Political Science (POL SCI)

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session
An introductory analysis of the structure and operations of the American political system, primarily at the national level.
Introduction to American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
Politics is the art and noise of collective governance under conditions of scarce resources, conflicting interests, diverse beliefs, uncertain outcomes, and unequal power. In 1AC, we learn about the institutions, ideologies, and processes that constitute politics in the U.S. In fulfilling the AC requirement, we further examine how power, equality, and diversity are configured and contested in our politics. The course emphasizes active research- and group-based learning.
Introduction to American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This course deals with the basic problems and processes that all political systems face and examines their particular expression in Western, Communist, and Third World settings.
Introduction to Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
This course aims to furnish students with the tools necessary to study political processes and outcomes in comparative perspective. It is divided into three parts. The first introduces the basic concepts and methods of comparative analysis and examines our principal unit of analysis: the state. The second surveys the range of political regimes under which people live around the world. The third examines three key variables that both influence political outcomes and are influenced by political processes: institutions, identity, and agency. Throughout the course we will use a wide variety of country examples, but will not focus exclusively on any particular set of countries.
Introduction to Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
Analytical and methodological problems of political inquiry, with an emphasis on quantification and measurement.
Introduction to Empirical Analysis and Quantitative Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 First 6 Week Session

Analytical and methodological problems of political inquiry, with an emphasis on quantification and measurement.
Introduction to Empirical Analysis and Quantitative Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2024 8 Week Session, Summer 2023 8 Week Session, Summer 2022 8 Week Session
This course provides an overview of some of the methods employed in political science research. Its purpose is to familiarize you with the scientific study of politics, and to teach you how to pose and answer
empirical research questions using appropriate evidence and arguments. Along the way we will learn about how to formulate and evaluate theories, how to design research to discover whether a
particular theory holds up empirically, and some basic research strategies. By the end of the course you should have the tools to critically evaluate the kinds of social science arguments found in everyday life and be able to conduct your own independent research.
Introduction to Empirical Analysis and Quantitative Methods,: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
An approach to the understanding of politics through the perspectives and language of the political theorist.
Introduction to Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course is designed to introduce students to the major theoretical approaches to international politics, to explore important historical and contemporary questions and debates in international affairs, and to teach students to think critically about international relations. It is a prerequisite for most upper division international relations courses in Political Science.
Introduction to International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2001 10 Week Session, Summer 2000 10 Week Session, Summer 1999 10 Week Session
This course will study the historical processes of racial formation and transformation in California. Students will develop an understanding of the dynamic nature of racial and ethnic cultures and identities, and use these tools to better understand their own cultural position. Two periods are studied: 1848-1882 and 1964-1988. The course will consider the experiences of Asian Americans, Chicano/Latinos, African Americans, European Americans, and Native Americans.
Race, Culture, and Politics in the Golden State: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2005
The Berkeley Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Berkeley Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester.
Freshman Seminars: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2009, Fall 2008, Spring 2006
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester.
Freshman/Sophomore Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2010, Fall 2007, Fall 2005
Topics, experimental in nature, will vary from year to year.
Freshman Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024
Dêmokratia, democratia, democracy. What did this term mean to the ancient Greeks who coined it, to the Romans who borrowed it, to the early modern Europeans who discussed it—and what does it mean today? Who or what was the original dêmos, how did it rule, and how different is the interpretation of “rule by the people” that now predominates? Starting with the first attestations of da-mo in the 12 th century BC and ending with the recent attempts by Iceland and Chile to reform their constitutions by crowdsourcing and a citizen convention respectively, this course offers a chronological exploration of the idea and practice of democracy, intended to broaden our imaginative horizons with respect to what democracy has been, is, and could become.
Pathways: Democracy Ancient and Modern: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2004
Sophomore seminars are small interactive courses offered by faculty members in departments all across the campus. Sophomore seminars offer opportunity for close, regular intellectual contact between faculty members and students in the crucial second year. The topics vary from department to department and semester to semester. Enrollment limited to 15 sophomores.
Sophomore Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
We will focus on the theoretical side of political science. The main goals here are to understand what makes a good political science theory, and to give a brief overview of how game theory and related tools make up a powerful way to construct theories. This side of the class will be less data-focused, we will also see how the programming tools you learn in Data 8 can be used in this part of the scientific process. We will pivot to the empirical side in the second part of the class, we will cover how political scientists and other social scientists think about the challenges of causal inference, and the tools we use to overcome them.
The Scientific Study of Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Lectures and small group discussion focusing on topics of interest that vary from semester to semester.
Directed Group Study for Lower Division Students: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Berkeley Connect is a mentoring program, offered through various academic departments, that helps students build intellectual community. Over the course of a semester, enrolled students participate in regular small-group discussions facilitated by a graduate student mentor (following a faculty-directed curriculum), meet with their graduate student mentor for one-on-one academic advising, attend lectures and panel discussions featuring department faculty and alumni, and go on field trips to campus resources. Students are not required to be declared majors in order to participate.
Berkeley Connect: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2006, Fall 2005, Spring 2005
Supervised Independent Study and Research for lower division students, pursuant to the Regulations of the Berkeley Division, Section A230.
Supervised Independent Study: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Analysis of principal institutions, functions, and problems of the Presidency and the federal executive branch. Special attention will be given to topics of presidential leadership, staffing, executive-legislative relations, and policy formation. Comparative reference to executive processes in other political systems.
The American Presidency: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Nomination and election, constituent relations, the formal and informal structures of both houses, relations with the executive branch, policy formation, and lobbying.
Congress: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2009, Fall 2006, Spring 2006
This course will explore the Congress--the first branch under the Consititution--and its role in our political system. It will leverage our environment in Washington by featuring frequent guest speakers and seeking connections to current policy and political debate. In addition to surveying the pathways of lawmaking, we will ask how Congress and its members relate to the other branches of government, to the press, and to the public.
The Congress: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2010, Fall 2009, Fall 2008
The institutional environment within which American politics takes place. Concept and history of parties in the American context: their nature and function, origin and development. Party organization and structure. State, national, and local party systems and their variations. Nominations and elections.
Political Parties: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2013, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
The nature of politics, the education of politicians, the structure of ambition, and the ethical values of social behavior in the political world. Sessions with elected officials and party workers on their vocation.
The Politician: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
An inside look at how political campaigns operate from the viewpoint of the media, taught by the people who run them. Class material will be directed towards students who are interested in direct involvement in campaign politics or who are looking for a greater understanding of the political process. Students will be required to develop a complete written campaign strategy document in order to fulfill class requirements. Students will be expected to follow political and campaign news via the media and be prepared to discuss those developments in class.
American Politics: Campaign Strategy - Media: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 1999 10 Week Session, Summer 1998 10 Week Session, Summer 1997 10 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2023 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2013, Spring 2011
See department web site for specific course details.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 First 6 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2005
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Summer 2005 10 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2012
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2009
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2011
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2021 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2012 10 Week Session, Summer 2012 First 6 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Spring 2020
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2012, Summer 2011 8 Week Session
Topics will vary.
