, and feminism. Readings are drawn from historic and contemporary scholars of international relations, cover a wide variety of issues, and are grouped together in conflicting pairs where possible. Assignments and exams are a mixture of analysis and experiential learning.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Evaluate data and/or sources;
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other;
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 260 - Introduction to American Politics and Public Policy

This course provides an introduction to the processes of political decision making, political institutions, and the formation of public policy in the United States. The course introduces students to the basics of political decision making by a collective, including how individual actors (voters, politicians, policy makers) reason; how institutions constrain and shape action; and how policies are ultimately designed and implemented. There will be weekly lectures and individual conferences.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Evaluate data and/or sources;
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other;
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 280 - Introduction to Western Political Theory

This course offers an introduction to a Western tradition of political thought by way of major ancient (Plato and Aristotle) and early modern political thinkers (Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau) who are antecedents of contemporary political philosophy and social theory. It engages the latter through the work of Karl Marx, W.E.B. Du Bois, Simone de Beauvoir, and various living scholars, for critical leverage on the tradition

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 300 - Junior Research Seminar

This course focuses on preparing students for political science research, particularly for thesis. Topics include shaping and framing a research question; constructing a literature review; concept formation and measurement; writing with style, clarity, and grace; and presenting results. All areas of inquiry in political science win be given ample coverage.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing
Restriction(s): Political Science and Interdisciplinary Political Science majors only
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 320 - Politics and Society in Latin America

This course combines normative theory, empirical research, and a historical perspective to examine key issues in Latin American politics critically. The topics covered in the class include 1) transitions from authoritarianism to democracy, 2) democratic consolidation and its challenges, 3) poverty and distribution, 4) inequality and the quality of democracy, 5) gender and political representation, 6) the resurgence of the left, and 7) the rise of competitive authoritarianism. The course focuses on the cases of Chile and Argentina. It also reviews politics and political events in several other countries in the region.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): HUM 110 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 322 - Social Movements

The goal of the course is to inquire about the causes and consequences of several historical and contemporary social and political movements. Studying social movements in the United States from the '60s to the current Black Lives Matter movement, social movements in communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc and in Syria, and past and current social and political movements throughout Latin America, the course will assess the consequences these movements had in the political lives of the individuals and groups involved, as well as in the societies in which they took place. The course will conclude examining the political causes and consequences that give rise to different social movements across time and space.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): HUM 110 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 324 - Human Rights in Latin America

This course combines normative theory, empirical research, and a historical perspective to critically examine human rights in Latin America. By reviewing civil, political, economic, and sexual rights in Argentina, Peru, Chile, and Mexico, the course seeks to familiarize students with human rights in the region. To accomplish this goal, the course reviews human rights issues that have afflicted (and continue to affect) Latin American countries since the Cuban Revolution (1959). The topics covered in the class include 1) transitions from authoritarianism to democracy, 2) violations of human rights and their effects on the selected countries, 3) the creation, work, and consequences of truth commissions, 4) the use of human rights framings to extend sexual and reproductive rights, and 5) violence and human rights abuses in present-day Mexico, Colombia, and Chile.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): HUM 110 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 326 - Capitalism and Its Critics

What is the relationship between politics and economics? The course addresses this question in four parts. Its first part examines major systems of thought in relation to the historical development of capitalism. We will read the canon from Adam Smith to J.M. Keynes. The second part considers more recent writings, with a focus on the many (policy) issues that frame contemporary economic discourse such as value and profit, unemployment and the business cycle, competition, and investment. In part three, we will consider gender, race, and ecological critiques of capitalism. We will conclude by delving deeper into some of the "hot" topics in political economy today: oil and climate change, globalization and trade, and the politics of welfare. Throughout the course we will take up the following questions: Are we in an economic crisis? If so, what caused it? Where does unemployment come from? What role should the government play in the economy? Does welfare help or hurt the poor? Can poverty and inequality be eradicated? What alternatives exist to capitalism? This is a survey course and accessible to all majors and does not require previous knowledge of economics or politics.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): HUM 110
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

  • Evaluate data and/or sources;
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other;
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 331 - Money and Empire

