Current Courses

The following graduate courses are offered on a rotating basis by the Politics department.

200A. Political and Social Thought Core Seminar. Draws on history of political thought, contemporary social and critical theory, and the contributions of legal and institutional analysis of various kinds to engage in critical study of political practices that are experienced or understood as in some way limiting, oppressive, or wrong; to transform our understanding of these practices; to see their contingent conditions; and to articulate possibilities of governing ourselves differently. (Formerly Interpretive Problems in Political Theory: Language and Power.). Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Thomas

200B. Social Forces and Political Change Core Seminar. Concerns transformation of social forces into political ones. Focuses on formation, articulation, mobilization, and organization of political interests and identities, their mutual interaction, and their effects on state structures and practices and vice versa. Major themes are 1) social bases of political action: class, gender, race, and other determinants of social division and political identity and 2) relevant forms of political agency and action, including development of political consciousness and representation of interests and identities in the public sphere. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. B. Read

200C. States and Political Institutions Core Seminar. Introduces study of political institutions as instruments of collective decision making and action. Explores alternative theoretical approaches to development of political institutions, state and political economy, and security dilemmas. (Formerly States, Political Institutions, and Global Political Economics Core Seminar.) Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. E. Pasotti

200D. Political Economy Core Seminar. Introduction to the theories and methodologies of political economy. Focuses on the relationship between states and markets and considers the politics of economic choices and institutions germane to both national and global political institutions. Addresses origins and development of markets and capitalism; historical evolution of states and their economies; relationship between labor, capital, production, and consumption; regulation of production; macroeconomics and management of economies; and issues of national and global social welfare. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. R. Schoenman

201. Logics of Inquiry. Investigates approaches to study of politics and to enterprise of social science in general. Works from positivist, interpretive, historical, and critical approaches provide examples held up to critical and epistemological reflection. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. R. Lipschutz

202. Fundamentals of Political Research. Gives students practical tools to transform research questions into viable and well-crafted research designs. Introduces conceptual development, various forms of data, and rules for case selection. The goal is to train students in a range of specific methods, including interviewing, ethnography, and archival work. Enrollment limited to 15. M. F. Massoud

203. Making of the Modern. Introduces, at the graduate level, some of the central conceptual categories and material implications that underwrite the world of the modern. Explores concepts including the individual, historicism, contract, and objectivity. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. V. Seth

207. Political Economies of Affect. Explores the potential in philosophical precursors to recent affect theory, alongside classical political economy and its critics, to develop an alternative epistemology for political economy. Readings include: Aristotle, Spinoza, Deleuze, Hume, Negri, Hardt, Smith, Bergson, and Marx. Enrollment limited to 15. D. Mathiowetz

214. Thinking Green: Politics, Ethics, Political Economy. Green political thought, philosophy, debates, and practices; history of ecological thought and comparative study of competing ideas and proposals. Critical examination of neo-liberal environmentalism. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. R. Lipschutz

232. United States Political History. Covers several important themes and sets of readings from the literature on American political development. Topics include the origins and development of American political institutions, the evolution of democratic mechanisms, the rise and fall of social movements, and debates about the sources of policy regimes and political change, including the role of war. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. D. Wirls

233. Interrogating Race. Critically examines alternative theoretical and methodological approaches to study of race and racism. Considers alternative explanations for origins and persistence of racism and racial inequality and suggests the relevance of a socio-political understanding. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. Staff

241. Culture and Politics in Latin America. Interdisciplinary analysis of the relationship between culture and politics in Latin America, drawing on current critical debates in anthropology, history, cultural studies, feminist and poststructuralist theories, as well as political science. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 140C. Enrollment restricted to graduate politics majors. Enrollment limited to 15. Staff

255. Comparative Anti-Colonialisms. Political thought of anti-colonial movements in comparative, historical perspective, including 18th- to 20th-Century European colonies of America, Asia, and Africa. Focuses both on the contemporary political thought of these movements as well as on historiographical approaches of secondary literature. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Thomas

261. Key Issues in Contemporary Chinese Politics. Addresses topics ranging from the core institutions of the party-state to local politics, economic governance, and state-society interactions in multiple realms. Considers China in its own terms while evaluating the relevance of theoretical concepts from various fields in the social sciences. Aims to identify opportunities for new research projects. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. B. Read

272. Critical Interventions in IR Theory and Global Political Economy. Seminar examines selections from the canonical literature in international relations theory and global political economy through a number of critical lenses, including constructivist, feminist, historical materialist, and subaltern approaches. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. R. Lipschutz

291. Teaching Assistant Seminar (2 credits). Two-hour weekly seminar required of teaching assistants in which pedagogic and substantive issues will be considered. The experience of performing teaching assistant duties constitutes subject matter for discussion. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. May be repeated for credit. The Staff

293. Field Study. Individual study undertaken off campus with direct faculty supervision. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. May be repeated for credit. The Staff

295A. Research Colloquium (2 credits). Weekly venue for Ph.D. students to present current research, exchange information on sources and resources, discuss and critique epistemologies and methods, and to formulate topics for QE field statements and the dissertation. There are no assigned readings. May be repeated for credit twice. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. The Staff

295B. Advanced Research Seminar. Weekly seminar for Ph.D. students in which to develop and write extended research papers on selected topics, to present current work, to discuss methods, data sources, and fieldwork, and to receive critiques and assessments from fellow students. May be repeated for credit twice. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. The Staff

297. Independent Study. A student approaches a member of the staff and proposes to take a course 297 on a subject he or she has chosen that is not covered in other politics graduate courses or plans a graduate independent study that includes an undergraduate course. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. May be repeated for credit. The Staff

299. Thesis Research. Enrollment restricted to gradaute students and permission of instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. May be repeated for credit. The Staff