SPRING 2009 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS Ph.D. Program in Political Science Course Schedule Spring 2009 Decemberr 12, 2008 American Politics :: Comparative Politics International Relations :: Political Theory :: Public Policy General, Crossfield, & Related Courses American Politics Professor Jones PSC 72210 [95235] Congress 3 credits, Tuesdays 2:00-4:00 The United States Congress is one of the most powerful representative assemblies and the most extensively studied political institutions in the world. This course is designed to help students develop a basic understanding of the major works and debates in the study of Congress, as well as the ability to explain, synthesize, and critique them. The course is targeted for students seeking to complete the department s first exam in American politics. Required readings for the course will include all those in the Congress section of the American Politics Reading List, among others. The course will cover Congress both from the perspective of individual members, including elections and representation, and from the perspective of the institution as a whole, including committees, parties, leaders, and rules. All students will be expected to complete, and be prepared to discuss, each week s readings. Students will periodically be required to submit, prior to class, a page of reactions to the week s readings. In addition, each student will introduce the discussion of at least one of the weeks readings. I intend for the final exam to be similar in format and content to the type of question(s) given on the first exam in American politics, providing good practice for those who later choose to take it. Professor Andrew Polsky PSC 72000[95234] American Politics Thursdays 4:15-6:15 This seminar offers an overview of the American political system and an introduction to major scholarly controversies in the American politics subfield of the discipline. Throughout the course a strong emphasis will be placed on the historical development of political institutions. Following a session on various approaches to the study of American politics, the first unit will focus on the framework of American politics, including American political culture(s), the constitutional foundations of national politics, and the patterning of inclusion/exclusion in the political community. Next the course will turn to political participation and linkage institutions (public opinion, parties, elections, interest groups). The final unit will cover key national institutions the presidency, Congress, the courts, and the bureaucracy. An overview session at the end of the course will highlight connections across units and emerging scholarship about
American politics. We will regularly address issues and problems in teaching an introductory undergraduate course in American politics Professor Stanley Renshon PSC 84608 (crosslisted with) IDS 8610 [95246] Psychology of Immigration and American National Identity 4 credits, Wednesdays 4:15-6:15 This course focuses on the nature of American national identity and its implications for a wide range of political and policy questions concerning citizenship, national security, and the American national community more generally. What does it mean, psychologically and politically, to be an American? Is a national identity useful, or even possible, in an age of globalization? Is there something distinctive about national identity and citizenship in the United States? If so, what is it? American national identity is challenged domestically by the difficult, and as yet, uncompleted task of integrating almost a million new immigrants a year into our national community, and by four decades of identity politics. It is challenged from abroad by efforts of many foreign countries to bind their nationals in the United States to their home countries, and by those who argue that Americans ought to be international cosmopolitans, more at home in the world rather than in just the United States. All of this is happening at a time when the United States is at war and the integration, cohesion, and attachment of the various communities that make up the United States are maters of national security as well as of political theory. Just how does patriotism fit in with American national identity? Is it the last resorts of scoundrels, or is it crucial psychological glue for national attachment? Course readings will be drawn from American history, political psychology, the sociology of immigration, and political theory. Interested students are asked to contact Professor Renshon (srenshon@gc.cuny.edu) for a brief orienting reading assignment to be completed for the first class. Comparative Politics Professor Vincent Boudreau PSC 87604 [95251] Comparative Social Movements 4 credits, Tuesdays 6:30-8:30 Comparative Social Movements examines the variety of protest and contentious politics across settings. In this comparative endeavor, we will emphasize the advantages of systematically considering historical and structural variations in the contexts within which contentious politics arises, and the links between those variations and processes of resistance. Issues of state formation, the centralization or disarticulation of social networks, historical sequencing, diffusion processes and world time all help focus our conversation. We will follow the transformation of archaic to modern forms of collective action where it first strikes scholars attention: in Western Europe. Moving forward in time and outward geographically, we then examine other contexts, and other kinds of movements, taking care explicitly to consider the impact of different contexts on the phenomena in question. In some moments, it will be convenient to organize this expansion geographically; but geography will only be useful when it helps us to organize our understanding of more systematic influences on protest. Colonial