This course explores how the financial sector shapes politics, the economy, and our daily lives. We will begin with provocative accounts of the 1929 and 2008 financial crises to understand the complex, contradictory, and contentious nature of finance. Next, we will examine the history and ontology of finance-how did finance evolve from a dull banking industry into a dynamic financial system, most aptly represented by Wall Street? What are the building blocks of finance, its underlying logic? In the third section, we will explore how financial practices are inscribed in our daily lives and the world around us. Here we will move back and forth between the global North and the global South to investigate the sociopolitical structures that sustain financialization. In the final weeks, we will reflect on the political implications of a growing financial sector, specifically its effects on inequality and participatory democracy. We will use novels, TV shows, films, and scholarly writings to explore the power of finance.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 220, POL 240, POL 260, or POL 326 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 335 - Gender and Politics in the U.S. and Latin America

This course combines feminist theory and empirical research to examine gender and politics in Latin America. The course studies the workings of gender in the region over time. We discuss gender in laws and policies on marriage and divorce, regulations on reproduction and sexuality, child care, and political representation. We study how gender works within formal and informal institutions, the market, and international and domestic conflict to produce economic and status inequality. Finally, we consider the institution of normative heterosexuality and debates over gay marriage and LGBTQ rights. The course focuses on three main topics: (1) violence against women, (2) abortion decriminalization, and (3) political representation

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): HUM 110 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 336 - Natural Resource Politics

This course examines the political and economic consequences of natural resource wealth. We will use a mixture of theoretical overviews, historical analysis, and contemporary case studies to examine key questions such as: What is the resource curse and how can countries escape it? How do natural resources shape political institutions or regime type? What is the relationship between natural resources and conflict? How do natural resources shape the international political economy and interstate relations? How does natural resource management affect Indigenous rights and land use policies? We will first build a foundation for navigating these questions by scrutinizing the development paradigms that have prevailed in the global South since the Second World War. In addition to examining domestic consequences of natural resources, we will also devote considerable time to matters of international dependence and interdependence. Finally, we will address how ecological issues such as climate change intersect with economic and political ones and the complex issues of space exploration and Arctic drilling. The course will make extensive use of case studies in order to develop a contextualized understanding of how resource politics manifests on the ground

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 220, POL 240, POL 260, or POL 326 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 344 - International Environmental Politics

This course examines contemporary international environmental problems from theoretical and policy perspectives. What are the causes of environmental problems? What strategies do international actors use to attempt to address these problems, and which are most successful? What are the most pressing problems facing policymakers today? How do environmental issues create other problems in areas such as security and economics? In an attempt to shed light on these questions, this course analyzes structures, agents, and processes affecting the international environmental politics in the first part. The second part focuses on examining contemporary issue areas including the use of natural resources, overpopulation, pollution, energy use, global climate change, environmental security, and potential future problems.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 240 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 346 - International Political Economy

This course introduces students to key conceptual and substantive issues in international political economy. By surveying its major approaches and actors, students will first develop a theoretical understanding of IPE. The course will then cover three main issue areas: international trade, international finance and monetary regimes, and migrant labor. Students will critically engage with issues such as regionalism, antidumping disputes, preferential trade agreements, ongoing trade wars, financial and currency crises, exchange rate regimes, the role of central banks, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and international labor laws. In the final section of the course, students will contemplate the future of the international economic order by interrogating corporate power, wealth and income inequality, and environmental crises.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 220, POL 240, or POL 260 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 347 - Politics of International Development

Why are some countries rich and others poor? Scholars have debated this question for decades, offering a plethora of answers, ranging from international trade agreements to domestic political arrangements. In this course, students will evaluate these debates by relying extensively on case studies. The course begins with the thorny question of what we mean by "development." How does development differ from "human development", and from the idea of "progress"? Answers to these questions will help set the stage for evaluating theories of development and the historical trajectories of national wealth accumulation. The majority of the course will be dedicated to interrogating how foreign aid, colonial legacies, international trade and finance, culture, geography, the state, private property rights, and regime type contribute to development. The final section of the course will consider the implications of development, focusing in particular on urbanization, wealth and income inequality and environmental destruction. Throughout the course, students will assess the validity of global versus domestic explanations, and consider the role of international institutions, global finance, non-governmental organizations, foreign governments and domestic actors in fostering or hindering development.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 220, POL 240, or POL 260 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 351 - Interdisciplinary Approaches to Social Science

See ICPS 301 for description.