Selected Topics in American Politics-UCDC: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2018
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
The purpose of this course is to provide Cal-in-Sacramento interns and other interested UC Berkeley students with a rudimentary understanding of our state government. We will focus on the state legislature and executive branch, exploring both the policy-making process and the politics in Sacramento, which we will learn are quite closely related to one another.
Cal-in-Sacramento: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
In this class, the revolution against traditional political authority embodied in Jefferson's and Thomas Paine's attack on the British crown, the rise of slavery, and the conflict with Native America are seen as coherent parts of a cultural and social development that emerges in 18th- and 19th-century America. Using both original antebellum materials, including biographies, history, and literature, and contemporary images from American popular culture such as film, news and magazine articles, and music, we will compare and contrast the experiences of antebellum Native Americans, Euopean immigrants, and African slaves as a connection between the past and the present emerges.
The Politics of Displacement: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2019, Fall 2017
Major theories from the ancient Greeks to the modern period. Ancient and medieval political thought, including Plato, Aristotle, and St. Augustine.
History of Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2022
Early modern political thought up to the French Revolution, including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.
History of Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2021, Spring 2019
Nineteenth and twentieth century political thought, including Burke, Utilitarianism, Marx, and contemporary theory.
History of Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2010, Fall 2008
This is a survey course that will examine developments in 20th-century European Political Theory. It will focus on theorists' contributions and reactions to various major political and intellectual shifts, including Marxism (as "Western Marxism" and Critical Theory, as well as institutionalized Soviet communism in its heyday); psychoanalysis; and fascism.
History of European Political Theory: The 20th Century: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
The first part of the course will cover the history of Roman law and substantive doctrines of Roman private law – Persons, Guardianship, Property, Successions per universitatem, Obligations ex contractu and ex delicto, and Actions. The second part of the course will then examine the ‘Second Life of Roman Law’ – the reception of Justinianic Roman law in modern legal and political thought, its integration into medieval and modern legal systems (e.g., canon law, Roman-Dutch Law, Scots Law, the French Code Napoleon, the German Civil Code), in Latin America, Africa, and East Asia (as well as Louisiana).
Roman Law: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2019 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session
Major theories from the ancient Greeks to the modern period. Ancient and medieval political thought, including Plato, Aristotle, and St. Augustine.
History of Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2014, Spring 2013
What is governance? How should we explain its emergence? What are its implications for public policy and democracy? This course uses debates about contemporary governance to examine four approaches to political science and political theory. The approaches are rational choice theory, institutionalism, Marxism, and poststructuralism. The course looks at the narrative that each approach provides of the origins and workings of governance since 1979, and at the way these narratives embody theoretical commitments about rationality and power, structure and agency, and democracy. It thus promotes an awareness of the way questions about contemporary governance are inextricably linked to philosophical and normative commitments.
Theories of Governance: Late 20th Century: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Summer 2004 10 Week Session, Spring 2004
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2021
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2019
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2014
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2022
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2012 10 Week Session, Summer 2012 Second 6 Week Session
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2020
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Summer 2014 Second 6 Week Session
This course explores ideas of individual ethics and political community, the ethics of political rule, freedom and slavery, popular sovereignty and democracy, and equality and inequality in political thought. Readings will be drawn from both canonical and contemporary authors, including Sophocles, Douglass, Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, and Tocqueville. This is an introductory course, which emphasizes both thematic and historical approaches to political theory.
Power, Freedom, and Democracy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2022
This course explores the varieties of political experience and ideas in the ancient Greek world,
focusing on the Classical era. We’ll consider different regime types (kingship, tyranny,
democracy, oligarchy), places (Athens, Sparta, Crete, Syracuse, and beyond Hellas, Persia,
Carthage, and Egypt), political forms (city-state, nation, alliance, empire), institutions (assembly,
council, courts, offices) and persons (political leader or “demagogue,” citizen, woman, foreign
resident, slave). The readings are broadly chronological and include a wide variety of sources:
epic and elegiac poetry, tragic and comic drama, history, inscriptions, speeches, pamphlets, and
philosophy.
Ancient Greek Politics and Political Thought: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2013
Intensive study of one topic, problem, or intellectual movement in political theory. See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 1998
Major perspectives in social and economic thought, e.g., natural law,natural right, laissez faire,"possessive individualism,"contractualism, pluralism, and social equality as they affect contemporary discussion of "higher law," fairness, civic competence, and distributive justice.
Theories of Justice: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023
Dêmokratia, democratia, democracy. What did this term mean to the ancient Greeks who coined it, to the Romans who borrowed it, to the early modern Europeans who discussed it—and what does it mean today? Who or what was the original dêmos, how did it rule, and how different is the interpretation of “rule by the people” that now predominates? Starting with the first attestations of da-mo in the 12th century BC and ending with Iceland’s recent attempt to crowdsource its constitution, this course offers a chronological exploration of the idea and practice of democracy intended to broaden our imaginative horizons with respect to what democracy has been, is, and could become.
Democracy Ancient and Modern: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024
Jurisprudence is the formal academic study of the theory of law. For centuries, law students in the Western world were traditionally introduced to the topic of Jurisprudence through the study of classical Roman law - the most important legal system and the ancestor to most major modern legal systems in the world today. Following this tradition, students in this course will be introduced to Jurisprudence by following the classical approach in Part I of the course. Part II will then investigate the major modern schools of Jurisprudence.
Jurisprudence: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2011, Summer 2007 10 Week Session, Summer 2006 10 Week Session
The course will examine three American cultural forms. The focus of the course is to be comparative; readings will center around first-person accounts, written by members of the ethnic groups most immediately involved in each of the cultural forms. The theme is that of identity, seen politically as well as culturally: examining how the various ethnic groups involved came to forge a collective identity for themselves. The three groups studied will vary by instructor. See departmental listings for more specific information.
Three American Cultures: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Summer 2021 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2020
The European Union is the world's most advanced experiment in governance beyond the level of the traditional nation-state. Through the European Union, the main members countries have pooled their national sovereignty and created new ways political authority, economic competition, social cohesion, and cultural identity. While specialists in comparative politics focus on the separate countries, scholars in international relations emphasize the construction of supranational institutions and transnational identities. This course seeks to synthesize the comparative and international approaches by examining the economic, political, and cultural aspects of integration.
Politics of European Integration: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2004, Fall 2003
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2012, Spring 2009, Spring 2007
See department web site for specific course details.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2019, Fall 2007
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2020, Spring 2019
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2011
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2013
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2018
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2022, Spring 2021
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
The goal of this class is to familiarize students with the various ways in which actors can manage and resolve their conflicts. Conflict management in both international and civil conflicts will be discussed. Students will learn about negotiation, mediation, arbitration and adjudication, sanctions, military intervention, peacekeeping, nation-building, and the design of peace agreements. We will also talk about the role of the United Nations, regional organizations, and major powers like the U.S. in conflict management. While the main goal of the class is to familiarize students with central concepts and theories of conflict management, we will also take a look at cases that illustrate when, how and why different strategies work.
Conflict Management: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2024 Second 6 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Fall 2017
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Is this necessarily true? Wars are brutal and horrific events, but are they all necessarily the result of miscalculation, accident, or fanaticism? Can war serve a rational purpose? Are wars governed by rules and do states care about these rules? This course is designed for upper-level undergraduate students.
