WEEK 1 (August 27-September 2) Introducing Political Science
Thematic Questions: What is politics? How do you study politics?
Session 1 (August 28) Course Introduction
Students are asked to read the NY Times before each class, including this one.
Session 2 (August 30) Comparative Method.
*Richard Rose. “Comparing Forms of Comparative Analysis” Political Studies 39 (3) (1991): 446-62.
WEEK 2 (September 3-9) State Formation and States
Thematic Question: How were modern states formed? How does state formation affect politics?
Session 3 (September 4) Understanding the ‘State’
*Max Weber. “What is a State?” in Roy C. Macridis and Bernard E. Brown, Comparative Politics: Notes and Readings, Eighth Edition. (Belmont, MA: Wadsworth Publishing Co, 1996), pp. 84-87.
Clifford Geertz. Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth Century Bali. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), pp. 11-25.
Session 4 (September 6) States Formation and its Diversity
*Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order: From Pre-human Times to the French Revolution, (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012), pp. 245-289.
Jeffrey Herbst. States and Power in Africa, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 11-31.
WEEK 3 (September 10-16) Political Regimes & Political Development
Thematic Questions: How do dictatorships differ from democracies? How do regimes change?
Session 5 (September 11) Type of Regimes
Amartya Sen. "Democracy as a Universal Value." Journal of Democracy (1999) 10 (3):3-17
*James Hyland, Democratic Theory: The Philosophical Foundations (Manchester, 1995), Chapter 2, pp. 36-50.
Session 6: (September 13) Regime Change
*Larry Diamond. The Spirit of Democracy, (New York: Times Book, 2008) Chapter 4, pp. 88-105.
Fareed Zakaria. "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy," Foreign Affairs 76(6) (1997): 22-43.
Olivier Roy.“Transformations of the Arab World” Journal of Democracy, (July 2012), pp. 5-18.
**Course Dinner Discussion of The Optician of Lampedusa, Tuesday, September 12th 7:30pm**
WEEK 4 (September 17-23) Political Ideology and Identities
Thematic Question: How and why do political ideas differ? How do different political approaches shape public policy?
Session 7 (September 18): What is Ideology
*Leon P. Baradat, In Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2000), pp. 4-12, 162-182.
Session 8 (September 20) Political Identities
*Ta-Nehisi Coates. Between the World and Me. (NY: Spiegel & Grau, 2015), pp. 1-39
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie We Should All be Feminists, (NY: Anchor, 2015), pp. 7-25.
Session 9 (September 22) Class Field Trip 8:30-11am
***Book Review Due, Thursday, September 21st by 5pm***
WEEK 5 (September 24-30) Political Institutions: Parliaments to Courts
Thematic Question: How do formal political institutions work and differ?
Session 10 (September 25) Checks and Balances
*Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. The Federalist Papers (London/New York: Penguin, 1987), Federalist 10 and 51
Session 11 (September 27) Political Institutions at Work
Gary W. Copeland and Samuel C. Patterson, (eds.), Parliaments in the Modern World: Changing Institutions (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1994), Chapter 1
*Alfred Stepan and Cindy Skach. “Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Presidentialism versus Parliamentarianism,” World Politics, 46 (October, 1993): 1-22.
WEEK 6 (October 1-7) Conducting Research and Political Participation
Thematic Question: Why and how do people participate in politics?
Session 12 (October 2): Learning how to Do Research Session
Repertoires of Political Participation
*Sylvia Bashevin. “Interest Groups and Social Movements,” in Lawrence Le Duc, Richard G. Niemi and Pippa Norris (eds.) Comparing Democracies: Elections and Voting in Global Perspective. (London: Sage Publications, 1996), pp. 134-159.
In-class Library Presentation on How to Conduct Research
**Session 13 (October 4) Political Participation Outside Class Learning Assignment
Understanding Voting Behavior Assignment
WEEK 7 (October 8-14) Religion and Nationalism
Thematic Questions: How does political identity evolve and impact politics?
