Results for POLISCI

Approaches to the study of conflict and cooperation in world affairs. Applications to war, terrorism, trade policy, the environment, and world poverty. Debates about the ethics of war and the global distribution of wealth.

Why are some countries prone to civil war and violence, while others remain peaceful? Why do some countries maintain democratic systems, while others do not? Why are some countries more prosperous than others? This course will provide an overview of the most basic questions in the comparative study of political systems, and will introduce the analytical tools that can help us answer them.

(Students not taking this course for WIM, register for 110Y.) The causes of war in American foreign policy. Issues: international and domestic sources of war and peace; war and the American political system; war, intervention, and peace making in the post-Cold War period.

(Students not taking this course for WIM, register for 110Y.) The causes of war in American foreign policy. Issues: international and domestic sources of war and peace; war and the American political system; war, intervention, and peace making in the post-Cold War period.

The development of nuclear weapons and policies. How existing nuclear powers have managed their relations with each other. How nuclear war has been avoided so far and whether it can be avoided in the future.

The American West is characterized by frontier mythology, vast distances, marked aridity, and unique political and economic characteristics. This course integrates several disciplinary perspectives into a comprehensive examination of Western North America: its history, physical geography, climate, literature, art, film, institutions, politics, demography, economy, and continuing policy challenges. Students examine themes fundamental to understanding the region: time, space, water, peoples, and boom and bust cycles.

When acting on one's own, it is often easy to know what the morally right action is. But many moral problems arise from the fact that many individuals act together leading to dilemmas, in which what is individually rational is collectively irrational. For example, the collective result of our consumption decisions is to warm the planet. But individual decisions seem to have no effect on climate change. Such collective action situations give rise to moral questions: Are individuals required to take their contributions to wider systemic effects into account? Does it make a difference whether or not others are doing their share, for example with regard to fighting global poverty? In many cases, the best solution for collective action problems are institutions. But when these are deficient or non-existing, what should individuals do? Do they have a duty to assist in building institutions, and what would this duty imply in practical terms? Interdisciplinary perspective, reading authors from philosophy, politics, economics and sociology such as Elinor Ostrom, Peter Singer or Liam Murphy, relating to current questions such as global poverty and climate change. No background assumed; no mathematical work required.

Recent work in political theory on global justice. Topics include global poverty, human rights, fair trade, immigration, climate change. Do developed countries have a duty to aid developing countries? Do rich countries have the right to close their borders to economic immigrants? When is humanitarian intervention justified? Readings include Charles Beitz, Thomas Pogge, John Rawls.

This course is about the distribution of power in contemporary democratic societies, and especially in the US: who governs? Is there a ``power elite?'' Or, does public policy making accommodate a wide range of interests? What is the relationship between income and power? What are the political consequences of increasing income inequality? What are the implications of racial and ethnic inequities for the quality of democratic representation? Which policies increase political inequities? What are effective remedies for unequal influence? Finally, which institutions move democratic practice furthest towards full democratic equality? This course will address these questions, focusing first on the local distribution of power, and then in state and national levels of government, in a broadly comparative context. Students will have the opportunity to work with income and labor force surveys in a mid-term assignment, and in a final paper, to examine different dimensions of American inequality and their implications for the quality of American democracy.

Changes in relative power and vitality of each side. The relationship in the Middle Ages revolved around power and domination, and since the Renaissance around modernity. Focus is on Muslims of the Middle East.

What explains a government¿s decision to block a trade deal, prevent foreign investors from gaining control of a local factory, or ban the export of rare earth minerals? This course develops theory and evidence that these decisions are political. Applications include the trade in environmental goods, global supply chains, and intellectual property protections. We will discuss these topics in the context of the legal disputes at the World Trade Organization and recent debates about the rise of China and the development of Mega-regional agreements across the Pacific and the Atlantic.

This seminar examines recent policy from Bush to Obama in the context of two classic traditions: Wilsonianism vs. Realism. What is the role of the international system, what is the weight of domestic forces like ideology, history and identity? Prerequisite: junior or senior standing.

