This course is a survey of contending approaches to the study of conflict and cooperation in world politics. Examines key concepts--including balance of power, imperialism, collective security, deterrence, and interdependence--with historical examples ranging from the Peloponnesian War to the post-cold war world. Analyzes the emerging world order.

This course is a survey of contending approaches to the study of conflict and cooperation in world politics. Examines key concepts--including balance of power, imperialism, collective security, deterrence, and interdependence--with historical examples ranging from the Peloponnesian War to the post-cold war world. Analyzes the emerging world order.

This reading-intensive course examines the principal tenets of the American Dream (individualism, equal opportunity, and 'pursuit of happiness'), its roots in the Protestant Ethic, its relationship with immigration, race, ethnicity, citizenship, upward mobility, income inequality, and the 'politics of inclusion' offered by American Dream talk in contemporary American political rhetoric. Throughout the course we will examine the problems and prospects associated with the American Dream as an 'ideology of success.'

This course examines the politics of contemporary China. Beginning with an assessment of the origins of the Chinese Revolution, the course then examines core institutions and events in the People's Republic, including the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, post-Mao reforms, and the Tiananmen Incident. In addition, the course analyzes the changing nature of state-society relations, the emergence of new social and political identities, and China's role in the international arena.

This reading-intensive course will introduce students to some of the major texts of modern political philosophy. As we read these tracts, we will engage with the questions these thinkers raise about concepts such as sovereignty, power/authority, consent, liberty, property, justice, and subjugation. From Machiavelli to Tocqueville, these thinkers' ideas remain critically important in contemporary politics.

This course examines the impact of U.S. constitutional law on the legitimacy of different assertions of governmental power. Topics include judicial review; congressional control of court jurisdiction; federal regulation of the economy; and the relative powers and authority of the president, Congress, and the courts in national emergencies, foreign relations, war, and covert action, including torture and assassination. Case method.

This history-rich course explores limited government, popular sovereignty, representative institutions, checks and balances, republicanism, liberty, equality, democracy, pluralism, liberalism, and conservatism, and how these concepts have developed during three centuries of American politics and in contrast to European thought. The focus is not on the writings of the 'great thinkers' but on the 'habits of thought' of the American people and on ideas implicit in laws and institutions that affect the allocation of authority and power within the constitutional order.

This course draws on both historical and contemporary sources to address critical issues and problems facing cities. Topics are organized around the following questions: How have cities come to take their shape and character over time? How are economic and social inequalities mapped onto the urban landscape? How are differences of race, class, and gender negotiated through urban institutions and community struggles? This course will have equal numbers of Mount Holyoke and Holyoke Community College students, and be team taught with Professor Mary Orisich, Economics, Holyoke Community College.

This course is an examination of political violence. Throughout the semester, the course covers the various manifestations of political violence, focusing on diverse topics such as genocide, ethnic conflict, interstate war, terrorism, and civil war. The course explores the debates in the field of political science regarding the nature and casual factors behind these types of violence. The course also examines how to end violence, how to maintain peace, and how societies should attempt to heal from periods of violence.