Undergraduate Seminars
Students majoring in political science must take two 4-point 3000-level seminars. At least one of the seminars taken must be in the student’s primary subfield.
Registration
Students may not pre-register for political science seminars. To register, students must join the seminar's wait list in SSOL. Students on the wait list will receive further instructions from the instructor or the department.
Instructors' preferred methods for admitting students to seminars vary. Some will correspond with students via the wait list function in SSOL. Some will give instructions in the course notes section of the Directory of Classes. Others may communicate with students individually. Still others may ask all interested students to come to the first class meeting for instructions.
The Academic Affairs Coordinator can answer questions about seminar registration.
Seminars must be taken for a letter grade.
Fulfilling the seminar requirement
The following courses fulfill the seminar requirement. All seminars are offered for 4 points of credit.
- POLS UN3911 — Seminar in Political Theory
- POLS UN3921 — Seminar in American Politics
- POLS UN3951 — Seminar in Comparative Politics
- POLS UN3961 — Seminar in International Relations
Barnard colloquia may not be used to fulfill the seminar requirement, though they may be used to fulfill subfield or elective requirements.
Fall 2023 Seminars
Section
Section 001
Theorizing the Crisis of Weimar Democracy
The course introduces students to key debates in political and constitutional theory of the Weimar period. It contextualizes them in the social and political world of Germany's first, failed, democratic state by looking at cultural and economic theory as well as political thought. Many of the texts discussed in this class have only recently become available in the English language. As such, they offer fresh perspectives on concrete political theoretical problems such as the function and legitimation of modern constitutional courts, of basic rights and the role of the party. At the same time, this course offers a deep insight into the vagaries and complexities of European constitutionalism in the first half of the twentieth century, and the consequences of its failure for the political world that came after it.Instructor
- Maier
Section
Section 002
Environmental and Climate Justice
With the rise of extreme weather events as a consequence of climate change, the demand for “climate justice” has become a popular backdrop for environmental and climate movements to demand more specific political change to address the climate crisis. This course will cover the origins and development of the concept of environmental justice and its relationship to issues of race and power, as well as the transition from environmental justice to climate justice and its political implications today.Instructor
- Marwege
- Section
Section 001
20th Century African American Political Thought This course surveys the political and social thought of African-Americans during the course of the twentieth century. It considers the social, political, and historical context of political ideologies that emerged in black communities from the standpoint of early thinkers and activists such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett to post-World War II thinkers such as James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and Cornel West, among others. The course critically assesses such perspectives as liberalism, nationalism, feminism, conservatism, and Marxism as considered by Black activists and thinkers. The course approaches the study of African American political and social thought from both theoretical and historical perspectives. The course’s point of departure is the late nineteenth century, which will allow students to foreground debates that emerge and re-emerge throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. Those debates focus on what are the best strategies for African Americans to pursue freedom, justice and equal opportunity in the United States.- Instructor
- Harris
- Section
Section 002
Politics Parties in US Politics
In 1942 E.E. Schattschneider famously wrote that “democracy is unthinkable save in terms of parties.” In recent years, many observers of American politics have argued that the growing division between the two parties is having a negative impact on the U.S. political system. This seminar examines American political parties from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. We will explore some fundamental questions about the U.S. party system, including: Why do we have political parties? Why do voters form attachments to particular parties? What role do political parties have in the U.S. Congress? Has politics become more polarized along party lines?- Instructor
- Hirano
- Section
Section 003
Topics in Judicial Politics
This course explores judging and courts... and an assortment of controversies surrounding them, such as: Why do we have courts and judges? What does it mean for a judge to be impartial? To be political? Does electing state court judges distort their impartiality? Are Supreme Court justices’ decisions political? What does it mean to be political? Do judges’ biographical characteristics affect their decisions? At stake is the handling of important substantive political controversies such as voting rights, discrimination in criminal law, and the regulation of police. We will think not just about how courts engage in politics and policymaking, but what drives this engagement. In so doing, we will be evaluating the state of the American judiciary and justice system. (For the most part we will study American courts, but occasionally we might delve into other countries’ judiciaries as well.)- Instructor
- Lax
- Section
Section 004
Bureaucratic Politics
