printer friendly pagePOLISCI 1: The Science of Politics
Why do countries go to war? How can we explain problems such as poverty, inequality, and pollution? What can be done to improve political representation in the United States and other countries? We will use scientific methods to answer these and other fundamental questions about politics.
Terms: Aut, Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
POLISCI 25N: The US Congress in Historical and Comparative Perspective
This course traces the development of legislatures from their medieval European origins to the present, with primary emphasis on the case of the U.S. Congress. Students will learn about the early role played by assemblies in placing limits on royal power, especially via the power of the purse. About half the course will then turn to a more detailed consideration of the U.S. Congress's contemporary performance, analyzing how that performance is affected by procedural legacies from the past that affect most democratic legislatures worldwide.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI, GER:DB-SocSci
Instructors:
Cox, G. (PI)
POLISCI 28Q: Is Privacy Dead? Privacy, Surveillance, and Freedom in the Digital Age (ETHICSOC 128Q)
Suppose that someone is listening to your phone calls and reading your emails, but you never find out and your life is never affected. What reason do you have to complain? Does it make a difference if it's a neighbor, a lover, the state, or an algorithm listening in? What if you are the one posting the information on Facebook? Do we have a right not to be tracked, photographed, or surveilled in public? In this seminar, students will examine these questions and many more having to do with the value of privacy in the digital age. They will have the opportunity to develop their own answers by drawing on a field of theories about privacy, anonymity, and surveillance, and they can expect to leave the seminar with a better view of the ethical and political problems facing their own era of technological change. This seminar will serve as an introduction to the wide range of ethical and political questions concerning privacy and technology, as well as an introduction to the practice of philoso
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Suppose that someone is listening to your phone calls and reading your emails, but you never find out and your life is never affected. What reason do you have to complain? Does it make a difference if it's a neighbor, a lover, the state, or an algorithm listening in? What if you are the one posting the information on Facebook? Do we have a right not to be tracked, photographed, or surveilled in public? In this seminar, students will examine these questions and many more having to do with the value of privacy in the digital age. They will have the opportunity to develop their own answers by drawing on a field of theories about privacy, anonymity, and surveillance, and they can expect to leave the seminar with a better view of the ethical and political problems facing their own era of technological change. This seminar will serve as an introduction to the wide range of ethical and political questions concerning privacy and technology, as well as an introduction to the practice of philosophy. We will take an interdisciplinary approach to questions of privacy, surveillance, and freedom in the digital age, with readings drawn from moral and political philosophy, political science, sociology, law, media studies, and the arts. Assessing what others have said and thought about privacy (writ large) will be important in developing our own views. Just as important, however, we will refract these arguments and observations through our own experiences with concealment and exposure, letting the theory inform our lives and vice versa. This is what I mean when I say this seminar will offer an introduction to the practice of philosophy. Students can expect to see improvement in their skills of critical reasoning and argumentative writing, and to leave the seminar with a sharpened faculty of critical and moral vision.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Pressly, L. (PI)
POLISCI 74B: Public Service and Social Impact: Pathways to Purposeful Careers (CSRE 190A, ENGLISH 180, INTNLREL 74, PUBLPOL 75B, SOC 190A, SYMSYS 193, URBANST 190A)
How do I translate my interests and skills into a career in public service and social impact? This course will introduce you to a wide range of roles that help shape public policy and civic life, including government, education, nonprofits, social enterprises, and arts/media. It can be taken for one or two units. For one unit, you participate in a weekly, interactive speaker series designed to give you a sense for what different public service careers are like. Each week, guests describe their organizations and roles, highlight key intellectual issues and policy challenges, discuss their career paths, and describe skills crucial for the job. For a second unit, you participate in a hands-on weekly session designed to help you translate this knowledge into action. You will identify roles and organizations that might be a good match for you, build your network through informational interviewing, receive career coaching, and acquire the tools you need to launch your job or internship searc
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How do I translate my interests and skills into a career in public service and social impact? This course will introduce you to a wide range of roles that help shape public policy and civic life, including government, education, nonprofits, social enterprises, and arts/media. It can be taken for one or two units. For one unit, you participate in a weekly, interactive speaker series designed to give you a sense for what different public service careers are like. Each week, guests describe their organizations and roles, highlight key intellectual issues and policy challenges, discuss their career paths, and describe skills crucial for the job. For a second unit, you participate in a hands-on weekly session designed to help you translate this knowledge into action. You will identify roles and organizations that might be a good match for you, build your network through informational interviewing, receive career coaching, and acquire the tools you need to launch your job or internship search. This course is intended for all students and all majors. Course content will be relevant to students soon entering the job market as well as those facing choices about courses of study and internships. Class sessions will be 60 minutes. This course is co-sponsored by the Haas Center for Public Service, the School of Humanities and Sciences, and Stanford in Government. Students taking the course for one unit (Tuesday lecture) must enroll in the -01 course option, and students taking the course for two units (Tuesday lecture and Thursday seminar) must enroll in the -02 course option. IR approved.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 1
POLISCI 101: Introduction to International Relations (INTNLREL 101)
Approaches to the study of conflict and cooperation in world affairs. Applications to war, trade policy, the environment, and world poverty. Debates about the ethics of war and the global distribution of wealth.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Fearon, J. (PI)
;
MacDonald, M. (TA)
;
Rhodes, A. (TA)
...