War!: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
This class begins with a historical overview of war in the region. The second part of the class introduces theories that complement and elaborate on theories from PS124A: arguments about the relationship between war and resources,religion, authoritarianism, civil military relations, territorial disputes, sovereignty, and power. In the third part of the course, we will explore current policy concerns related to conflict in the region: Nuclear proliferation, terrorism, the civil war in Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, drone warfare, and the U.S. role in the region.
War in the Middle East: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2021
Should nations intervene in other countries to prevent human rights abuses or famine? On what principles should immigration be based? Should wealthy states aid poorer states, and if so, how much? Who should pay for global environmental damage? Answers to these moral questions depend to a great degree on who we believe we have an obligation to: Ourselves? Nationals of our country? Residents of our country? Everyone in the world equally? We will examine different traditions of moral thought including skeptics, communitarians, cosmopolitans, and use these traditions as tools to make reasoned judgments about difficult moral problems in world politics.
Ethics and Justice in International Affairs: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
It is increasingly recognized that for societies to move on after widespread human rights and humanitarian abuses some kind of reconciliation process is necessary. What does reconciliation mean at the national vs. personal level? What institutions and processes work best to encourage reconciliation? What role do truth commissions and trials play in this process? Are these processes best dealt with nationally or should they be led by an international body? This course will start by examining the concept of reconciliation and then look at case studies including Germany and Japan after WWII, Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge, Argentina and the Dirty War, Chile after Pinochet, South Africa and Apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, and war in Yugoslavia
Reconciliation After Atrocities: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022
This course will examine the origins and forms of what a legal scholar once called an “odious scourge”: genocide. For years, genocide mainly referred to the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews during World War II. However, since the end of the Cold War
events in Eastern Europe, Central Africa, and elsewhere have drawn scholars’ attention to genocide as a political phenomenon that may be studied across regions and time periods. Although ethical and policy concerns will underlie the discussion, as they do whenever genocide is the topic of study, our main objective will be to examine the determinants of genocide and related forms of mass violence.
The Comparative Study of Genocide: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2022
This course is an introduction to the central concepts, laws, and debates in the field of international human rights. In the first half of the course, we will examine fundamental questions in the field, such as: What are human rights? What are the philosophical, religious, and historical foundations of human rights? What are the main international human rights agreements? What are some problems with those agreements? What are the main international institutions that handle human rights? How are human rights enforced outside of the U.N. system? What are regional human rights systems? Are human rights universal? And what role do non-governmental organizations play in this field?
The Politics of Human Rights: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2020
The goal of this upper-level seminar is to familiarize students with the scientific approach to studying international conflict, provide them with a deep understanding of the basic factors that exacerbate or mitigate international conflict, and sharpen students' analytical and research skills.
The Scientific Study of International Conflict: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Summer 2021 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2020
This course is designed to help you: (1) understand the existing theory and evidence about (a) the causes, strategies, and outcomes of civil conflict, and (b) the ways in which international actors intervene, (2) broaden your theoretical and empirical framework in international relations more generally, (3) think critically about the existing work in the field, and (4) begin to consider engaging in research on civil conflict and international intervention.

Civil Conflict and International Intervention: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Economic concepts in the study of international political behavior. Political concepts influencing the choice of economic policies.
International Political Economy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
This course covers the history and analysis of Chinese foreign policy since the inception of the People's Republic of China 1949. Some attention is devoted to pre-1949 Far Eastern international relations, but only as a background to the study of the contemporary period. Emphasis is placed on Sino-American and Sino-Soviet relations, on the domestic determinants of Chinese foreign policy, on the changing nature of China's relations with her Asian neighbors, and on important substantive issues.
Chinese Foreign Policy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2009, Spring 2008, Spring 1996
Chinese foreign policy from the inception of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to the present. This course aims at providing the student with a sufficient factual base, alternative theoretical approaches and some of the methodological tools useful in studying Chinese foreign policy.
Chinese Foreign Policy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020
This course focuses on the sensible application of econometric methods to empirical problems in economics and public policy analysis. It provides background on issues that arise when analyzing non-experimental social science data and a guide for tools that are useful for empirical research. By the end of the course, students will have an understanding of the types of research designs that can lead to convincing analysis and be comfortable working with large scale data sets.
Applied Econometrics and Public Policy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 1996
Social scientists and policymakers increasingly use large quantities of data to make
decisions and test theories. For example, political campaigns use surveys, marketing
data, and previous voting history to optimally target get out the vote drives.
Governments deploy predictive algorithms in an attempt to optimize public policy
processes and decisions. And political scientists use massive new data sets to measure
the extent of partisan polarization in Congress, the sources and consequences of media
bias, and the prevalence of discrimination in the workplace. Each of these examples,
and many others, make use of statistical and algorithmic tools that distill large quantities
of raw data into useful quantities of interest.

Machine Learning for Social Scientists: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024
This course will cover a broad range of topics on the use of predictive and related algorithms in public policy. This will include specific case studies, how data are used in these tools, their possible benefits relative to status quo procedures as well as their limitations, and the potential harms and ethics surrounding their use (e.g. issues of algorithmic bias).
The course will include instruction on both concepts and methods. Students will learn about the use of algorithms in public policy (and related topics) through a conceptual and the-oretical lens, through illustrative case studies, and through data science applications and exercises.
Berkeley Changemaker: Algorithms, Public Policy, and Ethics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2017, Spring 2013
For more information see course description on department web site when course is offered.
Selected Topics in Quantitative Methods: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
A non-technical introduction to game theory. Basic principle, and models of interaction among players, with a strong emphasis on applications to political science, economics, and other social sciences.
Game Theory in the Social Sciences: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2024 8 Week Session, Summer 2023 8 Week Session, Summer 2022 8 Week Session
This course provides an introduction to game theory and its application in social science, especially political science and economics. The purposes of the course are to give students a sense of the field of game theory and how political scientists use it in making arguments about how government and politics work, to develop students' intuition about strategic situations in everyday life, and to develop students' analytical capabilities generally. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to depict social situations as simple game theoretic models, analyze those models to understand how the behaviors of the individuals involved are mutually reinforcing, and apply computer-based tools to evaluate under conditions of uncertainty.
Game Theory in the Social Sciences: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2005, Spring 2004
This course provides a deep dive into comparative political science. It takes the form of a “great books” course that focuses on outstanding, recently published texts. We will investigate how the authors formulated their research questions, conducted their field research, developed their causal explanations, found inspiration to persevere, and dealt with methodological challenges. We will also delve into the substantive issues that the books tackle, which include some of the most urgent issues in global politics. Each book we will study is an exemplary, inspiring work, and taken together the texts cover a vast range of substantive topics and geographical regions.
Advanced Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2008, Fall 2007, Fall 2006
Theories of revolutionary violence, rebellion, and revolution. Strategies of revolution, terrorism, sources of revolutionary action.