regimes, processes of economic and political development, warfare and cold warfare all enter the discussion as framework for looking at how key variables affecting social protest may vary. We also consider how social movements shade into other forms of contentious politics: ethnic conflict, revolutions, and democracy movements among them. Students in this class are strongly encouraged to attend the Graduate Center-based seminar series Protest and Politics, which every Thursday from four o'clock to six o'clock. Professor Ken Erickson PSC 87306 [952580] Politics of Latin America 4 credits, Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 International Relations Professor Bruce Cronin PSC 76200 [95238] International Organizations 3 credits, Wednesdays 2:00-4:00 This seminar provides both an overview and in-depth examination of cooperation and organization in the international community. It will focus on theoretical approaches toward understanding the processes, structures, and environments through which international/global relations occur. Specifically, it will examine international institutions, regimes, global governance, international law, transnational movements, non-governmental organizations, and epistemic communities. In doing so, we will also examine how specific organizations -- such as the United Nations and regional institutions such as the Organization of American States -- try to implement the goals of collective security, development, humanitarianism, global ecology, and economic stability and prosperity. Finally, we will apply these various approaches to issue areas in international relations, such as security, international political economy, human rights and the environment. Professor Rob Jenkins PSC 77905 [95240] Politics of Development This course examines the variety of relationships that exist between politics and development. After introducing theoretical perspectives that map the highly contested conceptual terrain, the course focuses on three core issues: how development paradigms have conceived of the role of politics in processes of large-scale social and economic transformation; how the nature (and history) of institutions affects developmental trajectories; and how, at various levels of aggregation, development tends to shape politics as much as politics shapes development. The case-study material, which covers a wide range of country experiences (but with an emphasis on South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa), consistently calls attention to the interrelation between local, national, and international politics in processes of development. The course covers, among other topics: debates concerning the compatibility of democracy and positive developmental
performance; the developmental and political implications of trans-national processes (e.g., trade, migration) and international institutions (e.g., the World Bank, the UN, the World Trade Organization); the varied forms of politics through which market-oriented reforms have been introduced in developing countries; the relationship between corruption and patterns of development, including the emergence of movements to combat corruption; the assumptions and implications of governance -focused approaches to development; and the politics of international development assistance, including in conflict and post-conflict situations, where development often involves the rebuilding of collapsed states. Professor Lieberman PSC 86105 [95248] Comparative Foreign Policy 4 credits, Thursdays 4:30-6:30 Professor Romaniuk PSC 86207 [95249] Global Terrorism 4 credits, Wednesdays 4:15-6:15 "What is terrorism and what causes it? What do governments do to suppress terrorism and how, in turn, does counter-terrorism policy affect relations among states? This course addresses these and related questions from the disciplinary perspective of political science, focusing on the international political implications of terrorist activity. Course readings cover the leading conceptual approaches to the scholarly study of terrorism, as well as the key analytical assessments and policy statements that comprise states' responses. Students will design and undertake research projects that explore the many empirical puzzles that arise from evolving patterns of terrorist violence, trends in counter-terrorism policy, and the dynamic relationship between them. Beyond gaining insight into the politics of contemporary terrorism and counterterrorism, students will advance their understanding of international security, international law and organizations, and comparative politics." Professor Dov Waxman PSC 76000 [95237] Basic Theories and Concepts in International Relations 3 credits, Tuesdays 6:30-8:30 The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the theories and concepts that scholars use to understand and explain world politics. The course examines the major theories in the discipline of International Relations, and important recent developments and debates in the discipline. Throughout the course, the relevance of specific theories and theory in general for how we make sense of world politics will be critically assessed. The focus of this course, however, will be theoretical rather than empirical. Thus, each class will be devoted to a consideration of a different theoretical perspective, as opposed to an issue in world politics. Political Theory