May be repeated for credit.

Gender is one of the most recognizable and important identities in daily life. Yet it has been paid scant attention by political scientists in terms of its role on access to political power, opinion formation, group identity politics, election outcomes, and political representation. This class provides a survey of the literature on gender in American politics. We begin with the interdisciplinary research on the social construction of gender to understand what gender is and is not. Throughout the course we will use these theories to analyze and critique the approaches of quantitative research on gender politics.

Americans have been trying to perfect their system of government since its founding. Despite some notable achievements, there is a pervasive sense of frustration with political reform. This course will examine the goals and political consequences of American political regulation. Topics will vary by year to some degree but examples include campaign finance, lobbying, term limits, conflict of interest regulation, direct democracy, citizen commissions and assemblies, vote administration problems, transparency, and open meeting laws. Political Science 2 required or by special permission of the instructor.

This course presents an overview of immigration in the United States. We will focus on current policies, U.S. immigration history, individual immigrant groups, economic causes and consequences of immigration, attitudes toward immigrants, U.S. national identity, immigrant political behavior, undocumented immigration, immigrants and public education, language barriers and policies, and immigration reform. Although the course is crafted with a focus on the U.S. as a whole, we will also spend a little time at the end of the quarter narrowing in on the California context, before taking a broader look at immigration in Western Europe to gain a comparative prospective on immigration. Finally, while we will discuss immigrant groups beyond Latinos, the course will disproportionately focus on Latino immigrants, as this is by far the largest immigrant group in the United States.

May be repeated for credit.

This course critically examines two related democratic values, accountability and transparency. We begin with historical perspectives on accountability, tracing its centrality to democratic politics to ancient Athens and early modern debates about the nature and function of political representation. But the bulk of the course deals with contemporary issues and problems: how should we conceive of accountability, both conceptually and normatively, and what is its relationship to other values such as transparency and publicity? What forms of accountability are appropriate for modern democratic politics? Is accountability only for elites, or should ordinary citizens be accountable to one another? In what contexts are transparency and publicity valuable, and when might we instead find their operation counter-productive and troubling? Readings draw from canonical texts as well as contemporary political theory, philosophy, and political science.

This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. In spring quarter 2015, this course will have a special focus on deliberative democracy in the the Greater China region. The course will discuss whether a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age. What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Case studies from the Deliberative Polling method and other deliberation methods, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a cases studies for discussion. Some course sessions will utilize the case method to examine public consultations, the media, and civil society. Throughout the course, students will address how public participation is currently conducted around the world. As we have all seen successful, but more likely unsuccessful attempts to consult the public and this course will examine the various ways of consulting the public and how governments, media, and the public have responded and used the results.

What is the basis of private action for the public good? How are charitablenndollars distributed and what role do nonprofit organizations andnnphilanthropic dollars play in a modern democracy? How do nongovernmental nnorganizations operate domestically and globally? The historical developmentnnand modern structure of civil society emphasizing philanthropy and thennnonprofit sector. Readings in political philosophy, political sociology, andnnpublic policy. WIM for PoliSci students who enroll in PoliSci 236S.

What is the basis of private action for the public good? How are charitablenndollars distributed and what role do nonprofit organizations andnnphilanthropic dollars play in a modern democracy? How do nongovernmental nnorganizations operate domestically and globally? The historical developmentnnand modern structure of civil society emphasizing philanthropy and thennnonprofit sector. Readings in political philosophy, political sociology, andnnpublic policy. WIM for PoliSci students who enroll in PoliSci 236S.

A cross-national approach to the study of civil societies and their role in democracy. The concept of civil society--historical, normative, and empirical. Is civil society a universal or culturally relative concept? Does civil society provide a supportive platform for democracy or defend a protected realm of private action against the state? How are the norms of individual rights, the common good, and tolerance balanced in diverse civil societies? Results of theoretical exploration applied to student-conducted empirical research projects on civil societies in eight countries. Summary comparative discussions. Prerequisite: a course on civil society or political theory. Students will conduct original research in teams of two on the selected nations. Enrollment limited to 18. Enrollment preference given to students who have taken PoliSci 236S/EthicSoc 232T.

