Political Science 499C - Honors Thesis Seminar-1st Sem

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Sr & Jr COMCOL SOCIOL majors Energy plays a fundamental role in sustaining modern civilization, and that means that understanding the ways that energy affects global politics and that global politics affect energy is crucial. From American attacks on ISIS-held oil fields to indigenous protests over energy multinationals in Bolivia, from Pentagon planners worries over Chinese interest in oilfields in the South China Sea to drivers delight over lower gasoline prices, from ExxonMobil's profits to the possibility of a sustainable energy future energy politics are at the center of many important international debates. In this class, you will draw on a variety of perspectives to learn more about the relationship between energy and politics. Do countries go to war over the control of oil? Are countries with large oil reserves more likely to be dictatorships? Is it possible that energy-rich countries leave vulnerable populations, including women, worse off? Can the world head off global climate change and other problems caused by dependence on oil, coal, and natural gas? Using statistical and qualitative techniques, you can help answer any of these questions or create your own.