Unit(s): 0.5
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): ICPS 301 
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 352 - Special Topics in International Comparative Policy Studies

See ICPS 302 for description.

Unit(s): 0.5
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing and one of POL 240ANTH 211HIST 370, or SOC 211  
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 2 times for credit
Cross-listing(s): ICPS 302 
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 359 - Weapons, Technology, and War

This course examines the historical evolution of the conduct of war from a theoretical and normative perspective. What elements of war have changed over time, and what core precepts remain the same? To what degree have advances in technology altered the conduct and outcomes of war? Why have some weapons been deemed cruel and inhumane at times and merciful at others? We will explore the interrelationships among military technology, society, politics, and war, asking how different forces have shaped warfare, focusing on how and why different weapons have been used (or prohibited) over time.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 240 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other;
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 362 - State and Local Politics

Understanding state and local politics in this course involves an inquiry proceeding in three general stages. First, the course engages in a broad survey of the varied institutional arrangements that serve to administer subnational governments in the United States. Second, the course examines the varied political environments in which state governments operate, including an examination of state-level political culture and opinion. Finally, the course will use institutional arrangements and political environments to investigate variation in policy choices at the state and local level-particularly environmental policy.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 220, POL 240, POL 260, or POL 280 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 365 - City and Local Politics

Cities and local governments offer a rich setting to explore conflicting narratives, processes, and outcomes. How and why do cities grow? How should local services be provided, regulated, and distributed? Who has access to the riches or burdens of urban development and growth? Why are cities the site of social conflict and change? This course will explore cities and local government from perspectives of governance, bureaucracy, and planning. In particular, the course examines the emergence of the modern city and the intersection with race and class. The course surveys models of planning and governance to better understand how cities have taken the form we find them in the United States. The course will also survey planning in the Portland and Oregon context.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 220, POL 240, POL 260, or POL 280 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 368 - Environmental Politics and Policy

The purpose of this course is to meld the science of environmental problems with the policy and politics surrounding them. Over the semester, we will cover the sources of environmental problems, the foundations of environmental policy, how environmental policy changes over time, the role of science and uncertainty, environmental policy in practice, and alternative routes towards addressing these issues. Throughout, we will focus on the conflicts that arise between the science of these problems, how they are perceived by the public and elites, and the role institutions play in addressing them.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): POL 220, POL 240, POL 260, or POL 280 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 369 - Public Policy

This course teaches the extant and emerging theories of the policy process and their application to both emerging and chronic problems. The study of public policy is sorted into several distinct but non-mutually exclusive theories which can be used to explain processes by which governments aggregate preferences, coordinate relevant interests, and make decisions. Each week, the course will examine the foundational texts of a policy theory, relevant extensions, and applications to current issues facing national and subnational decision makers. The course is mainly U.S. focused, but the covered theories are applied in a comparative context in countries around the world. Students should have a working knowledge of American policy-making institutions before taking this course. The course assesses policy theory through literature that leverages empiricism.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): sophomore standing and POL 260 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 371 - Identity Politics

The course explores the importance of identity politics in understanding American politics. The course utilizes an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates theoretical frameworks and empirical analysis to understand identity, mainly focusing on racial and ethnic identities. The course will proceed in three sections. First, we will discuss identity politics in theoretical ways. This includes different processes of identity politics, such as socialization, stereotyping, and discrimination. Second, we will explore how identity processes matter in various areas of American politics, including intergroup conflict and cooperation, public opinion, and public behavior. Third, we will specifically focus on Asian Americans, nationalism, and anti-immigrant sentiment associated with identity politics. A primary goal of this course is to provide students a foundation in understanding identity politics, guide them through critical thinking of identity politics in the U.S. context, and provide them with tools to generate research papers.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 375 - Disaster Politics and Policy