May be repeated for credit.

Living standards around the world have increased, in many cases exponentially, throughout the previous century. Yet sub-Saharan Africa remains, by a considerable margin, the poorest region on Earth. This course asks three questions: Why is Africa poor? When did it become so? And will it remain so for the foreseeable future? The course draws on a range of social science disciplines, including anthropology, economics, history, political science, and sociology, to offer tentative answers.

The main related but different questions addressed by course are: nhow states have, through history, financed their expenditures, e.g. by taxing people or issuing public debt; how different political and fiscal institutions have been shaped by the varying need of the state to collect revenues (such as war, revolution threats, increasing demand of redistribution by the ¿median voter¿).n nWe will focus mainly, but not only, on the historical experience of the Western World (e.g. Europe and the US), and pay special attention to the nature of political institutions in place (e.g. absolutist regimes, constitutional monarchies, different forms of democracy), over a relatively long period of time (i.e. beginning with the). The exposition will not necessarily follow a chronological order, but rather a logical one (in some sense).

May be repeated for credit.

May be repeated for credit.

This course is designed to teach students how to design a research project. The course emphasizes the specification of testable hypotheses, the building of data sets, and the inferences from that may be drawn from that evidence. It is only open to students in the PS Research Honors Track.

Students conduct independent research work towards a senior honors thesis.

Formal and informal processes involved in U.S. foreign policy decision making. The formation, conduct, and implementation of policy, emphasizing the role of the President and executive branch agencies. Theoretical and analytical perspectives; case studies. Interested students should attend the first day of class. Admission will be by permission of the instructor. Priority to IPS students.

May be repeated for credit.

For students interested in research in political science, psychology, or communication. Methodological techniques for studying political attitudes and behaviors. May be repeated for credit.

May be repeated for credit.

Cross-listed with Law (LAW 781), Political Science (POLISCI 334) and Sociology (SOC 374). Associated with the Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS). Year-long workshop for doctoral students and advanced undergraduates writing senior theses on the nature of civil society or philanthropy. Focus is on pursuit of progressive research and writing contributing to the current scholarly knowledge of the nonprofit sector and philanthropy. Accomplished in a large part through peer review. Readings include recent scholarship in aforementioned fields. May be repeated for credit for a maximum of 9 units.

This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. In spring quarter 2015, this course will have a special focus on deliberative democracy in the the Greater China region. The course will discuss whether a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age. What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Case studies from the Deliberative Polling method and other deliberation methods, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a cases studies for discussion. Some course sessions will utilize the case method to examine public consultations, the media, and civil society. Throughout the course, students will address how public participation is currently conducted around the world. As we have all seen successful, but more likely unsuccessful attempts to consult the public and this course will examine the various ways of consulting the public and how governments, media, and the public have responded and used the results.

This course is intended to illuminate ideas about justice, freedom, equality, democracy, peace, and social conflict, and to raise persisting questions about such topics as the role of violence in politics through looking at the ideas of America writers such as Edward Bellamy, W.E.B. DuBois, Eugene Debs, Jane Addams, Emma Goldman, John Dewey and Reinhold Niebuhr.

Recent work in political theory on global justice. Topics include global poverty, human rights, fair trade, immigration, climate change. Do developed countries have a duty to aid developing countries? Do rich countries have the right to close their borders to economic immigrants? When is humanitarian intervention justified? Readings include Charles Beitz, Thomas Pogge, John Rawls.

May be repeated for credit.

May be repeated for credit.

Provides a survey of statistical tools for model-based inference in political science. Topics include generalized linear models for various data types and their extensions, such as discrete choice models, survival outcome models, mixed effects and multilevel models.