This course is a comprehensive, high-level introduction to American bureaucracies and their study. It is appropriate for any student with an interest in American political institutions and a background in political science or economics. The course is organized along two themes. First, it emphasizes tools that will be helpful for thinking about institutions in general, and bureaucracies in particular. Second, it proceeds from the “inside out,” beginning with personnel and ending with the bureaucracy’s external environment. Needless to say, along the way you will be exposed to a wide range of American political agencies and their activities. By the end, you will be able to develop some sophisticated thoughts about problems with the bureaucracy, and how they might be addressed.- Instructor
- Ting
- Section
Section 005
Equality and the Law
This seminar will explore the meaning of equality in the United States, through a close reading of Supreme Court decisions involving race, gender, sexual orientation, and wealth. The central question for the course will be: What does it mean to receive "the equal protection of laws"?- Instructor
- Amdur
- Section
Section 006
Public Opinion Research
Politicians, the media, non-profit causes, and for-profit corporations all rely substantially on having deep insights into American public opinion. These insights come from a broad and growing array of research sources, each with its own methodological intricacies. Given the importance of such insights for so many stakeholders, the quality of the underlying research is vital to how America operates. For a variety of careers, whether in government, media, non-profits, or the corporate world, being sophisticated about how public opinion research works—and how to interpret and utilize it—is an invaluable skill. In this course, students will learn about public opinion research in terms of methodologies, challenges, pitfalls, implementation, and usage. The goals of the class include:- Being knowledgeable about the most common ways that insights about American public opinion are generated
- Developing a critical eye for potential flaws, issues, and considerations when encountering (or, generating) public opinion data and insights
- Gaining experience in designing and implementing your own research about an aspect of American public opinion that intrigues you
- Instructor
- Bovitz
- Section
Section 007
Political Inequality in the US
This seminar considers the problem of income inequality and directs readings and research on the political causes and consequences of changes in income distribution in the US over the last three decades. There will be substantial reading—at least a book or the equivalent in scholarly papers each week—and the expectation of student engagement and discussion is high. The course focuses on politics and selected public policies affecting the distribution of income and the accumulation of wealth in the US. It is designed to help students think analytically about widening income disparity and how the logic of the political economy has structured patterns of great political and economic inequalities. Among the policies we may consider are: taxation, campaign finance reform, voting, the minimum wage and Earned Income Tax Credits, and financial sector reform.- Instructor
- Russell
- Section
Section 008
Issues on Race and Ethnicity in American Politics
This seminar examines how social identities based on race and ethnicity have marked politics in the United States since the founding of the republic. It focuses on the process of establishing and transforming racial regimes that have structured the conduct of politics, the process of incorporation of various racial and ethnic groups in polity, how identity formation shapes the political attitudes and behavior of different ethnic and racial groups in the political system, and how representation of interests is accomplished.- Instructor
- Vargas-Ramos
- Section
Section 001
Corruption and the Rule of Law
This seminar will examine debates about the sources and consequences of corruption and the rule of law. We will explore theories of corruption and legal development rooted in politics, culture, institutions, economic endowments, and society, while also considering the strengths and weaknesses of different ways of studying corruption. What do we mean by “corruption” and the “rule of law”? How can we study “illegal” activity? Why is corruption higher in some countries? What is autocratic legality? Does corruption hinder economic growth and democratic practices? If so, how? These questions will be at the center of our attention.- Instructor
- Frye
- Section
Section 002
Information, Media and Political Behavior
How does political information – conveyed via broadcast, print, and social media – shape the behavior of citizens and politicians in developed and developing countries across the world? In this class, we first ask what citizens know about politics, why they become informed, and how they process political content covered by the media. We then explore the consequences of independent news and partisan content for citizens’ beliefs, political preferences, and capacity to hold governments to account. We further explore the determinants and consequences of media biases, considering the nature and causes of editorial slant, political capture, and government censorship. Finally, we examine how social media and new technologies are changing the nature of modern political participation, generating misinformation, and affecting polarization and well-being. Drawing from countries across the world, this course emphasizes cutting-edge studies seeking to theorize key relationships and identify causal relationships in the context of a rapidly evolving media landscape.- Instructor
- Marshall
- Section
Section 001
Security Topics
Contemporary developments in international politics are giving rise to many new challenges to international security. Understanding some of these may require revisiting and renewing some standard theories that have a long track record in literature on international relations: deterrence and bargaining theories, the balance of power, power transitions, and the effect of economic interdependence on war and peace. Other challenges—rising populism and nativism—may require borrowing insights from other fields or rummaging in the attic of semi-forgotten social theories. Some trends—the declining quality of public discourse in established democracies—may require fresh thinking entirely. All of these may be affected by acute problems putting strain on international cooperation—global health, climate change, and cyberconflict.- Instructor
