Political Science

This course offers an in-depth empirical analysis of key issues in contemporary world politics. It examines challenges of international cooperation in response to various growing global issues in the 21st century. Topics include: China and US relations; Post-Soviet Russia and the reconfiguration of Eurasian geopolitics; the European Union and the challenges of a common foreign and security policy.  

This course examines the foreign relations between the People’s Republic of China’s and the Third World during the Cold War. The course will place a particular emphasis on the following topics: China’s position in the Cold War, the role of ideology, decolonization and the response of the Cold War powers, and the political economy of the Third World during the Cold War. A particular emphasis will be placed on Sino-African relations and less so on Latin America.

This course is an introduction to race and colonial studies. Why do ideas about race feature in social relations today? What structures of knowledge do ideas about racial difference rely upon? How do historical projects of race-making come to be refashioned in contemporary social life? This course engages with such questions by examining the provenance of race and its defining role in the formation of colonial modernity. It provides an overview of key theoretical approaches and methodological debates in the study of race, racism, and colonial formations across various disciplines and intersecting sites of modern power.

This course introduces students to the forces that made, upheld, and unmade empires in modern global history (c. 1780-present). The course approaches empires in a global historical perspective, looking at them as frameworks of power and resistance, and identifying connections and comparisons. Transformations in world order is a central concern. The course begins with imperial expansion, resistance and independence movements during the global period of revolution and global war in the 1780s. It traces the growth and consolidation of formal and informal empire through conquest and trade in the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific, examining how changing conceptions of identity, race, nation, and belonging intersected with modes of political and economic power. The course also examines the impact of European imperial expansion on the empires of Asia and their transition from empire to nation-state in the international society of the 19th and 20th centuries. 

This course introduces students to the study of the relationship between religion and politics. The course is structured around key research areas in the field such as the conditions under which societies or the institutions that govern them become secularized, the emergence and persistence of the religious-secular divide as a salient political cleavage, the formation and electoral performance of religious parties, the relationship between religion and regime type, the potential implications of religious doctrines for public policy and economic outcomes, the causes of religious violence, as well as the historical and contemporary role of religion in the international sphere.

This course examines the foundations of the modern Human Rights regime, and address important controversies for Human Rights, including, accusations of Western-Centrism; protections for gender and sexuality; and issues of self-determination.

This course is an introduction to political geography. Topics covered include power and states, nationalism, collective mobilization and social movements, elections, and democratization.

This course provides a broad, interdisciplinary overview of the study of what has been interchangeably called nonviolent social movements, nonviolent civil resistance, nonviolent activism, and strategic nonviolence. It explores questions surrounding the ethics of nonviolent activism, when and where it has been used, the conditions under which it is more or less effective, and its consequences for local communities, state polities, and the international system. The course draws from seminal texts, historical accounts, cutting-edge social science research, and guest speakers. Students gain a foundational understanding of both the normative and empirical debates surrounding the practice of nonviolent activism, a familiarity with key cases in which it has been used, and an understanding of how this form of civic engagement is resourced. The course entails substantial discussion in class.

This course examines contemporary Japanese politics. It looks closely at the relationship between institutions (electoral systems, regulatory frameworks, administrative systems) and political actors such as politicians, political parties, bureaucracies and bureaucrats, business and civic groups, and citizens. It introduces some of the most important debates and issues in Japanese politics such as the emergence and evolution of conservative rule, the role of industrial policy in economic development, the relationship between bureaucrats and politicians, the legal system and politics, security policy and foreign relations, civil society and civic engagement, and state-interest group dynamics. The course will also address critical issues in contemporary Japanese politics such as demographic change, energy policy, the environment, natural disaster, constitutional revision, territorial and historical disputes in East Asia, women’s participation, and initiatives for economic revitalization.