Political Science

This course investigates questions that are both central to political philosophy and of current political importance. They include: What does it take for a society to be just? How can we come to own natural resources? and more. 

This course introduces students to the basic framework and key concepts to understand the behavior of voters and politicians in elections. It also explores the foundations of political parties and electoral competition. The course acquaints one with the knowledge and terminology of political science, but also gives one tools to evaluate information and think critically about how politics works.

This course examines dominant schools of political thought in the 20th century and political theory relevant to assisting interpretation of the politics of development. Modern liberal democratic thought and 20th century Marxist thought; Nazism and Neo-conservatism; Anti-colonial thought and Nationalism; and West Indian political thought will be reviewed and assessed. This course will also provide exposure to critical methodologies used in contemporary political sciences.

This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of innovation and its dynamics. It explores the determinants of innovation, drawing on theories to examine how and why innovation occurs, and the types of innovation that may emerge from different political economy perspectives and institutional frameworks. Part of the course involves examining policy evaluation and design, specifically discussing how to provide policy advice that considers the complex societal ecosystem, including societal hopes and fears.

This course offers an introduction to the field of political science. Topics include: politics and political power; forms of political organization; democracies and dictatorships; state structures; parliaments and political representation; government systems; culture and political socialization; actors in the political system; political and electoral behavior; public policies; challenges of politics in today's world.   

The course introduces students to the study of nations and nationalism from both an empirical and a normative perspective. It encourages students to explore the advantages and disadvantages of nationalism and national identity in light of recent history and current political developments. Students are introduced to contemporary normative debates on the political morality of nationalism and provided with conceptual tools to engage in these debates in a theoretically sophisticated way. They employ their conceptual and theoretical knowledge to explore possible solutions to contemporary political problems involving nationalist claims, and they deepen their understanding of the relationship between empirical and normative analyses of politics.

This course examines Chinese leadership. Topics to be covered include the Chinese leadership structure, the characteristics of the party-state, the dynamics between individuals and institutions, the channels of elite recruitment, the educational and occupational characteristics of Chinese officials, the relationship between various elite groups (political, economic, and military), and factional politics. 

This course explores the contemporary issues and debates which shape world politics today. It begins by introducing key elements in the study of International Politics, before moving on to look at the themes of power, conflict, and peace within International Relations. It covers the role and functions of institutions such as the United Nations and the role of states and other key actors in international politics. It explores the changing shape and character of conflict and explores this within the context of an arguably more fragmented and less cohesive international system. It also consider a wide range of issues such as the global environment, poverty, and underdevelopment. The course links concepts and theories with a number of contemporary case studies which consider patterns and trends in war and conflict, arguments for and against nuclear weapons, tensions around militarized humanitarian interventions and peacekeeping. 

This course explores debates around gender and sexualities as a way both of deepening knowledge about the politics of gender continentally, and of exploring the complexity of different African contexts’ engagement with broad discussions on sexual rights. The course is divided into two sections which broadly focus on South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. The first section addresses concepts on gender and sexualities through an examination of how sexualities were remade as a result of colonial conquest as well as how debates over gender and sexualities shifted post-‘independence’. The second section looks at contemporary debates in gender politics and sexualities. These include debates of the (de)criminalization of sex work, culture and sexuality, reproductive health rights and sexual rights, and gender and the media. DP requirements: Students are expected to attend all classes, and to submit all required assignments by deadlines identified in the course curriculum. Assessment: Continuous assessment (essays, projects, tests, etc.) counts 100%.

How do states cooperate with each other? How do they engage in conflict? Do these strategies of engagement change over time? These are some of the most important questions in the field of International Relations (IR) and they lie at the center of this course. Researchers and practitioners have asked those questions throughout human history – the increasingly competitive landscape of international security in the last decade makes such questions all the more potent. Starting with the onset of World War I and ending in the near future, this course explores the nature of conflict and cooperation over approximately the past 100 years. It introduces students to the different actors, processes, and technologies that shape these dynamics. This involves themes and topics such as why and when states start wars, how they may be prevented, how powerful states build international orders and for what reasons, whether international institutions are autonomous from states or subservient to them, the consequences of the rise of populism on interstate politics, and the nature of the current conflict between Russia and the West.