This course explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in political struggles over the distribution and uses of power in the American constitutional system. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and governmental regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the powers of individuals to make basic choices, such as a woman's power to have an abortion. We will pay special attention to how the tasks of justifying the Supreme Court's own power, and constitutionalism more broadly, contribute to logically debatable, but politically powerful constitutional arguments. Readings include Supreme Court decisions and background materials on their historical and political context.

The existence and endurance of war provides one of the most important puzzles of politics: why is it that people keep making use of such a destructive and painful way of resolving their disputes? This course addresses this question and the related question of what factors contribute to peace, focusing on both academic and popular explanations for conflict, including among others anarchy, over-optimism, shifting power, diversionary war, the malevolent influence of war profiteers, and a variety of explanations grounded in culture, religion and other ideational variables. In this discussion, we will focus on both interstate and civil wars, and on both the onset and the eventual termination of war. At various points in the course we will discuss a wide range of historical and contemporary cases, including the World Wars, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the various Arab-Israeli wars, the India-Pakistan rivalry, and a number of recent civil conflicts such as the wars in Yugoslavia, Congo, and Sudan. The course concludes with a discussion of strategies for managing ongoing conflicts and for securing peace in post war settings.

The existence and endurance of war provides one of the most important puzzles of politics: why is it that people keep making use of such a destructive and painful way of resolving their disputes? This course addresses this question and the related question of what factors contribute to peace, focusing on both academic and popular explanations for conflict, including among others anarchy, over-optimism, shifting power, diversionary war, the malevolent influence of war profiteers, and a variety of explanations grounded in culture, religion and other ideational variables. In this discussion, we will focus on both interstate and civil wars, and on both the onset and the eventual termination of war. At various points in the course we will discuss a wide range of historical and contemporary cases, including the World Wars, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the various Arab-Israeli wars, the India-Pakistan rivalry, and a number of recent civil conflicts such as the wars in Yugoslavia, Congo, and Sudan. The course concludes with a discussion of strategies for managing ongoing conflicts and for securing peace in post war settings.

The existence and endurance of war provides one of the most important puzzles of politics: why is it that people keep making use of such a destructive and painful way of resolving their disputes? This course addresses this question and the related question of what factors contribute to peace, focusing on both academic and popular explanations for conflict, including among others anarchy, over-optimism, shifting power, diversionary war, the malevolent influence of war profiteers, and a variety of explanations grounded in culture, religion and other ideational variables. In this discussion, we will focus on both interstate and civil wars, and on both the onset and the eventual termination of war. At various points in the course we will discuss a wide range of historical and contemporary cases, including the World Wars, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the various Arab-Israeli wars, the India-Pakistan rivalry, and a number of recent civil conflicts such as the wars in Yugoslavia, Congo, and Sudan. The course concludes with a discussion of strategies for managing ongoing conflicts and for securing peace in post war settings.

The existence and endurance of war provides one of the most important puzzles of politics: why is it that people keep making use of such a destructive and painful way of resolving their disputes? This course addresses this question and the related question of what factors contribute to peace, focusing on both academic and popular explanations for conflict, including among others anarchy, over-optimism, shifting power, diversionary war, the malevolent influence of war profiteers, and a variety of explanations grounded in culture, religion and other ideational variables. In this discussion, we will focus on both interstate and civil wars, and on both the onset and the eventual termination of war. At various points in the course we will discuss a wide range of historical and contemporary cases, including the World Wars, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the various Arab-Israeli wars, the India-Pakistan rivalry, and a number of recent civil conflicts such as the wars in Yugoslavia, Congo, and Sudan. The course concludes with a discussion of strategies for managing ongoing conflicts and for securing peace in post war settings.

This course is designed to develop your critical reading and writing skills in the areas of international relations and contemporary history. You are expected to take charge of your learning, engaging with each other and the instructor in a process of knowledge creation through practice, inquiry, deliberation, criticism, and problem solving. You will produce three peices of analytical writing. These are complementary and cumulative assignments that, combined, will enhance your understading of the nature, purpose, and future of U.S. hegemony or global dominance. This is the issue, arguably, at the core of debate today about US foreign policy or grand strategy.

This course is an introduction to the field of political communication, conceptual approaches to analyzing communication in various forms, including advertising, speech making, campaign debates, and candidates' and office-holders' uses of news. The focus of this course is on the interplay in the U.S. between television and politics. The course includes a history of televised campaign practices from the 1952 presidential contest onward.

The course surveys some of the principal themes in the political economies of lower income countries. The questions we shall seek to address cover a broad terrain. Who are the key actors? What are their beliefs, interests and motivations? What are their constraints? How are these being affected by closer economic linkages between national economies? While there is no single integrative framework or paradigm into which these themes neatly fit, a common thread is the changing dynamics and interplay between the local, the national, and the global. A familiarity with basic economic concepts will be helpful, but is not necessary.

The course surveys some of the principal themes in the political economies of lower income countries. The questions we shall seek to address cover a broad terrain. Who are the key actors? What are their beliefs, interests and motivations? What are their constraints? How are these being affected by closer economic linkages between national economies? While there is no single integrative framework or paradigm into which these themes neatly fit, a common thread is the changing dynamics and interplay between the local, the national, and the global. A familiarity with basic economic concepts will be helpful, but is not necessary.