Session 14 (October 9) Nationalism and Political Identity
*Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. (London: Verso, 1991), pp. 1-7
Adam Hothschild. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Horror, Terrorism and Heroism in Colonial Africa. (New York: Houghton Miffton, 1999), pp. 1-33.
Session 15 (October 11) Religion and Politics
*Samuel Huntington. Clash of Civilizations. (New York: Touchstone (Simon Schuster), 1996), pp. 19-39.
WEEK 8 (October 15-21) Political Economy & Development
Thematic Questions: How does politics affect the economy and visa versa? Why are some countries more economically developed than others?
Session 16 (October 16) The Politics of the Economy
*Thomas Oatley, International Political Economy, 5th Edition. (New York: Longman, 2011), pp. 1-20.
Session 17 (October 18) Development
*Alan Thomas. “Meaning and Views of Development,” in Tim Allen and Alan Thomas. (eds.) Poverty and Development into the 21st Century. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 23-48.
***First Think Piece Due, Tuesday, October 19th, 5pm ***
WEEK 9 (October 22-28) Human Rights
Thematic Question: What are human rights and human rights problems?
Session 18 (October 23) Introducing Human Rights
*Jack Donnelly. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice. 2nd Edition. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003), pp. 7-21.
Micheline R. Ishay. The Human Rights Reader. (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 1-5, 42-55, 56-59, 199-200, 424-40, 461-68
**Session 19 (October 25) Field Report on Human Rights Issue
WEEK 10 (October 29-November 4) Conflict and Violence
Thematic Questions: Is conflict bad? Why does violence occur?
**Session 20 (October 30) No Class. Session made up held earlier during field trip
November 1st Holiday No Class
WEEK 11 (November 5-11) International Cooperation and War
Thematic Question: Why do states cooperate and how?
Session 21 (November 6) Political Violence Repertoires and Causes
*Earl Conteh-Morgan, Collective Political Violence: An Introduction to the Theories and Cases of Violent Conflicts (New York: Routledge, 2003), Chapter 1.
Paul Collier and Ian Bannon. Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy (Washington, DC: World Bank Publication, 2003), Chapter 1
Session 22 (November 8) Case Study Syria
Samer Abboud, “How Syria Fell to Pieces,” Current History, (December 2015), pp. 337-342.
***2nd Think Piece Due, November 9th, 5pm***
WEEK 12 (November 12-18)
Thematic Question: Why do states go or don't go to war?
Session 23 (November 13) War
Robert Jervis, "Theories of War in an Era of Leading-Power Peace." American Political Science Review (2002) 96 (1):1-14.
*Hans Morgenthau. “Chapter 1: A Realist Theory of International Politics,” Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 1992 (1948)), pp. 3-16.
Session 24 (November 15) Cooperation – or Lack Thereof
David Wallace-Wells, “The Uninhabitable Earth,” New York Magazine, July 9, 2017
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html
Robinson Meyer, “Is the Earth Really That Doomes,” The Atlantic, July 10. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/is-the-earth-really-that-doomed/533112/
Helen Fountain and Nadja Popovich, 9 Takeaways from the National Climate Report, New York Times, August 8, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/08/climate/nine-takeaways-climate-report.html?action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront
WEEK 13 (November 19-25) Foreign Policy in Practice (Course Simulation Exercise)
Session 25 (November 20) International Crisis Simulation I
Session 26 (November 22) International Crisis Simulation II
***Optional Third Think Piece Due Tuesday, November 21st by 5pm ***
WEEK 14 (November 26-December 2) Globalization, Internet and Social Media
Session 27 (November 28) Globalization, Internet and Social Media
*Philip Howard and Muzammil M. Hussain. Democracy’s Fourth Wave: Digital Media and the Arab Spring, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), Chapter 1
Andrew Chadwick, The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power (Second Edition) New York: Oxford University Press, 2017, Chapter on Trump Campaign.
Session 28 (November 30) Terrorism and Non-State Actors
Jessica Stern. Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill. (New York: Harper Perennial, 2004), pp. 9-31
Session 29 (December 1) Exam Review (Optional)
WEEK 15 (December 4-10) Final Examination TBD