Revolutionary Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025
Why do people rise up, and what outcomes emerge when governments are overthrown and new forces take power? Drawing on studies of events in Russia, Cuba, Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala, and a range of other cases, we will ask why revolutions emerge in some settings and not others, why people do (and do not) mobilize for change in their societies, and why some uprisings succeed in taking power while others are defeated. We will then ask about the changes that revolutions bring in the social, economic, and political realms do we see greater freedom and equality in post-revolutionary society, or do revolutions fall short of their promises? And what explains the consequences that we observe?
Causes and Consequences of Revolutions: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Not yet offered
Many are concerned with the state of democracy in the United States and throughout the world. To better understand these concerns, we will study how global democracy has changed over time through questions including - How should democracy be defined and measured? What are the causes of democratization and democratic erosion? Do factors like inequality, polarization, and immigration pose a major threat to democratic progress? How will recent technological developments like social media and AI affect the future of democracy?
“Data intensive course”. While the main emphasis is on deepening our understanding of democracy and democratic change, most assignments will have at least some component of collecting, analyzing, and/or interpreting data.
Democracy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2000, Spring 1999
This course provides a political economy framework to understand the origins and persistence of global gender inequality. We will look at variation in gender equality indicators to systematically address how women’s socio-economic status and political power have varied across time (in historical perspective) and place (in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas). We will employ three analytical lenses to help us interpret what we see: biology, markets, and power. Throughout the course, we will pay particular attention to the way gender intersects with other identities, such as race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexuality, class, and partisanship.
The Political Economy of Gender: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2004
This course will examine how government, firms, and individuals interact to govern markets by surveying debates over specific substantive issues in the advanced industrial countries, especially the United States. Topics include labor regulation, antitrust policy, financial regulation, and intellectual property rights.
Market Governance in the Digital Age: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2020, Fall 2019
This course examines the interaction between politics and markets, both in theory and in practice, explicitly linking classic works on political economy with current policy debates. We study how political systems and markets are organized in a wide range of different national settings, looking at both history and contemporary issues. Topics include: 1) early industrialization in Britain and the United States, 2) late industrialization in continental Europe and Japan, 3) the varieties of capitalism in contemporary industrialized countries, 4) the newly industrializing economics of Latin America and East Asia, 5) the problems of development, and 6) the transition from communism to a market economy in Eastern Europe and China.
The Varieties of Capitalism: Political Economic Systems of the World: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Summer 2008 10 Week Session, Summer 2008 Second 6 Week Session
This course will examine international migration from a historical and comparative perspective, looking at why people migrate, how citizens respond to the migration, and how states respond to migration. The first part of the course looks at the changing relationship between the state, immigrants, and citizenship. Turning to case studies, we will examine five different types of receiving states, each confronted with a different form of migration: a traditional immigrant state, a post-colonial state, a non-traditional immigrant state that imports migrant workers, a highly industrialized latecomer state, and a newly industrialized state.
Immigrants, Citizenship, and the State: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
In the present era political, economic, and social organization powerfully influence national capacity to assure economic success, real and rising incomes for the population, and political success, basic survival, and the projection of its purposes and values. This course looks at the continual process of international competition and transformation, and examines which factors separate the winners from the losers. We will gain leverage into these questions by examining critical moments in the 20th and 21st centuries and analyze according to national responses. What choices signal success? Can the failures be avoided? The course will discuss whether globalization is shunting aside national political choice, or whether globalization is in fact a sequence of national and regional stories played out on a larger stage. We will consider how economic constraint structures political choice and national response to the global economy. But we will also examine how political developments shape market dynamics and national innovations. We will learn about all sorts of things from the politics of French fashion to why Japanese make good cars.
National Success and Failure in the Age of a Global Economy: from Pleats to Cleats: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025
In this course, we will think critically about the history of clothing in the world, how choices about clothing have shaped political, economic, and social outcomes across the world, and how the choices we make every day when we get dressed relate to the broader world around us. In doing so, we will explore the role(s) of clothing in global history, the history of industrialization, the political uses of clothing, and current interactions between the political economy of fashion and the environment. Students should come to the course ready to engage critically with their everyday decisions and the wider implications of these choices.
The Politics of What We Wear: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024
This class will introduce students to the complex phenomenon of human trafficking (also referred to as a form of modern day slavery) as defined in the United Nations Anti-Trafficking Protocol as well as the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and its subsequent reauthorizations. In this class, we will discuss trafficking in human beings in its historical, legal, economic, political and social contexts, identifying the scope of the global problem, different forms of human trafficking, regional trends and practices, including trafficking in the United States, and the different actors involved at all levels.
Human Trafficking: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023
This course will examine the origins and forms of what a legal scholar once called an “odious scourge”: genocide. For years, genocide mainly referred to the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews during World War II. However, since the end of the Cold War events in Eastern Europe, Central Africa, and elsewhere have drawn scholars’ attention to genocide as a political phenomenon that may be studied across regions and time periods. Although ethical and policy concerns will underlie the discussion, as they do whenever genocide is the topic of study, our main objective will be to examine the determinants of genocide and related forms of mass violence.
The Comparative Study of Genocide: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024
This course starts by exploring such migration reasons and the scholarly understanding of the politics of immigration. We then move to discussing the processes of immigrant incorporation—do immigrants and their children enter the mainstream societal institutions, what are the policies that promote the social, economic and political participation of immigrants, and what are the conditions that hinder immigrants participation; including nativistic reactions to immigration and demographic change. The course ends with a discussion of policy interventions designed to ameliorate the conditions hindering immigrants’ incorporation.
The Politics of Immigration: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Summer 2013 10 Week Session, Summer 2013 Second 6 Week Session
Politics of economic development in developing countries. Comparative analysis of the theories and practice of development in the light of contemporary experience. Political strategies of agrarian, industrial, educational, and regional development and their impact on autonomy, welfare, justice, and human development.
Development Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2013
Over half of the world's population is now urban. As urban populations swell, metropolitan areas in both the developed and the developing world struggle to provide basic services and address the negative externalities associated with rapid growth. Sanitation, transportation, pollution, energy services, and public safety typically fall to sub-national governments. Yet local sub-national institutions face difficulties as they tackle these challenges because development tends to spill over political boundaries and resources are limited. Such difficulties are particularly acute in the developing world due to tighter resource constraints, weak institutions, and the comparative severity of the underlying problems. Moreover, democratization and decentralization suggest that urban governance and service delivery may have become more democratic, but present challenges with respect to priority setting, coordination, and corruption.
Urban and Sub-national Politics in Developing Countries: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020
Over half of the world's population is now urban. As urban populations swell, metropolitan areas in both the developed and the developing world struggle to provide basic services and address the negative externalities associated with rapid growth. Sanitation, transportation, pollution, energy services, and public safety typically fall to sub-national governments. Yet local sub-national institutions face difficulties as they tackle these challenges because development tends to spill over political boundaries and resources are limited. Such difficulties are particularly acute in the developing world due to tighter resource constraints, weak institutions, and the comparative severity of the underlying problems.
Urban and Subnational Politics in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course tackles a series of big questions about economic growth and development. What hinders progress towards wealth and wellbeing in the Global South? What models of development are available to these states and what role does the Global North play in shaping their opportunities for growth? How do leadership, corruption, and violence impede these processes? And what prospects and challenges do climate change, technology and migration hold for citizens of the countries?
