Specific topics will include policing, school reform, and gentrification. standard responses to economic crises. Attention then turns to how post-World War II authoritariansm has been understood from a variety of perspectives, including: the "transitions to democracy" approach; analysis of problems of authoritarian control and authoritarian power-sharing; and examination of "authoritarian relience," among others. Over the course of the semester, we will look at ten different types of events, ranging from those that seem bigger than government and politics (economic collapse) to those that are the daily grist of government and politics (speeches), in each instance juxtaposing two different occurrences of a particular category of event. How can a government of separated institutions operate and come to collective decisions given this discord? Materials include biographies, documentary films, short videos, economic data, and news reports. [more], Currently 272 million international migrants live in a country different from where they were born, an increase of 78% since 1990. Using a diverse set of readings drawn from empirical political science, contemporary democratic theory, American political thought, historical documents, political punditry (from the left and the right), and current events, our focus, like Tocqueville before us, is on teasing out both the lived experience--the character and challenges--of American democracy and examining any disconnect between that experience and the ideals that undergird it. Skepticism of government has deep roots and strong resonance throughout American political history. [more], This course provides an introduction to the politics of contemporary Africa, emphasizing the diversity of African politics. We will critically analyze how those categories are constructed at the international and domestic levels, as well as how those categorizations are also racialized, politicized, and gendered. How does political leadership in the 21st century differ from leadership in earlier eras? We will do so by investigating the different kinds of institutions that mediate risks throughout the lifecycle, from parental leave to old age pensions, and by comparing these institutions between different countries. What is democracy, how does it arise, and how might it fail? Looming environmental catastrophes capable of provoking humanitarian crises. We investigate who refugees are, in international law and popular understanding; read refugee stories; examine international and national laws distinguishing refugees from other categories of migrants; evaluate international organizations' roles in managing population displacement; look at the way that images convey stereotypes and direct a type of aid; consider refugee camps in theory and example; and reflect on what exclusion, integration, and assimilation mean to newcomers and host populations. Are there forms of unequal social power which are morally neutral or even good? We will conclude by reflecting on what lessons the welfare state offers for managing this century's biggest social risk: climate change. This seminar examines theory, politics, literature, film, and music produced from and linked to twentieth-century movements against capitalism, racism, colonialism, and imperial wars to think through how Black and Yellow Power have shaped solidarity to challenge white supremacy and racial capitalism. [more], This course examines the rise and fall of the Cold War, focusing on four central issues. What does it mean to be "philosophical" or to think "theoretically" about politics? We will pay particular attention to the construction of "Jews" and "Judaism" in these arguments. To how we want American politics to work? Transportation will be provided by the college. As a collaborative class taught at dozens of other colleges, the course enables you to engage in debates about democratic erosion with students throughout the US and around the world. Do the mass media and political elites inform or manipulate the public? Asking whether liberal thought, to borrow the famous joke about economists, assumes the can openers of liberalism and capitalism, taking as given that which is constructed historically, the course will look at leading theories about the role states play in constituting and maintaining capitalist economies, the definition and nature of power in liberal societies, and, more recently, the connection between identities, politics, classes, and states. This course will focus on neo-liberalism in comparative perspective, looking mainly at the US and Europe. The course concludes by considering what policies could be appropriate for supporting, while also regulating, the tech sector in the twenty-first century. What is the significance of death and arbitrary threats to our existence? In other words, to what extent and in what respects were these fundamental turning points made "democratically"? a range of thinkers including Dionne Brand, Aim Csaire, Angela Davis, douard Glissant, Kwame Gyekye, Paget Henry, bell hooks, Katherine McKittrick, Charles Mills, Nkiru Nzegwu, Oyrnke Oyewm, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Cornel West, and Sylvia Wynter. Finally, what are the costs of change (and of continuity)--and who pays them? What conditions are necessary to sustain effective leadership in the contemporary world? Readings include: cyberweapons changed how international politics works? PSCI 493 - 01 (F) SEM Sen Thesis: Political Science Division II. We will then use our investigation of how different authors, and different traditions, understand