williams college political science course catalog

This course examines the political dynamics of disputes in which disadvantaged interests push for major change. The basic structure of the class is interdisciplinary; the goal of this approach is to utilize key conceptual arguments to gain greater leverage for the examination of major historical decisions in national security policy. How has the relation between the governors and the governed changed over time, and what factors and events have shaped those relations? Finally, we will also examine some of the more recent biographies of both men, including John Lewis Gaddis's Pulitzer prize-winning George F. Kennan: An American Life and Niall Ferguson's Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist. [more], Although many people have described America as inclusive, political debates about belonging have often been contentious and hard-fought. Or is economic crisis the key to understanding the conditions under which dictatorships fall? The very effort to define "waste" raises thorny political questions: What (or who) is disposable? [more], With red states and blue states, partisan divisions in Congress, and even disputes about wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus, few question the fact of a polarized America. We will pay particular attention to the construction of "Jews" and "Judaism" in these arguments. We engage pressing questions around technological innovation, populism, financialization, and globalization. Course readings focus on Locke, Hegel, Marx, and critical perspectives from feminist theory, critical theory, and critical legal studies (Cheryl Harris, Alexander Kluge, Oskar Negt, Carole Pateman, Rosalind Petchesky, and Dorothy Roberts, among others). Is it a coherent body of thought, a doctrine, or a collection of disparate and conflicting thinkers? Students will read and analyze texts, screen documentaries, collectively compile a comprehensive bibliography, and present group analyses. Economically, the course will look at the institutional configuration of neo-liberalism, changes in economies, growing inequality, the financial crises, and prevalence of debt. We will discuss cases of Buddhism, Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam (Sunni and Shi'a), and Judaism. The goal of this course is to assess American political change, or lack of, and to gain a sense of the role that political leaders have played in driving change. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover's Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature; Chalmers Johnson, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire; Hugh Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America; "Part III Supervision and Control of the CIA," Rockefeller Commission Report; Malcolm X Speaks; Sam Greenlee, The Spook Who Sat By the Door; and, The Murder of Fred Hampton. Then the class will read significant portions of the following canonical works: Yijing, Analects, Mencius, Daodejing, Zhuangzi, and Han Feizi. This seminar examines theory, politics, literature, film, and music produced from and linked to twentieth-century movements against capitalism, racism, colonialism, and imperial wars to think through how Black and Yellow Power have shaped solidarity to challenge white supremacy and racial capitalism. Why is immigration policy so contentious? How should we decide what constitutes a good policy? dorms be named for John C. Calhoun and Woodrow Wilson? We will also explore the current implications of Wynter's thought for Africana political theory, Afro-futurism, social justice, human rights, and critiques of liberal humanism. Senior Seminar in American Politics: The Politics of Belonging. Pessimists point out that most Americans know very little about politics and lack coherent political views, are easily manipulated by media and campaigns, and are frequently ignored by public officials anyway. of 2008-10. Why are some countries stable democracies while others struggle with military coups or authoritarian rule? Political theory addresses questions such as these as it investigates the fundamental problems of how people can, do, and ought to live together. With admissions like this, Coates stoked a long-standing debate about the prospects for racial equity in liberal democracies like the United States. This class begins with the. Yet, law is still where we look for justice and, perhaps, for power to be tamed by the pressure to be legitimate. Does it reflect increased inequality in a fast-changing global economy? And how will the unfolding pandemic change how we respond to these stories? Are "religious" reasons ever legitimate reasons for laws, policies or popular political action? Treating the visual as a site of power and struggle, order and change, we will examine not only how political institutions and conflicts shape what images people see and how they make sense of them but also how the political field itself is visually constructed. As a collaborative class taught at dozens of other colleges, the course enables you to engage in debates about democratic erosion with students throughout the US and around the world. With this preparation, we then look more closely at major contemporary figures and movements in Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Brazil, and other countries. What lessons might we derive for our own times from studying this history? Thus begins the presentation of perhaps the most influential metaphor in the history of philosophy. Who gets to make these judgments, and according to what rules? We will ask: How have city leaders and social movements engaged with urban problems? Politics is most fundamentally about forging and maintaining community, about how we manage to craft a common destiny guided by shared values. How do we distinguish truly dangerous leadership from the perception of dangerous leadership? Who gains and loses from the idea that people have human rights? Is partisanship good or bad for democracy? [more], This course focuses on the international dimensions of when people demand political change. Finally, we will assess whether US foreign policy decisions are coherent - that is, whether the US can be said to follow a "grand strategy." In this course, we will look at feminist critiques of power, how feminists have employed notions of power developed outside of the arena of feminist thought, and efforts to develop specifically feminist ideas of power. Rather, it also