24 courses with the subject POLS UN, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
POLS UN1101POLITICAL THEORY I4.00
This course considers key questions at the foundation of political thought. What is justice? How do we justify the coercive power of states? Do we have an obligation to obey the government? Who should make and enforce the law? What basic rights and liberties should governments protect? How should our economic system produce and divide wealth and material resources? What are the claims of excluded or marginalized groups and how can these claims be addressed? We explore these questions through the works of several classical and contemporary political thinkers. A major goal of the course is to practice the skills needed to understand a political thinker’s arguments and to construct one’s own
Lecture and discussion. Dynamics of political institutions and processes, chiefly of the national government. Emphasis on the actual exercise of political power by interest groups, elites, political parties, and public opinion
This introductory course surveys key topics in the study of international politics, including the causes of war and peace; the efficacy of international law and human rights; the origins of international development and underdevelopment; the politics of global environmental protection; and the future of US-China relations. Throughout the course, we will focus on the interests of the many actors of world politics, including states, politicians, firms, bureaucracies, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations; the interactions between them; and the institutions in which they operate. By the end of the semester, students will be better equipped to systematically study international relations and make informed contributions to critical policy debates
Examination of human rights within the context of international migration. The course covers topics such as citizenship, state sovereignty, border control, asylum-seekers, refugees, and undocumented immigrants
An inquiry into the nature and implications of justice in areas ranging from criminal justice to social justice to the circumstances of war and peace, considering issues such as abortion, the criminalization of behavior, the death penalty, climate change, global poverty, civil disobedience, and international conflict
Since Gandhi’s experiments in mass satyagraha over a century ago, nonviolence has become a staple of protest politics across the globe. From the Occupy movements to the Arab Spring to Movement for Black Lives, it might even be entering a new phase of revitalization. At the same time, what exactly nonviolence is and what it can accomplish in politics is very much under debate. This course aims to understand the politics of nonviolence by examining the political ideas and political careers of its most well-known twentieth-century advocates, M.K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Though still venerated as founding figures of nonviolent protest, Gandhi and King have come to be remembered in ways that can misconstrue how they understood and practiced nonviolent politics. To many, Gandhi is a saintly idealist, who wanted to imbue politics with the spirit of ahimsa, truth, and conscience. Likewise, King is taken to be a spokesman for interracial brotherhood and Christian love. While partly true, these images also downplay the political side of their nonviolence – the techniques of organizing and strategies of protest that made their movements successful. We will examine the evolution of Gandhi’s and King’s political thinking in relation to the movements they led – the Indian independence movement and the civil rights movement in the US. We will consider how the theory and practice of nonviolence evolved and changed as it moved from one context to another. We will be especially focused on understanding the dynamics of nonviolent protest
Our political discourse is inundated with talk of citizenship. In this course we will examine various theories of citizenship, paying particular attention to the way the increasing complexity and multiculturalism of societies have challenged our understanding of this concept. We will also consider how different conceptions of citizenship address the challenges raised by both global and local forces. After an overview of different theories of citizenship, we explore the debates about political rights and representation for oppressed groups and minorities and consider the nationalist and cosmopolitan understandings of civic identity. What should be the criteria for citizenship? What rights should citizens have? Does citizenship require boundaries? Does democratic citizenship demand a particular kind of patriotism? What rights should illegal immigrants have? What role does the court play in defining citizenship rights? Can there be global or transnational citizenship? Though the primary focus will be to explore normative theories of citizenship, we will briefly consider how the European Union and the United States are dealing with some of the pressing issues regarding citizenship: immigration and assimilation.