Political Economy of the Global South: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2018
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2012 10 Week Session, Summer 2012 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2011
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2021
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
The rise of right-wing populists marks contemporary politics. In this course, we discuss how populists achieve enough support to win power, particularly when entrenched political parties oppose them. To understand the rise of populists, we delve into the origins of political parties, their support base, and their organization. We then discuss the influence of a crisis of representation on the electoral success of populists in democratic contests. Is their success linked a large segment of the population feels underrepresented by the existing political parties?
Course must be taken simultaneously with PS N149G.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Political Parties and Party Systems: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
The course will cover ethnic politics, broadly conceived with a particular focus on social movements, protests, civil disobedience and political violence. Related topics may include immigration, crime and the state, and urban politics. We will consider a range of questions including, how do stories influence our sense of self, community and nation? How do filmmaking techniques influence which people and issues become salient? How do aesthetic and narrative choices affect attitudes about the social order and who is deserving of power? Through close readings of films, social science, and media studies scholarship, this course will enable students to study key political science concepts, the institution of cinema, and how stories make meaning.
Projecting Power: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2008
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2015 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2013 First 6 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2021
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Fall 2017
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2018
This course presents a broad introduction to contemporary politics and society in Russia. What was the Soviet Union, and why did democracy fail in Russia after the USSR fell apart? What kind of regime has Vladimir Putin constructed, and what are the limits of his power? How did Russia reemerge as a global power and how does it challenge the West and democracy around the world? How may we understand the nature of Russian nationalism and the quest for a secure national identity? How does the Russian economy work? What do we know about public opinion and the lives of ordinary Russians? Does the recent rise in social protest and state repression portend major political change? The course is recommended for juniors and seniors but is open to all
Russian Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Summer 2022 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2020
Modern politics and government in the states of Eastern Europe presented within a broader cultural, historical, and sociological framework. Problems of economic underdevelopment and national fragmentation. Comparisons of the pre-Communist, Communist, and post-Communist periods.
Politics and Government in Eastern Europe: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
The Middle East in world affairs, international relations and domestic policies of contemporary states in the Middle East; policies and strategy of major powers; supranational movements, regional political and security organizations. The area comprises Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, and the Arab countries.
Middle East Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
The structure and evolution of political institutions in China, and China's relations with neighboring states such as North Korea and South Korea. Emphasis upon such topics as nationalism, political modernization, and ideology.
Northeast Asian Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2017
The structure and evolution of political institutions in Japan. Emphasis upon such topics as political parties, the bureaucracy, social change, and contemporary policy issues.
Japanese Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
An overview of Chinese politics since the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Emphasis on the People's Republic of China and post-Mao reforms.
Chinese Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2016
China's extraordinary growth has in some respects confirmed the power of free markets, but at the same time, it has challenged social scientists to think more deeply about the foundations and limits of the market economy. Furthermore, China's ever-increasing economic freedom and prosperity has been accompanied by only limited steps toward greater political freedom, running counter to one of the most consistent patterns of comparative politics and history. This class will cross conventional boundaries between political and economic analysis in order to address these issues.
The Political Economy of China: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2002 10 Week Session
This course offers the opportunity to learn about contemporary Chinese politics and society while visiting both famous and ordinary places to see and hear first hand how the Chinese people have experienced over five decades of dramatic change. The course has two components. The first week will be spent on the Berkeley campus and will involve an intensive introduction to the major strands of scholarly work on Chinese politics since the Communist revolution. During this time, students will also have a chance to become familiar with the basic outlines of recent Chinese history. The remaining 3 weeks of the course will be held in the Peoples Republic of China with an emphasis on experiential learning. Lecture and discussions will be on-going during and following field work and tours. In addition to lecture and discussions, two essays will be required.
Chinese Politics and Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Fall 2017
This course is designed primarily for students interested in exploring in depth the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and developments in East Asia. This course will explore the historical and contemporary foreign policies of the United States toward Asia with an eye toward analyzing the ways in which Asia has been shaped by American, and in turn American policies have been shaped by events in Asia.
American Foreign Policy Toward Asia: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
An overview of modern Korea divided into the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The course will compare the two Koreas in terms of political, social and economic institutions, culture, political elites and modernization strategy.
Politics of Divided Korea: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2020, Fall 2018
A comparative analysis of development and change in the political systems of contemporary South Asia.
South Asian Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 1998, Spring 1997
A comparative analysis of development and change in the political systems of contemporary South Asia.
South Asian Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2024 8 Week Session, Summer 2023 8 Week Session, Summer 2022 8 Week Session
This class focuses mostly on the "domestic" politics of India. In addition to providing an overview of political developments in India since independence, this online course assesses the nature of democratic participation and representation in contemporary India - the world's largest democracy.
Understanding Political Developments in India: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
Introduction to politics in the states of contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. Comparative study of political institutions and regime transitions; economic crisis and development; political violence and civil conflict.
African Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2010 10 Week Session
The course begins at the global level and moves to the local level in examining the nexus of politics, environment, and culture where conflicts ensue. These conflicts can lead to violence and hardship. They can also result in creative adaptations and solutions based in political and administrative institutions and processes that build peace. The first three weeks of the course examine global trends and institutions; the last three weeks examine the specific dynamics involving land and resource conflict in Kenya. Throughout the course, students will be introduced to social science and environmental science perspectives. Students will be exposed to the analytical tools of political economy, history, and political ecology. The class will consist of students from the University of California, Berkeley and Kenyatta University. It will be led by faculty from both institutions.
Environment, Culture, and Peacebuilding: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2019
French political life has long gravitated around a "Republican model" marked by an unmediated relationship between the citizen and the state, socialization into French values through secular public education, a special vocation for France on the international stage, and an activist state. Recent developments have called the Republican model into question. This course will examine the transformation of France's Republican model - its origins, operations, and responses to contemporary challenges.
Contemporary French Politics: The Republican Model in Transition: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2022, Fall 2020
Comparision of welfare states in Western Europe and North America. Origins of welfare states. Varieties of welfare states. Relationship between welfare states and the economy. Impact of changing social, economic, and family structure states. Contemporary welfare reform.
The Welfare State in Comparative Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course provides an introduction to German history, from ancient times to the post-reunification period. Special emphasis will be placed on the history of the city of Berlin. Except for a few preparatory activities in Berkeley, the course will be conducted in Berlin, offering lectures as well as hands-on visits to important places of German history. This is a four-week travel-study course.
German History and Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
Political institutions, groups and parties in Latin American countries. Basic characteristics of political processes in Latin America; problems of political development and modernization and political change. Comparative study of political systems, institutions, groups and political culture.
Latin American Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2008, Spring 2006, Fall 2004
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2013, Fall 2010, Fall 2009
See department web site for specific course details.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
See department web site for specific course details.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2013
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2022 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2012, Summer 2011 Second 6 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2023 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2020, Fall 2019
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course main goal is to help students to become familiar with contemporary Spanish and Catalan politics. Students will gain familiarity with the historical background and main institutional features of Spanish democracy, with a specific focus on the Catalan region and the issue of territorial integration within Spain. We will also cover some of the recent developments. Throughout the course we will use the Spanish case to motivate broader discussions on some key topics of comparative politics: civil wars, democratization, secessionism, terrorism and political violence and party system formation.