- Snyder
- Section
Section 002
Politics of the Multinational Enterprise
Virtually all of the world’s largest, most productive, and most politically powerful com- panies have operations in multiple countries. These multinational enterprises (MNEs) are responsible for the majority of global trade, one-third of global GDP, and one quarter of global employment; they also engage in corruption, commit labor rights violations, and gen erate a large share of global carbon emissions. In this course, we will study the MNE as a unique type of political actor. Drawing on research from scholars of international relations, economics, and business, we will attempt to answer questions such as: what determines the balance of power between MNEs and the developing countries that host them? How do governments regulate companies that operate in multiple—and sometimes, in dozens—of different national jurisdictions? How and why do MNEs lobby governments in order to achieve their preferred policies? And how can MNEs use their unique global structures to evade rules that they don’t want to follow? We will also frequently engage with ongoing, real-world interactions between MNEs and governments through the lens of social science theory.- Instructor
- Thrall
- Section
Section 003
Political Violence
This seminar examines issues related to armed conflict and national, regional, and international mechanisms to prevent and address it. The course introduces theoretical and empirical problems in research on conflict. It considers factors related to constitutional design, democratization, and interstate dynamics. The seminar analyzes the role of civil society movements, economic sanctions, democracy assistance, international tribunals, and international military intervention.- Instructor
- Kirschke
- Section
Section 004
Solving Global Problems
This course represents a hands-on approach to learning about some of the most pressing problems facing the world today. In terms of its intellectual objectives, it is designed to allow students to take part in problem-solving exercises in the context of pressing international issues and problems. The class will essentially function as a working committee, considering a different problem or issue each week. Preparations for class will rely both on assigned readings as well as additional outside materials collected by the students. A significant part of the preparations and class activities will involve team work and a significant number of verbal presentations to the class.- Instructor
- Gallarotti
- Section
Section 005
Inequality within and between Nations This is a seminar in international relations on domestic and international inequality. Inequality within developed nations is at historic highs, while the income disparity between nations has diminished. We will explore the reasons for these two trends, the linkages between them, and possible consequences. Will anti-globalization and populist movements, a result of domestic inequality, spell the end of globalizing equality?- Instructor
- Spiro
Spring 2024 Seminars
Section
Section 001
Seminar in Political Theory
Instructor
- Luban
Section
Section 002
Hanna Arendt
Instructor
- Maier
Section
Section 003
Racial Capitalism
With big corporations making grand statements about promoting diversity and inclusion, the question immediately rise can capitalism truly be "color-blind"? Can capitalism even be a force for equality leading to the utopia of a perfect meritocracy? If we are to trust history, one might be skeptical to answer these questions in the affirmative. But maybe this time humanity has learned and history won't repeat itself. This class engages with these questions by addressing the way in which capitalism and racism are understood to be linked to each other, whether there is a contingent link that might be overcome or that there are necessarily linked to each other meaning that the struggle against racism and capitalism are unavoidably linked to each other. There are no prerequisites for this class, although basic knowledge of Marxist theory is recommended.Instructor
- Battaglini
Section
Section 001
Elections
This research seminar focuses on US electoral politics. Our spotlight will shine on both the recent past, the 2022 midterms, and the looming 2024 election.Instructor
- Erikson
Section
Section 002
Sexuality and Citizenship in American Politics
For much of the 20th century, the American political system excluded LGBT individuals from full citizenship. This course seeks to understand the political and social forces shaping the transformation of these “sex and gender nonconformists” from a pariah group into a viable social movement and eventually into a powerful constituency within the Democratic Party. Special emphasis will be placed on the state’s role in defining identities, the ways in which gender and racial diversity have shaped the LGBT movement, and the role that partisan electoral strategies played in ushering sexuality and gender identity to
the center of American political conflict.Instructor
- Phillips
Section
Section 003
The First Amendment
Instructor
- Amdur
Section
Section 004
Politics and Policy: States, Local Governments, and Finance
State and local governments across the United States intersect with markets in a myriad of ways. The power to govern is the ability to mobilize resources and organize public and private interests in local governing arrangements. State and city governments are both borrowers and investors promoting fiscal, human capital, and economic development policies. The municipal debt market is over $4 trillion in bonds outstanding. The scale of this market is supported through an assemblage of intergovernmental actors, private interests, issuers, and investors operating at both a local and global scale. This course examines the role of state and local governments and the ways they access capital markets to promote a range of policy objectives. Considerable attention is given to fiscal crisis and intervention strategies state policymakers impose on cities as well as the turnaround strategies executed by states and cities to promote economic development and human capital policies. We will address a series of key questions: How do state and local governments mobilize private markets for their policy purposes? How do state politics and market forces shape the choices of local decision-makers? Who benefits and who loses in each of these scenarios? What politics supports growth, and how does it play out in different localities? Who are the major interests in the debt issuance process, and how do these interests play out at distinct spatial scales (Federal,