Disasters are the intersection of vulnerability, policy choices, natural systems, and our society. These events are often naturalized or seen as coming from outside of society. Disasters are often products of policy and political choices. These events are also opportunities for new policies to move to the front of the line. This course will examine several areas where disasters and politics interact. First, the course will explore models of disaster and risk as they relate to society. Second, it will examine the current law and policy that structure U.S. responses to disasters. While this is a U.S.-focused course, we will also have some opportunities for comparisons with other countries. Finally, the course will explore the role of disasters (real and imagined) that shape politics and policy making.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 377 - Elections: American Style

Elections are fundamental to democratic government, but there seem to be as many variations in electoral institutions, party systems, and campaign styles as there are in democratic societies. In this course, we review the expansive literature covering elections, electoral rules, and electoral behavior in the United States. The course focuses on three main areas. First, we review the electoral process, covering presidential, congressional, state, and local elections. This includes electoral law, rules and institutions, and election forecasting. Second, we will explore political campaigns, including the roles of advertising, polling, fundraising, news media, and political parties. Finally, we will examine individual and collective vote choice-why individuals choose to vote, how they integrate information from the political environment, and how they cast their ballots. Students should be comfortable with analytical and quantitative material since it makes up such a large portion of the literature in this area.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 382 - Body Politics

This course examines the politics of embodiment in relation to gender, race, class, sexuality, and ability. We consider how bodies are marked as deviant, abnormal, and/or pathological, and explore where processes of sexed, raced, gendered, and able-bodied normalization intersect and diverge. We engage conceptual and normative debates about controversial bodily practices (autonomy and alienation in prostitution and pornography; biocapital in surrogacy and organ donation; the self and genetic ancestry testing; the ethics of hunger striking and the weaponization of the body) from a range of perspectives: liberal humanist, radical and Marxist feminist, phenomenological and performative, intersectional and new materialist. Topics range from the marriage contract, domestic labor, and reproductive justice to turn-of-the-century sexology and the modern freak show, the science of homosexuality, the pleasures of trans and queer embodiment, and the biopolitics of AIDS.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 383 - Who Counts? Enumeration, Representation, Democracy

Counting is woven into the fabric of democratic politics. Modern states and representative governments have always depended on (and often pioneered) new enumerative techniques. The U.S. Census, for example, constructs the population as both an object to be managed and as a subject-"The People"-amenable to representation. Elections harness aggregation to put representatives' claims to the test. Polls and crowd estimates seek to measure and articulate public opinion. Politicians, activists, and journalists build narratives out of numbers. We begin with a theoretical and historical overview of counting, along with allied practices of categorizing, classifying, and commensurating. In the abstract, counting appears relatively straightforward; in the political field it is contentious and consequential. Counts are technical and narrative achievements embedded in disciplinary fields, reliant on technologies and instruments, systems of registration and surveillance, and fragile networks of trust. We then turn to attempts to understand the elusive concept of representation, from Hobbes to contemporary democratic theorists. Finally, we examine the relationship between counting and representing across four sites: the census, public opinion polling, voting, and crowd estimation.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other

POL 384 - Democracy and Data

This course explores the entanglement of democracy with data. We begin by historicizing "big data," exploring the relation between statistics and statecraft, including the census and opinion polling. We then turn to three contemporary challenges associated with (really) big data: First, surveillance by corporations and states for governance, marketing, and control. Second, algorithmic prediction and decision-making, particularly as they relate to the construction of identity and the maintenance of inequality. Finally, information disorder in the digital public sphere and its implications for democratic self-government. Throughout, we will consider how big data and computational technologies might lead us to rethink central concepts in political theory, including consent and freedom; property and (self-)ownership; identity and difference; security, privacy, and the commons. Literature will be drawn from a range of disciplines, including science and technology studies, critical information and media studies, and the history of political thought.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 385 - Hannah Arendt and Origins of Totalitarianism

See HIST 375 for description.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): HIST 375 
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 390 - The Human Condition

This course undertakes a systematic study of Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition (1958), both in its own terms and as a portal into the history of the modern West. We will examine the book's architecture, along with its conceptual apparatus: earth and world alienation; the vita activa and vita contemplativa; the conditions of natality, mortality, and plurality; the activities of labor, work, and action; the realms of public, private, and the social. We will explore the contexts Arendt invokes-including the ancient world and early modern science-as well as those she doesn't. That is, we will read in light of Arendt's own experience: as a German emigre in Cold War America, writing in the shadow of the Nazi death camps and the atom bomb; witnessing the expansion of the welfare state, the acceleration of automation, and the launch of Sputnik. Finally, we will locate the work intertextually, critically assessing Arendt's readings of Marx, Heidegger, and others.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): HIST 343 
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 391 - Modern Islamic Political Thought