Professor Mitchell Cohen PSC 70300 Twentieth Century Political Theory 3 credits. Wednesday 6:30-8:30 Professor Alyson Cole PSC 80602 [95241], Approaches to Political Theory 4 credits, Tuesday, 4:15-6:15 Professor Young Kun Kim PSC 70500 [95233] Asian Political Thought 3 credits, Mondays, 6:30-8:30 The rise of China and the process of globalization have drawn new attention to the Asian tradition in political theory. The chief aim of this course is to determine the nature and significance of that tradition, which has undergone transformation and refinement over many centuries. In this course, seven selected basic texts representing the Confucian, Taoist, Mohist, and Legalist schools of thought will be closely examined in their cultural and political contexts. Attempts will be made to note and appreciate the diversity and intensity of debates among these schools on some basic questions in political theory and to show the continuing significance of the classical Chinese political ideas in China, Japan, and Korea. The students will be required to report in turn on their reading of the assigned texts. The term grade will be based on the reports on reading, class discussion and one final written examination. This course will be of interest to students of political theory, comparative philosophy, history of ideas, and Asian and global studies. Professor Corey Robin PSC 70200 [95231] Modern Political Thought 3 credits, Wednesday, 4:15 6:15 pm Public Policy Professor Janet Gornick PSC 73901 [95236] Social Welfare Policy, Crosslisted with SOC 85902 3 credits, Monday, 4:15-6:15 This course will examine social welfare policy in the United States, in both historical and crossnational perspective. The course will begin with an overview of the development of social welfare policy in the U.S. We will focus on three important historical periods: the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the War on Poverty. We will end the first section with a review of developments in the tumultuous 1990s. Second, we will survey selected areas of social policy provision, such as anti-poverty policy; health policy; employment-related social policy; social policy for the elderly; and/or work-family reconciliation policies. In each of these policy areas,
we will assess current provisions and evaluate contemporary debates, integrating political, sociological, and economic perspectives. In the final section of the course, we will assess selected social policy lessons from Europe, where provisions are typically much more extensive than they are in the U.S. We will close by analyzing the question of "American exceptionalism" in social policy, and will assess a range of institutional, ideological, and demographic explanations. Professor John Mollenkopf, with Mitchell Duneier PSC 83503 [95245] Ethnography and Public Policy 3 credits, Thursdays 4:15-6:15 Approaches to the study of public policy typically focus either on using economic analysis to address questions of efficiency and effectiveness or using institutional analysis to understand how actors develop strategies of coalition formation (or coalition blocking) within a given political opportunity structure. This course investigates a third approach: using the tools of ethnography and qualitative analysis (participant observation, in-depth interviewing) to investigate how the participants in a policy domain actually formulate, adopt, carry out, understand, and give meaning to programs. We are particularly interested in how bureaucracies socially construct clients, the dynamics of bureaucrat/client interaction, how bureaucrats process and control clients, how they apply discretion, and how clients evade these processes. We will examine all members of the policy domain, including decision makers, line administrators, workers, clients, the press, policy scholars, advocacy organizations, consultants, or the concerned public. The course begins with an introduction to these issues (using Michael Lipsky s concept of street level bureaucracies ) then moves to several ethnographic case studies, including street homelessness and the restructuring of public housing. The course concludes with a discussion of neoliberalism as a theme in public policy change. General andd Professor Jones PSC 77904 [95580] Teaching Political Science 3 credits, Thursdays, 5:00-4:00 p.m Professor Joe Rollins PSC 85502 [95247] Research Methods 4 credits, Monday 4:15-6:15 This course is designed to provide students with a better understanding of research design and data analysis. The first part of the semester will focus students' attention on the various methods researchers have used to address questions of interest to social scientists. The second section of the course will emphasize reading and discussing quantitative research in order to develop critical skills. The goal is to help students learn to read, evaluate, and analyze such materials for themselves but is not intended to provide students with a mathematical background on statistical
methods. Students will, however, be expected to learn STATA and to perform analysis on data sets of their choosing. Projects for the semester will be assigned so that they advance each student's research agenda. Professor Susan Woodward PSC 89100 [92253] Dissertation Proposal Workshop 0 credits, Mondays 6:30 8:30 This workshop aims to assist students in writing their dissertation proposal in political science and taking the second examination. It introduces students to the principles and organization of an acceptable proposal, provides advice on conceptualization and research strategies, and, where relevant, discusses methodological questions, such as the principles of case selection. It meets the first six weeks of the semester, and then continues as the group wishes; does not give course credit, therefore has no requirements for grading; and can be taken more than once. It is a genuine workshop, where students provide each other a mutually supportive setting to share the stages of their written drafts, get feedback, identify and resolve issues being faced by many, and learn the skills of analytical criticism necessary to one s own future research and teaching. Each works at a personal, self-identified pace, with the obligation to attend all meetings on the principle of reciprocity.