Course must be taken simultaneously with PS N140G.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Contemporary Catalan and Spanish Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2021, Spring 2010
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2018
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2023
See department web site for specific course details.
Special Topics in Area Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2016 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2015
The nature of the American legal system; the interrelationships of judges, lawyers, police, political officials, bureaucrats, press, and general public; the political and social aspects of the legal process.
The American Legal System: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2008, Spring 2006
In contemporary democracies, law, courts, and other legal institutions (law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, administrative tribunals, the legal profession) play an ever-increasing role in the government of society. This course will examine the political science, legal and sociolegal literature on topics related to the design, staffing, and operation of legal institutions, the formulation of law, and the struggle for political power. See department web site for specific offerings.
Selected Topics in Public Law: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Summer 2020 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2018
Fundamental principles of constitutional law, leading cases, causes, and consequences of legal decisions and their role in influencing, shaping, and constraining the American political system. Judicial Review and the Limits to National Power.
Constitutional Law of the United States: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2010, Spring 2009, Spring 2008
Fundamental principles of constitutional law, leading cases, causes, and consequences of legal decisions and their role in influencing, shaping, and constraining the American political system. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Constitutional Law of the United States: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
The nature of public opinion, attitude formation, electoral turnout and choice; political cleavages; the role of the mass public.
Public Opinion, Voting and Participation: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2024 8 Week Session, Fall 2020, Spring 2019

What can psychology tell us about why believe what they believe about current events, vote the way they do, or even perpetrate atrocities? This class explores the sources of public opinion and political behavior through the application of psychological theories about personality, cognition, social influence, and identity. The course focuses on both underlying psychological theories and concepts and their political implications. This class will largely focus on applications in United States politics and society, but I will include examples from other countries as well. There are no prerequisites.
Political Psychology and Involvement: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session
This course explores the sources of political beliefs and actions through the application of psychological theories about personality, learning, cognition, and group dynamics. The course begins by briefly considering a number of alternative analytic approaches to linking human nature and politics and then considers such problems as political ideology, persuasion, compliance, protest, violence, and leadership in terms of these approaches. The course considers both mass and elite political behavior. The readings include both quantitative materials drawn from survey research and experiments and more impressionistic and clinical studies.
Psychology of Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2023 8 Week Session, Summer 2022 8 Week Session, Summer 2021 8 Week Session
What can psychology tell us about why believe what they believe about current events, vote the way they do, or even perpetrate atrocities? This class explores the sources of public opinion and political behavior through the application of psychological theories about personality, cognition, social influence, and identity. The course focuses on both underlying psychological theories and concepts and their political implications. This class will largely focus on applications in United States politics and society, but I will include examples from other countries as well. There are no prerequisites.
Political Psychology and Involvement: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2016
This course examines the past and present of Latino politics in the US. The course reviews the history of conquest, colonization, and immigration that gave rise to the Latino population in the US, the differences and similarities in the contexts of reception of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and Central American, the cultural and institutional determinants of Latino identities, and the historical and institutional contexts shaping the contemporary political attitudes, behaviors, and representation of Latino voters.

Latinos and the U.S. Political System: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2018
Students will explore, discuss, and understand the relationship between racial/ethnic group formation, group-based beliefs and behavior, and politics. Our focus is on the US today, but with an appreciation of how the racial politics of the here and now is rooted in history and human psychology. We cover Black Politics, Latinx Politics, Asian American Politics, Native American Politics and White Politics, general concepts of identity, immigration, citizenship, class, and intersectionality. We examine both how race and ethnicity affect politics, as well as how politics can shape the boundaries, definitions and behaviors of groups. These behaviors include voting, elite decisions, civic engagement, protests, and media content and usage.
Racial and Ethnic Politics in the New American Century: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
Some of the most enduring and violent conflicts in America center on race. The goal of this course is to explore, discuss, and better understand the relationship between perceptions of racial identity, attributions of racial difference, and politics, broadly defined. We focus on the recent and persistent debates about racism, identity, rights, representation, citizenship, conflict, and coalitions. A repeated theme of this course is the question whether racial order and inequality are essential to, or an exception from, the liberal democracy in the U.S. This is a lecture course with intensive readings, written assignments, and in-class discussion.
Racial and Ethnic Politics in the New American Century: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2014
See departmental announcements.
Selected Topics in Political Behavior: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
An inquiry into the political environment of the state--historical, economic, geographic, and social; its political institutions--government, parties, interest groups, and citizens; and the policies resulting from the interaction of environment and institutions.
California Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2006, Fall 2004, Spring 2004
This course examines the emergence and crisis of California's political economy. An analytical framework is developed that encompasses the secular growth and cyclical variability of California's income, expenditure, and revenue levels. California's economic growth and political development since 1875 will be analyzed. Specific topics covered include the Edmund G. (Pat) Brown era; Proposition 13 and the Ronald Reagan governorship; California's demographic transformation; challenges of minority economic development and political representation; the 2003 gubernatorial recall and the 2002-04 fiscal crisis. Course is part of the University of California Center Sacramento Program and is located in Sacramento.
Political Economy of the California Crisis: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2013, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
The roles of various levels of government--local, regional, state, and national--in politics and policy-making in metropolitan regions.
Urban and Metropolitan Government and Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Political issues facing the state of California, the United States, or the international community.
Undergraduate Colloquium on Political Science: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
The methods used to manage the power of the bureaucracy in the American political system. An introduction to theories of organizational behavior. The effects of administrative structure upon the creation and distribution of public benefits.
Public Organization and Administration: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2020
This course explores the way societies try to address and solve difficult and seemingly intractable public problems. Can we attribute success or failure to institutions and their capacity to solve problems? Are problems difficult to solve because they are complex or because of a failure of political will? What are the characteristics of organizations or communities that are able to solve problems? How are public problems framed and how are they used to mobilize constituencies? The course draws on literature in public administration, public policy studies, and democratic theory to try to better understand some of the major social, political, environmental, and economic problems of our contemporary world.
Public Problems: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
H190A is the first of a two-semester research seminar designed to provide support and structure to political science seniors writing an honors thesis. To receive department honors, students must maintain the minimum GPA for honors and complete H190B with a B+ or better. For additional details, please consult the Undergraduate Advising Office or http://www.polisci.berkeley.edu.
Honors Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
H190B is the second of a two-semester research seminar designed to provide support and structure to political science seniors writing an honors thesis. To receive department honors, students must maintain the minimum GPA for honors and complete H190B with a B+ or better. For additional details, please consult the Undergraduate Advising Office or http://www.polisci.berkeley.edu.
Honors Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
The seminars will generally be led by ladder-rank faculty members in the subfields of Political Theory, Area Studies, American Politics, International Relations, and Comparative Politics. These intense writing seminars will focus on the research area of the faculty member teaching the course. The seminars will provide an opportunity for students to have direct intellectual interactions with faculty members while also giving the students an understanding of faculty research.
