21 - 30 of 70 results for: POLISCI

What is an identity? What are the conditions under which identities become politicized? How do identities work to structure attitudes and affect behavior - both social and political? How do notions of power, hierarchy, and difference inform our analyses regarding the workings of identity in diverse societies Over the course of the quarter, we will read and discuss a series of scholarly papers from across academic disciplines that provide answers to these important questions and many others. To apply for this course, please send a one-page document to me (hakeem@stanford.edu), by December 14th with the following information: full name, class year, major, email, and a paragraph describing why you are interested in enrolling in the seminar. Results will be announced after.

Superpower California asks the following questions: What role does the state of California - or any powerful subnational entity - perform in the world? What role can it play? What role should it play? And how does it work towards extending - or hindering - the global power, presence, and blessings of democracy of the United States of America? The answer is critical to defining the future of American power. California is now the world's fourth largest global economy. It is not, however, a sovereign nation state. It is both enriched and constrained by its federal structure, e.g., America's unitary foreign policy and its national security structures. This course will review the ways that power is afforded to and extended by subnational entities, how that power and influence manifests itself in the global commons, and how California asserts its interests and values with other nations and subnational actors.

For undergraduates. Directed reading in Political Science with a focus on American politics. To be considered for enrollment, interested students must complete the directed reading petition form available on the Political Science website before the end of week 1 of the quarter in which they'd like to enroll. May be repeated for credit.

Modern political theorists, from Hobbes and Rousseau, to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, to Sheldon Wolin and Robert Dahl, have turned to the classical Greek theory and practice of politics, both for inspiration and as a critical target. The last 30 years has seen renewed interest in Athenian democracy among both historians and theorists, and closer interaction between empiricists concerned with 'what really happened, and why' and theorists concerned with the possibilities and limits of citizen self-government as a normatively favored approach to political organization. The course examines the current state of scholarship on the practice of politics in ancient city-states, including but not limited to democratic Athens; the relationship between practice and theory in antiquity (Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and others); the uses to which ancient theory and practice have been and are being put by modern political theorists; and experiments in democratic practice (citizen assemblies, deliberative councils, lotteries) inspired by ancient precedents. Suggested Prerequisites: Origins of Political Thought OR The Greeks OR other coursework on ancient political theory or practice. (For undergraduate students: suggest but do not require that you have taken either Origins of Political Thought, or The Greeks, or some other course that gives you some introduction to Greek political history or thought. )

For millennia, an apocalypse has been just around the corner. This course examines how expectations surrounding the end of the world - and the role that human beings might play in bringing it about - have transformed over the last two centuries. After a brief look at traditional religious apocalypticism, we explore how apocalypse came to be reconsidered as an entirely this-worldly phenomenon that falls within human power to achieve and demands political attention. Along the way, the course addresses the discovery of entropy in the 19th century, development of the hydrogen bomb in the mid-20th, and the planetary science that has transformed the Apocalypse into a primarily ecological concern over the last half-century.

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.

For undergraduates. Directed reading in Political Science with a focus on political theory. To be considered for enrollment, interested students must complete the directed reading petition form available on the Political Science website before the end of week 1 of the quarter in which they'd like to enroll. May be repeated for credit.