the nation to help us assess contemporary politics and come to our own conclusions about what animates conflicts. How can feminist power be realized? Transportation will be provided by the college. Throughout the semester, our goal will be less to remember elaborate doctrinal rules and multi-part constitutional "tests" than to understand the changing nature of, and changing relationship between, constitutional power and constitutional meaning in American history. This course examines those institutions. There is a similar dismal irony to the American Revolution, as captured by the title of Frederick Douglass' famous 1852 speech, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" This course looks at how difference works and has worked, how identities and power relationships have been grounded in lived experience, and how one might both critically and productively approach questions of difference, power, and equity. Accompanying these interventions in the legal field is a deep and sustained inquiry into the subject of law: Who can appear before the law as the proper bearer of civil and human rights? The course integrates theoretical perspectives related to a range of international security issues--including the causes of war, alliance politics, nuclear strategy, deterrence, coercion, reassurance, misperception, and credibility concerns--with illustrative case studies of decision-makers in action. This research seminar examines the intent, process, meaning and consequence of these new practices, particularly in terms of national constitutions, international law, and principles of justice. Class will be driven primarily by discussion, typically introduced by a brief lecture. Political science attends to the ways that social power is grasped, maintained, challenged, or justified. Finally, we examine whether the emergence of a neoliberal economic order has affected the organization of political society? Why this hesitation? To provide a broader context for Marcuse's critical theory, we will read a selection of his writings alongside related texts by Kant, Marx, Freud, and Davis. What is at stake, and what do different groups believe to be at stake? At the conclusion of the seminar, each student will submit a substantial and rigorous 10-12 page research proposal, with an annotated bibliography, for a roughly 35 page "article-length" thesis to be completed during Winter Study and the spring semester. This seminar will address these questions with the aim of introducing students to important theoretical topics and key concepts that are relevant to the comparative and critical study of Asia. In investigating this theme, our cornerstone will be Max Weber's famous argument from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. From anti-Japanese demonstrations in China, to tensions on the Korea peninsula, to competitive elections in Taiwan, to controversies in Japan about how history is portrayed in high school textbooks, national identity is hotly debated and politically mobilized all across the region. Political dissent has taken various forms since 1979 but the regime has found ways to repress and divert it. and individual personality, constitution and institution, rules and norms, strategy and contingency. In this seminar we will openly discuss unmentionable topics and get our hands dirty (sometimes literally) examining the politics of waste. Can the strategies theorists propose and employ really aid in the advancement of racial equity? Readings are drawn from Supreme Court opinions, presidential addresses, congressional debates and statutes, political party platforms, key tracts of American political thought, and secondary scholarship on constitutional development. On what basis? Introduction to International Relations: World Politics. In the mid-1970s, New York was a poster child of urban crisis, plagued by arson and housing abandonment, crime, the loss of residents and jobs, and failing public services. In this course, we look at this debate, examining what black thinkers in particular have said about whether racial equity can be achieved in a liberal democracy founded on racial domination and why they come to the conclusions they do. What does justice demand in an age of climate change? Asking whether liberal thought, to borrow the famous joke about economists, assumes the can openers of liberalism and capitalism, taking as given that which is constructed historically, the course will look at leading theories about the role states play in constituting and maintaining capitalist economies, the definition and nature of power in liberal societies, and, more recently, the connection between identities, politics, classes, and states. The Sentinels Scholar may submit her/his essay for consideration for honors in Political Science. Who are the people, anyway? At the core of feminism lies the critique of inequitable power relations. We will address basic questions such as 'What is populism?' It may be tempting to conclude from these similarities--as some recent commentators have--that we are witnessing the return of "totalitarianism" as Arendt understood it. The third part surveys significant topics relevant to the themes of the course, with applications to current public policy issues, such as: power relations and autonomy in the workplace; asymmetric information and social insurance; economic inequality and distributive justice; equality of opportunity; the economics of health care; positional goods and the moral foundations of capitalism; social media and addiction; economic nationalism; behavioral economics; climate change