Junior Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2022
This initiative is designed to help students learn about what it means to earn a PhD
in political science and how to prepare for and apply to PhD programs. The goal is to build a
community of undergraduate scholars who will be connected with each other and with faculty and
graduate students at Berkeley. Students will learn about political science research, ways to prepare
to be a competitive PhD applicant, and receive support, advice, and mentoring on the application
process. Students who are selected for the program will participate in a series of workshops throughout the semester, will be
advised on pursuing research opportunities as an undergraduate, and will have the opportunity
to receive mentoring from graduate students and faculty.
Pipeline Initiative in Political Science (PIPS): Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025
This experiential course prepares technical, business-minded, and policy-oriented students to build and plan the implementation of a product, startup, or policy innovation from scratch. This course is meant for students who seek a challenging, interactive, team-based, and hands-on learning experience in entrepreneurship and technology. Students can expect to work in an interdisciplinary team to develop novel products and solutions to address existing problems in the realm of democracy and technology.
Challenge Lab: Building Bridges between Democracy and Technology for a Better Society: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014
Independent study of an advanced topic resulting in a substantial research paper.
Special Research Project: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Fall 2012, Spring 2012
This course is the UCDC letter-graded core seminar for 4 units that complements the P/NP credited internship course UGIS C196B. Core seminars are designed to enhance the experience of and provide an intellectual framework for the student's internship. UCDC core seminars are taught in sections that cover various tracks such as the Congress, media, bureaucratic organizations and the Executive Branch, international relations, public policy and general un-themed original research.
UCDC Core Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
This course provides a credited internship for all students enrolled in the UCDC and Cal in the Capital Programs. It must be taken in conjunction with the required academic core course C196A. C196B requires that students work 3-4 days per week as interns in settings selected to provide them with exposure to and experienc in government, public policy, international affairs, media, the arts or other areas or relevance to their major fields of study.
UCDC Internship: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
Students work in selected internship programs approved in advance by the faculty coordinator and for which written contracts have been established between the sponsoring organization and the student. Students will be expected to produce two progress reports for their faculty coordinator during the course of the internship, as well as a final paper for the course consisting of at least 35 pages. Other restrictions apply; see faculty adviser.
Special Field Research: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2007, Spring 2006, Spring 2005
This seminar will introduce students to the theory and practice of policy analysis and development as it relates to legislative action at the state level to maximize students' internship experience. The internship component of the course will provide students with a challenging opportunity to engage in experiential learning in some aspect of the political, policy-making, or governmental processes in California's state capital. This course will permit students to develop a systematic understanding of the public policy and political process in California and to develop analytical writing skills to produce a 25-30 page research paper developing and reflecting on this understanding. This course is part of the University of California Center Sacramento Program and is located in Sacramento.
UC Sacramento Internship and Research Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 1997, Spring 1997, Fall 1996
This research seminar will explore the workings of Congress and its role in making public policy. It combines elective coursework with the original scholarship requirements of a UCDC research seminar and is designed for students in Congressional internships and those considering Congressional staff positions after graduation. In addition to studying the pathways of lawmaking, we will ask how Congress and its Members relate to the other branches of government, the press, and the public.
Understanding the Congressional World: A Field Research Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2021 Second 6 Week Session, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
Supervised experience relevant to specific aspects of Political Science in off-campus organizations. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required. Enrollment is restricted by departmental regulation.
Field Study in Political Science: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Not yet offered
Supervised experience relevant to specific aspects of Political Science in off-campus organizations. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required. Enrollment is restricted by departmental regulation.
Field Study in Political Science: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
Submission of study proposal by faculty sponsor to the department chairman one month in advance of the semester to be offered. Group studies of selected topics which vary from year to year.
Directed Group Study for Undergraduates: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Berkeley Connect is a mentoring program, offered through various academic departments, that helps students build intellectual community. Over the course of a semester, enrolled students participate in regular small-group discussions facilitated by a graduate student mentor (following a faculty-directed curriculum), meet with their graduate student mentor for one-on-one academic advising, attend lectures and panel discussions featuring department faculty and alumni, and go on field trips to campus resources. Students are not required to be declared majors in order to participate.
Berkeley Connect: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
Enrollment is restricted by departmental regulation.
Supervised Independent Study and Research for Undergraduates: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Subject and texts to be studied vary with instructor. See departmental announcements.
Major Themes in Comparative Analysis: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This course provides an introduction to research design in comparative politics; it is the second semester of the two-semester introductory graduate sequence for the comparative
sub-field. We will focus on various topics relevant to doing research, such as how to formulate research questions; develop concepts and measures; bolster the validity of descriptive and causal inferences; and use various qualitative and quantitative methods in the service of diverse substantive agenda. Developing the ability to critique research is one important objective. However, the primary goal of the course is to provide a first foundation for actually doing research.
Major Themes in Comparative Analysis: Research Design: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2013, Fall 2012, Fall 2011
The comparative study of politics in Western societies. The place of parties, political structures, interest groups, and economic institutions. The relation between domestic political developments and the international system. The effect of economic development on political change. The effect of labor politics on national politics.
Comparative Analysis of Industrial Democracies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2010, Fall 2007, Fall 2006
The comparative study of politics in Western societies. The place of parties, political structures, interest groups, and economic institutions. The relation between domestic political developments and the international system. The effect of economic development on political change. The effect of labor politics on national politics.
Comparative Analysis of Industrial Democracies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2008, Spring 2006, Spring 2002
New digital technologies, changing market structures, and innovative business organizations are transforming the economic and social landscape of the advanced industrial countries. The policy issues associated with this transformation pose fundamental philosophical and political questions of how to organize our markets, polity, and society. The means of making and implementing these choices is politics. The necessarily global scope of the E-conomy extends the political and policy challenges to the international arena. This course will explore the literature on the political economy of the Internet to determine what policy choices -- hence which political debates -- are and will be most important. We also will examine our conceptual understanding of the burgeoning digital economy and its impact on politics, law, and socio-economic relations.
Governance of the E-conomy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2013, Spring 2012, Fall 2011
Issues of social organization and political change. Theories of progress, development, modernization and dependence.
Theories of Development and Political Change: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2013, Fall 2011
Metropolitan areas in the developing world face enormous challenges. This course will consider the political and institutional environment in which efforts to address metropolitan problems are developed, the financial and institutional vehicles used to provide services of different types, and the role of political parties and other political organizations in the development and allocation of services. Readings will be drawn from Political Science, Sociology, Geography, and Economics.
Urban and Subnational Politics in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2021, Fall 2013
This course will consider the political and institutional environment in which efforts to address metropolitan problems are developed, the financial and institutional vehicles used to provide services of different types, and the role of political parties and other forms of political organization in the development and allocation of services. Emphasis will be placed upon fertile areas for research within the social sciences.
Subnational and Urban Politics in Low and Middle-Income Countries: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2004, Fall 2003
This seminar is designed for Ph.D. students as a foundation for future research on the origins and persistence of gender inequality in politics and other positions of power. We will look at variation in gender inequality indicators to systematically address how women’s and men’s socio-economic status and political power has varied across time (in historical perspective) and place (in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas). Throughout the course, we will pay particular attention to the way gender intersects with other identities, such as race, ethnicity, sexuality and class. We will draw on readings primarily from political science and economics, but also sociology, psychology, law, and anthropology.