State, Local) in both stable and crisis markets? How are state/local politics and policies articulated through capital market actions? When is debt a solution, and when is it a problem, and how does that determination occur?Instructor
- Bushell
Section
Section 005
Topics in American Democracy
As the United States continues to experience democratic rollback, understanding the history and concepts central to debates about American democracy is increasingly important. This seminar will explore questions of the evolution of and challenges to American democracy. Topics will include historical events such as the founding and crafting of the Constitution and the Civil War, institutional issues like elections, legislatures and federalism, as well as thematic questions such as the interaction of democracy with race and identity or other divisions within the polity. Because this is an advanced seminar, many of these topics will be familiar to students, but we will be discussing them in greater depth through the specific lens of American democratic development and democracy.Instructor
- Mitchell
Section
Section 006
The Politics of Policymaking
This seminar directs readings and research on public policymaking in the American federal government. It is designed to help students think analytically about the intersection of the politics, structures, processes, and actors at the heart of public policymaking. It examines how political institutions--the executive and legislative branches (federal, state and local)--are organized and motivated to produce public policy, the politics of government organization, bureaucratic operation and survival, how the budget process drives policymaking processes, policy structures and relationships that have emerged out of custom and practice, theories and models of decision- making, concepts of rationality and choice, agenda-setting, political innovation, and judicial and interest group roles in policy formation. Contemporary pressures on the U.S. policy system will also be examined. Specific policy areas and influences we may engage as case studies are: economic policy, climate and environmental policy, financial reform, the budget process, the Pandemic and disease control, voting laws and access (state policies), immigration policy, policy responses to terrorism, war, and disaster and TBD on the basis of class interests.Instructor
- Russell
Section
Section 001
Power, Organizations, and Institutions
Power is a crucial yet highly elusive element in social relations. The accumulation, application, and transference of power are associated with numerous dilemmas and challenges that affect decision-making in political, business, and social organizations. Institutions often arise as instruments to channel and regularize the use of power but their own operation is also profoundly influenced by power struggles. This course presents a systematic introduction to social science research on key aspects of power politics. We will examine how power struggles are manifested and resolved in various kinds of political processes and how power dynamics both shape and are shaped by the organizational and institutional characteristics of the larger polity. Specific topics that will be discussed include political leadership, succession, civil–military relations, bureaucratic control, and democratization. The readings will consist of a range of theoretical and empirical works from multiple social science disciplines. We will pay special attention to comparing how power politics play out across distinct geographic regions, political contexts, and historical epochs.Instructor
- Jiang
Section
Section 002
Voters without Borders: Diasporas and Emigrants Electoral Participation in Comparative Perspective
In the last ten years, a new mass of voters without borders was born. Hundreds of millions of individuals live outside their country of origin (or home country), in a host country where they work, pay taxes, build families, and socialize. At the same time, institutional changes in the home country, like the enfranchisement of emigrants, have turned these same individuals into active political participants back home. Moreover, recent technological advancements in travel and communication (e.g., the use of the internet and social media) have changed the pace of and accessibility to transnational politics: more emigrants can be in touch with peers in their home countries, follow the news of their country in real-time, and get involved directly in political campaigns on social media. The amount of information flowing from the home country to its diaspora and then back has increased exponentially, as well as the economic and political influence of diasporas on the internal politics of the home and host country. This new reality has produced multiple complex political connections across the world both at the individual and institutional levels. It has also spurred a new way of thinking about global politics and political intersections between countries and the need to study complex political identities, the concept of citizenship from abroad, and new kinds of voter and voting behavior. This course shows how the literature in political science has tried to address some of the most important questions arising from this phenomenon: why do countries allow their emigrants to vote? Who turns out to vote? What is the impact of this on the host and home country politics? And so on. The course starts by introducing many of the important debates about voting in general and then, it focuses on a specific kind of voting and political participation: voting across and beyond borders.Instructor
