This course will provide an overview of politics and society in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The first five weeks will focus on such questions as: What are the effects of the "colonial legacy" inherited by most countries in the "Third World?" Why have certain countries been able to maintain stable and effective government institutions while others have experienced revolutions, civil wars and rampant corruption? What are some of the obstacles to economic development? The second part of the course will focus on the experiences of several countries, including Brazil, India, Iran, and Nigeria. The last part of the course will attempt to locate politics and society in "Third World"countries within the context of larger global issues such as North-South relations, the recent waves of democratization and privatization, internationalenvironmental concerns, and the role of women in "Third World" development.

This course will provide an overview of politics and society in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The first five weeks will focus on such questions as: What are the effects of the "colonial legacy" inherited by most countries in the "Third World?" Why have certain countries been able to maintain stable and effective government institutions while others have experienced revolutions, civil wars and rampant corruption? What are some of the obstacles to economic development? The second part of the course will focus on the experiences of several countries, including Brazil, India, Iran, and Nigeria. The last part of the course will attempt to locate politics and society in "Third World"countries within the context of larger global issues such as North-South relations, the recent waves of democratization and privatization, internationalenvironmental concerns, and the role of women in "Third World" development.

This course will provide an overview of politics and society in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The first five weeks will focus on such questions as: What are the effects of the "colonial legacy" inherited by most countries in the "Third World?" Why have certain countries been able to maintain stable and effective government institutions while others have experienced revolutions, civil wars and rampant corruption? What are some of the obstacles to economic development? The second part of the course will focus on the experiences of several countries, including Brazil, India, Iran, and Nigeria. The last part of the course will attempt to locate politics and society in "Third World"countries within the context of larger global issues such as North-South relations, the recent waves of democratization and privatization, internationalenvironmental concerns, and the role of women in "Third World" development.

This course will provide an overview of politics and society in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The first five weeks will focus on such questions as: What are the effects of the "colonial legacy" inherited by most countries in the "Third World?" Why have certain countries been able to maintain stable and effective government institutions while others have experienced revolutions, civil wars and rampant corruption? What are some of the obstacles to economic development? The second part of the course will focus on the experiences of several countries, including Brazil, India, Iran, and Nigeria. The last part of the course will attempt to locate politics and society in "Third World"countries within the context of larger global issues such as North-South relations, the recent waves of democratization and privatization, internationalenvironmental concerns, and the role of women in "Third World" development.

This course is designed to introduce students to comparative political analysis. How can the political behavior, circumstances, institutions, and dynamic patterns of change that people experience in very different societies be analyzed using the same set of concepts and theories? Key themes include nationalism, political culture, democratization, authoritarianism, and the nature of protracted conflict.

Understanding and interpreting large, quantitative data sets is increasingly central in political and social science. Whether one seeks to understand political communication, international trade, inter-group conflict, or a host of other issues, the availability of large quantities of digital data has revolutionized the study of politics. Nonetheless, most data-related courses focus on statistical estimation, rather than on the related but distinctive problems of data acquisition, management and visualization - in a term, data science. This course seeks to address that imbalance by focusing squarely on the tools of data science. Leaving this course, students will be able to acquire, format, analyze, and visualize various types of political data using the statistical programming language R. This course is not a statistics class, but it will increase the capacity of students to thrive in future statistics classes. ENTERING THIS CLASS... students are expected to have a basic familiarity with computation. While no background in statistics, political science is required, students are expected to be generally familiar with contemporarycomputing environments (e.g. know how to use a computer) and have a willingness to learn a wide variety of data science tools.

Understanding and interpreting large, quantitative data sets is increasingly central in political and social science. Whether one seeks to understand political communication, international trade, inter-group conflict, or a host of other issues, the availability of large quantities of digital data has revolutionized the study of politics. Nonetheless, most data-related courses focus on statistical estimation, rather than on the related but distinctive problems of data acquisition, management and visualization - in a term, data science. This course seeks to address that imbalance by focusing squarely on the tools of data science. Leaving this course, students will be able to acquire, format, analyze, and visualize various types of political data using the statistical programming language R. This course is not a statistics class, but it will increase the capacity of students to thrive in future statistics classes. ENTERING THIS CLASS... students are expected to have a basic familiarity with computation. While no background in statistics, political science is required, students are expected to be generally familiar with contemporarycomputing environments (e.g. know how to use a computer) and have a willingness to learn a wide variety of data science tools.

Understanding and interpreting large, quantitative data sets is increasingly central in political and social science. Whether one seeks to understand political communication, international trade, inter-group conflict, or a host of other issues, the availability of large quantities of digital data has revolutionized the study of politics. Nonetheless, most data-related courses focus on statistical estimation, rather than on the related but distinctive problems of data acquisition, management and visualization - in a term, data science. This course seeks to address that imbalance by focusing squarely on the tools of data science. Leaving this course, students will be able to acquire, format, analyze, and visualize various types of political data using the statistical programming language R. This course is not a statistics class, but it will increase the capacity of students to thrive in future statistics classes. ENTERING THIS CLASS... students are expected to have a basic familiarity with computation. While no background in statistics, political science is required, students are expected to be generally familiar with contemporarycomputing environments (e.g. know how to use a computer) and have a willingness to learn a wide variety of data science tools.

Understanding and interpreting large, quantitative data sets is increasingly central in political and social science. Whether one seeks to understand political communication, international trade, inter-group conflict, or a host of other issues, the availability of large quantities of digital data has revolutionized the study of politics. Nonetheless, most data-related courses focus on statistical estimation, rather than on the related but distinctive problems of data acquisition, management and visualization - in a term, data science. This course seeks to address that imbalance by focusing squarely on the tools of data science. Leaving this course, students will be able to acquire, format, analyze, and visualize various types of political data using the statistical programming language R. This course is not a statistics class, but it will increase the capacity of students to thrive in future statistics classes. ENTERING THIS CLASS... students are expected to have a basic familiarity with computation. While no background in statistics, political science is required, students are expected to be generally familiar with contemporarycomputing environments (e.g. know how to use a computer) and have a willingness to learn a wide variety of data science tools.

Freshmen seminars are small, substantive courses taught by members of the faculty and open only to freshmen. These seminars offer an excellent opportunity to explore areas not represented in high school curricula and to establish relationships with faculty members around areas of mutual interest. See www.college.upenn.edu/admissions/freshmen.php