and intergenerational equity; finance and financial crises; and rent-seeking. We will read classic philosophical texts on art and politics by Schiller, Kant, Schopenhauer, Marx, Adorno, and others, and pair them with contextual studies of works of Western classical music from the last two hundred years and popular music of the last hundred years. Does it matter? We will examine both the international and domestic context of the war, as well as pay close attention to both South and North Vietnamese perspectives on the war. It also creates status for other actors, such as international organizations, soldiers, national liberation movements, refugees, terrorists, transnational air and sea shipping companies, and multinational corporations. The course places the US in conversation not only with European countries, but also (and especially) considerations of migration governance in destination countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. In investigating these topics, we explore questions such as these: How is power allocated? From the perspective of the public sphere, we investigate the firm as an actor whose power maps uneasily onto the channels of democratic representation. Requirements: One midterm paper (5-6 pp.) Will Japan continue to live as a nation with enormous economic power but limited military means? learn about the region's geopolitical significance from both an historical and political science perspective. We will discuss cases of Buddhism, Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam (Sunni and Shi'a), and Judaism. [more], Modern life has, in some ways, become less risky. What lessons might we derive for our own times from studying this history? This course is part of a joint program between Williams' Center for Learning in Action and the Berkshire County Jail in Pittsfield, MA. How does Congress act as an institution and not just a platform for 535 individuals? analyses; interviews; speeches; government documents. We will ask: What explains why some leaders have succeeded where others have failed? In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the Second World War, a strong bipartisan consensus emerged around the principles of liberal international internationalism and "America First" perspectives were marginalized in American politics. While a fairly obscure and struggling author for much of his life, Orwell achieved worldwide fame after the Second World War with the publication of Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949). After addressing general theoretical issues, the course will consider what is meant by democracy in the United States, Latin America, South Africa, and the Arab world. This course takes up such questions by considering how key recent or contemporary theorists have sketched the defining features of their political worlds. The second part will take a global perspective on the relation between religion and politics. Critics argue that today's media is shallow and uninformative, a vector of misinformation, and a promoter of extremism and violence. IGOs, whose members are sovereign states, range from the Nordic Association for Reindeer Research to NATO and the UN; INGOs, whose members are private groups and individuals, include the International Seaweed Association as well as Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch. [more], The core activity of this seminar is the careful reading and sustained discussion of selected works by Plato and Aristotle, but we will also engage such other thinkers as Epictetus and Augustine, and, from a political and theoretical point of view, selections from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. It aims not to address crises' causes nor to assist with solutions--which it considers political--just to keep human bodies alive. The issues we will explore include: What is poverty, and how do Americans perceive its dangers to individuals as well as the political community? Or could they go anywhere? Throughout the semester, we will not only approach these questions from the joint perspectives of theory and practice but also seek to enrich our understanding by exploring American democracy as it happens all around us with several exercises in the community at large. Students write weekly mini-reflection papers on assigned readings and collectively make analytical presentations. As Louis Menand argues, "almost everything in the popular understanding of Orwell is a distortion of what he really thought and the kind of writer he was." What would Tocqueville see if he returned to America today, almost 200 years later? But since the Revolution, leaders have been fighting to make real for all Americans the promise of government of, by, and for the people. Beginning from the presumption that change often has proximate as well as latent causes, this tutorial focuses on events as critical junctures in American politics. Topics may include neoliberalism and democracy; sovereignty and biopower; pluralism, individuality, and justice; technology and the specter of ecological catastrophe; the problem of evil in politics; white supremacy; and contemporary struggles over gender and sexuality. Is it a capitalist strategy to divide the public in order to advance the interests of the wealthy corporate elite? Yet assessments of what is at the heart of the country's problems vary. [more], The pursuit of wealth is an important feature of American political identity, captured by the ideas of the American dream and the Protestant work ethic. How are national security concerns balanced with the protection of civil rights and