Courses

In this class we will read the literature on voting and elections. We will cover some literature on voting rights in the US. The class will have a field component, as students will not only be obligated to register to vote (if they are eligible), but also phone bank or ...

This course provides a survey of some of the major contributions to political thought in the past century. The course will place special emphasis on the development of theories of political authority and legitimacy in the context of the modern bureaucratic state, as well as the connection between authority and ...

The American civil justice system sits at a crossroads. In three-quarters of the 20 million civil cases filed in state courts each year, at least one side lacks a lawyer. Beneath those cases sit tens of millions more legal problems that never make it to court. Many are significant, even ...

We will take a "deep dive" into some of the most interesting and contentious issues in the "federal courts" space. Illustrative topics might include any or all of the following: (1) Jurisdiction-stripping (Can Congress eliminate the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to hear certain types of cases, and if so, under what ...

This class will examine the history of U.S. foreign policy, beginning the U.S. rise to world power at the dawn of the 20th century and concluding with an examination of the foreign policies of Presidents Bush and Obama. It will ask you to weigh the arguments scholars alongside firsthand (primary ...

This course explores intellectual life and culture in the United States during the twentieth century, examining the work and lives of social critics, essayists, artists, scientists, journalists, novelists, and sundry other thinkers. We will look at the life of the mind as a narrative of ongoing yet contested secularization and ...

Theories of American politics, focusing on Congress, the presidency, the bureaucracy, and the courts.

Why do imperialists conquer people? Why do some people resist while others collaborate? This course tries to answer these questions by looking at some of the world's earliest empires. The main focus is on the expansion of the Assyrian and Persian Empires between 900 and 300 BC and the consequences ...

This course offers a thematic approach to the study of authoritarian politics. We will cover the major areas of political science research on authoritarian politics and governance while simultaneously building empirical knowledge about the politics of particular authoritarian regimes. The course will also discuss transitions to democracy as well as ...

As a political movement seeking the liberation of women and sexual minorities from gendered oppression, feminism has always had detractors - and pronounced periods of backlash. But since 2016, and in the long aftermath of Hillary Clinton's defeat to Donald Trump, anti-feminist backlash in media and politics has taken on ...

One of the most important questions people ask themselves when they enter a new setting, whether a school, a workplace, or a country, is "Do I belong here?". How do people make sense of their belonging in a new setting? How and why do group identities, such as race-ethnicity, social-class ...

Prerequisite: Must be a junior, senior, or graduate student.(HUMBIO students must enroll in HUMBIO 122. Med/Graduate students must enroll in PEDS 222.) Available evidence at the national and cross-country level linking social welfare interventions and health outcomes. If and how non-health programs and policies could have an impact on positive ...

(COMM 177B is offered for 5 units, COMM 277B is offered for 4 units.) This class will tackle data-driven journalism, in collaboration with other academic and journalistic partners. The class is centered around one or more projects rooted in local data-driven journalism but with potential for regional or national journalistic ...

War is a technological contest. Yet the development and workings of weapons technologies are commonly treated as the esoteric domain of scientists and engineers, rather than policymakers and policy analysts. Poor outcomes result when those who study, oversee, promote, or oppose the use of armaments fail to understand their origins ...

Bridging the Divide ¿ Analyzing Indo-Pak Bilateral Relations will explore India and Pakistan's intricate and evolving relationship. Each week, distinguished guest speakers, including professors, human rights lawyers, and special guest speakers, discuss various topics shaping bilateral relations. These topics include human rights, nuclear security, the historical impact of partition, and ...

This course examines the theory and practice of American campaigns and elections. First, we will attempt to explain the behavior of the key players -- candidates, parties, journalists, and voters -- in terms of the institutional arrangements and political incentives that confront them. Second, we will use current and recent ...

(HISTORY 50A is 3 units. HISTORY 150A is 5 units) This course surveys early American history from the onset of English colonization of North America in the late sixteenth century through the American Revolution and the creation of the United States in the late eighteenth. It situates the origins and ...

This seminar will explore various ways in which constitutional law interacts with the political process. Topics covered will include the appointment and confirmation process for federal judges and justices, judicial campaigns and elections in the states, controversies over court-packing and court-curbing, the role of social movements in shaping constitutional law ...

Explores criminal law in early modern Europe and Russia, ca 1500-1800, in law and in practice. Engages debates about use of exemplary public executions as tactic of governance, and about gradual decline in "violence" in Europe over this time. Explores practice of accusatory and inquisitory judicial procedures, judicial torture, forms ...

This seminar is an opportunity to study mass incarceration and criminal law reform in real time while getting hands-on experience in active litigation on behalf of Three Strikes Project clients serving life sentences for nonviolent crimes. In this course, students read and analyze a variety of cases and articles, examining ...