Political Science

This course examines the triangle of politics, public policy, and implementation. It looks at the issues of making policy work in practice; the academic perspective on everyday government practice; the promises and pitfalls of policy implementation; professional relationships; autonomous agencies; public management; and policy implementation theory.

The course begins with a study of the rebuilding of Europe and the stark division of the continent following the Second World War. It compares how countries across Western Europe embraced varying combinations of liberalism and socialism while the 'Iron Curtain' sealed Eastern Europe within Communism until that system's stunningly peaceful collapse that climaxed in November 1989 with the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. It also traces the evolution of the European Union, despite references to the 'United States of Europe', dating back to the earliest visions of European integration. The course analyzes how the European Union has been developing on a fundamentally different path from the United States of America and any other political system.

Between the early seventeenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, along with the Peace of Westphalia, Major European political thinkers first began to look outside their national borders and envisage a world of competitive, equal sovereign states inhabiting an international sphere that ultimately encompassed the whole globe. This course focuses on some of the most significant (British) thinkers on modern international relations and international laws that have been present since the birth of the term. The goal of the course is to provide students with theoretical musculature to think further about "international."

This course addresses politics in the Middle East and North Africa with a focus on relations between states. Questions that guide the course include: When do countries engage in costly conflict against each other? What is the relationship between domestic politics and international relations? Do transnational ideologies impact politics? If so, how? In line with these overarching questions, the course addresses topics such as international involvement in the region, the role of resources, authoritarianism and democratization, sectarianism and ethnicity, terrorism, and protests.

Why did some Middle Eastern countries experience uprisings and others did not? Why do we observe Iran and Saudi Arabic supporting some non-state actors but ignore others? Why have some actors changed their religious rhetoric? Does oil impact politics in Saudi Arabia? This seminar examines these questions and contemporary politics in the Middle East. Students familiarize themselves with major political science debates on issues relevant to the region, and develop understanding of concepts and theory that are useful for analyzing Middle East regional politics Themes addressed include: war and international involvement in the region; authoritarianism and the Arab Spring, religion and sect; and, energy resources. The course examines a number of events, including, but not limited to, the 2003 Iraq War, the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War, and the Iranian nuclear deal. This course is designed as a broad survey of Middle East politics; given the time constraints; it is not possible to cover every country and issue. 

This course focuses on theoretical and empirical explanations for political phenomena in the Middle East. As such, we pay close attention to how to theoretically and empirically address social and behavioral science research questions relevant to the Middle East.