printer friendly pagePOLISCI 332T: The Dialogue of Democracy (AMSTUD 137, COMM 137W, COMM 237, POLISCI 232T)
All forms of democracy require some kind of communication so people can be aware of issues and make decisions. This course looks at competing visions of what democracy should be and different notions of the role of dialogue in a democracy. Is it just campaigning or does it include deliberation? Small scale discussions or sound bites on television? Or social media? What is the role of technology in changing our democratic practices, to mobilize, to persuade, to solve public problems? This course will include readings from political theory about democratic ideals - from the American founders to J.S. Mill and the Progressives to Joseph Schumpeter and modern writers skeptical of the public will. It will also include contemporary examinations of the media and the internet to see how those practices are changing and how the ideals can or cannot be realized.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
Instructors:
Fishkin, J. (PI)
POLISCI 333: Rational and Social Agency (PHIL 377)
Contemporary discussions of practical reason, individual rational agency, planning agency, diachronic agency, intention, belief, intentional action, shared agency, identification and self-governance. Tentative list of authors whose work will be studied includes: Michael Bratman, Margaret Gilbert, Richard Holton, Christine Korsgaard, Alfred Mele, Kieran Setiya, Scott Shapiro, Michael Smith, David Velleman, Jay Wallace, and Gary Watson.
Last offered: Winter 2012
POLISCI 333M: Research and Methods in Political Theory
This seminar has two aims. First, we discuss recent scholarship that examines the relationship between normative and empirical (or positive) work. In particular, we focus on normative work in political theory/philosophy and empirical work in political science and other social sciences. Second, we discuss in an informal workshop setting the ongoing work of graduate students, considering how, if at all, the readings on methodology could inform this work.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Reich, R. (PI)
POLISCI 333S: Marx (PHIL 339)
This course examines the works of a thinker who radically transformed the ways that we think about modern society. Marx saw fundamental problems with capitalist societies, including: un-freedom, alienation, inequality, and bureaucratization. He developed a theory to account for these problems. Our task will be to read his works critically and to evaluate their contributions to our understanding the relationship between politics, social structure, knowledge and human agency. We will also be especially interested in comparing his view with alternative diagnoses of the problems of modern capitalist societies, especially those of Max Weber and John Rawls.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
POLISCI 334: Philanthropy and Civil Society (EDUC 374, SOC 374)
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.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1-3
| Repeatable
for credit
(up to 297 units total)
POLISCI 334P: Deliberative Democracy and its Critics (AMSTUD 135, COMM 135, COMM 235, COMM 335, POLISCI 234P)
This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. Can 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 of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas 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. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Fishkin, J. (PI)
;
Vannette, D. (PI)
POLISCI 335A: Adam Smith: From Moral Philosophy to Political Economy
This course is designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduates interested in moral philosophy or modern political economy. The course blends two approaches to Adam Smith. We use political thought and intellectual history to introduce students to the intellectual roots of ¿classical Liberalism¿; asking: What are the moral psychological foundations of justice?, Does the free market make everyone, including the least advantaged, better off? How do we sustain a good society? We use social science to study Smith¿s integrated approach to human cooperation in three realms, society, politics, and markets; asking: ¿Why isn¿t the entire world developed? How did Europe develop out of feudalism? How does a community sustain moral behavior? The two perspectives allow us to discover that Smith has ideas on these subjects that expand today¿s frontiers of both positive and normative social science.
Last offered: Winter 2015
POLISCI 335J: Creative Political Thinking: From Machiavelli to Madison (HISTORY 205G, HISTORY 305G, POLISCI 235J)
How can we account for creativity and innovation in political thinking? Are these qualities simply a product of political expediency and rhetorical urgency, or do they also depend on qualities of mind and historical contingencies that have to be studied individually? This class will explore these questions with three noteworthy cases: Niccolo Machiavelli, John Locke, and James Madison. Extensive reading in both primary writings and secondary sources.
Last offered: Winter 2015
POLISCI 335L: Roads Not Taken, 1880-1960 (AMSTUD 275R, ETHICSOC 275R, PHIL 275R)
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.
Last offered: Spring 2015
POLISCI 336: Introduction to Global Justice (ETHICSOC 136R, INTNLREL 136R, PHIL 76, POLISCI 136R)
This course provides an overview of core ethical problems in international politics, with special emphasis on the question of what demands justice imposes on institutions and agents acting in a global context. The course is divided into three sections. The first investigates the content of global justice, and comprises of readings from contemporary political theorists and philosophers who write within the liberal contractualist, utilitarian, cosmopolitan, and nationalist traditions. The second part of the course looks at the obligations which global justice generates in relation to five issues of international concern ¿ global poverty, climate change, immigration, warfare, and well-being of women. The final section of the course asks whether a democratic international order is necessary for global justice to be realized.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
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