Course Catalog

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POLITICAL ECON. OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (PO2005)

Offers a comparative introduction to the political systems of developing countries through the study of decolonization, nation-building, political institutions, and economy. Studies problems of political culture, leadership, representation, and the place of developing countries in the world system.

INTRO TO POLIT'L GEOGRAPHY & GEOPOLITICS (PO2012)

This course investigates how political processes shape human geography and, conversely, how assumptions about places underpin world politics. It presents the main theories of political geography, as well as essential concepts and terminology. It points to the historical contingency of political identities and organizations and reveals how major world events as well as spaces are shaped by everyday politics.

COMPARATIVE POLITICS (PO2015)

This course introduces students to the comparative study of politics, focusing on political behavior and the structures and practices that political systems have in common and those that distinguish them. We study different forms of democratic and authoritarian rule, state-society relationships, and key issues of political economy like development and welfare states. While the emphasis is on domestic features, we also analyze the impacts of globalization on national politics.

WORLD POLITICS (PO2031)

This course analyses the basic setting, structure and dynamics of world politics with emphasis on current global problems, practices and processes. In doing so, it introduces the major theoretical approaches to international politics, and uses theory as a methodological tool for analyzing sources of change and causes of conflict and/or cooperation in the global arena.

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (PO2032)

Studies the origins, politics, structures, and impact of international organizations with a focus on the United Nations group, specialized agencies, regional organizations, and international administration. Discusses the UN role in peacekeeping, decolonization, refugees, social and health problems, trade and monetary policy, development, technology transfer, and UN reform as well as new developments since the end of the Cold War.

POLITICAL ANALYSIS (PO2050)

This course examines the nature of knowledge claims in political science: how we know what we know and how certain we are. Research schools, the nature of description and explanation in political science, and basis issues of quantitative analysis will form the core elements of this course, while substantive themes may vary each year.

CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THOUGHT (PO3004)

The course provides a perspective on major currents of recent political thought in the context of the economy. It considers the spectrum of thinking from libertarianism through classical and progressive liberalism, focusing on distinctions between economic and political liberty, social justice, and democratic citizenship. The course considers lastly contemporary concerns with international distributive justice.