Covers advanced statistical tools that are useful for empirical research in political science. Possible topics include missing data, survey sampling and experimental designs for field research, machine learning, text mining, clustering, Bayesian methods, spatial statistics, and web scraping.

This course critically surveys empirical applications of formal models of collective-choice institutions. It is explicitly grounded in philosophy of science (e.g., Popperian positivism and Kuhn's notions of paradigms and normal science). Initial sessions address the meanings and roles of the concept of institutions in social-science research. Historically important works of political science and/or economics are then considered within a framework called Components of Institutional Analysis (or CIA), which provides a fully general way of evaluating research that is jointly empirical and formal theoretical. The course concludes with contemporary instances of such bridge-building. The over-arching objectives are to elevate the explicitness and salience of desirable properties of research and to illustrate the inescapable tradeoffs among the stipulated criteria. nAlthough this is a core course in the GSB Political Economy PhD curriculum, its substantive foci may differ across years depending on the instructor. For Professor Krehbiel's sessions, the emphasis is on legislative behavior, organization, and lawmaking, and on inter-institutional strategic interaction (e,g, between executive, legislative, and judicial branches in various combinations). nStudents should have taken POLECON 680 and POLECON 681. Also listed as Political Science 351C.

Theoretical aspects and empirical applications of statistical modeling in the social sciences. Guest speakers. Students present a research paper. Prerequisite: 350B or equivalent.

May be repeated for credit.

Third of a three-part graduate sequence. Focus is on developing research papers begun in 410A or B, and exploring active areas of research in the field. Prerequisite: 410B.

For graduate students. Contemporary work. Organized around presentation of research by students and outside scholars. May be repeated for credit.

What are the "novel facts" being generated in the study of American politics, and how are these discoveries being made? Emphasis on strengths and limitations of emerging methodologies and review of the substantive contributions they yield. Student-led replication of extant research and development of original research ideas a key component of the course. Prerequisites: 420A,B.

The social and psychological processes involved in asking and answering questions via questionnaires for the social sciences; optimizing questionnaire design; open versus closed questions; rating versus ranking; rating scale length and point labeling; acquiescence response bias; don't-know response options; response choice order effects; question order effects; social desirability response bias; attitude and behavior recall; and introspective accounts of the causes of thoughts and actions.

Research seminar. Frontiers in mass political behavior. Sources include data sets from the 2004 election cycle. Prerequisite: 420B or equivalent. Course may be repeated for credit.

This course surveys theories of media bias, biased processing of information, and the empirical challenges facing researchers attempting to link changes in the composition of audiences to attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. (Limited to PhD students)

(Formerly CLASSHIS 330B.) Drawing on Herodotus and other literary sources, ancient historians have traditionally seen classical Greece as a very poor land. Recent research, however (much of it conducted here at Stanford), suggests that Greece in fact saw substantial economic growth and rising standards of living across the first millennium BCE. This seminar tests the poor Hellas/wealthy Hellas models against literary and archaeological data. We will develop and test hypotheses to explain the rate and pace of economic change in the Greek world.

For graduate students. May be repeated for credit.

Required of Political Science Ph.D. candidates with comparative politics as a first or second concentration; others by consent of instructor. Current methodological standards in comparative politics. Students develop their own research design that meets these standards.

Faculty, guest speakers, and graduate students conducting research in comparative politics present work-in-progress. Graduate students may enroll for up to 5 total units apportioned by quarter. Auditors welcome. Graduate students whose major or minor field is comparative politics must make at least one presentation to the seminar. Course may be repeated for credit.

Major secondary literature on Chinese politics, involving the evolution of theoretical concepts and social scientific approaches characterizing the field. Subjects include changes made to defining fundamental issues of Chinese political theory, and the implications of shifts in research methods and analytical tools. Prerequisite: basic knowledge of politics of post-1949 China.

For Ph.D. students in the social sciences and history. Research on contemporary society and politics in the People's Republic of China. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.