See REL 321 for description.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): For political science credit: POL 280 or one unit of POL 380-415 (POL 382POL 383POL 384POL 385POL 390POL 397POL 403POL 405POL 409 .
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): REL 321 
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Evaluate data and/or sources.
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 397 - Foucault: Power, Subjectivity, Truth

This course is an introduction to the work of one of the twentieth-century's most influential thinkers, Michel Foucault (1926-84). We begin with his "genealogical" studies, Discipline and Punish and The History of Sexuality vol. I, focusing on the relationship between power, knowledge, and subjectivity in modernity. We will also address questions of method, including the influence of Nietzsche. Turning to Foucault's lectures at the Collège de France in the latter half of the 1970s, we will consider how biopower, apparatuses of security, and neoliberal governmentality intersect in the contemporary politics of mass incarceration, digital surveillance, and pandemic response. Finally, we will assess Foucault's "ethical turn" (the care of the self, an aesthetics of existence, and parrhesia or fearless speech) in terms of its possibilities and limitations for political thought and action. Throughout, we will attend to a variety of challenges posed by Foucault's critics, including historians (on how we think, write, and deploy history); critical theorists (on the legacy of the Enlightenment); and feminists (on oppression, agency, and liberation).

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): HUM 110 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 403 - Hegel and Marx

This course examines the principal political writings of Hegel and Marx. Much emphasis will be placed on Hegel's Philosophy of Right and its conceptual and historical foundations. Readings from Marx will include Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Paris Manuscripts, Theses on Feuerbach, German Ideology, Capital, and Critique of the Gotha Program. Contemporary ideas on the question of Hegel and Marx will be traced in various writings, including those of Habermas and Althusser.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other

POL 405 - Judgment

How are particulars subsumed under, or otherwise connected with, universals? The problem of judgment is treated with respect to a range of related concepts: taste, rhetoric, phronesis, interpretation, common sense, and the like. The initial texts are Kant's Critique of Judgment and Gadamer's Truth and Method. Particular issues emerging from these texts are treated variously in the writings of Arendt on politics, Dworkin and Fish on textual interpretation, Habermas on communication, and Oakeshott on conversation. All of these issues bear on the broad question of rationality, objectivity, and human understanding.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)

POL 409 - "Being and Time" and Politics

An exploration of the political implications of Heidegger's ontology, understood primarily as a phenomenology of mind. We will begin by considering some of the contexts of Heideggerian thought through an examination of Husserl's Cartesian Meditations, and we will end by tracing certain aspects of its moral and political influence both in the writings of Levinas and Arendt and in the more recent critical literature on the question of Heidegger and National Socialism. Our principal task, however, will be to pursue a close and systematic study of Being and Time, focusing on central elements of its conceptual apparatus, including, for example, notions of entity and world, care and concern, anxiety and resoluteness, temporality and death, history and the state.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): HUM 110 or equivalent
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other;
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 444 - Global Catastrophic Risks

This course investigates the politics of global risks-challenges, some created by humans and others by nature-that have the potential to drastically alter human civilization, the planet, or life itself. Such "apocalyptic" risks include extreme climate change, ecological catastrophes, global pandemics, nuclear war, artificial intelligence, and asteroid impacts. The course will analyze these nascent Armageddons using a variety of theoretical perspectives including the precautionary principle, the social construction of risk, normal accidents theory, and concepts of high-reliability operations.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing and POL 240 
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 2 times for credit.
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):
  • Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other;
  • Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

POL 470 - Thesis

Unit(s): 2
Instructional Method: Independent Study
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Notes: Yearlong course, 1 unit per semester.

POL 481 - Independent Reading

Unit(s): Variable: 0.5 - 1
Prerequisite(s): Junior or senior standing and instructor and division approval
Instructional Method: Independent Study
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 4 times for credit