(Offered as POSC 466 and SWAG 466) This course examines the relationship between movements for sexual liberation and theories of democracy. It is structured around two moments in history: (i) the emergence of early arguments for gay liberation in Britain between 1880 and 1930; and (ii) the renewed debates about the democratic possibilities and limitations of queer theory in the past three decades. The historical focus is on Britain because an intellectually rich gay liberation movement emerges there while Britain was at the forefront of debates about representative democracy.

(Offered as POSC 442 and BLST 442) In this course, which is Part II of a two-semester course, students engage the central political philosophical ideas of W.E.B. Du Bois's later two major works, Black Reconstruction in America (1935) and Dusk of Dawn (1940). In doing so, we also engage some of the major secondary interpretive sources assessing his ideas.

(Offered as POSC 437 and EDST 437) This course will consider how institutions, often contrary to their intended purposes, serve to disable individuals and limit their life potential. We will examine a variety of institutions, including state bureaucracies, facilities designed to house people with mental and physical conditions, schools, and prisons. We will also consider a range of disablements, resulting from visible and invisible disabilities as well as gender, sexuality, race and class-based discrimination.

What is unique about European democracy? In what ways has Europe shaped the meaning of democratic politics, and our expectations about the relationship between state, society, and the market in a democratic polity? Is there anything the United States can learn from European experiences with democratic politics? This seminar examines the dimensions of European democracy, at the national and at the supranational (European Union) level. It tracks the evolution of democracy from its beginnings until the present.

In this course we explore the relations between science and politics. Are science and politics two distinct domains of life, and if so, what differentiates them? How do they interact? We know that policies can be based on scientific research, and that scientific priorities can be shaped by political motives. But does scientific research ever resemble politics? Can politics affect, not just scientific objectives, but the very content of knowledge or truth? We will explore these questions by studying two major theorists of science and politics: Michel Foucault and Bruno Latour.

This course examines the role of nature in international relations, exploring how natural resources have influenced cooperation and conflict between states. The first part of the course focuses on resource competition and collaboration during peacetime. In contrast, the second part addresses how environmental disputes can escalate into war, including the use of scorched-earth tactics. Students will engage in original research and team projects, with lectures and discussions throughout.

(Offered as POSC 377 and ASLC 377) How do we make sense of phenomena that occur in an opaque political system? Where are our observations likely to be spurious? What are the implications of our (mis)understandings of politics? This course will examine the major questions and puzzles in the study of China’s domestic and international politics. The course will also examine how shifts in Chinese politics have shaped research on China as well as how observers understand and explain political phenomena in China.

Why have states across the Middle East experienced so many civil wars in the past half century? What explains the sources, trajectories, and outcomes of these wars? How have they impacted politics across the region? This seminar will study the civil wars in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. For each case, we will assess competing explanations for the sources, trajectory, and resolution of the war (historical or prospective). We will use our empirical inquiry to consider broader conceptual and theoretical questions about civil wars that hold relevance beyond the region.

By exposing structures of domination and coercion and undermining the beliefs and values which sustain them, Marxists seek to pave the way towards radical social transformation. Tensions arise between revolutionary politics and the “rule of law"; liberals revere and authoritarians impose. The Marxist critique of capitalism necessarily involves inquiry into law, since legal relations are mutually constitutive with other social relations and law is a crucial component in the totality of capitalist social relations.

Other than war, punishment is the most dramatic manifestation of state power. Whom a society punishes and how it punishes are key political questions as well as indicators of a state's character. The character of punishment in the United States has been shaped, throughout American history, by race and racism. This course considers the connections between punishment, race, and politics in this country. We will ask how far we have come in the journey from lynch mobs to the killing state.