Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Sustainable Environmental Policy & Global Politics; Shakespeare and Political Theory.

Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Sustainable Environmental Policy & Global Politics; Shakespeare and Political Theory.

Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Sustainable Environmental Policy & Global Politics; Shakespeare and Political Theory.

Political polls are a central feature of elections and are ubiquitously employed to understand and explain voter intentions and public opinion. This course will examine political polling by focusing on four main areas of consideration. First, what is the role of political polls in a functioning democracy? This area will explore the theoretical justifications for polling as a representation of public opinion. Second, the course will explore the business and use of political polling, including media coverage of polls, use by politicians for political strategy and messaging, and the impact polls have on elections specifically and politics more broadly. The third area will focus on the nuts and bolts of election and political polls, specifically with regard to exploring traditional questions and scales used for political measurement; the construction and considerations of likely voter models; measurement of the horserace; and samples and modes used for election polls. The course will additionally cover a fourth area of special topics, which will include exit polling, prediction markets, polling aggregation, and other topics. It is not necessary for students to have any specialized mathematical or statistical background for this course. Equivalent R based course if prerequisite not met.

This seminar is taught in Washington D.C. for students enrolled in the Washington Semester Program. It includes an orientation to observation and research in the Washington Community and a major independent research project on the politics of governance.

Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Leadership & Democracy; Conservative Regimes.

This course focuses on one of the most important but least understood strands of Muslim political theory: Islamist political thought. We begin by defining such politically-laden terms as Islam, Islamism, the West, terrorism, jihadism, etc. We then systematically analyze the arguments of a range of Islamist thinkers and organizations, including al-Banna, Qutb, Mawdudi, al-Ghazali, Khomeini, al-Qaradawi, bin Laden, Hamas and ISIS. Among the questions central to the course are: what is the relationship, if any, between Islamism and democracy? How do Islamists seek to remake the modern state? What explicit claims about women, and implicit assumptions about gender, characterize the work of many Islamist thinkers, and why does this matter? What does jihad mean, and does it necessarily legitimate violence? Relatedly, is violence ever justifiable, and under what conditions? What are the arguments for globalizing jihad? And importantly: why ask these questions rather than others; what assumptions are built into them; and what kinds of political dangers do they court?

This course examines American constitutional development from the eve of WWI through the second Obama administration. Topics include the growth of the New Deal and a Great Society regulatory and redistributive state, struggles for equal rights for racial and ethnic minorities, women and GLBT Americans, contests over freedoms of religion and expression, criminal justice issues, the Reagan Revolution and the revival of federalism and property rights, and issues of nationalsecurity powers after September 11, 2001.

This course examines American constitutional development from the eve of WWI through the second Obama administration. Topics include the growth of the New Deal and a Great Society regulatory and redistributive state, struggles for equal rights for racial and ethnic minorities, women and GLBT Americans, contests over freedoms of religion and expression, criminal justice issues, the Reagan Revolution and the revival of federalism and property rights, and issues of nationalsecurity powers after September 11, 2001.

This course examines American constitutional development from the eve of WWI through the second Obama administration. Topics include the growth of the New Deal and a Great Society regulatory and redistributive state, struggles for equal rights for racial and ethnic minorities, women and GLBT Americans, contests over freedoms of religion and expression, criminal justice issues, the Reagan Revolution and the revival of federalism and property rights, and issues of nationalsecurity powers after September 11, 2001.