In this class, we explore various approaches to contemporary political thought. For our purposes, “contemporary” refers to the twentieth and twenty-first century, with an emphasis on those theories emerging in the last fifty years. We explore these theories by looking at contemporary political debates of many kinds; indeed, some of the debates we look at might seem like they an odd selection for a political science class. However, this array of subjects is meant to draw our attention to an important aspect of contemporary political thought: contestation over the boundaries of “the political.” In the twentieth century, and continuing on into our present century, an ever-broadening array of issues and arenas has come to be seen as political. This politicization of various elements of our lives has at times been met with resistance: Should we expand the realm of the political? Or ought we to stick to clearly defined boundaries? At the same time, the inclusion of debates that at one time may not have seemed “political” has led to radical social changes, often playing an important role in fighting injustice and allowing for the inclusion of people and groups who have been marginalized, oppressed, and excluded. The debate over the boundaries of the political continues in political theory, and as you learn about the dimensions of this debate, you will participate in this ongoing contestation.

We explore topics ranging from drug policy to reproductive rights, from the rights of minority groups to the politics of censorship and more. As we make our way through these topics, we will try to understand them better and to have informed debates about them by studying theories that include liberalism, conservatism, (post-)marxism, feminism, critical race theory, libertarianism, and others. We will go back and forth between reading about the empirical examples mentioned above to reading the more abstract theoretical works that will inform our debates. Throughout the semester you will also apply the theoretical knowledge you have gained to a variety of “cases”; these will require you to analyze a new topic using the toolbox of theories we have studied in class. These case studies will involve role-playing and writing exercises.

We explore topics ranging from drug policy to reproductive rights, from the rights of minority groups to the politics of

censorship, from female genital mutilation (FGM) to the agricultural industry that produces the food we eat. As we make our way through these topics, we will try to understand them better and to have informed debates about them by studying theories that include liberalism, conservatism, (post-)marxism, feminism, critical race theory, libertarianism, and others. We will go back and forth between reading about the empirical examples mentioned above to reading the more abstract theoretical works that will inform our debates. Throughout the semester you will also apply the theoretical knowledge you have gained to a variety of “cases”; these will require you to analyze a new topic using the toolbox of theories we have studied in class. These case studies will involve role-playing and writing exercises.

In this class, we explore various approaches to contemporary political thought. For our purposes, “contemporary” refers to the twentieth and twenty-first century, with an emphasis on those theories emerging in the last fifty years. We explore these theories by looking at contemporary political debates of many kinds; indeed, some of the debates we look at might seem like they an odd selection for a political science class. However, this array of subjects is meant to draw our attention to an important aspect of contemporary political thought: contestation over the boundaries of “the political.” In the twentieth century, and continuing on into our present century, an ever-broadening array of issues and arenas has come to be seen as political. This politicization of various elements of our lives has at times been met with resistance: Should we expand the realm of the political? Or ought we to stick to clearly defined boundaries? At the same time, the inclusion of debates that at one time may not have seemed “political” has led to radical social changes, often playing an important role in fighting injustice and allowing for the inclusion of people and groups who have been marginalized, oppressed, and excluded. The debate over the boundaries of the political continues in political theory, and as you learn about the dimensions of this debate, you will participate in this ongoing contestation.

We explore topics ranging from drug policy to reproductive rights, from the rights of minority groups to the politics of censorship and more. As we make our way through these topics, we will try to understand them better and to have informed debates about them by studying theories that include liberalism, conservatism, (post-)marxism, feminism, critical race theory, libertarianism, and others. We will go back and forth between reading about the empirical examples mentioned above to reading the more abstract theoretical works that will inform our debates. Throughout the semester you will also apply the theoretical knowledge you have gained to a variety of “cases”; these will require you to analyze a new topic using the toolbox of theories we have studied in class. These case studies will involve role-playing and writing exercises.

In this course we will conceptualize "public policy analysis" broadly.The course will focus almost exclusively on the United States, particularly the so-called "hidden" welfare state.Our concerns this semester will be with issues such as social security and social welfare entitlement,civil rights, health care issues, policy and social values, issues of education, urban affairs,national security with an emphasis on homeland security, war-making, and counter-terrorism as public policy and, finally, domestic political reform. A word about what this course is not: this is not a public policy course that highlights in which obscure congressional subcommittee a particular policy fails or succeeds. We are not interested in the micro-management and the micro-foundational minutia of policy implementation. In short, this is not a course about "filling pot-holes." This is a course that reflects on broad questions encompassing philosophical, theoretical, and primary factors concerning public policy in the United States and why only certain types of policy initiatives seem to be successful in this type of political system.

We will first investigate the theoretical issues that inform the intellectual debates surrounding state/society relations, especially the development of the modern welfare state.Then we will turn our attention to the problematic relationship between liberal democracy, market capitalism, and the legal arrangements that facilitate both liberalism and capitalism in the United States. We will also consider in some detail the institutional arrangements inside the Congress which can facilitate or block public policy initiatives.Finally, we will spend the last half of the semester examining cases of public policy successes and failures with specific reference to the theoretical issues covered in the first half of the semester.

This course provides an overview of the field of international relations.This is an upper-level seminar, it has a heavy reading load and those students who are not able to do the readings, should consider dropping the course.**

The primary aim of this course is to introduce you to the range and complexity of interactions that characterize international politics, the diversity of actors engaged in these interactions, the forces that structure the actors' options and choices, and the sources of tension in the contemporary international system.The first half of the semester will be theoretically grounded, focusing first on the various approaches to the study of international relations; second, we will consider how the international political economy is conceptualized by international relations scholars, especially the effects of processes of "globalization" on transnational economic relations; and finally, we will engage in a close analysis of theories of war and its effects on nation-states and international relations.

Course Description:This course investigates feminist contributions to political theory.By directing our attention to the role women and gender in some central areas of political theory, feminist political theorists have challenged, modified, and expanded our understandings of fundamental political concepts.Furthermore, as the popular slogan of the women’s movement encapsulates—“the personal is political”—feminists have challenged our very notion of “the political.”While the field of feminist political theory is wide and varied, this class seeks to establish an understanding of feminism as an ideology and practice and its implications for the field of political theory.

We begin by considering the relationship between feminist theory and feminist practice.Feminism, as both a set of ideas and a framework for social action, is very much concerned with on-the-ground politics.How then, we will ask, does feminist “theorizing” contribute to the struggles feminists care about?We will proceed with the premise—open to debate and discussion throughout—that feminist theorizing itself is a political activity.

After this introduction, we will briefly consider feminist analyses of the history of (primarily Western) political thought, discussing how canonical political theorists have treated women, and the concept of gender.We will then look at a number of key concepts in political theory that contemporary feminist theorists have examined, seeking to account for and respond to the oversights and distortions of many canonical theorists’ accounts of women and gender.In this section of the class, “Contesting the terrain of political theory,” we will see how traditional and enduring concepts in political theory such as citizenship, the state, privacy, autonomy, etc. are reconceptualized through the lens of feminist theory.

The final section of the course, “Contesting the terrain of feminist theory,” complicates the subject matter of feminist political theory.Here we look at the intersection of concerns related to gender with those of race, sexual identity, and nation.As well, we approach issues that have sparked important debates in feminist political theory, such as sexual violence and the question of who is the subject of feminist theory.Examining the multiple feminisms that emerge from this diversified and plural approach to feminist theory, we develop a fuller understanding of both the aims of feminist theories and the political struggles to which such theories apply.