liberties? With admissions like this, Coates stoked a long-standing debate about the prospects for racial equity in liberal democracies like the United States. This class begins with the. and 3) What are strategies to counteract backsliding when it occurs? Should the world try to regulate the use of these technologies and, if so, how exactly? Is it merely a practical way to meet our needs? How significant of a threat are concerns like nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and nuclear accidents? In this course, we will look at feminist critiques of power, how feminists have employed notions of power developed outside of the arena of feminist thought, and efforts to develop specifically feminist ideas of power. As a background to understanding the reasons for and histories of these policies, this course will read several important books that deal with the Great Depression, the financial crisis a decade ago, and the risks of debt. But what is the polarization about and what caused it? Beliefs about music can serve as a barometer for a society's non-musical anxieties: Viennese fin-de-sicle critics worried that the sounds and stories of Strauss's operas were causing moral decline, an argument that should be familiar to anyone who reads criticism of American popular music. Central notions such as democracy, identity, and their relation to far-right populism will be discussed alongside questions of contemporary mobilization strategies. This course introduces students to the dynamics and tensions that have animated the American political order and that have nurtured these conflicting assessments. What is our individual and collective responsibility for creating and disposing of waste? [more], Authoritarian regimes are plentiful in the world today. The questions have sparked controversy since the origins of political thinking; the answers remain controversial now. Are "religious" reasons ever legitimate reasons for laws, policies or popular political action? But their worth is a continuing subject of debate. Racial Equity, Liberal Democracy, and Democratic Theory. We focus on the ways in which the Silicon Valley model can threaten social welfare through economic inequality and precarious employment, and engage a variety of perspectives, including workplace ethnography, to examine these threats, as well as potential regulatory responses. Readings may include texts by Rene Descartes, Andreas Vesalius, Londa Schiebinger, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Helen Longino, Nancy Harstock, Sandra Harding, bell hooks, Donna Haraway, Mary Hawkesworth, and Octavia Butler. [more], An unprecedented assault on the U.S. Capitol, the rise of white nationalism, a pandemic, a volatile economy, racial reckoning, and rapidly evolving environmental crises have all rocked American politics in the last year. Political Science 2023-24 - Catalog - Williams College Catalog [more], Impeachments. This course examines contemporary problems in political economy at and across diverse spatial scales. The final module introduces students to theory and methods for analyzing media relations (how a given media connects particular groups in particular ways). Electoral Politics in the Developing World. Do East Asian countries seek security and prosperity in a way fundamentally different from the Western system? Not even the Civil War could resolve this issue, as demonstrated by the failure of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow. The course will sweep across American history but will not attempt to be exhaustive in any way. The issues we will explore include: What is poverty, and how do Americans perceive its dangers to individuals as well as the political community? We also compare historical U.S. foreign policy toward the hemisphere to U.S. policy toward the entire world after the Cold War. Then, we will look at some important factors that shape how followers approach would-be leaders: inequality and economic precarity; identity and group consciousness; notions of membership, community, and hierarchy; and declining local institutions. POLITICAL SCIENCE. What's really at stake when we depict our leaders? This course provides a historical and theoretical context for understanding what is unique about President Trump's approach to American foreign policy in the 21st century. It will not only survey the history of the nuclear age--and of individual countries' nuclear development--but also grapple with important contemporary policy dilemmas in the nuclear realm. Our primary questions will be these: Why does transformative leadership seem so difficult today? Finally, we will assess whether US foreign policy decisions are coherent - that is, whether the US can be said to follow a "grand strategy." Tutorial topics include: sovereignty and the Platt Amendment; culture and politics; race and national identity; policies on gender and sexual identity; the institutions of "popular power"; the post-Soviet "Special Period"; the evolution of the Cuban exile community in the US; and the fraught agenda of reform and generational transition. Our focus is both contemporary and comparative, organized thematically around common political experiences and attributes across the region. Two years later he formed the Pan-Africanist Congress. Africanist Project to Black Consciousness. Courses - Political Economy Program The New Left and Neoliberalism in Latin America. Communities need a way to reconcile conflicts of interest among their members and to determine their group interest; they need to allocate power and to determine its just uses.