printer friendly pagePOLISCI 231: High-Stakes Politics: Case Studies in Political Philosophy, Institutions, and Interests (CLASSICS 382, POLISCI 331)
Normative political theory combined with positive political theory to better explain how major texts may have responded to and influenced changes in formal and informal institutions. Emphasis is on historical periods in which catastrophic institutional failure was a recent memory or a realistic possibility. Case studies include Greek city-states in the classical period and the northern Atlantic community of the 17th and 18th centuries including upheavals in England and the American Revolutionary era.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
POLISCI 231D: Science, Power and Democracy (ETHICSOC 206R)
This course investigates the relationship between science and democracy, and between knowledge and power, in the modern world. Topics covered include the epistemic properties of democratic institutions; the question of expertise in democratic politics; the role of values in science and public policy; the relationship between democracy and technology; and the relationship between democracy and the social sciences. We also analyze a number of concrete issues at the intersection of politics and science, including climate change and biomedical research. The course is interdisciplinary in method and content, with readings ranging across political theory, philosophy, history, and the social sciences.
Last offered: Winter 2015
POLISCI 231T: Democratic Accountability and Transparency (ETHICSOC 207R)
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.
Last offered: Spring 2015
POLISCI 231Z: Topics in Democratic Theory
Democratic rule is rule of the people. But what does that mean? This course explores democracy¿s roots in ancient Athens to its modern incarnation. The course aims to familiarize students with the various strands of democratic theory as well as the way democratic theory responds to hot political issues such as immigration and freedom of speech. The goal of the course is to equip students to think critically about democracy in the modern world and the different interpretation democratic rule can have. The questions we will investigate include: What does democracy require? What is the relationship between democracy and human rights or social justice? Can democracy justify border control? What restrictions, if any, does democracy place on hate speech? What is the role of courts in a democracy? The course provides tools to answer these questions by surveying different approaches to democracy in contemporary literature, as well surveying the history of democratic theory from ancient Athenian democracy to the modern age, with a look to the future of democracy in a globalized era.
Last offered: Summer 2015
POLISCI 232T: The Dialogue of Democracy (AMSTUD 137, COMM 137W, COMM 237, POLISCI 332T)
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.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
POLISCI 233F: Science, technology and society and the humanities in the face of the looming disaster (FRENCH 228, ITALIAN 228)
How STS and the Humanities can together help think out the looming catastrophes that put the future of humankind in jeopardy.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
Instructors:
Dupuy, J. (PI)
POLISCI 234: Democratic Theory
Most people agree that democracy is a good thing, but do we agree on what democracy is? This course will examine the concept of democracy in political philosophy. We will address the following questions: What reason(s), if any, do we have for valuing democracy? What does it mean to treat people as political equals? When does a group of individuals constitute "a people," and how can a people make genuinely collective decisions? Can democracy really be compatible with social inequality? With an entrenched constitution? With representation?
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
Instructors:
Chapman, E. (PI)
POLISCI 234P: Deliberative Democracy and its Critics (AMSTUD 135, COMM 135, COMM 235, COMM 335, POLISCI 334P)
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
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Siu, A. (PI)
POLISCI 235J: Creative Political Thinking: From Machiavelli to Madison (HISTORY 205G, HISTORY 305G, POLISCI 335J)
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 236: Theories and Practices of Civil Society, Philanthropy, and the Nonprofit Sector (ETHICSOC 232T, POLISCI 236S)
What is the basis of private action for the public good? How are charitable dollars distributed and what role do nonprofit organizations and philanthropic dollars play in a modern democracy? In the ¿Philanthropy Lab¿ component of the course, students will award $100,000 in grants to local nonprofits. Students will explore how nonprofit organizations operate domestically and globally as well as the historical development and modern structure of civil society and philanthropy. Readings in political philosophy, history, political sociology, and public policy. WIM for PoliSci students who enroll in
PoliSci 236S.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Sievers, B. (PI)
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