The Politics of Gender: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025
Adopting a comparative perspective on bureaucracy, this course examines how and why the structures, capacities, effectiveness and accountability of bureaucracies vary significantly in different places and at different times. Why do some administrative organizations become politicized and corrupt while others establish strong meritocratic administration and effective performance? Why do some bureaucracies develop their own power base and become relatively autonomous while others are subject to elaborate political oversight and micro-management? The course will examine these questions in both the global north and the global south.

Bureaucracy in Comparative Perspective: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2013, Spring 2012, Spring 2001
Why are there political parties? The origins of parties in issue cleavages, legislatures, social movements, and personal followings. Types of parties. The political machine, the ideological party, third parties, flash parties. Federalism and political parties. Intra-party competition and selection of leaders. What do parties try to maximize: votes? ideological purity? personal security of party professionals? How parties change: reform movements, issue crises, external social movements.
Comparative Party Systems: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2017
This graduate seminar is designed to introduce students to the comparative study of political violence. The course examines two broad themes through a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches. The first theme focuses on why individuals choose to rebel: When does violence become a strategy for resolving conflict? Why do individuals participate in violence? How is violence organized? The second theme focuses on how states choose to repress citizens: When are human rights violations committed? When does a state use violence over other strategies? What are the effects of state violence?
Political Violence: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This seminar provides an introduction to the major debates in comparative political economy. Although the empirical focus is on the affluent democracies, many of the debates and issues analyzed have implications for other regions. The course is divided into two main parts. The first part examines leading theoretical perspectives on political economy, such as Friedman, Marx, Weber, and Polanyi. The second part of the course is more topical. It probes a number of examples of economic development, crisis, and change, with an eye to assessing alternative theoretical perspectives.
Comparative Political Economy: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2009
With changes in technology, the internationalization of production and the massive increase in trans-border transactions of all kinds, it has been argued that we live and work in an era of substantively different capitalism. Were this true, it has deep implications for politics and for political economy. This graduate seminar explores the validity of this claim of a "new capitalism" through a variety of materials, starting with the question of whether "Fordism" ever existed, moving on to the question of whether "Post-Fordism" exists and ending with a variety of ethnographic studies that show how global production chains shape culture, gender, and hieraarchy/power.
Post Fordism: New Patterns of Production, Time, and Meaning in Contemporary Capitalism: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
See departmental announcements. Topic will vary with instructor.
Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
See department web site for specific course offerings.
Special Topics in Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022
This graduate seminar course will be dedicated to a detailed study the law of nations, focusing on (1) its historical origins in classical and medieval jurisprudence; (2) its development in major treatises, especially in those by Grotius and Pufendorf; (3) critiques in recent scholarship on the legal history and politics of modern empire-building. The course will involve a study of original print texts, including the 1646 De Jure Belli ac Pacis and the 1698 De Jure Naturae et Gentium.
The Law of Nations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Fall 2019, Fall 2017
A weekly seminar on political thought from the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance. Ancient and medieval political theorist, typically including Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Aquinas.
History of Political Thought: Ancient and Medieval: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2020
A weekly seminar on political thought from the Renaissance to the French Revolution. Early modern political theorist, typically including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau.
History of Political Thought: Early Modern (Renaissance to French Revolution): Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2020, Spring 2019
A weekly seminar on political thought in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Modern political theorists, typically including Tocqueville, Hegel, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche, and Weber.
History of Political Thought: Modern (French Revolution through World War II): Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2017, Fall 2012
A weekly seminar on approaches to the history of political thought. Theoretical topics, typically including the nature of meaning and textuality, validity, and historical explanation.
Methodological Topics in the History of Political Thought: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
An intensive examination of theorists, theories, or concepts in the history of political thought.
Symposium in the History of Political Thought: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2021
In this course, we will read the whole of Aristotle's Politics. Prior knowledge of ancient Greek is not necessary, although we will have the original on hand and will be discussing the meaning of the Greek as we go. This will be a communal scholarly journey, drawing on graduate students. Topics to include the polis (city-state), oikos (household), freedom,, slavery, Aristotle's interpretation of Plato, citizenship, democracy, oligarchy, Aristotle's ideal political system, the political implications of economic disparity, and how to think about and avoid political revolution.
Aristotles Politics: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2021, Spring 2020
A weekly seminar on contemporary approaches to political theory.
Approaches to Contemporary Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2022, Fall 2020
A weekly seminar on leading topics in contemporary political theory.
Topics to Contemporary Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2016, Fall 2012
An intensive examination of a contemporary theorist, debate, or issue.
Symposium in Contemporary Political Theory: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2020, Spring 2003
An examination of interrelationships of politics, personality, and culture, normally with specific focus on American materials. Research papers will be written and discussed during the semester.
African American Political Thought: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Origin, application and utility of major concepts featured in the study of international relations. Relation of various strands of political and social theory to international relations.
Theories of International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
The goal of this course is to introduce advanced political science graduate students to current debates in the field of international security and to prepare these students for conducting dissertation research in their own areas of interest within this field. This course is designed for advanced political science graduate students preparing to commence their dissertation research. Its orientation is theoretical rather than empirical and it is both reading and research.
International Security: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2021, Fall 2018
How has religion shaped the structure of the international system? How should IR scholars approach the role that religion plays in contemporary affairs? How does religion constrain or motivate international conflict? This seminar seeks to guide students through readings in the social sciences, from psychology and sociology to anthropology and political science, that explore the intersection of religion and international relations. We will examine a variety of theoretical approaches to the topic of religion and global politics, explore religious origins of the modern state system, and analyze the influence of religion on historical and comtemporary conflicts, with a particular focus on ethnic conflict, terrorism, and peacemaking.
Religion and International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2021, Fall 2019
See departmental announcements. Topic will vary with instructor.
Selected Topics in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2009, Spring 2007
This seminar traces the development of the constructivist program in international relations in order to better understand its elements, assumptions, and methods and apply those to current issues. We start by uncovering the roots of constructivism in sociology and philosophy and examine structuation theory, the English School, world systems theory, regime theory, and sociological institutionalism. The second part of this course focuses on the constructivist agenda in international relations, its boundaries and its critics. In the last part of the course we examine current research in IR that draws on sociological methods, including work on the role of norms, epistemic communities, transnational civil society, and the origins of the state.
Sociological Traditions in International Relations: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Spring 2017, Fall 2010
This seminar traces the development of the constructivist program in international relations in order to better understand its elements, assumptions, and methods and apply those to current issues. We start by uncovering the roots of constructivism in sociology and philosophy and examine structuation theory, the English School, world systems theory, regime theory, and sociological institutionalism. The second part of this course focuses on the constructivist agenda in international relations, its boundaries and its critics. In the last part of the course we examine current research in international relations that draws on sociological methods, including work on the role of norms, epistemic communities, transnational civil society, and the origins of the state.
Constructivism: Read More [+]