As a branch of political theory, feminist political theory has developed new ideals, concepts, and justifications for how social norms and political institutions should be reconstructed. This course introduces students to diverse feminist perspectives in political theory and helps them understand how these perspectives have contributed to and transformed the field. The course is structured around two broad themes: (1) The feminist critique of (male) philosophy, which examines feminist arguments that the foundational normative arguments of modern and contemporary political theories are gendered and, therefore, have excluded the experiences and perspectives of women and other gendered subjects. (2) Diversity among women, which explores intersectional, post-colonial, and poststructuralist views on the definition of women and women’s agency. It critically examines the meaning of women’s freedom in two ways: (a) whether we can develop a satisfactory definition of women, and (b) whether we can establish a universal definition of freedom. By exploring these themes, the course aims to encourage students to develop their own views on how political theory should address normative and practical problems of gender
POLS UN3173Power, Rights, and Social Change: Achieving Justice4
This lecture course, accompanied by its weekly discussion section, will introduce students to the field of justice. It will combine an intellectual history of conceptions of justice and modes of political change with an exploration of the main areas of public interest and advocacy. The course is intended to serve as a bridge from the Columbia Core to present issues of social justice. Throughout, the discussion will question how we—contemporary subjects and citizens—can improve our social and political condition and achieve justice.
This course examines the pattern of political development in urban America, as the countrys population has grown in urbanized locations. It explores the process by which cities and suburbs are governed, how immigrants and migrants are incorporated, and how people of different races and ethnicities interact in urbanized settings as well as the institutional relations of cities and suburbs with other jurisdictions of government. The course focuses both on the historical as well the theoretical understandings of politics in urban areas
This course examines the role of race in American politics and the political behavior of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Topics will include, but are not limited to, minority political participation, segregation, gentrification, group identity, implicit bias, political representation, media effects, and the role of race in political campaigns
This course will focus on the mechanisms that drive political behavior in the United States. “Political behavior” is a broad concept, and can include many areas of engagement with civic life such as voting, donating, organizing, advocating, protesting, and more. As we consider “behavior,” we must therefore also take on its foundations: Public opinion, ideology, and partisanship. We will focus primarily (but not exclusively) on mass politics—beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of ordinary citizens—rather than on behaviors of activists or elites. We will also explore the connection between behavior and other factors such as race and place
This course will introduce students to research on the institutions of the US carceral system, including the police, courts, prisons, and immigration control. We will focus on two questions: how race relates to experiences with the institutions of the carceral state, and how those institutions in turn influence racial politics. The main objective is not the accumulation of factual knowledge about this system, but familiarity with theoretical frameworks with which to make and critically assess arguments about the functioning of carceral institutions as they relate to racialized people and the functioning of democracy
Examines the constitutional right of freedom of speech and press in the United States. Examines, in depth, various areas of law, including extremist or seditious speech, obscenity, libel, fighting words, the public forum doctrine, and public access to the mass media. Follows the law school course model, with readings focused on actual judicial decisions
Elections and public opinion; history of U.S. electoral politics; the problem of voter participation; partisanship and voting; accounting for voting decisions; explaining and forecasting election outcomes; elections and divided government; money and elections; electoral politics and representative democracy.
This course will introduce the students to the important topic of political protest. Each week we will address different aspects of the phenomenon: from the determinant to the actors and strategies of protest. We will discuss how the forms of protest have changed and the current role of the internet in general and social media in particular. Finally, we will discuss the role of the state and state repression, in particular censorship in the dynamics of protest. Since this is a comparative politics course, we will cover a range of different countries, including the United States, as well as both democratic and authoritarian regimes
This course examines the rise of India and China since the mid-twentieth century in terms of interaction of states, markets and globalization as our conceptual framework. It examines the emergence of two distinct developmental pathways in the two countries, focusing on their political economies, in comparative historical perspective. It also evaluates the implications of the rise of China and India on the global economy.
What shapes the ways cities develop politically and socioeconomically? Why do some cities become seeming "models" of urban governance whereas others struggle with perpetual corruption, inequality, and crime and violence? How do formal and informal political and social institutions interact to shape patterns of urban development? How do relations between cities and other levels of the state, including regional and national governments, impact local democracy and development? Are impoverished urban peripheries fertile grounds for political revolution? These are some of the questions that we will tackle in this course through a focus on urban politics and development in Latin America. Perceptions among both scholars and policymakers regarding Latin America's urbanization are polarized. Some see the region's development including innovative forms of governance, like participatory budgeting, social urbanism through participatory planning, and community policing. Others view the swift and unprecedented pace of clientelism, and violence. Our task this semester is to mediate between these two perspectives as we explore and analyze urban politics and development in the region.