looks at how Muslims live through Islamophobia. What is it and how might it work? At the same time, Republicans and Democrats fight over the scope and limits of government power on policies ranging from taxation and spending, to abortion, immigration, healthcare, policing, gun ownership, and voting rights. We will examine factors that shape election outcomes such as the state of the economy, issues, partisanship, ideology, social identities with a special focus on race, interest groups, media, and the candidates themselves. Beliefs about music can serve as a barometer for a society's non-musical anxieties: Viennese fin-de-sicle critics worried that the sounds and stories of Strauss's operas were causing moral decline, an argument that should be familiar to anyone who reads criticism of American popular music. Scholars, practitioners, and observers of American politics have debated whether the net effect is positive or negative. and exegetical writing about, core texts of ancient Chinese philosophy in English translation. The last quarter of class focuses on student projects, on integrating and revising research to produce a set of findings and an evaluation of their meaning. Toward that end, we begin by considering competing explanations of political violence (ethnicity, democratization, natural-resource endowments, and predatory elites). In addition, we will examine the long-standing arguments among both historians and political scientists over how to explain and interpret the longest and most controversial war in American history. The course extends over one semester and the winter study period. The purpose is to gain an understanding of a number of different perspectives on life and politics, especially Confucianism, Legalism and Daoism. What political problems most demand or resist theorization---and is "theory" even the right genre for critical intellectual work on politics now? This research seminar will engage the origins of the conflicts and the role of identities in them, the role of disputes about sovereign power in creating and intensifying them, the strategies for reconciling them that are adopted domestically and internationally, the deals that have been struck or have not been struck to bring peace in these societies, and the outcomes of the various efforts in their contemporary politics. It has been said that parties are essential to democracy, and in the U.S., political parties have played a central role in extending democracy, protecting rights, and organizing power. This tutorial unsettles that framing, first by situating the black radical tradition as a species of black politics, and second through expanding the boundaries of black politics beyond the United States. How can this be? The course goes back to the founding moments of an imagined white-Christian Europe and how the racialization of Muslim bodies was central to this project and how anti-Muslim racism continues to be relevant in our world today. But what role can the welfare state play in the twenty-first century? How can feminist power be realized? Currently over 281 million international migrants live in a country different from where they were born, about 1 out of every 30 humans in the world and a population that has roughly doubled since 1990. The course is designed to introduce students to fundamental components of social science research and critical thinking on media as a political tool. Approaching questions historically, it centers on but is not restricted to the conflict between Zionism and Palestinians. From there, we analyze the causes, achievements and limitations of the recent wave of political liberalization across Africa. [more], The People's Republic of China has experienced rapid and extensive economic, social and cultural transformation over the past forty years. Rastafari has evolved from a Caribbean theological movement to an international political actor. "revolutionary" effect on world politics, such that, fundamentally, international relations no longer works in more or less the same way that it did before the advent of nuclear weapons in 1945? Hence, this seminar will put two very different bodies of theory in conversation: American National Identity and State Power. POLITICAL SCIENCE. He saw these movements as successfully bridging the longstanding tension between the ideal elements of our humanity and the physical conditions for human existence (a tension represented in philosophy by the contrast between Kant and Marx). [more], Is the American party system what's wrong with American politics? Migration Governance: A Global Perspective, international migrants live in a country different from where they were born, about 1 out of every 30 humans in the world and a population that has roughly doubled since 1990. and moderate reform are struggling to build sufficient popular support for their programs. Will Japan continue to live as a nation with enormous economic power but limited military means? International law is similar to domestic law, with one very crucial difference: it is not enforced by a centralized, sovereign state. Cases include piracy, claims in the South China Sea, bonded labor, refugee quarantine, Arctic transit, and ocean pollution. [more], In Ta-Nehisi Coates' best-selling book Between the World and Me, he says that in the wake of the non-indictment of former police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown "I did not tell [my son] that it would be okay, because I have never believed it would be okay." Well-known contributions by feminist theorists include the conceptualization and critique of anti-discrimination frameworks, the legal analysis of intersecting systems of social subordination (particularly gender, race, class, sexuality, disability), and the theorization of "new" categories of rights (e.g. Is partisanship good or bad for democracy? This tutorial unsettles that framing, first by situating the black radical tradition as a species of black politics, and second through expanding the boundaries of black politics beyond the United States. The course is organized with a focus on legal status: which "categories" of people (i.e. Individual countries have always sought to change others, and following wars, countries have often collectively enforced peace terms. In this seminar we will openly discuss unmentionable topics and get our hands dirty (sometimes literally) examining the politics of waste.

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