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

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

Consult department for detailed descriptions. More than one course may be taken in a given semester. Recent titles have included: Race Development and American International Relations, Hegel and Marx, and Logic of the West.

This course will provide an overview of major figures and themes of modern political thought. We will focus on themes and questions pertinent to political theory in the modern era, particularly focusing on the relationship of the individual to community, society, and state. Although the emergence of the individual as a central moral, political, and conceptual category arguably began in earlier eras, it is in the seventeenth century that it takes firm hold in defining the state, political institutions, moral thinking, and social relations. The centrality of "the individual" has created difficulties, even paradoxes, for community and social relations, and political theorists have struggled to reconicle those throughout the modern era. We will consider the political forms that emerged out of those struggles, as well as the changed and distinctly "modern" conceptualizations of political theory such as freedom, responsibilty, justice, rights and obligations, as central categories for organizing moral and political life.

This course will provide an overview of major figures and themes of modern political thought. We will focus on themes and questions pertinent to political theory in the modern era, particularly focusing on the relationship of the individual to community, society, and state. Although the emergence of the individual as a central moral, political, and conceptual category arguably began in earlier eras, it is in the seventeenth century that it takes firm hold in defining the state, political institutions, moral thinking, and social relations. The centrality of "the individual" has created difficulties, even paradoxes, for community and social relations, and political theorists have struggled to reconicle those throughout the modern era. We will consider the political forms that emerged out of those struggles, as well as the changed and distinctly "modern" conceptualizations of political theory such as freedom, responsibilty, justice, rights and obligations, as central categories for organizing moral and political life.

This course will provide an overview of major figures and themes of modern political thought. We will focus on themes and questions pertinent to political theory in the modern era, particularly focusing on the relationship of the individual to community, society, and state. Although the emergence of the individual as a central moral, political, and conceptual category arguably began in earlier eras, it is in the seventeenth century that it takes firm hold in defining the state, political institutions, moral thinking, and social relations. The centrality of "the individual" has created difficulties, even paradoxes, for community and social relations, and political theorists have struggled to reconicle those throughout the modern era. We will consider the political forms that emerged out of those struggles, as well as the changed and distinctly "modern" conceptualizations of political theory such as freedom, responsibilty, justice, rights and obligations, as central categories for organizing moral and political life.

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.

This class provides a "hands-on" introduction to the promises and limitations of using Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) to inform policy makers, practitioners, and academics of the conditions under which policies likely would have a positive effect on economic and political outcomes, in the context of international development. This course has three parts: the first is devoted to understanding the "nuts and bolts" of running field experiments / RCTs in developing countries. In part, we will be reading Glennester and Takavarasha's Running Randomized Evaluations: A Practical Guide. In addition, we will discuss core behavioral concepts from both behavioral economics and social psychology (prospect theory). The second part of the course will be devoted to demonstrating how schools have used RCTs to inform core policy debates (e.g. What are some effective ways to reduce corruption? How can we improve the performance of frontline service providers? How can politicians be more responsive to their constituents?) In the third part, students will be presenting their own research proposals, explicitly designed to address either a core policy question in the developing world or--for those interested--in the USA. Here students will have an opportunity to partner with the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (https://sbst.gov), which is under the National Science and Technology Council.