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Instructors:
Fearon, J. (PI)
;
MacDonald, M. (TA)
;
Rhodes, A. (TA)
;
Ruggiero, J. (TA)
;
Yeager, J. (TA)
POLISCI 103: Justice (ETHICSOC 171, PHIL 171, POLISCI 336S, PUBLPOL 103C)
Justice, as we use the term in this class, is a question about social cooperation. People can produce much more cooperatively than the sum of what they could produce as individuals, and these gains from cooperation are what makes civilization possible. But on what terms should we cooperate? How should we divide, as the philosopher John Rawls puts it, "the benefits and burdens of social cooperation"? Working primarily within the Anglo-American philosophical tradition, we'll discuss different answers to this big question as a way to bring together some of the most prominent debates in modern political philosophy. We'll study theories including utilitarianism, libertarianism, classical liberalism, and egalitarian liberalism, and we'll take on complex current issues like reparations for racial injustice, the gender pay gap, and responses to climate change. This class is meant to be an accessible entry point to political philosophy. No experience with political science or philosophy is required or assumed, and we will spend time on the strategy of philosophy as well: understanding how our authors make their arguments to better respond to them and make our own.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Coyne, B. (PI)
;
Amaral, J. (TA)
;
Biondo, A. (TA)
...
more instructors for POLISCI 103 »
Instructors:
Coyne, B. (PI)
;
Amaral, J. (TA)
;
Biondo, A. (TA)
;
Owen, M. (TA)
;
Stowell, C. (TA)
;
Tang, A. (TA)
;
Wu, Q. (TA)
POLISCI 103X: Justice
This is a NON-WIM version of the course. Students wishing to satisfy their WIM credit should enroll in
POLISCI 103. Justice, as we use the term in this class, is a question about social cooperation. People can produce much more cooperatively than the sum of what they could produce as individuals, and these gains from cooperation are what makes civilization possible. But on what terms should we cooperate? How should we divide, as the philosopher John Rawls puts it, "the benefits and burdens of social cooperation"? Working primarily within the Anglo-American philosophical tradition, we'll discuss different answers to this big question as a way to bring together some of the most prominent debates in modern political philosophy. We'll study theories including utilitarianism, libertarianism, classical liberalism, and egalitarian liberalism, and we'll take on complex current issues like reparations for racial injustice, the gender pay gap, and responses to climate change. This class is meant to be an accessible entry point to political philosophy. No experience with political science or philosophy is required or assumed, and we will spend time on the strategy of philosophy as well: understanding how our authors make their arguments to better respond to them and make our own.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Coyne, B. (PI)
;
Amaral, J. (TA)
;
Biondo, A. (TA)
...
more instructors for POLISCI 103X »
Instructors:
Coyne, B. (PI)
;
Amaral, J. (TA)
;
Biondo, A. (TA)
;
Owen, M. (TA)
;
Stowell, C. (TA)
;
Tang, A. (TA)
;
Wu, Q. (TA)
POLISCI 114D: Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (INTLPOL 230, INTNLREL 114D, POLISCI 314D, REES 230)
This course explores the different dimensions of development - economic, social, and political - as well as the way that modern institutions (the state, market systems, the rule of law, and democratic accountability) developed and interacted with other factors across different societies around the world. The class will feature additional special guest lectures by Francis Fukuyama, Larry Diamond, Michael McFaul, Anna Grzymala-Busse, and other faculty and researchers affiliated with the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Undergraduate students should enroll in this course for 5 units. Graduate students should enroll for 3.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Sallam, H. (PI)
;
Stoner, K. (PI)
;
Kutlu Karasu, R. (TA)
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Instructors:
Sallam, H. (PI)
;
Stoner, K. (PI)
;
Kutlu Karasu, R. (TA)
;
Pan, X. (TA)
;
Pumerantz, A. (TA)
;
Scott, E. (TA)
POLISCI 115: Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence (AMSTUD 115S, INTNLREL 115, PUBLPOL 114)
This course examines the past, present, and future of American espionage. Targeted at first years and sophomores, the class surveys key issues in the development of the U.S. Intelligence Community since World War II. Topics include covert action, intelligence successes and failures, the changing motives and methods of traitors, congressional oversight, and ethical dilemmas. The course pays particular attention to how emerging technologies are transforming intelligence today. We examine cyber threats, the growing use of AI for both insight and deception, and the 'open-source' intelligence revolution online. Classes include guest lectures by former senior U.S. intelligence officials, policymakers, and open-source intelligence leaders. Course requirements include an all-day crisis simulation with former senior officials designed to give students a hands-on feel for the uncertainties, coordination challenges, time pressures, and policy frictions of intelligence in the American foreign policy process.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
POLISCI 115B: Israel, the Middle East and Nuclear Weapons
Israel, the Middle East and Nuclear Weapons is intended for students who are interested to learn about Israel's national security policy in the context of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. The course is divided into three parts, and combines approaches based on historical research, political science, and science and technology studies. The first part of the course will examine the different factors which shape Israeli national security policy, and the role technology and innovation play within this process. The second part of the course will examine the evolution of Israel's nuclear program and it related nuclear policy. We will place this in historical and theoretical perspective within the academic corpus of literature which deals with nuclear proliferation. The third part of the course will focus on the study of counter-proliferation operations. Using nuclear proliferation literature and intelligence studies literature, we will chart the evolution of counter-proliferation operations, i.e. operations targeting the nuclear program of hostile actors, and the development of Israel's counter-proliferation doctrine. We will place our discussion in the context of the study of special operations and intelligence collaboration.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
Instructors:
Rabinowitz Batz, O. (PI)
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