A major challenge for governments across the Western Hemisphere is the complex relationship between illicit drugs, violence, and politics. We can see this relationship operating at multiple levels, from everyday politics in gang-controlled neighborhoods to the global arenas where governments debate and craft international drug policy. These links also reach back in history to global wars of empire and colonial rule, race relations during and following the collapse of the institution of slavery, and contemporary drug wars being waged across the Western Hemisphere and other parts of the world. Today, the dynamics and consequences of the politics of illicit drugs touch all our lives in different ways, including individual and family struggles with substance abuse, everyday encounters with militarized police, and the strains on democracy and citizenship, among many others. This course will examine some of these dynamics and consequences with a theoretical and empirical focus mainly on Latin America and the United States. Throughout our time together we will connect these pressing issues to broader theories, concepts and empirical findings in political science. The course is divided into several individual modules (denoted below with the headings A – G) under three overarching themes for this semester: 1. Politics of Drugs in a Historical Perspective: The first theme is a broad historical overview of the political origins of illicit drugs and the global drug regime. Some of the main questions we will tackle are: When and why did states label drugs as illicit? How did domestic and global politics come together to shape the global drug regime and the “war on drugs?” What role did race and gender play in the early social construction of illicit drugs? 2. Illicit Drugs, Politics and Governance: The second theme focuses on contemporary linkages between illicit drugs, violence, and politics. Here we will examine the conditions under which illicit drug markets are either violent or (relatively) peaceful. We will tackle questions like: Do states always seek to dismantle drug markets? What is the relationship between illicit drugs and electoral politics? What role do illicit drugs play in governance by armed non-state actors? Are states and criminal actors involved in the drug trade always at “war” with each other? 3. Democracy, Citizenship, and the War on Drugs: The third and final theme centers on the political consequences of the war on drugs for questions of democracy and citizenship in the Western Hemisphere. Some of the questions that will help us make sense of these consequences are: How does the war on drugs impact democracy and citizenship? What is the political economy of imprisonment? And in what ways do imprisonment and police-citizen interactions – stemming from the war on drugs – shape individual and collective political behavior and political subjectivity?
POLS UN3604War, Peace, and International Interventions in Africa4
This course analyzes the causes of violence in wars and examines the debates around emergency aid, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. In addition, it focuses on recent conflict situations in Africa -- especially Congo, Sudan, and Rwanda -- as a background against which to understand the distinct dynamics of violence, peace, and international interventions in civil and international conflicts.
The causes and consequences of nationalism. Nationalism as a cause of conflict in contemporary world politics. Strategies for mitigating nationalist and ethnic conflict
This undergraduate course is designed to introduce to students who have limited knowledge of China some basic aspects of political institutions and processes as well as major events in Chinese political life under the communists since 1949, focusing on the post-Mao reform period since 1978. It examines economic and political development in China--their causes, patterns, consequences, and implications--in a broader context of transition from authoritarianism and state socialism. In this class, we will apply some concepts and theories in comparative politics in analyzing Chinese politics. By taking this class, students are expected to gain substantial knowledge about contemporary Chinese politics and acquire some basic ability to apply such knowledge to relate to and analyze current affairs concerning China
This course provides an introduction to the politics of war termination and peace consolidation. The course examines the challenges posed by ending wars and the process by which parties to a conflict arrive at victory, ceasefires, and peace negotiations. It explores how peace is sustained, why peace lasts in some cases and breaks down in others and what can be done to make peace more stable, focusing on the role of international interventions, power-sharing arrangements, reconciliation between adversaries, and reconstruction
POLS UN3706EMPIRICAL RESEARCH METHODS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE4.00
Prerequisites: At least sophomore standing recommended. Corequisites: Computer Lab: TBD (50 minutes per week). Enrollment limited to 40 students: "L" sign-up through eBear. Not an introductory-level course. Barnard syllabus. The course introduces students to the systematic study of political phenomena. Students will learn how to develop research questions and executable research designs. Then, taking an applied approach, students learn basic statistical and case study techniques for evaluating evidence and making empirical claims. No prior experience with statistics is assumed