- Superti
Section
Section 001
International Orders
The seminar explores how citizens as well as leaders of political movements and established states envision international order. It asks how they imagine international politics is governed and how it should be governed. It begins with a reexamination of major Northern/Western traditions in international political theory as seen through the eyes of classical and modern political leaders and philosophers. It covers
Realism, Liberalism, Socialism and Fascism. It then broadens the lens to include thinkers from the global South, including Nehru, Senghor and Biko. In considering their international orders, we will discuss their insights into the connections among issues of order and justice, identity and legitimacy, peace and war, cooperation and conflict, intervention and independence and international equality and inequality. We conclude with a discussion of Cosmopolitanism and Rawls’ Law of Peoples.Instructor
- Doyle
Section
Section 002
Coercion
This course studies the intersection between violent coercion and politics. You will examine political violence, civil wars, interstate wars, international interventions, and criminal violence. You will explore the political causes and dynamics of violent coercion, how populations come to terms with coercion, and the implications of experiences of violence on countries’ political landscapes. Through qualitative case studies, quantitative data, and experimental studies, we will explore the myriad ways in which coercion and politics interact.Instructor
- Daly
Section
Section 003
Peacemaking and Negotiation
The United Nations has been conducting peacemaking, peacekeeping, and negotiation/mediation for over 75 years. This course will examine UN, UN Secretary-General and other negotiation, mediation and peacekeeping efforts from the UN’s first inception up to today’s operations in the field, focusing on the Middle East, Africa, Central America, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, East Timor, and elsewhere. We will study the role of the UN and individuals in the peace process as well as the context and history of conflict in each of these regions. An overview of the Middle East wars, including the founding of the State of Israel, will make up a segment of the course. Issues that play an important role in peacemaking such as human rights, demobilization, humanitarian relief, election monitoring, police reform, etc. will also be examined. Readings will draw on recent books and articles on peacekeeping, UN documents, as well as oral history interviews with persons directly involved in the UN operations as they took place. We will also view segments of a documentary film on peacekeeping. The class will be expected to carry on in-depth discussions and analysis of UN activities in peacekeeping, its successes and failures, and how it might be improved to meet future challenges. Some group work will also be involved.Instructor
- Krasno
Section
Section 004
International Crises since the Cold War
This seminar takes a multidisciplinary approach to studying the international relations of the last thirty years, with a particular focus on the successive, often overlapping, and frequently mutually-influencing, crises in international security, economics, business, and law during the period. During the first two-thirds of the course we alternate between the successive, often overlapping, and frequently mutually-influencing, crises in international security, economics, business, and law during the period. The final section concludes with an exploration of emergent features of what could be a new era in international relations distinct from the 'post-Cold War era' of the period since the early 1990s. This approach to the seminar in international relations is motivated by three objectives: first, to emphasize the contemporaneous interrelationships between some of the most important disciplinary and professional perspectives on international affairs; second, to explore the ways in which decisions and developments that occur in one domain and during one period have difficult or impossible to predict repercussions in other domains and periods; and third, to underscore the many different disciplinary and professional paths to involvement in international relations and the practical and intellectual value of some familiarity with as many of them as possible.Instructor
- Pam
Section
Section 005
American Foreign Policy
This course will explore contemporary American foreign policy. After looking briefly at history and theory, the class will study major issues on the current foreign policy agenda, both regional and functional. It will cover China, Russia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa as well as trade, terrorism, nuclear weapons, democracy and human rights, and climate change. Some sessions will feature guest experts. Students will write a short paper on policy towards China or Russia and a longer final paper, in the form of a memo to senior policymakers, on a current policy issue of their choice.Instructor
- Rose
Section
Section 006
Advances in International Political Economy
This course examines questions in international political economy, asking what we know and how we know it. It addresses questions such as: Why do some countries promote globalization while others resist it? What do international organizations do in international politics? Who runs our system of global governance? We will explore these questions and others by focusing on topics such as international trade, foreign aid, investment, and the environment. For each topic, we will use a variety of theoretical lenses and then investigate the evidence in favor of each. More generally, the course will consider the challenges of drawing causal inferences in the field of international political economy. There are no prerequisites for this course but an introductory economics course would be helpful. Students will write a short reading response each week and produce a research proposal for studying a topic related to international political economy, though they do not need to actually conduct this research.Instructor
- Sahakyan